Do We Have to Sin to Suffer?
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Do We Have to Sin to Suffer?
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Throughout the ages there have been many ideas as to the causes of suffering. Why do human beings suffer? Is it always "the fault" of the one suffering? What else may be at work behind "the curtains" of the stage that is life?
Sermon Notes
A Partial Set of Notes/Scriptures:
(Deu 28:1) "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
(Deu 28:2) And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
(Deu 28:3) "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
(Deu 28:4) "Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
(Deu 28:5) "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
(Deu 28:6) "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
(Deu 28:7) "The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
(Deu 28:8) "The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
(Deu 28:9) "The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.
(Deu 28:10) Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.
(Deu 28:11) And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
(Deu 28:12) The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
(Deu 28:13) And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.
(Deu 28:14) So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
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(Deu 28:15) "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
(Deu 28:16) "Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
(Deu 28:17) "Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
(Deu 28:18) "Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
2 - Joseph
(Gen 30:22) Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
(Gen 30:23) And she conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."
(Gen 30:24) So she called his name Joseph, and said, "The LORD shall add to me another son."
(Gen 37:2) This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.
(Gen 37:3) Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors.
(Gen 37:4) But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
(Gen 37:5) Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more.
(Gen 37:6) So he said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:
(Gen 37:7) There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf."
(Gen 37:8) And his brothers said to him, "Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
PROV 22:15
(Gen 37:16) So he said, "I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks."
(Gen 37:17) And the man said, "They have departed from here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.' " So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
(Gen 37:18) Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him.
A very disfunctional family in today's terms...
(Gen 37:18) Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him.
(Gen 37:19) Then they said to one another, "Look, this dreamer is coming!
(Gen 37:20) Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, 'Some wild beast has devoured him.' We shall see what will become of his dreams!"
(Gen 37:21) But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, "Let us not kill him."
(Gen 37:22) And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him"—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.
(Gen 37:23) So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.
(Gen 37:24) Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.
(Gen 37:25) And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt.
(Gen 37:26) So Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
(Gen 37:27) Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brothers listened.
(Gen 37:28) Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
(Gen 39:1) Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there.
(Gen 39:2) The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
(Gen 39:3) And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand.
(Gen 39:4) So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.
Joseph did well in CAPTIVITY. He did what he could with what he had.
(Gen 39:7) And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me."
(Gen 39:8) But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand.
(Gen 39:9) There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"
(Gen 39:19) So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, "Your servant did to me after this manner," that his anger was aroused.
(Gen 39:20) Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.
Once again... HE focuses on doing what he CAN where he is... with what he has...
(Gen 39:23) The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
4 - What do these examples show us about sin and suffering...
(Gen 45:3) Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph; does my father still live?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.
(Gen 45:4) And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near to me." So they came near. Then he said: "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
(Gen 45:5) But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
(Gen 45:6) For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
(Gen 45:7) And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
(Gen 45:8) So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
(Gen 45:9) "Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph: "God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry.
(Gen 45:10) You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children's children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have.
(Gen 45:11) There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine." '
(Joh 9:3) Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
(Joh 9:4) I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.
(Joh 9:5) As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
(Joh 9:6) When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
(Heb 4:14) Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
(Heb 4:15) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
(Heb 4:16) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Heb 5:7) who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,
(Heb 5:8) though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
Conclusion: Does one have to sin to suffer? Not necessarily. But eventually sin will bring suffering.
What is the purpose of suffering? We or those near us are to LEARN from the suffering.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
(Rom 8:29) For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
(Rom 8:30) Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
(Rom 8:31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?