Why God Puts up with Evil, Part 1

Read Romans 9:22-24

Romans 9 does not answer the question of why evil exists or even who authored it, it gives us the answer to the question: Why doesn’t God stop evil in its tracks? In Romans 9:22-24 we see four reasons why God puts up with evil. Rooted in what God desires, what He wants. Romans 9:22 begins what if a rhetorical question introducing a statement of fact. God wanting, willing, desiring, Greek word signifies God true intentions, not like us hoping or wishing for something, like we hope it turns out alright but we have no control of the outcome, this is what God willed, decreed, ordained to happen. Four things God wanted and willed to have happen.

1st, God puts up with sin in order to show His just wrath against sin and evil. Wrath (the Greek word orge) is extreme anger. Many people struggle with anger issues. What makes you angry? It is easy to think that God must somehow deal with things like we do. Sin makes God angry, but not in the sinful way we get angry (we sinfully seek revenge); He does so in a perfectly holy way (He purely seeks what is good and right and just). Romans 9:22 speaks of "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction". He endures with great patience those who are under His wrath in order to show mercy to some. God created everything good. But sin is bad. Sin exists because man is free. Evil is the outworking of man’s sinful choices. We speak of evil as a force, it is not created, it is chosen by God’s creatures. It is the absence of God's righteousness. Because sin infects every human at the core of their being, evil is chosen rather than good. Jeremiah 17:9 says "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked". We learn about God’s sovereignty in Romans 9, that He is over all, He planned to save some, His character is perfectly consistent, He is just and merciful. We also learn about man’s responsibility: our sins condemn us, we are under God and our choices matter.

The Bible doesn't explain the origin of evil fully. It presupposes that evil exists, in much the same way it assumes God exists. Gen. 1:1
begins, in the beginning God. And Genesis 3:1 starts now the serpent, who we know is Satan, known as the serpent from of old, the deceiver, the father of lies. We read in Isaiah and Ezekiel of Satan's fall, or more accurately, his expulsion from heaven. He was thrown out by God. We know of man's subsequent temptation and fall into sin, believing the lie that has ensnared so many, that God is not good. Romans 5:12 tells us that sin came into the world through one man, Adam, the representative head of the human race. Therefore all people are born in sin, spiritually dead, unable to bring themselves to God or make any movement towards Him at all for good. Read Mark 7:21-23 to see what Jesus says about the human heart. You are not as bad as you could be, utterly depraved, but you are bad enough to deserve hell, totally depraved, totally unable to do anything to help yourself spiritually unless God intervenes.

God’s wrath is in direct response to the unrighteousness and ungodliness that exists. See Rom. 1:18-32, 2:4-6, 3:9-12; 2 Tim. 3:-5; 2 Pet. 2:1-3, 9-15; Jude 14-16; 2 Thess. 2:7-12. Sin is a form of treason against God. His wrath against sin is just. All are naturally dead in sin, cut off from God and unresponsive to Him. Man chooses sin rather than God because he loves evil and not good. Sin enslaves causing man to lose his freedom to choose good. Rom. 8:7-8 says the carnal mind is hostile to God. In God's economy no one is treated unfairly, some receive the justice they deserve. He leaves them in the sin they have chosen.