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Suffering and the Sovereignty of God
A Teaching Series by
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/teachers/rc-sproul-jr/
Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr.
Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 6:00PM
Lecture 1, God in the Wasteland:
The life of a Christian is often characterized by happiness and
abundance.
God loves to lavish good gifts upon His children, and those who know Him
are
reminded of His love and faithfulness when they experience His gracious
blessings. However, there are other times in the Christian life when
believers find themselves to be in a desolate wasteland of
Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 6:00PM
Lecture 2, "I Create Calamity":
For many believers and non-believers alike, the so-called "problem of
evil"
calls the goodness and sovereignty of God into question. In order to
defend
God's power and holiness, many Christians go to great lengths to
distance
God from the suffering and calamity that take place in the world. In
this
message, Dr. Sproul explores common ways of distancing God from life's
hardships. Additionally, he also points out the danger of inadvertently
trying to conceal God's sovereign work when He wishes it to be displayed
openly.
Sunday, November 24, 2013 at 6:00PM
Lecture 3, Better than I Deserve:
We are much better at finding areas of sin in the lives of others than
we
are at identifying our own sins. Jesus spoke wisely when he urged us to
remove the plank from our own eye before attempting to extract a speck
from
someone else's eye. Because we are so often blind to our own sin, we
rarely
acknowledge the depth of our guilt before our holy God or the profound
nature of the grace He extends to us. In this message, we will reassess
common assumptions about human nature in the effort to recover a
biblical
understanding of what we truly deserve from God.
Sunday, December 3, 2013 at 6:00PM
Lecture 4, Job:
Many of the questions that we raise about God's sovereignty over human
suffering find their answers in the book
Sunday, December 8, 2013 at 6:00PM
Lecture 5, The Man Born Blind:
It can be dangerously easy to jump to conclusions about people around us
who
are suffering. Whether someone is destitute, ill, homeless, or alone,
our
first inclination might be to wonder how they managed to get themselves
into
their current predicament or what sin they committed to be punished in
this
way. However, as we see in
Sunday, December 15, 2013 at 6:00PM
Lecture 6, Paul's Thorn in the Flesh:
When we find ourselves in trying circumstances, we often cry out to God
for
deliverance. Yet, these prayers at times appear to remain unanswered,
and
our suffering may
Sunday December 22, 2013 at 6:00PM
Lecture 7, Living with the Mystery:
Even when we believe God's promise that He uses trial and hardship to
accomplish great things, we may not be quite satisfied. Often we think
that
suffering would be easier to endure if we had access to God's master
plan
and could know in advance exactly what He was going to accomplish
through
our ordeals. Though God may at times impart an understanding of these
things, this is not the norm. More often than not, He calls us to live
amidst the ambiguity and mystery of knowing that He is at work without
knowing exactly what He is doing. In such times, we have the
Sunday, December 29, 2013 at 6:00PM
Lecture 8, Being Like Jesus:
The term "sanctification" is a common buzzword in many Christian
circles,
and it is rightly associated with the teaching that Christ's disciples
are
being made holy by the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. However,
we
must not limit ourselves to a merely abstract and cognitive
understanding of
this doctrine. Rather, God's Word calls us to recognize that
sanctification
is a present reality in our daily experiences. Whenever we encounter
hardship and opposition in life, we can rest in the
Sunday, January 5, 2014 at 6:00PM
Lecture 9, Mourning & Dancing:
Though the kingdom of God has been inaugurated in the Person and work of
Jesus Christ, the kingdom has not yet come in all its fullness.
Consequently, life in this period of "already" and "not yet" is complex
and
multifaceted. Though we rejoice in Christ's victory, we
Sunday, January 12, 2014 at 6:00PM
Lecture 10, The Tears of God:
Even when we begin to understand why God sends suffering into our lives
and
what He is bringing about through that suffering, we may still wonder
how to
relate to Him in the midst of our suffering. In what way is He with us
in
our times of hardship? Does He actually identify with our pain, or is He
merely cheering us on as a spectator? In this message, we will explore
what
is means to be united to Jesus Christ and how it is that He partakes of
our
sorrow and pain.
Sunday, January 19, 2014 at 6:00PM
Lecture 11, Our Union with Christ:
Our union with Jesus Christ is vast and multifaceted. In our previous
session, we spoke about how Christ shares in the sorrows and suffering
of
those who are united to Him. As we continue our time together, we will
see
how, because of this mysterious union, Christ also invites us to share
in
the glories that He now experiences. With this foretaste of heavenly
bliss,
we can gladly anticipate the day when we will be physically present with
our
Savior and with the multitude of
Sunday, January 26, 2014 at 6:00PM
Lecture 12, Wounds in Heaven:
Jesus Christ's victory over death was indeed the turning point of
history.
In His triumph, He reversed the earth's cycle of chaos and destruction
and
revealed Himself as the rightful ruler of the cosmos. It is significant
that
in His exalted state Jesus did not rid himself of his wounds. Instead,
He
displayed them openly to His disciples. When we take time to consider
Christ's wounds and ours, Jesus enables us to see that pain and sorrow
have
their own distinct beauty.
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