1. TEN LIES ABOUT GOD “God Has Never Personally Suffered” 2 Corinthians 5:19 02/07/2010 Dr. Dane Boyles

2. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! (Isa. 49:15)

3. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
There is not one person listening to this who has not asked this very question in the face of tragedy:
where is God in the suffering of cancer or the untimely death of a spouse or child?
We want to know if God has personally suffered?

4. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
Is the God of Christianity is indifferent to our sufferings?
Are the gods of New Age religion are more compatible with our plight?
Instinctively, we believe that a God who cannot suffer is a God who cannot love.

5. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
Do we have some reason not to think such things about God?
Where do we see the love of God without ambiguity?
At the CROSS!!!
19 … God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ … (2 Cor. 5:19)

6. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
Three common words guide us to see that God suffers with us.
The Submission of God.

7. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
The idea of substitution is as old as Eden.
The phrase in the place of was the essence of OT theology.
The essence of man is substituting himself for God.
But the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.

8. Isaiah 53:4
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

9. Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isa. 53:5)

10. Isaiah 53:6
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:6)

11. Romans 5:6
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

12. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
The Submission of God.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isa. 53:7)

13. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
Who put Jesus on the cross?
Together the Father & the Son took the initiative to save us.
78 because of the tender mercy of our God (Luke 1:78)
9 … not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. (2 Tim. 1:9)

14. John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…

15. Mark 15:34
34 “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

16. 2 Corinthians 5:19
19 … God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ.

17. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
The Suffering of God.
Can God suffer?
God chose to suffer!
He chose this very plan along with its pain & injustice.
5 By his wounds we are healed (Isa. 53:5)

18. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
God suffers because He loves!
“Only a suffering God can help.”-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

19. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
God’s Suffering Today.
Yes, God can suffer.
God did suffer.
But does God still suffer?
The Almighty is the silent sufferer.

20. Psalms 103:13-14
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

21. Isaiah 43:2
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

22. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
Conclusion
1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. (Hosea 11:1)

23. Hosea 11:2-3
2 But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.

24. Hosea 11:4
4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.

25. Hosea 11:8
8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.

26. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man— the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. (Hosea 11:9)
We can be thankful that our God can identify with the hurts of His children.

27. “God Has Never Personally Suffered”
19 … God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ … (2 Cor. 5:19)
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)

28. TEN LIES ABOUT GOD “God Has Never Personally Suffered” 2 Corinthians 5:19 02/07/2010 Dr. Dane Boyles