Why Tragedy Occurs

INTRODUCTION

On September 11, 2001, America awoke to the shocking site of two planes crashing into the World Trade Center. Also in a matter of minutes another plane crashed into the Pentagon and a third which seems to have been meant for the White House. In the wake of all of this terror, many have been asking “Why?” There are at least two reasons for tragedy. The first is due to the sinfulness of man while the other hinges on the sovereignty of God. All of us live in a world where there is constant tragedy. People are killed everyday but what happened on September 11th will be embedded in our minds forever. How can we understand all of this? Why does tragedy occur in the first place?

Tragedy Occurs Because Man is Sinful

All Evil is a Result of Man’s Sin

By eating the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve now possessed “the knowledge of evil” - Gen.3:22-23 - Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"; 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

They were now personally acquainted with “evil.” Up to this point they had only heard about it. Now they knew

it. That is seen clearly in vv.7-13 by how they responded. Evil was now resident in their members(vv.7-13). They were ashamed of their nakedness (v.7). They were afraid and hid from God (vv.8-10). They refused to accept responsibility for what they did (vv.11-13). All of this is a result of sin that entered in. Verse 7 says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened.”

Because of Adam & Eve’s sin — sin was passed to on to everyone. Paul said, “Therefore, just as through one

man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. In

verse 19, he says it again: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.”

David accessed his own heart by saying that he “was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps.51:5). Even Paul confessed that “sin...dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” (Rom.7:17b-18). In verse 23 he concludes by saying, “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” James gives the same response by answering his own question in James 4:1: Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

Alfred De Musset said, “I wore vice like a garment; now it is stuck to my skin” (Draper’s Quotations).

There is Only One Solution to Man’s Sinfulness — God’s Righteousness. God’s righteousness is acquired by faith - Rom.3:21-23 says, But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

In the F.A.I.T.H. evangelism presentation, faith shows a person how to acquire God’s righteousness. It is by “grace through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph.2:8).

F is for forgiveness (Eph.1:7)

A is for available (It’s available - Jn.3:16 but it’s not automatic - Mat.7:21)

I is for impossible (It’s impossible for God to allow sin into heaven. He is holy and just and man is sinful)

T is for turn (You must turn from something and turn to someone — Jesus)

H is for heaven (heaven is eternal life, here, and hereafter)

God’s righteousness is available through faith in Jesus Christ - Phil.3:8-9 says, Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

As believers in Jesus Christ we are to bring our members under the control of Jesus Christ. Rom.7:5-6 says, For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Col.3:5-10 says, Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.