The Big Idea
Real evil points to a real God, and God's answer to evil is Jesus on a cross at Calvary.
Remember the message
Message reminders
Evil Is Something
Evil is real, and real evil needs a real standard. If there is no lawmaker over the universe, there are no broken laws, so the problem of evil rules out relativism and atheism and points to God.
Evil Is Not Some Thing
God did not create evil, because evil is not a stuff. It is a hole in goodness, like a shadow where light is missing.
Evil Is an Intruder
God made the world very good. When people chose what they wanted on the inside over God's boundary on the outside, they broke the world, but the story is not over yet.
A Good Thing Made Evil Possible
God wanted to share his happiness with people who could choose the good. Moral freedom with no possibility of evil is a contradiction, like a square circle.
What God Is Doing About Evil
One answer is to do anything that makes you feel better: a choice a person can make, but not a good one. The good answer is what God is doing: holding back evil through government, family and the church, giving his Spirit, returning to remove evil, and sending his Son to die so we can have mercy instead of justice.
Wednesday’s conversation
Reflect & discuss
Read Genesis 1:31 and Revelation 21:3–4 together.
A way things should be
Greg said that if things are not the way they're supposed to be, "there is a way they're supposed to be." When have you felt most strongly that something in the world was wrong, not just unpleasant, and what did that feeling point you toward?
God and my evil
Greg said people ask why God doesn't stop evil, but they never ask, "why doesn't God do something about my evil in my life?" Where do you want God to hold back other people but leave your own choices alone, and what would it look like to ask for his help with your own evil this week?
Evil and suffering
Asked at Think Biblically: What is the difference between evil and suffering? When a hard season came to you, did you expect it as a Christian or did it take you by surprise, and what difference did that make?
Eternal consequences
Asked at Think Biblically: Doesn't condemnation for eternity seem harsh for people who sinned during a short time on earth? When has that question troubled you, and what has helped you think it through?
Guilty from birth?
Asked at Think Biblically: If the fall darkened our minds and wills, how are we to blame for the evil we do? Where do you notice a pull toward wrong in yourself that you never chose, and how has God met you there?
Carry it into the week
Next Steps
From the message
- When someone says evil rules out God, ask Greg's question: "What's the alternative?"
- Stay alert in conversations: people who deny objective morality often smuggle it back in when they talk about evil.
- Ask God for his Holy Spirit to deal with the evil in your own life. "You cannot do it on your own."
- Bend the knee before God and own your sin: "my fault. Nobody else, just mine."
- Fix your eyes on the hope of Christ's return.
- Invest your life in what lasts: "Only what's done for Christ will last."
Application
Before next Wednesday, when news of evil or suffering reaches you, stop and pray for the people it touches, and thank God that the story is not over yet.
My notes
Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible, © 2001 by Crossway. Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. Permissions. Prepared for this small group from the October 14, 2026 message; questions and applications are editorial study material.