I. INTRODUCTION
A. We understand one another better when we can sympathize with one another.
1. The word “sympathy” literally means “same suffering.” To sympathize with another is to share that person’s experiences and emotions.
2. For us to truly understand and sympathize with another, we must imagine ourselves in the other’s situation so that we can perceive his difficulties and burdens. As the saying goes, we must “walk a mile in his shoes.”
B. We can also understand God better by sympathizing with Him regarding sinners.
1. God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isa. 55:8-9), yet we can certainly sympathize with God on our own level regarding sinners.
2. If we consider sinners from the perspective of man only, then we will not understand the love that God has for every sinner, the grief that God suffers because of every sinner, or the value of the salvation that God has provided for every sinner.
3. If we consider God only as a vengeful Being who is eager to destroy a world of sinners, then we have completely failed to understand Him.
4. Therefore, if we are to understand God, we must attempt to view sinners as He does.
C. The goal of this study is to gain a better understanding of our God so that we will repent of our own sins, sin no more, and help other sinners to do the same.
II. THE GRIEF OF GOD
A. There are two extreme opinions that men may have regarding sinners.
1. One opinion is that as long as a person’s activities do not harm anyone else and are within the boundaries of civil laws, then he is not really a sinner at all. He is a good person regardless of his relationship with or obedience to God. His failure to comply with God’s will is of no consequence.
2. The other opinion is that sinners are completely depraved beyond any hope. Therefore, no effort should be wasted on such hopeless people, and they should be avoided and despised.
3. Anyone who holds these opinions fails to understand how God is affected by sinners.
B. However, we must understand that God views a sinner as a child that has died.
1. There may be nothing in the lives of men and women that is as emotionally painful as the loss of one’s child. For a parent whose child has died, almost nothing can provide comfort. The separation is almost unbearable.
a. For example, consider the pain of Jacob when he thought that Joseph was dead (Gen. 37:31-35). He refused to be comforted in the loss of his son, saying, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.”
b. Also, consider the mourning of David over his son Absalom (2Sam. 19:33-20:6). Even though Absalom conspired and rebelled against his father, David could not control his grief when he learned of Absalom’s death. Although Absalom had made himself an enemy to David, David still loved him as his son.
2. We need to understand that this is same grief that God experiences when one of His children sins and is separated from Him.
a. Sometimes we think of children of God as only those who are faithful to Him, i.e., Christians.
b. However, there is a broad sense in which all people are God’s children.
i. God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26-27). All men are blessed with this spiritual image of God, who gave them life as a father gives his child.
ii. As Paul said, we are the “offspring of God” (Acts 17:29). The natural relationship that we have with God is that of children to a loving Father.
iii. This is why God “so loved the world” (John 3:16). The world consists of His children.
c. When a person sins against God, he dies in the sight of God, for he is separated from the Holy Father.
i. The nature of God is absolutely holy, and He cannot tolerate sin in His presence. As John wrote, “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1John 1:5).
ii. Therefore, when we sin and make ourselves unholy, we die to God because we are separated from Him. See Isaiah 59:1-2.
d. When God loses a soul to sin, He grieves just as a parent grieves over the death of a child.
i. In the days of Noah, notice that when “every intent of the thoughts of {man’s} heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5), the Scripture says that God “was grieved in His heart” (Gen. 6:6).
ii. A world full of sinners is a world full of children that have died to God. God grieves over every one of them, and His grief increases with every child that is lost.
III. SYMPATHY FOR THE GRIEF OF GOD
A. God does not need our sympathy, but rather it is to our benefit that we sympathize with Him so that we understand Him. Seeing sinners as God sees them helps us grasp the tragedy of sin.
B. Consider how painful it must be for God to lose His children to sin.
1. Every parent has joyful expectations for their children, and God is no different.
a. God has created man to be like Him and thereby to glorify Him (Matt. 5:16, 48; Eph. 2:10).
b. Those expectations become disappointments when men reject His purpose for them and sin (Luke 7:30).
2. God is looking down on His children in expectation of their faithfulness, yet He finds none.
a. Read Psalm 14:1-3. Every child has turned away from God. Every one has died.
b. Isaiah says, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isa. 53:6).
c. Even David, whom God called “a man after My heart” (Acts 13:22), sinned against God.
d. Only Jesus Christ fully pleased God (Matt. 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; 2Pet. 1:17).
3. With every child falling short of God’s expectations (Rom. 3:23), God’s grief must be tremendous.
C. In our sympathy, we should seek to relieve God of His grief.
1. If you have never obeyed the gospel of Christ, then you are a sinner, separated and alienated from God. Consider the grief that you have inflicted upon your Father in heaven who loves you.
a. God is looking down from heaven for you (Psa. 14:2). He has sent His only begotten Son to seek and save you (Luke 19:10).
b. Even though you have made yourself an enemy to God, He still loves you just as David loved Absalom (
c. Realize that your sin is an offense against God, and experience true godly sorrow for the grief that you have brought to your God (2Cor. 7:10). Repent, confess your faith in Christ, and be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).
2. If you have obeyed the gospel of Christ but have since turned away from God, then you have died again. You are separated from God, and He again grieves over you.
a. When a Christian sins, he grieves the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). He rejects that which his Father has offered, and he crucifies the Son of God again (Heb. 6:6).
b. What joy you could bring to God if you would return to Him. Just like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, God would rejoice for your return (Luke 15:32).
c. Just like Jacob who grieved for Joseph all of his life (Gen. 45:28; 46:29-30), God longs to be reunited with you. Do not grieve Him any longer.
3. If you are a faithful child of God, then you should consider the grief that God suffers for the many lost souls who are around you. You can relieve that grief by leading them back to God.
a. Do not think lightly of those who are lost. Even if they are basically good, moral people, if they do not have a relationship with God through Christ, then they are dead to God.
b. Do not disregard the “hardened” sinners around you whom many may consider to be beyond any hope. God grieves for them also.
c. Sound forth the call that God has issued for every lost soul. Teach the gospel to others so that they may be made alive to God again (Eph. 2:1-7).