Lesson 13: God’s Sovereignty Over Other People’s Sin

Psalm 51:5 - “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

The second possibility as to why suffering occurs is due to other people's sin.

It is bad enough that we must deal with our own sin nature. But if you look around, we live in a world full of people who also have a sin nature, who also make bad decisions that affect us as well! It has been that way from birth, contrary to what the world says.

Our verse above is the exact opposite message of the world. The world says that people are basically born good, but the Bible says just the opposite. Because of the fall of Adam, we are all born basically bad. We have inherited this sinful nature at birth that wants to do its own thing its own way, and it will step on anyone who gets in its way! Did anyone have to teach their children to say, "No?" No, they did that automatically right from the start. Or did anyone have to teach their children to stop sharing so much? No, you had to order them to stop saying, "Mine!" The Bible has the answer as to why in the world people do rotten things to each other. "We were born in sin, and in sin we were conceived!" Each one of us is born with a natural tendency to rebel against God, rule our own lives, and be the master of our own destiny, and we will step on anyone and anything that dares get in our way.


We see in the news how a mother heartlessly drowns her two young children. Who can explain the cold-hearted murder of their parents by two young teenagers? Who can explain the brutal beating and killing of a little two-year-old boy at the hands of a ten-year-old and a twelve-year-old? Who can explain the dreadful crimes against at least two teenage girls when a man tortured, raped, and mutilated them while the sister of one of the victims watched and videotaped it? Who can explain the honor-roll killings when a handful of success-bound students bludgeoned one of their classmates to death and then calmly left for a party? And who can explain the ripping open of a woman's body to wrench the child from her womb and kidnap it? The list seems to be endless and sickening. How will we give an answer for this?

The world cannot explain this problem, but the Bible can! We live in a fallen creation that has rebelled against God, full of people who want to be the master of their own destiny and who will step on anyone who dares to get in their way, including their own parents, their own children, and any random person who comes across their path. Just as our verse above says, we want what we want, not what God wants. That is why suffering occurs. It comes from other people.

* Memorize Romans 6:23 - “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”