Evil

Believing, You May Have Life  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  21:10
0 ratings
· 153 views

Many will not come to Jesus because their deeds were evil. Let's consider evil for a minute.

Files
Notes
Transcript

Growing Like a Weed

I spent a few hours working to get my raised garden beds ready
I wanted to get some Sugar Snap Peas in the ground while the weather is still cool
I had to pull some of three courses of landscape blocks down and do some shimming
The perfectly upright wall had somehow taken to leaning
I dug and shuffled some of the topsoil over to the side and hauled several carts of soil in, and moved the topsoil back
Somehow the soil in the bed had shrunk down
After all this careful preparation, I got the seeds, carefully pushed them down an inch or so into the soil, and covered them up
A lot of work for a few peas
You know what is not a lot of work?
Weeds
While we carefully nurture our plants, and tend our gardens
Weeds just show up
You pull them up, or cultivate them out
And guess what
More weeds show up
For most gardeners, weeds are an ever present aggravation, and part of deriving delicious food from the ground
There are some super gardeners
It seems like they must say, “be gone weeds,” and they just disappear
One of those fellers even bottled that up and sold it
Called it “Weed-B-Gon
I tried it one time
Didn’t work very well
O it got rid of all the weeds all right
But it also go rid of all my vegetable plants as well
Guess something got lost in the translation
Similar to our ever present struggle with weeds, is our struggle with evil in the world
The 19th century Swiss philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel puts it this way:
Only evil grows of itself, while for goodness we want effort and courage.
We live in a very very sick world
Nicodemus knew deep down that the sickness did not just affect others, but even himself
Jesus finished His teaching Nicodemus the basics of salvation with these words:
John 3:13 NKJV
No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
John 3:14–15 NKJV
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
God sent Jesus to provide a way of escape from the penalty, the power, and eventually the presence of sin.
John 3:18 NKJV
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:19–20 NKJV
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
John 3:21 NKJV
But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Evil

1. Existence of Evil

A search for the word evil in the Bible reveals almost 500 times
This does not count all the many synonyms such as wickedness that are use
From its first appearance in Genesis 2:9 when Adam is introduced to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Through Revelation, evil is a black cloud constantly hanging over the human experience
The Bible does not dwell on its origin
It is just a fact of life that caused a cataclysmic rift in our relationship with God
Its very existence now threatens to condemn many to a fate worse than death, permanent exclusion from the presence of God
It would be better if they had never been born for those who choose evil rather than God

2. Evil Touches Everything

The Bible has a lot to say about evil
Here is a good sampling, but far from an exhaustive list
The Bible speaks of: an evil conscience, evil thoughts, evil speaking, evil boasting, evil deeds, evil work, evil days, evil company, evil-minded, evil person, evil intent, evil servant, evil person, evil gain, evil ways, evil plan, evil offering, evil treasure, evil generation, evil eye, evil spirits, evil things, evil men
Evil touches everything for those that are bent on evil
But who is evil?

3. Evil Touches Everyone

Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells how we need to be persistent in pursuing and praying to God
He gives a principle, an illustration and a conclusion
Matthew 7:7–8 NKJV
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Pursue God - you will be rewarded eventually
Now the illustration:
Matthew 7:9–10 NKJV
Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
We as people are not mean to those we love
But what about God?
Here is His conclusion:
Matthew 7:11 NKJV
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Did you catch that?
The contrast, is between all of us people, and our Father in Heaven
We know that He is good, and can only give good gifts
In contrast, we, all of us, are evil
We may give our kids, and others, things that are good
But compared to the God, who always does good, we are evil
We are evil, because we are not good through and through like God is
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
EVIL touches EVERYONE
There are certainly degrees of evil among men
But we are all tainted with the evil of sin, and thus evil when compared to God
We may desire to do good, but we cannot consistently do it
There is sin, or evil, that is a part of our nature

The Evil One

1. His Reality

We are given sparse information about the one the Bible calls the evil one
We are not going to try to look at the glimpses that God gives throughout both the Old and New Testament of this being
We just want to make sure that we understand the reality of a single being referred to as the evil one
The Bible has other terms for him: Satan, the devil, Lucifer, the god of this world, among others
He is not alone in his adversarial relationship with God
It appears that a third of the angels followed him in his rebellion
We call these fallen angels demons
Look at another teaching in an earlier part of the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus is contrasting the outward keeping of the Law of God, versus the internal, from the heart obedience that God requires
Jesus takes the teaching of the religious leaders that we should not swear falsely and makes it clear that we should not, and indeed should not need to, swear at all
If we are of the truth, and always tell the truth, why would you need to strengthen your word with an oath?
Matthew 5:37 NKJV
But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
To go beyond a simple statement of truth is from the “evil one”
He is a liar, and father of lies. He does not stand in the truth, because their is no truth in him John 8:44
The evil one, the devil is real
One of his greatest lies is to deny his existence
By this ploy he easily deceives the unwary

2. Our Prayer

Remember the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples?
It is not very long
It doesn’t touch on a lot of things
So the things we DO pray really matter!
Look at what we are told to ask our Heavenly Father:
Matthew 6:13 NKJV
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
We need an escape from the tendency of our sin nature to give into temptation and sin
“Do not lead us into temptation” we pray
And yet, that isn’t nearly enough —
“But deliver us from the evil one.” we are to ask next
The enemy of our soul, evil personified is out there
We pray that God would deliver us not just from evil as a concept, but from “the evil one”
I would assume that this includes the “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” that he commands Eph 6:12
The great news: To God, our Heavenly Father, “is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN!”
He can lead us around temptation
He can deliver us from the evil one
Shouldn’t we be asking Him for these blessings?

3. Jesus’ Prayer

Not only did Jesus teach us to pray for deliverance from the evil one
But He also prayed that for us
Actually, He prayed for His disciples in the upper room on the night of His betrayal
But He also prayed for those who would believe through their testimony
John 17:14 NKJV
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
John 17:15–17 NKJV
I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Thank you Jesus for praying that Your Father would keep us from the evil one
So often we go on blissfully unaware of the roaring lion seeking to devour us
We even forget to pray as you taught us for delieverance
Your Word is Truth!
Let Your Word of Truth sanctify each and every one of us!
May Your Father, honor Your prayer to keep us from the evil one

4. Victory in Jesus

The defeat of the evil one was never in doubt
Satan, the evil one is a created being
While not to be taken lightly, He is not on the level of God
We have victory in Jesus, if we believe in Him
We can only have victory in Jesus
He defeated the evil one
He paid for our sins on the cross
He rose from the dead in victory over sin, death, and the devil
Look at how Paul greets the Galatian church
Galatians 1:3–5 NKJV
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
We are not just kept from the evil one
But we are also delivered from this present evil age
This was the plan of God before the foundation of the world
Glory be to God for His indescribably gift of life and victory!

Dealing With Evil

Since Jesus won the victory for us
How should we then deal with the continuing presence of evil?
Our struggle against evil doesn’t just disappear the moment we become a Christian

1. Come to the Light

The first and most essential step is to turn from the pursuit of evil and come to the light of Jesus
Once there, our desire is that others may also escape the clutches of the evil one, and be set free to serve our Lord Jesus
2 Timothy 2:25–26 NKJV
in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
Those who do not believe, are held captive by the evil one to do his will
We pray that God would grant them repentance
In gentleness we share the truth of God when given opportunity
God please let them escape!
Turn them to the light of Jesus!
We know that they are condemned already until that happens
But, in Jesus, is light and life, which will be evidenced by GOOD DEEDS done by God

2. Resisting Evil

Having been set free, we are next called to:
Abstain from evil 1 Thes 5:22
Turn away from evil 1 Pet 3:11
Return no evil 1 Pet 3:9
Speak no evil James 4:11
Render no evil 1 Thes 5:15
Beware of evil workers Phil 3:2
Put to death evil desire Col 3:5
Abhor evil Rom 12:9
Resist an evil person Mt 5:39
Resist the devil James 4:7
We can only successfully do these things in the power of the Spirit of God which dwells in every believer

3. Turn on the Light

The best way to dispel the darkness of evil is to turn on the light
Remember the last thing Jesus told Nicodemus:
John 3:21 NKJV
But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
When we come to light
When we begin to walk in the ligh
The manifestation of the truth, and the deeds of light done by God, will be in stark contrast to a dark world
2 Corinthians 4:2 NKJV
But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
When we walk in truth and light, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience
They are confronted with the difference between good and evil
This does not mean that we can get everyone to see and embrace the light
Only God can open the eyes of those that the evil one has blinded
We also need to be very careful that our “help” is not over-powering like Weed-B-Gon
In humility we attempt to correct them with the truth
Always remembering that we also only escaped the snare of the evil one by the grace of God
Driving others away from Jesus is always a very real danger if we are not humble
How do we overcome the evil that is an ever-present part of this world?
How do pluck the weeds of sin and evil and allow good deeds to flourish?
1 John 5:5 NKJV
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Believe in Jesus and escape the clutches of evil!
Do it today!
Believe!
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more