Good vs. Evil (Romans 12:9)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.680 If you're able to remain standing, please do so, and let's give our 2 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:09.789 attention to Romans chapter twelve. Romans twelve, I'm going to read Verse Nine 3 00:00:12.109 --> 00:00:17.829 Through Twenty One, but focusing just on the second half of verse nine. 4 00:00:23.420 --> 00:00:30.140 So Romans twelve, verse nine. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is 5 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:36.409 evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. 6 00:00:36.609 --> 00:00:40.929 Out Do one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, 7 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:47.130 be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be 8 00:00:47.329 --> 00:00:52.960 patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the 9 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:58.600 saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and 10 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:03.719 do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who 11 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.230 weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but 12 00:01:07.310 --> 00:01:12.510 associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no 13 00:01:12.670 --> 00:01:17.349 one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the 14 00:01:17.430 --> 00:01:21.540 sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, 15 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:26.859 live peaceably with all beloved. Never Avenge Yourself, but leave it to the 16 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:30.579 wrath of God, for it is written vengeance is mine. I will repay, 17 00:01:30.739 --> 00:01:36.170 says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, 18 00:01:36.409 --> 00:01:38.849 feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for 19 00:01:38.969 --> 00:01:44.489 by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be 20 00:01:44.650 --> 00:01:52.519 overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. You may be seated. 21 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:02.829 Don't remember ever competing with airplanes before. Is the air show going on or 22 00:02:04.430 --> 00:02:10.229 yeah, okay, well, we'll do our best to remember that. The 23 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:16.219 Voice of the Lord Roars even louder, like the mighty rush of the seas. 24 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:23.099 I want to begin by reminding you of a story that I've told before. 25 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:28.139 I don't think I've told it a lot, at least I hope not 26 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:32.889 so, but bear with me. I remember watching this documentary once when I 27 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:38.449 was a kid, about the this baboon. It starts out with this baboon 28 00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:46.479 who gets a little taste of salt and he takes the gets this taste of 29 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:50.319 salt and then a hunter, having given him that taste of salt secretly, 30 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.479 then goes hides a salt lick in a tree, sort of an inside a 31 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:57.599 hole in a tree, and he shows the baboon where it is. The 32 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:00.270 baboon goes over to the tree and, with that's taste of salt in his 33 00:03:00.389 --> 00:03:05.750 mouth, reaches in and grabs the salt lick because he wants more salt. 34 00:03:06.590 --> 00:03:08.909 But the thing is is, while his hand can go in and grab the 35 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:14.419 Salt Lick, he can't get it out. But he's not willing to let 36 00:03:14.460 --> 00:03:17.780 go. I thought this was ingenious. So he, the baboon, sits 37 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:22.740 on the side of the tree trying to get this salt lick, getting more 38 00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:27.729 and more scared of the hunter who's approaching but still refusing to let go because 39 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:30.689 he wants the salt lick and he won't let go. On he walks a 40 00:03:30.689 --> 00:03:34.169 don't let go. In the hunter just walks up right up to him and 41 00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:38.650 bags him. So simple for the hunter, so devastating for the baboon. 42 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:45.800 I tell you the story because I want to remind you that what you cling 43 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:51.199 to matters. What you cling to really matters, the things that we hold 44 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:55.189 fast to. Kids, you've heard of fasteners before, like buttons and Zippers 45 00:03:55.349 --> 00:04:00.349 and Hooks. That's what fasteners do right. They hold fast to something, 46 00:04:00.509 --> 00:04:05.509 they grab it, they hold it tight. Well, when we hold fast 47 00:04:05.550 --> 00:04:10.740 or cling to something it's important to us, we want it and it can 48 00:04:10.819 --> 00:04:15.819 have either very bad consequences are very good consequences. And so that's why God 49 00:04:15.980 --> 00:04:21.740 speaks so clearly. Hear when he says Abhorre what is evil and hold fast 50 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:29.370 cling to what is good. For the baboon, the Salt Lick became an 51 00:04:29.449 --> 00:04:33.329 evil thing and eventually led to his death. But what happens if we cling 52 00:04:33.449 --> 00:04:39.879 to good things? Really wonderful things happen. When we cling to good things, 53 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:45.600 the right things, the holy things, there are wonderful consequences, blessings. 54 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:55.589 To Abhor means to utterly hate, to feel very strongly, with animosity 55 00:04:55.829 --> 00:05:02.110 and anger, even to a degree vengeance against things that are evil. That's 56 00:05:02.110 --> 00:05:08.420 what abhorn means. And we've talked about clinging fast or holding fast or holding 57 00:05:08.459 --> 00:05:14.060 on to that what is good. So what is evil? Well, that's 58 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:15.699 something, of course, we all know. But let me remind you of 59 00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:20.810 a few things from Romans chapter one. If you remember, there at the 60 00:05:20.850 --> 00:05:27.050 end of that Chapter Paul gives a list of various, various evils. You 61 00:05:27.129 --> 00:05:31.170 can find other lists throughout the New Testament, but he's talking about people who 62 00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:36.439 have given themselves over to idolatry. This is Romans Chapter One verse, Twenty 63 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:42.079 Eight, that says. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, 64 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:46.399 God gave them up, to a debased mind, to do what ought 65 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:53.029 not to be done, evil things. They were filled with all manner of 66 00:05:53.069 --> 00:06:00.750 unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, 67 00:06:00.149 --> 00:06:06.459 strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of 68 00:06:06.579 --> 00:06:13.540 God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 69 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:20.050 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. These are not things to hold 70 00:06:20.209 --> 00:06:27.009 onto and cling to. These are things to Abhorre, to hate, to 71 00:06:27.529 --> 00:06:34.319 revile. When you take a moldy piece of food out of the refrigerator, 72 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:41.480 you abhor it right you smell it, smell its stench, you look at 73 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:44.879 it, you don't cling to it, you don't treasure it, you get 74 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:47.670 it out of the House as quickly as you can. That's what it means 75 00:06:47.709 --> 00:06:53.949 to abhor envy, murder, strife, to seat, maliciousness, gossip, 76 00:06:54.069 --> 00:06:57.709 slanders, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, indventures of evil. 77 00:06:58.389 --> 00:07:03.980 All of these things are things that we are supposed to abhor. Well, 78 00:07:04.019 --> 00:07:09.379 what are we supposed to love. Well, we can think of the 79 00:07:09.459 --> 00:07:14.220 very list that we just read here in Romans twelve. It starts let love 80 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:20.209 be genuine or sincere. Love one another with brotherly affection, out do one 81 00:07:20.250 --> 00:07:26.889 another and showing honor. It talks about zeal, fervency of spirit, serving 82 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:33.480 the Lord Hope, rejoicing, patience and tribulation, constant consistency or being constant 83 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:41.800 in prayer, giving to the needy, swing hospitality, even loving and blessing 84 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:50.709 enemies, even the enemies who persecute us. Those are good things. Those 85 00:07:50.790 --> 00:08:00.660 are things to love. So we can see clearly what Paul's point is and 86 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:03.620 what our main focus is for this morning. We are to abhor what is 87 00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:09.899 evil and hold fast to what is good. This is a truth that, 88 00:08:11.379 --> 00:08:13.649 I think, in many ways, seems very plain and you might even be 89 00:08:13.810 --> 00:08:20.089 asking what further elaboration could possibly be needed on this point. It's it's simple 90 00:08:20.129 --> 00:08:24.689 enough, isn't it? And it, I think, resonates in us a 91 00:08:24.850 --> 00:08:30.800 lot as well. We sort of naturally respond to that in a positive way, 92 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:35.960 at least it to some extent. Everyone knows that this is what we 93 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:43.789 should do. Everyone knows the opposite, that loving evil things and abhorring good 94 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:50.190 things is evil. It's a bad thing. The problem is is that just 95 00:08:50.269 --> 00:08:54.669 because people know something doesn't mean they do it. Our experience proves this. 96 00:08:54.860 --> 00:09:01.340 Our own consciences testify against US and accuse us. And listen to how God 97 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:05.940 ends that passage in Romans, one that I read. Foolish, faithless, 98 00:09:05.980 --> 00:09:13.169 heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such 99 00:09:13.330 --> 00:09:20.730 things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those 100 00:09:20.809 --> 00:09:26.399 who practice them. So here we have not only our experience in our conscience, 101 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:30.679 but the very testimony of scripture, which says to us. Well, 102 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:35.919 we all know is true that though we know this, abhor the evil, 103 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:41.789 hold fast to the good. Many people do not do it. You and 104 00:09:41.870 --> 00:09:48.470 I do not do it as we ought. Instead, we get it all 105 00:09:48.669 --> 00:09:52.539 backwards. We find ourselves not only doing the very things we know ought not 106 00:09:52.740 --> 00:09:58.220 to be done, but then giving approval to others, encouraging them them in 107 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:05.899 it. Why do we do this? Why do we do something that seems 108 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:11.490 so obviously wrong? I think there are a lot of reasons, but one 109 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:15.649 of them is like a lot of things. You know, we we think 110 00:10:15.929 --> 00:10:18.929 it's going to be one thing, or we tell ourselves it's going to be 111 00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:26.000 one thing for a momentary gain, forgetting the everlasting consequence. So why do 112 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:33.080 people do evil things? The one motivation that people have is that they're scared. 113 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:39.909 Listen to Psalm Ninety seven ten. Oh, you who love the Lord 114 00:10:39.070 --> 00:10:43.669 hate evil. He preserves the lives of his saints, he delivers them from 115 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:48.509 the hand of the wicked. This is a call, so I'm ninety seven 116 00:10:48.029 --> 00:10:52.700 ten is a call to us to not be afraid. The Lord knows how 117 00:10:52.740 --> 00:10:56.940 to take care of his own. And doesn't Paul say the same thing in 118 00:10:56.139 --> 00:11:01.700 Romans? He says, don't put vengeance on your enemies. God knows how 119 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:05.769 to take care of it. Vengeance is mine. But what happens when we 120 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:11.009 forget that? What happens when we get afraid and we think that God won't 121 00:11:11.009 --> 00:11:15.809 take care of us? Well, then we take matters into our own hands 122 00:11:15.850 --> 00:11:22.600 and we begin to love evil and do evil things. So fear can motivate 123 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:28.799 us. Sometimes it's pure foolishness. So proverbs fourteen six. One Who is 124 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.509 wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a foolish is reckless and 125 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:41.710 careless. Sometimes evil is fallen into simply because you're not being smart, because 126 00:11:41.710 --> 00:11:46.299 you're being foolish. I can think of times in my life where I simply 127 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:52.340 wasn't being careful enough. I didn't really weigh or understand the consequences of a 128 00:11:52.419 --> 00:11:56.100 particular action or thing that I was doing, and then all of a sudden, 129 00:11:56.259 --> 00:12:00.940 Bam, there it is and you look back and you go Jeev, 130 00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:07.850 why'd I do that? So being foolish. Remember that proverbs teaches us that 131 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:13.970 sometimes foolness is just ignorance, children need to grow up and mature, and 132 00:12:15.210 --> 00:12:20.480 sometimes it's willful. Neither are good. I think the latter is worse, 133 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:26.639 but they're both dangerous. They both have consequences. So we should strive not 134 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:33.230 to be reckless and careless so that we can be wise and cautious and turn 135 00:12:33.309 --> 00:12:41.870 away from evil. Another reason is that we want power. Zechariah ten seven 136 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:46.379 ten says do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner or of 137 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:52.419 or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your 138 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:58.809 heart. Some of the most evil people that we least publicly evil, that 139 00:12:58.970 --> 00:13:03.649 we think of our tyrants, that do exactly against God's word. Here in 140 00:13:03.690 --> 00:13:09.970 Zechariat undred and ten. They use their power to oppress those who are under 141 00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:13.399 them, and even sometimes the weakest who are under them. They Love Evil 142 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:20.159 and they do evil things because they want power. It's another motivator, and 143 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:26.960 that can happen not only with world stage tyrants, but the tyrant in the 144 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:31.429 workplace and the tyrant in the home and the tyrant in our hearts. That 145 00:13:31.590 --> 00:13:35.110 says, I want what I want and I want it now, and I'm 146 00:13:35.149 --> 00:13:41.070 going to do whatever it takes to get it. That's loving evil, that's 147 00:13:41.110 --> 00:13:46.379 a that's not wise. Another thing we might mention is that we have a 148 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:54.940 strong passions that are in us that work against us. Numbers Eleven, four. 149 00:13:54.179 --> 00:13:58.570 Now the rabble that was among them. They had a strong craving and 150 00:13:58.730 --> 00:14:01.970 the people of Israel also wept again and said, oh, that we had 151 00:14:03.129 --> 00:14:07.129 meet to eat. They were longing, you remember, the Israel was longing, 152 00:14:07.250 --> 00:14:11.799 after they came out of Egypt, to go back to Egypt, to 153 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:16.559 go back to idolatry, to go back to slavery, because they were hungry 154 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:20.639 and they were tired of eating the same thing and they didn't want to be 155 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:31.950 in the desert anymore, sometimes out right just playing hunger real hunger famine can 156 00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:39.379 turn people into dark paths, but I think for most of us we're not 157 00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:45.580 facing famine or great drought or plague that is taking us down evil paths, 158 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:52.820 but simple things like not getting our afternoon snack or enough sleep one night or 159 00:14:52.090 --> 00:14:56.009 any number of other things. Or maybe we're getting plenty of those things and 160 00:14:56.169 --> 00:15:01.649 we're just evil anyway. We're mean to those people around us and we we 161 00:15:01.409 --> 00:15:05.289 want what we want. We have passions and desires and we're willing to do 162 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:13.000 what it takes to fulfill them. So here we have a number of reasons. 163 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:20.000 I want to add one more mark nineteen Jesus says, but the cares 164 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:26.470 of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter 165 00:15:26.669 --> 00:15:31.789 in and choke out the word and it proves unfruitful. This comes from our 166 00:15:31.870 --> 00:15:37.500 Lord's parable about the seeds being cast on the ground and these seeds springing up 167 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:43.460 bit being choked out. Why do they get choked out? Because of the 168 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:46.779 cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things. 169 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:50.690 We could go on. There's lots of examples, lots of reasons that 170 00:15:50.850 --> 00:15:56.129 motivate to us to evil. But it's good to think about these things because 171 00:15:56.409 --> 00:16:00.649 we want to abhor what is evil and cling fast to what is good and 172 00:16:02.049 --> 00:16:06.559 to set in our minds the things that are tricking us, to look out 173 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:10.919 on the landscape or on the path of our lives and say there's a trap, 174 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:14.799 and there's a trap and there's a trap, and look in our hearts 175 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:17.960 and in our minds and the ways we think and we say, I've fallen 176 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:21.990 that way before, I've fallen that way before. Those are the things that 177 00:16:22.149 --> 00:16:26.789 teach us to be cautious, that teach us to be wise and learn how 178 00:16:26.789 --> 00:16:33.019 to avoid evil and foolish things and instead cling fast to what is good. 179 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:41.139 Another thing that I hope to use to impress this into your minds are the 180 00:16:41.539 --> 00:16:48.169 consequences of clinging to evil. We think that they are going to get us 181 00:16:48.649 --> 00:16:56.250 power or some satisfied desire or or safety or any number of other things, 182 00:16:56.529 --> 00:17:03.119 but the truth is that they they grow into very bitter fruit. Our parents 183 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:07.000 try to teach this to us when we're when we're little, and the consequences, 184 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:11.799 when the stakes aren't so high, if you tell a lot I, 185 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:17.109 if you hit your sister, if you steal something from the grocery store, 186 00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:22.910 many of us would get grounded or spankings or privileges taken away. And our 187 00:17:22.950 --> 00:17:26.269 parents were right to do these kinds of things because in this small way, 188 00:17:26.309 --> 00:17:33.019 they're teaching us this lesson. There are consequences for doing evil. There are 189 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:38.500 consequences for clinging to evil, because the further we go down these paths and 190 00:17:38.579 --> 00:17:48.089 the more we grow into adulthood, the stronger that these consequences become. And 191 00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:57.410 perhaps you've experienced these things. Perhaps you've seen a marriage harmed or even destroyed. 192 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:06.359 Perhaps relationships with parents or good friends have fallen apart and you see no 193 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:11.319 way that they can be put back together now. Perhaps you've spent time in 194 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:19.190 prison, perhaps you've lost your job, perhaps you have felt intense amounts of 195 00:18:19.390 --> 00:18:26.230 guilt and shame, things that you could not shake, things that you couldn't 196 00:18:26.269 --> 00:18:33.019 pacify, things that keep you up at night and torment you. These are 197 00:18:33.059 --> 00:18:38.460 the consequences for doing evil. They are are bitter and they lead people to 198 00:18:38.579 --> 00:18:47.089 even more evil. And what darker things. When we think about the evils 199 00:18:47.210 --> 00:18:52.089 that are listed in the Bible, we find even in the examples of scripture, 200 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:57.680 the kinds of consequences that come out. But let's suppose for a moment 201 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:03.200 that somebody is somehow easily, or let's not say easily, someone is able 202 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:11.710 to escape the consequences and punishments in this life. The problem is is that 203 00:19:11.829 --> 00:19:17.309 there are consequences in the next life as well. And isn't that what Paul 204 00:19:17.349 --> 00:19:22.990 says here in Romans Twelve? He reminds us don't avenge yourselves, but leave 205 00:19:22.029 --> 00:19:27.339 it to the wrath of God. He says that those who persecute his church 206 00:19:27.380 --> 00:19:33.380 will be paid for. It is written. Vengeance is mine. I will 207 00:19:33.619 --> 00:19:37.609 repay, says the Lord. Or, to use an argument that Paul uses 208 00:19:37.650 --> 00:19:41.730 at the beginning of Romans, you all know how to judge other people. 209 00:19:42.289 --> 00:19:45.690 You do it all the time. That's not right, that's not fair. 210 00:19:45.930 --> 00:19:49.329 He shouldn't do that. She shouldn't do that to me. If you know 211 00:19:49.490 --> 00:19:55.359 how to judge people, what makes you think that you will escape judgment yourself 212 00:19:56.119 --> 00:20:00.319 from God, who sees all things, knows all things, every motivation, 213 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:10.109 every work as every single thing. Sometimes we think that we can get away 214 00:20:10.150 --> 00:20:11.670 from evil. We think that, well, I'll cling to it for a 215 00:20:11.750 --> 00:20:17.430 little bit and it won't catch up with me, but it always, always 216 00:20:17.470 --> 00:20:22.539 does, and if not in this life, then most certainly in the next. 217 00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:26.900 These lists of sins that are given here are enrollments, are the same 218 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:32.099 sins that are listed in other places, where Jesus says and the word of 219 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:37.289 God says those shall not enter the Kingdom of God, who are murderers, 220 00:20:37.329 --> 00:20:42.690 adulters, slanderers and so on, they will not enter. Instead, they 221 00:20:42.769 --> 00:20:52.400 will go to hell. Eternal consequence, eternal wrath, vengeance. What happens 222 00:20:52.880 --> 00:21:00.359 when a divine warrior king who is all powerful and all knowing and wants to 223 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:06.990 act in perfect accord for the good and will always fight for the good and 224 00:21:07.710 --> 00:21:14.309 prevail for the good, sees evil? What happens when you see evil, 225 00:21:14.710 --> 00:21:18.859 so to speak, in your refrigerator? You throw it out, you destroy 226 00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:22.059 it, you get rid of it, you do not take mercy on it, 227 00:21:22.180 --> 00:21:27.660 you do not wait for it. Vengeance is mine. You can say 228 00:21:27.700 --> 00:21:36.170 the next time, and remember in all seriousness that the Lord is much more 229 00:21:36.329 --> 00:21:44.650 powerful and it's not just the stink of some food that offends him. It 230 00:21:44.849 --> 00:21:49.640 is an offense against himself, against things that are good and beautiful and holy, 231 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:56.920 to do things that are evil or not to just bother God they are 232 00:21:56.039 --> 00:22:02.190 to go against all that is good. What kind of God would God be 233 00:22:02.710 --> 00:22:08.390 if he simply let evil reign? What kind of Defender of Justice and righteousness 234 00:22:08.630 --> 00:22:12.430 and holiness would he be if he sort of shrugged his shoulders and said well, 235 00:22:12.509 --> 00:22:18.059 never mind? He would be no hero, no great and good divine 236 00:22:18.220 --> 00:22:27.619 warrior King Fighting Valiantly for for the good. You'd be a coward. But 237 00:22:27.779 --> 00:22:33.170 God is good. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I will repay. 238 00:22:36.170 --> 00:22:49.759 Consequences always, always come to those who cling to evil. In light 239 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:57.829 of this, we must learn to fear the Lord. God Is Gracious, 240 00:22:59.950 --> 00:23:07.069 God is kind, God is full of steadfast love and mercy, but he 241 00:23:07.309 --> 00:23:14.500 is not weak and he is most certainly just. And people who forget this 242 00:23:15.019 --> 00:23:22.140 fundamental fact, this fundamental truth of life, do not restrain themselves, they 243 00:23:22.180 --> 00:23:30.450 are terrors to humanity and will be judged by God. But the truth is, 244 00:23:32.690 --> 00:23:38.690 God wants more than restraint. God doesn't want us to just shaken our 245 00:23:38.849 --> 00:23:45.039 boots and be afraid, which we ought to, and to simply try a 246 00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:52.240 little harder to do well. God doesn't want just people that are doing better. 247 00:23:52.880 --> 00:24:02.349 God wants perfection. God wants not a semi kind of good life, 248 00:24:02.390 --> 00:24:07.710 or a mostly good life, among those that he created and made in his 249 00:24:07.990 --> 00:24:14.980 image to reflect his glory and his goodness and his righteousness. God made creatures 250 00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:21.259 to do that so that they could reflect his glory, reflect his image, 251 00:24:21.259 --> 00:24:29.490 reflect, let his righteousness. So when we just merely restrain ourselves, we're 252 00:24:29.529 --> 00:24:34.849 not meeting that objective. If you go back to the the confession of faith, 253 00:24:37.450 --> 00:24:40.799 why can't the good we do make us right with God, or at 254 00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:45.920 least help us to make right with him? Answer because the righteousness which can 255 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:52.160 pass God's scrutiny must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to 256 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:56.069 the divine law. Even the very best we do in this life is imperfect 257 00:24:56.430 --> 00:25:03.630 and stained with sin. Here's the good news, though, and listen up. 258 00:25:03.029 --> 00:25:08.700 There is an answer to this problem, the problem of evil and sin 259 00:25:08.900 --> 00:25:11.940 that is in the world, that it is in you and me. The 260 00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:19.619 way that we cling to what is evil is solved by God's bringing good into 261 00:25:19.740 --> 00:25:27.930 the world in the person of Jesus Christ, saving us and changing our hearts 262 00:25:29.210 --> 00:25:37.319 so that we let go finally of our sin and run to him and cling 263 00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:44.039 to him and cling to the most good thing there ever has been and ever 264 00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:52.230 will be to hold fast to what is good. First and foremost, must 265 00:25:52.349 --> 00:25:57.269 mean to hold fast to Christ, because apart from him, we're just a 266 00:25:57.349 --> 00:26:03.549 baboon on a tree, holding on to our sin and awaiting our imminent death. 267 00:26:03.579 --> 00:26:08.259 That's all. We are, beasts, animals, giving ourselves over to 268 00:26:08.299 --> 00:26:17.140 our lusts and our desires and falling in to foolish traps. But in Christ 269 00:26:18.380 --> 00:26:26.490 we become something more than animal and beast, Craven People Filled with Lust and 270 00:26:26.809 --> 00:26:34.559 evil passions. We become Christians. We become those who are filled with good 271 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:41.960 and light and godliness. God gives us his own spirit when we trust in 272 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:47.470 the Lord Jesus Christ, when we give ourselves over to him and give and 273 00:26:47.630 --> 00:26:53.630 abhor those evil things, he forgives our sins. He washes away that evil. 274 00:26:56.549 --> 00:27:00.309 That's not shrugging at it, because you remember that the cost for sin 275 00:27:00.579 --> 00:27:07.259 was paid by Jesus himself. The great consequence of sin never went away. 276 00:27:08.180 --> 00:27:15.450 The punishment for your sin will be met, but when we believe in Jesus, 277 00:27:18.049 --> 00:27:22.609 we know that it's met for us already. The judgment is past, 278 00:27:22.369 --> 00:27:32.119 because Jesus paid for it on the Cross. Good, Huh, loving, 279 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:40.519 wonderful to take us that our wretched, evil people, and to bring us 280 00:27:40.599 --> 00:27:45.630 to himself through this particular way, by giving up his own life for us. 281 00:27:47.950 --> 00:27:52.990 It's something worth praising God for. It's something worth clinging to and giving 282 00:27:53.029 --> 00:28:00.140 up everything that glitters and promises, a nice thing for a time. Give 283 00:28:00.220 --> 00:28:06.900 it all up for God, the God who comes to us in Jesus, 284 00:28:06.940 --> 00:28:14.250 Christ and grace. And when we're in Him we see that this command to 285 00:28:14.529 --> 00:28:18.369 abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good becomes all the much 286 00:28:18.410 --> 00:28:23.809 more strong, because if we have been changed in Christ, if we have 287 00:28:23.970 --> 00:28:30.920 been bought by him, if we have been made to become closer and closer 288 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:37.880 to his image instead of further and further away from it, how unfitting, 289 00:28:37.640 --> 00:28:44.710 how impro opper, how heinous it is for us as Christians to go and 290 00:28:45.670 --> 00:28:53.549 do evil, to love evil, to abhor what is evil. The thing 291 00:28:53.589 --> 00:28:57.099 I want to call all of you today, as you consider this command and 292 00:28:57.140 --> 00:29:00.940 as you remember it throughout this week and, I hope, throughout your lives, 293 00:29:03.099 --> 00:29:07.660 is that to abhor the evil and to hold fast what is good is, 294 00:29:07.700 --> 00:29:11.410 of course, a good thing. We all know it, but we 295 00:29:11.490 --> 00:29:15.730 all know the difficulty of it as well. The answer to it comes in 296 00:29:15.970 --> 00:29:22.450 both the doing of it and the saving from the consequences. It comes to 297 00:29:22.490 --> 00:29:30.079 us in Jesus. It starts and ends in him. He is the ultimate 298 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:36.480 solution for evil, and that's what he came into the world to solve, 299 00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:44.470 to fix, to heal. So cling to him and you will have salvation 300 00:29:45.309 --> 00:29:49.710 and you will learn more and more what evil really is and how you might 301 00:29:49.869 --> 00:29:57.940 cling to him and produce works that are fitting for his name. Let's pray 302 00:29:57.980 --> 00:30:03.180 together. Let's ask that God would help us to repent and to grow in 303 00:30:03.380 --> grace.