Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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If you're able to remain standing,
please do so, and let's give our
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attention to Romans chapter twelve. Romans
twelve, I'm going to read Verse Nine
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Through Twenty One, but focusing just
on the second half of verse nine.
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So Romans twelve, verse nine.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is
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evil, hold fast to what is
good. Love one another with brotherly affection.
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Out Do one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal,
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be fervent in spirit. Serve the
Lord, rejoice in hope, be
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patient in tribulation, be constant in
prayer, contribute to the needs of the
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saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you. Bless and
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do not curse them. Rejoice with
those who rejoice, weep with those who
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weep. Live in harmony with one
another. Do not be haughty, but
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associate with the lowly. Never be
wise in your own sight. Repay no
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one evil for evil, but give
thought to do what is honorable in the
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sight of all. If possible,
so far as it depends on you,
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live peaceably with all beloved. Never
Avenge Yourself, but leave it to the
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wrath of God, for it is
written vengeance is mine. I will repay,
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says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry,
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feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for
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by doing so you will heap burning
coals on his head. Do not be
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overcome by evil, but overcome evil
with good. You may be seated.
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Don't remember ever competing with airplanes before. Is the air show going on or
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yeah, okay, well, we'll
do our best to remember that. The
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Voice of the Lord Roars even louder, like the mighty rush of the seas.
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I want to begin by reminding you
of a story that I've told before.
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I don't think I've told it a
lot, at least I hope not
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so, but bear with me.
I remember watching this documentary once when I
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was a kid, about the this
baboon. It starts out with this baboon
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who gets a little taste of salt
and he takes the gets this taste of
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salt and then a hunter, having
given him that taste of salt secretly,
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then goes hides a salt lick in
a tree, sort of an inside a
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hole in a tree, and he
shows the baboon where it is. The
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baboon goes over to the tree and, with that's taste of salt in his
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mouth, reaches in and grabs the
salt lick because he wants more salt.
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But the thing is is, while
his hand can go in and grab the
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Salt Lick, he can't get it
out. But he's not willing to let
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go. I thought this was ingenious. So he, the baboon, sits
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on the side of the tree trying
to get this salt lick, getting more
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and more scared of the hunter who's
approaching but still refusing to let go because
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he wants the salt lick and he
won't let go. On he walks a
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don't let go. In the hunter
just walks up right up to him and
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bags him. So simple for the
hunter, so devastating for the baboon.
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I tell you the story because I
want to remind you that what you cling
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to matters. What you cling to
really matters, the things that we hold
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fast to. Kids, you've heard
of fasteners before, like buttons and Zippers
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and Hooks. That's what fasteners do
right. They hold fast to something,
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they grab it, they hold it
tight. Well, when we hold fast
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or cling to something it's important to
us, we want it and it can
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have either very bad consequences are very
good consequences. And so that's why God
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speaks so clearly. Hear when he
says Abhorre what is evil and hold fast
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cling to what is good. For
the baboon, the Salt Lick became an
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evil thing and eventually led to his
death. But what happens if we cling
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to good things? Really wonderful things
happen. When we cling to good things,
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the right things, the holy things, there are wonderful consequences, blessings.
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To Abhor means to utterly hate,
to feel very strongly, with animosity
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and anger, even to a degree
vengeance against things that are evil. That's
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what abhorn means. And we've talked
about clinging fast or holding fast or holding
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on to that what is good.
So what is evil? Well, that's
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something, of course, we all
know. But let me remind you of
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a few things from Romans chapter one. If you remember, there at the
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end of that Chapter Paul gives a
list of various, various evils. You
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can find other lists throughout the New
Testament, but he's talking about people who
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have given themselves over to idolatry.
This is Romans Chapter One verse, Twenty
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Eight, that says. And since
they did not see fit to acknowledge God,
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God gave them up, to a
debased mind, to do what ought
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not to be done, evil things. They were filled with all manner of
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unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder,
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strife, deceit, maliciousness. They
are gossips, slanderers, haters of
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God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
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foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. These are not things to hold
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onto and cling to. These are
things to Abhorre, to hate, to
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revile. When you take a moldy
piece of food out of the refrigerator,
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you abhor it right you smell it, smell its stench, you look at
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it, you don't cling to it, you don't treasure it, you get
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it out of the House as quickly
as you can. That's what it means
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to abhor envy, murder, strife, to seat, maliciousness, gossip,
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slanders, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, indventures of evil.
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All of these things are things that
we are supposed to abhor. Well,
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what are we supposed to love.
Well, we can think of the
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very list that we just read here
in Romans twelve. It starts let love
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be genuine or sincere. Love one
another with brotherly affection, out do one
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another and showing honor. It talks
about zeal, fervency of spirit, serving
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the Lord Hope, rejoicing, patience
and tribulation, constant consistency or being constant
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in prayer, giving to the needy, swing hospitality, even loving and blessing
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enemies, even the enemies who persecute
us. Those are good things. Those
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are things to love. So we
can see clearly what Paul's point is and
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what our main focus is for this
morning. We are to abhor what is
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evil and hold fast to what is
good. This is a truth that,
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I think, in many ways,
seems very plain and you might even be
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asking what further elaboration could possibly be
needed on this point. It's it's simple
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enough, isn't it? And it, I think, resonates in us a
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lot as well. We sort of
naturally respond to that in a positive way,
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at least it to some extent.
Everyone knows that this is what we
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should do. Everyone knows the opposite, that loving evil things and abhorring good
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things is evil. It's a bad
thing. The problem is is that just
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because people know something doesn't mean they
do it. Our experience proves this.
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Our own consciences testify against US and
accuse us. And listen to how God
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ends that passage in Romans, one
that I read. Foolish, faithless,
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heartless, ruthless. Though they know
God's righteous decree that those who practice such
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things deserve to die, they not
only do them but give approval to those
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who practice them. So here we
have not only our experience in our conscience,
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but the very testimony of scripture,
which says to us. Well,
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we all know is true that though
we know this, abhor the evil,
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hold fast to the good. Many
people do not do it. You and
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I do not do it as we
ought. Instead, we get it all
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backwards. We find ourselves not only
doing the very things we know ought not
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to be done, but then giving
approval to others, encouraging them them in
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it. Why do we do this? Why do we do something that seems
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so obviously wrong? I think there
are a lot of reasons, but one
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of them is like a lot of
things. You know, we we think
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it's going to be one thing,
or we tell ourselves it's going to be
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one thing for a momentary gain,
forgetting the everlasting consequence. So why do
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people do evil things? The one
motivation that people have is that they're scared.
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Listen to Psalm Ninety seven ten.
Oh, you who love the Lord
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hate evil. He preserves the lives
of his saints, he delivers them from
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the hand of the wicked. This
is a call, so I'm ninety seven
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ten is a call to us to
not be afraid. The Lord knows how
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to take care of his own.
And doesn't Paul say the same thing in
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Romans? He says, don't put
vengeance on your enemies. God knows how
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to take care of it. Vengeance
is mine. But what happens when we
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forget that? What happens when we
get afraid and we think that God won't
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take care of us? Well,
then we take matters into our own hands
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and we begin to love evil and
do evil things. So fear can motivate
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us. Sometimes it's pure foolishness.
So proverbs fourteen six. One Who is
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wise is cautious and turns away from
evil, but a foolish is reckless and
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careless. Sometimes evil is fallen into
simply because you're not being smart, because
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you're being foolish. I can think
of times in my life where I simply
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wasn't being careful enough. I didn't
really weigh or understand the consequences of a
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particular action or thing that I was
doing, and then all of a sudden,
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Bam, there it is and you
look back and you go Jeev,
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why'd I do that? So being
foolish. Remember that proverbs teaches us that
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sometimes foolness is just ignorance, children
need to grow up and mature, and
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sometimes it's willful. Neither are good. I think the latter is worse,
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but they're both dangerous. They both
have consequences. So we should strive not
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to be reckless and careless so that
we can be wise and cautious and turn
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away from evil. Another reason is
that we want power. Zechariah ten seven
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ten says do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner or of
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or the poor, and let none
of you devise evil against another in your
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heart. Some of the most evil
people that we least publicly evil, that
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we think of our tyrants, that
do exactly against God's word. Here in
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Zechariat undred and ten. They use
their power to oppress those who are under
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them, and even sometimes the weakest
who are under them. They Love Evil
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and they do evil things because they
want power. It's another motivator, and
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that can happen not only with world
stage tyrants, but the tyrant in the
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workplace and the tyrant in the home
and the tyrant in our hearts. That
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says, I want what I want
and I want it now, and I'm
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going to do whatever it takes to
get it. That's loving evil, that's
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a that's not wise. Another thing
we might mention is that we have a
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strong passions that are in us that
work against us. Numbers Eleven, four.
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Now the rabble that was among them. They had a strong craving and
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the people of Israel also wept again
and said, oh, that we had
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meet to eat. They were longing, you remember, the Israel was longing,
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after they came out of Egypt,
to go back to Egypt, to
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go back to idolatry, to go
back to slavery, because they were hungry
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and they were tired of eating the
same thing and they didn't want to be
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in the desert anymore, sometimes out
right just playing hunger real hunger famine can
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turn people into dark paths, but
I think for most of us we're not
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facing famine or great drought or plague
that is taking us down evil paths,
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but simple things like not getting our
afternoon snack or enough sleep one night or
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any number of other things. Or
maybe we're getting plenty of those things and
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we're just evil anyway. We're mean
to those people around us and we we
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want what we want. We have
passions and desires and we're willing to do
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what it takes to fulfill them.
So here we have a number of reasons.
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I want to add one more mark
nineteen Jesus says, but the cares
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of the world and the deceitfulness of
riches and the desires for other things enter
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in and choke out the word and
it proves unfruitful. This comes from our
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Lord's parable about the seeds being cast
on the ground and these seeds springing up
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bit being choked out. Why do
they get choked out? Because of the
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cares of the world, the deceitfulness
of riches and the desires for other things.
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We could go on. There's lots
of examples, lots of reasons that
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motivate to us to evil. But
it's good to think about these things because
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we want to abhor what is evil
and cling fast to what is good and
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to set in our minds the things
that are tricking us, to look out
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on the landscape or on the path
of our lives and say there's a trap,
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and there's a trap and there's a
trap, and look in our hearts
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and in our minds and the ways
we think and we say, I've fallen
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that way before, I've fallen that
way before. Those are the things that
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teach us to be cautious, that
teach us to be wise and learn how
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to avoid evil and foolish things and
instead cling fast to what is good.
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Another thing that I hope to use
to impress this into your minds are the
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consequences of clinging to evil. We
think that they are going to get us
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power or some satisfied desire or or
safety or any number of other things,
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but the truth is that they they
grow into very bitter fruit. Our parents
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try to teach this to us when
we're when we're little, and the consequences,
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when the stakes aren't so high,
if you tell a lot I,
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if you hit your sister, if
you steal something from the grocery store,
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many of us would get grounded or
spankings or privileges taken away. And our
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parents were right to do these kinds
of things because in this small way,
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they're teaching us this lesson. There
are consequences for doing evil. There are
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consequences for clinging to evil, because
the further we go down these paths and
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the more we grow into adulthood,
the stronger that these consequences become. And
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perhaps you've experienced these things. Perhaps
you've seen a marriage harmed or even destroyed.
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Perhaps relationships with parents or good friends
have fallen apart and you see no
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way that they can be put back
together now. Perhaps you've spent time in
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prison, perhaps you've lost your job, perhaps you have felt intense amounts of
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guilt and shame, things that you
could not shake, things that you couldn't
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pacify, things that keep you up
at night and torment you. These are
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the consequences for doing evil. They
are are bitter and they lead people to
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even more evil. And what darker
things. When we think about the evils
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that are listed in the Bible,
we find even in the examples of scripture,
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the kinds of consequences that come out. But let's suppose for a moment
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that somebody is somehow easily, or
let's not say easily, someone is able
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to escape the consequences and punishments in
this life. The problem is is that
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there are consequences in the next life
as well. And isn't that what Paul
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says here in Romans Twelve? He
reminds us don't avenge yourselves, but leave
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it to the wrath of God.
He says that those who persecute his church
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will be paid for. It is
written. Vengeance is mine. I will
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repay, says the Lord. Or, to use an argument that Paul uses
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at the beginning of Romans, you
all know how to judge other people.
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You do it all the time.
That's not right, that's not fair.
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He shouldn't do that. She shouldn't
do that to me. If you know
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how to judge people, what makes
you think that you will escape judgment yourself
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from God, who sees all things, knows all things, every motivation,
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every work as every single thing.
Sometimes we think that we can get away
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from evil. We think that,
well, I'll cling to it for a
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little bit and it won't catch up
with me, but it always, always
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does, and if not in this
life, then most certainly in the next.
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These lists of sins that are given
here are enrollments, are the same
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sins that are listed in other places, where Jesus says and the word of
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God says those shall not enter the
Kingdom of God, who are murderers,
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adulters, slanderers and so on,
they will not enter. Instead, they
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will go to hell. Eternal consequence, eternal wrath, vengeance. What happens
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when a divine warrior king who is
all powerful and all knowing and wants to
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act in perfect accord for the good
and will always fight for the good and
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prevail for the good, sees evil? What happens when you see evil,
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so to speak, in your refrigerator? You throw it out, you destroy
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it, you get rid of it, you do not take mercy on it,
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you do not wait for it.
Vengeance is mine. You can say
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the next time, and remember in
all seriousness that the Lord is much more
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powerful and it's not just the stink
of some food that offends him. It
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is an offense against himself, against
things that are good and beautiful and holy,
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to do things that are evil or
not to just bother God they are
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to go against all that is good. What kind of God would God be
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if he simply let evil reign?
What kind of Defender of Justice and righteousness
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and holiness would he be if he
sort of shrugged his shoulders and said well,
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never mind? He would be no
hero, no great and good divine
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warrior King Fighting Valiantly for for the
good. You'd be a coward. But
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God is good. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I will repay.
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Consequences always, always come to those
who cling to evil. In light
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of this, we must learn to
fear the Lord. God Is Gracious,
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God is kind, God is full
of steadfast love and mercy, but he
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is not weak and he is most
certainly just. And people who forget this
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fundamental fact, this fundamental truth of
life, do not restrain themselves, they
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are terrors to humanity and will be
judged by God. But the truth is,
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God wants more than restraint. God
doesn't want us to just shaken our
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boots and be afraid, which we
ought to, and to simply try a
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little harder to do well. God
doesn't want just people that are doing better.
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God wants perfection. God wants not
a semi kind of good life,
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or a mostly good life, among
those that he created and made in his
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image to reflect his glory and his
goodness and his righteousness. God made creatures
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to do that so that they could
reflect his glory, reflect his image,
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reflect, let his righteousness. So
when we just merely restrain ourselves, we're
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not meeting that objective. If you
go back to the the confession of faith,
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why can't the good we do make
us right with God, or at
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least help us to make right with
him? Answer because the righteousness which can
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pass God's scrutiny must be entirely perfect
and must in every way measure up to
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the divine law. Even the very
best we do in this life is imperfect
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and stained with sin. Here's the
good news, though, and listen up.
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There is an answer to this problem, the problem of evil and sin
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that is in the world, that
it is in you and me. The
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way that we cling to what is
evil is solved by God's bringing good into
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the world in the person of Jesus
Christ, saving us and changing our hearts
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so that we let go finally of
our sin and run to him and cling
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to him and cling to the most
good thing there ever has been and ever
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will be to hold fast to what
is good. First and foremost, must
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mean to hold fast to Christ,
because apart from him, we're just a
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baboon on a tree, holding on
to our sin and awaiting our imminent death.
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That's all. We are, beasts, animals, giving ourselves over to
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our lusts and our desires and falling
in to foolish traps. But in Christ
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we become something more than animal and
beast, Craven People Filled with Lust and
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evil passions. We become Christians.
We become those who are filled with good
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and light and godliness. God gives
us his own spirit when we trust in
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the Lord Jesus Christ, when we
give ourselves over to him and give and
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abhor those evil things, he forgives
our sins. He washes away that evil.
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That's not shrugging at it, because
you remember that the cost for sin
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was paid by Jesus himself. The
great consequence of sin never went away.
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The punishment for your sin will be
met, but when we believe in Jesus,
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we know that it's met for us
already. The judgment is past,
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because Jesus paid for it on the
Cross. Good, Huh, loving,
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wonderful to take us that our wretched, evil people, and to bring us
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to himself through this particular way,
by giving up his own life for us.
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It's something worth praising God for.
It's something worth clinging to and giving
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up everything that glitters and promises,
a nice thing for a time. Give
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it all up for God, the
God who comes to us in Jesus,
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Christ and grace. And when we're
in Him we see that this command to
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abhor what is evil and hold fast
to what is good becomes all the much
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more strong, because if we have
been changed in Christ, if we have
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been bought by him, if we
have been made to become closer and closer
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to his image instead of further and
further away from it, how unfitting,
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how impro opper, how heinous it
is for us as Christians to go and
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do evil, to love evil,
to abhor what is evil. The thing
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I want to call all of you
today, as you consider this command and
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as you remember it throughout this week
and, I hope, throughout your lives,
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is that to abhor the evil and
to hold fast what is good is,
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of course, a good thing.
We all know it, but we
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all know the difficulty of it as
well. The answer to it comes in
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both the doing of it and the
saving from the consequences. It comes to
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us in Jesus. It starts and
ends in him. He is the ultimate
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solution for evil, and that's what
he came into the world to solve,
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to fix, to heal. So
cling to him and you will have salvation
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and you will learn more and more
what evil really is and how you might
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cling to him and produce works that
are fitting for his name. Let's pray
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together. Let's ask that God would
help us to repent and to grow in
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grace.
