Sermon Notes of Pastor Mark Downey
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Several years ago we had a pastor who went bad on us. Because of his chronic, habitual lying, I came to the conclusion that this guy is really evil. Some people thought this was too harsh of a charge against him. I think this was so because people don't really understand what the word 'evil' means biblically. Evil is not just simplistically being bad or a nondescript badness. The Bible helps us to identify evil with many examples. It is not the Hollywood version of a mad scientist concocting a doomsday machine. It's a little closer to home and everyday life. It has to do with sin, which is the transgression of God's law. We all do it with a variety of motives.
The difference between sin and evil is that sin is a verb and evil is an adjective. Why do we sin? Does it hurt us? Is there an immediate physical pain or electrical shock? No. There is pleasure in sin. Sin is pleasing to self. It feels good to indulge in something bad. But, do we sacrifice or dedicate our lives to satan or God? By satan I mean self-imposed adversity. Why do our enemies not want us to do good? Proverbs 4:16 tells us it's because they can't sleep until their mischief causes someone to fall. Our enemies take advantage of our deportment and courteous nature. This idea of Christians being nice in order to be Christian is hogwash and a misguided myth. For we see that the word nice means pleasing and agreeable. To be agreeable to ourselves first? So we can be indulging in nice things and be in sin?
One doesn't have to have a malicious spirit or a violent temperament or obnoxious personality to sin. One can be very benevolent and peaceful and nice and pleasing and friendly to sin. If one is going to habitually sin, doesn't that sinner appear happy and satisfied with themselves because they emotionally feel good? When people call good evil and evil good, this logically becomes a reversal of gods. But don't fret. "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (Mt. 5:11-12). The enemy puts forth an erroneous judgment.
What exactly is evil other than just the opposite of good? The first mention of evil in the Bible is in Genesis 2:9 where God made every tree that was pleasant, or nice, to look at, and good for food, except for one tree and that was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And they were prohibited to indulge in it because it would bring death.
The only power the adversary has is the power we give to it, keeping in mind that all power is given unto Jesus Christ. Consequently, the divine delegation of power to man is not void of accountability. If we attribute good or evil to the wrong source, we become our own worst enemy. If the truth will set us free, we must know what the truth is. We must prove all things and hold fast to the good (I Thes. 5:21). Likewise in the following verse, verse 22, we must avoid all appearance of evil.
The adversary is saying that you can be free to believe anything you want, as long as you don't impose it on anyone else. Well, excuse me, but the whole point of the Bible and Christianity is an imposition of divine revelation so that we don't live in perpetual adversity.
The word evil from Strong's Concordance is 7451, the Hebrew word 'ra', and comes from 7489 and means to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces). The unity of a church can rot from within because of a few bad apples. A person who spoils the unity of a fellowship is evil. Figuratively, 7451 means to make (or be) good for nothing (physically, socially or morally); much like the parable of salt in Mt. 5:13. "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. " The spiritual application is adulterating the word of God. That is to say, "for I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Rev. 22:18-19).
The description of evil, Strong's 7451, is adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, displease, distress, grief, harm, hurt and vex. In the New Testament Greek, evil is 4190 and means hurtful in effect or influence, derelict, vicious, malice and mischief. The Bible is about cause and effect. Let's read about the effects in Mt. 7:16-20:
"Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. "
We are not only fruit inspectors, but root inspectors to identify the cause. What is the root of all evil? According to I Timothy 6:10, it is the love of money. The cliché 'if it feels good . . . do it' usually has a price tag and the cost emanates from evil.
What's the most evil thing in the world today, and why can't it be eradicated? It's the idea that 'man is basically good'. Look at the corner that our society has painted itself into, in elections, voting for the lesser of the two evils. David Letterman once interviewed Donald Trump, and he jokingly asked him how much cash he could get with just a few phone calls. Trump answered in a serious tone and said, "No cash, Dave, but billions in credit." Where do our values go when we give power to the purse? They go down the toilet.
Even back in Noah's day "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuously" (Gen. 6:5). The word wickedness is also 7451 (ra), but can be 2154 as well, having the meaning of a plan, especially a bad one, with the motive of committing a heinous crime; like the advocacy of partial birth abortions or making the sodomite lifestyle socially acceptable, or the jewish world wars of the last century.
There's a saying that says "evil prospers when good men (or nice guys) do nothing". To that I would have to say that if they do nothing, they are no longer good. What's the healthiest thing to do? Proverbs 3:7-8 tells us "be not wise in thine old eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil, it shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. " Perhaps now we have a better appreciation when we call somebody or something evil.
Continued in Part 2: "Evil, Part 2"
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