Overcoming Evil with Good

SERMON: 2015-06-07--r1215e--overcoming-evil-with-good-part-5 SOURCE DURATION: 00:35:36.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: The recording begins with the speaker setting up a theological exposition on confronting evil (segment [0]) and concludes with a strong pastoral application/theological summary of the sermon's main points (segment [316]). Both boundaries are clearly within continuous sermon material. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: none ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: no ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: none Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Well, I pointed out two weeks ago that when it comes to confronting evil, God's people have historically chosen three different approaches. The first approach is they've chosen a policy of non-engagement. That is to say, see no evil, engage no evil. That's, as I pointed out, a very popular option, particularly when evil is far away and when it doesn't touch my own life. But as I pointed out also, the problem with disengagement or non-engagement is that evil grows all the more powerfully. There is a quote attributed to the famous scientist Albert Einstein. He said, "The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." There's a second approach that a lot of God's people have adopted, and that is a policy of waging war. It is the opposite of non-engagement. It is stepping into the battle. It was St. Augustine many years ago, followed by Thomas Aquinas in the Middle Ages who postulated a theory of just war, conditions under which Christian nations could justly wage war. And there's a lot of biblical truth to that in the sense that God has established authority figures. God only rules the world directly. He also rules it indirectly, and the government, he says, does not bear the sword in vain. And there is a place for fighting evil, even aggressively. Problem with it, however, is that even if externally we can make people yield, force cannot win people's hearts' loyalty. And so I'm reminded of the little boy whose mother was trying to get him to sit down in the high chair, and he finally sat down, but then he looked at her defiantly and he said, "Well, on the outside I'm sitting down, but inside I'm still standing up." And I said to myself, "Just wait till he's 15 years old and see what happens then." But there's a third option, and it's not an option that we think about very often, but it runs throughout the pages of scripture in addition to the other options, and that is this. A policy of living obediently. Let me say it again. A policy of living obediently. And that's what Paul talks about in the words of our text when he says, "Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you, but I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil." Notice the sequence. Obedience, wise as to what is good, innocent about what is evil, and then what happens? The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. As I said earlier, it is God's intention to crush Satan and all that he represents under the feet of the saints of God. Now let's think about that for just a little bit, because that phrase "crush Satan under your feet" reminds you of what Old Testament text. Anybody know? Sure you do. We've quoted it many times, Genesis 3.15, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, and he will," say it with me, "he will crush your head and you will strike his heel." Now that refers, as I've pointed out on a number of occasions, to what the Bible calls or what I like to call the conflict of the ages, the battle that rages throughout the course of history, a battle that plays out on three levels. First of all, Satan, the adversary over against God, Satan against the human race, and then the followers of Satan against the children of God. History is filled with examples of that battle on every level. And the promise here in Genesis 3.15 is that in this battle between God and Satan, Satan and the human race, and the children of Satan and the children of God, guess who's going to win? God is going to win and the children of God are going to win. Satan is going to be crushed under our feet. Now if you know the Bible, then you know that that is ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus, whose heel was bruised, if you will, on the cross. Satan engineered his death and his destruction, but he rose from the dead and crushed Satan's power. And today Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings. He has the name that is above every name. He is the fulfillment of that first gospel promise that we have in Genesis 3.15. He is the first member of the human race, fully human, fully exalted at the right hand of God the Father, fully in authority over all evil. Now here's the question for you this morning. How did he get there? How did Jesus become Lord of lords and King of kings? Did he become Lord of lords and King of kings by following a policy of non-engagement? No, because he, in fact, left the glory of heaven to be born as a little baby in this very sinful, ugly world, and he fully identified with all our garbage, didn't he? Did he follow a policy of taking up the sword and did he take on evil and did he say, "Well, I'm going to get rid of all evil and everybody's going to listen to me"? Well, there's only one recorded instance in the gospels where Jesus resorted to violence. You will recall that and that is when he is cleansing the temple and he had the authority to do that, by the way, because as the son of God, the temple was his father's house and so Jesus exercised the father's authority in that situation. But apart from that, Jesus did not engage in violence and yet here he is, the name above every name, at the right hand of God the Father, ruling over all creation. How did he get there? He got there by being obedient unto death. Listen to these well-known words, Philippians chapter two, one of the earliest Christian hymns, really, let's put it up, "Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became," say it with me, "obedient to death, even death on a cross." Read the whole verse with me, "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess," you're lagging here, come on folks, "Every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Now what's Paul saying? Paul is saying that Jesus has the name that is above every name. You know what that means? He is the boss. He is like over every authority, every power in all of the universe that not only includes all the political powers in this world, all the economic powers in the world, it also includes all the spiritual powers in the universe, Jesus is higher than all of them. That's no small accomplishment I want you to know because it means that he is truly Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Now back to that question, how did he get there? He didn't get there by fighting for it. He didn't get there by non-engagement. He got there by being obedient unto death. And so he conquered by the sacrifice of himself. Now let's talk about that a little bit because on the one hand that's incredibly simple but on the other hand it's incredibly profound and I'm really anxious for us this morning to try to capture why that is, to understand why it was the obedience of Jesus that enabled him to conquer Satan and all forces of evil. We have to go back to the original question of how did evil come into the world? How did evil come into the world? You and I both know that according to scripture God created Adam and Eve in the opening chapters of Genesis in relationship with himself in paradise and there was no way that Satan and evil could come into that life. God was right there and his protection was right there. So the question then is how in the world did Satan get into the picture? Now think of it in terms of a city under siege. What has to happen for a city with walls to be conquered by the enemy? There's only two ways the enemy can get in there. One is by breaching the walls and that's where you know in history you learn about all these sieges and siege machineries and try to break through the defenses but there's a second way and what might that be? Somebody on the inside opens the door and lets the enemy in. A lot of you know that some years ago Weba and I had a chance to go to China and of course when you go to China one of the things that you do is you visit the Great Wall of China and the Great Wall of China as you know runs for thousands and thousands of miles over the most rugged of hills. It was built in varying phases over a period of about a thousand years and the purpose of the wall was to stop invaders from the north coming into the kingdom and if I remember my history lesson correctly there's only two occasions that wall was breached. Would you like to know how it was breached each time? A guard was bribed by the enemy and he let them through. That's what Adam and Eve did in the garden. The devil couldn't just come barging in through their defenses. He couldn't just overtake them. He had to win their allegiance and so he deceived them and in deceiving them he gained entry into the world and so the result of that is that you and I live in a world where Satan has been given authority. And if you know anything at all about Christian history then you know that the devil who starts out as a serpent in the book of Genesis throughout the course of history grows to become a big red dragon and everywhere you look the devil is busy winning people over, alienating people from God, breathing lies and deception into them so that they prefer to serve the devil as opposed to God and that is the history of the world and for God that's quite an issue as you can understand because he wants to build his own kingdom and he wants people to be yielded to him and so he's trying to gain us back so to speak and Satan is hard at work through every institution, organization and method that he can to try to wean us away from God and to fill us with unbelief and ungodly behavior. I don't need to elaborate. I trust you understand you experience it in your own life. So the big question then from God's perspective or from our perspective is having let the devil in, how do you get him out? If you've ever encountered the devil in your own life or sin in your own life you know that it's a lot easier to get into trouble than to get out of trouble isn't it? That's a no brainer. Well what we needed of course was a savior, a messiah and the promise of scripture is that God would send a deliverer who would deliver us from Satan's power not by waging a sword at him first and foremost in the history he will but not initially but rather by being not subject to his deception and by remaining faithful to God in obedience even unto death and so while the rest of us we live in here and we are by nature dominated by Satan following the spirit of the power of the year craving and catering towards sin instead of godliness Jesus conceived by the Holy Spirit didn't share our sinful nature, lived in obedience to God the Father even to the point of dying on the cross. He never sinned, he was always faithful to God, he did the will of God every step of the way Satan had no power over him in fact in John's Gospel Jesus says I'm going to the cross but I want you to know Satan has no power over me. There was nothing in Jesus it was like Jesus was dressed in spandex you couldn't grab the devil couldn't grab hold of him to in any way have any authority over his life and the ultimate demonstration of that is that while Jesus died death couldn't hold him Peter talks about that in his Pentecost sermon death could not hold him he rose from the dead he ascended on high God owns the whole universe he gives it to whoever he is in relationship with and so Jesus received the name that is above every name he is the one whose heel was bruised but he is the one who crushed Satan under his feet and he did it because he never compromised his relationship with God because he was in perfect relationship with God Satan had no claim on him and God had no reason not to give him the fullness of his blessing do you understand I don't want to unduly belabor it do you understand how profoundly critical this is for you and me because what's the gospel message the gospel message is that when you and I understand our sin and misery namely we are sinners we're under God's judgment the devil owns us by nature we cannot escape his clutches we're all going to succumb to his power sooner or later when we recognize that when we understand that when we see who Jesus is that Jesus had never sold out to the devil that he is the son of God who is the recipient of everything that God has to offer and we put our faith in him then what God has given to Jesus oh I wish I could preach it what God has given to Jesus he will give to you and he will give to me listen to how John puts it in 1 John chapter 5 verse 4 everyone born of God overcomes the world this is the victory that has overcome the world even our faith let me read it again everyone born of God overcomes the world remember the world is this whole system all around us that is under the devil's domination everyone born of God overcomes the world this is the victory that has overcome the world even our faith that means again when by faith we are joined to Jesus whatever God has given to Jesus he has given to you and to me so back to the question how is Satan going to be crushed under our feet how do we gain victory not only over the spiritual powers of the universe that seek to lead the whole world including us astray how do we gain victory over all the devil's children who are filling the world with their nonsense and with their lies far faster than you and I can even begin to try to stop by non engagement no because by non engagement evil continues to flourish by drawing our swords by launching campaigns and by fighting every force of evil through petition and organization and all kinds of other battles and yes there is a time and a place for that and God can use it but you and I both know that the more dirt we throw the more dirt gets thrown back at us and in the long run you end up losing the war look at the culture war in North America God's people have virtually retreated from us and where are the voices that are are being raised up to put to naught the lie of the enemy how do we win the victory well this is very counterintuitive folks we win the victory ultimately by living obediently through faith in Jesus in the midst of our culture by being innocent as to what is evil and being filled with what is righteous and learning to stand for truth wherever truth we encounter so how do we work that out in practical reality well two very quick thoughts on that number one we need to know who it is that we are in Christ we need to know who in Christ we really are 2nd Corinthians 517 you know it well if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has gone the new has come the phrase in Christ occurs 89 times in the New Testament and if we can just put that chart back up in Christ stands in contrast to being in Adam to be in Adam means that we share all that Adam is it is our natural inheritance it's what you look like it's the gifts that you're born with it's the temperament that you have it is what you can accomplish in the world by virtue of your natural birth it is a place under Satan's power it is a place sold out to sin it is a place that does not want to serve God and is incapable of serving God that's where we are by nature that's in Adam in Christ on the other hand refers to what Christ has won for us in Christ by faith in him we are the children of God we are righteous in Christ Satan has no power over us in Christ we have the gifts of the Holy Spirit we have the calling of God's Holy Spirit on our lives God has determined for us an inheritance that nobody and nothing can ever take away from us remember the Apostle Paul was profoundly impressed with his own credentials as a Jew before he came to Christ he said I'm a Jew I'm of a tribe of Benjamin I'm I'm more righteous than anybody else that you I'm a good person in so many different ways but then he said I met Jesus and then I discovered that everything I brought to the table it was nothing more than manure and he said I counted all things as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord to know Jesus is to know who it is that we are in him and it is to stand in him and it is to proclaim him Revelation 12 11 puts it this way a powerful verse this is about the saints who were being martyred in the book of Revelation the dragon is is breathing fire all over the early church and the Bible says they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death how do they overcome Satan by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony because they didn't love their lives unto death you want to be a victor you want to impact the world for good you are exercised about all the stuff that you see happening and you cry out oh god how long what can I do the place to begin is to say Lord show me who I am in Christ show me that I'm righteous in Christ show me that regardless of where I come from regardless of what I've done I am as good as it gets to be because a Jesus the devil has no claim over me get lost I'm a child of God God is my father every power of hell can go to hell because I belong to Jesus that's where it starts that's where it starts the devil cannot touch you there because he's got to come through Jesus to get to you and he's not going to be able to do that so that's where it starts then understanding that knowing that living out of that we have to live it out in real life Ephesians 4 22 to 24 you've heard these verses before put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life it's corrupt through deceitful lusts be renewed in the spirit of your minds put on the new nature created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness this is sanctification hold that chart up for just a moment you know just as well as I do that just because positionally we are over here in Christ that doesn't mean all the rest of our lives line up with what we are in Christ isn't that true would you admit this morning there's probably a place or two in your life where you're falling short of being like Jesus a place where maybe the world tempts you a place where you fall into patterns of sin a place where you're not the perfect husband you're not the perfect life and you certainly aren't the perfect kid there's a gap between what we are by faith in Christ and what we are by nature and a lot of Christians really get discouraged because they say to themselves well I must not be a Christian because old sins keep coming back and old patterns keep reoccurring and I've lost my cool and and I don't really love God the way that I ought to be loving God and we get all down in ourselves because because we're not where we know we want to be let's have that chart back up again for just a moment the reality is that just because I am positionally in Christ I'm still living in this world and my flesh or sin nature is still with me but here is the difference I am now in Christ what happens when I am in Christ God gives me the Holy Spirit what's the job of the Holy Spirit the job of the Holy Spirit is to make real in my experience what in Christ I already am and so in Christ I'm a child of God my flesh says well that doesn't care doesn't love you doesn't understand he doesn't hear no no in Christ I'm a child of God and the Holy Spirit in me now it's his job to show me when I get out of line when I act out of the character that I am in Christ and it's his job to encourage me to become more and more like Jesus that's what Paul is talking about he says be renewed in the spirit of your mind when Christ is in you you're going to be convicted of things that you were never convicted of before your desires are going to change you want to become more like Jesus and when you get out of line there's an alarm bell that goes off on the inside that says smarten up what are you going to listen to your old human desire or the presence in the power of God's Holy Spirit biblically that's called walking after the spirit and scripture puts it this way in the book of Romans if you love according to your sinful nature you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live because those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God in the Bible this is called walking after the Spirit or walking in step with the Spirit and if you're in Christ this morning then you have the ability to walk after the Spirit and there will be those times when you are tempted to fall back into old patterns and inside there will be something that says don't do it or you'll be called to do something and your flesh will say I don't want to do it but inside the Holy Spirit is at work in you bringing you to the place where you can really bow before the authority of Jesus that's what makes a Christian a Christian we're not a Christian because we're perfect we're not a Christian because we don't fall back into sin we're Christians because we have new life in us the life of Jesus quick illustration heard this in focus of the family the other day as I was driving back and forth to church this mom was talking about her five year old son who was a hellion of a child the most difficult of all her children a child that not even a mother could love half the time you know that's bad and she and the kid were having this huge hassle about something or another and she was trying to explain to him you know how much she and her husband had done for this kid and and this kid looks at her defiantly and he says you know and he said this in all sincerity I wish I had been born into another family and you can imagine what was on the tip of her tongue on the tip of her tongue was the caustic remark to say you know that could be arranged real easily I'd happily give you away right about now and that had been her pattern in the past which is what it contributed to this kid's attitude instead this time she caught herself because the Holy Spirit convicted her and she bit her tongue and instead of chewing him out she said you know of all my children you were the most difficult delivery you caused me an immense amount of pain and true to form you have been the most difficult of my children there are many there have been many many a time when I haven't known what to do with you but you know what I would do it again in a heartbeat because I loved you you see that's returning good for evil and that's what breaks the power of evil when we live out the righteousness of Christ all right very quickly what happens when we do that two things happen number one and we won't have time to talk about this this morning but you'll experience persecution Jesus put it this way all men will hate you because of me you would think you would think that when people are more and more like Jesus people would love them more and more not true maybe some other time we'll talk about that in more detail but there's something else that happens when you and I can stand firm in the righteousness of Christ and when we learn to walk obediently in biblical values like Daniel and his friends of old refuse to compromise refuse to be bowled over just love the Lord our God with all of our heart soul strength and mind and love our neighbor as we love ourselves here's what happens and this is very ironic Satan's power gets broken everyone has heard about your obedience I'm full of joy over you but I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet how does Satan get defeated by God's people who refuse to compromise who refuse to be bowled over by the values of the world who refuse to let evil overcome them but who instead overcome evil with good and I leave you this morning with this question where in your life in your experience are you exercised about evil evil in the world evil in your home evil in relationships what does it look like not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good what promptings do you receive from the Holy Spirit to return good for evil because it is those actions little as they are that ultimately bring down the power of evil and that will establish one day the kingdom of God when Jesus comes again and says enough [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:35:29.760; remove through 00:35:36.000] is enough I reclaim the world for myself [CUT] [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:35:36.000; resume after this marked segment]