Are You Evil?

The title of the sermon today is, Are You Evil? You may say, that sounds insulting. And I would question whether you are evil. Are you evil? We all look at the Word, think of the Word, and say, well, maybe that's someone else, that's not me. Well, this is a time of examination as we come to the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Well, we will examine ourselves, and we see where we sometimes come up short. But do we really dig sometimes a little deeper and say, hmm, is there evil in me? Now, if I had anybody raise their hand, if you thought you were evil, I doubt we'd have a whole lot of hands. But I can raise my hand. There is evil in me. And it's something I have to examine, something I have to dig at. Because a lot of times it's very deep inside, something that you want to try to get rid of. So do you know evil? Do you know evil? Perhaps you know this. When you look at things, are you this way? You what? What does that mean? Yes, everybody seems to know it, don't they? Are we that way? Are we that way in our lives? Do you know the history of this? It's from the Orient. And it's been since it traces all the way back to the 10th century. They actually have carvings from the 16th and 17th century on temples of these three. Because it is something that has existed for a very long time. So do you know evil? Do you know it when you see it? Who? Evil Knievel. Now he changed his name to Evil Knievel. I don't know many people who would want to change their name to Evil. Do you know anybody named Evil besides Evil Knievel? No? Not what your husband, not what your wife calls you. No. No. Well, how about this one? Do you recognize this man? What's his name? Dr. Evil. Not Mr. Evil, but Dr. Evil. It's from a movie, right? And everybody can look at it. Most people know this is Dr. Evil. And he was named that because he did bad things, supposedly. Have no problem knowing this. Have you, by chance, seen this movie? You have? OK. I saw it. Mike saw it. A few others have seen it. Was it a movie I would recommend? Probably not. I saw it many years ago. It is Cape Fear. Cape Fear was a movie starring Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro. And it personified evil. Personified evil. And it put this family at risk because of someone individual. And his name was, or is, or was Max Cady. Max Cady was the villain in this movie, who was evil. Max Cady, portrayed by Robert De Niro in 1992, the movie Cape Fear. He actually won an Oscar. And we just had the Academy Awards, which I did not even turn over or watch. Typically don't. But in 1992, Robert De Niro won one of his Oscars performance for portraying evil. And I will, for those that watched it, he was a very evil man. Everything he did was evil. So, it is easy sometimes to see evil. Do you recognize as this evil?

I used to have one when I was a kid. I didn't realize there was anything evil in it. Most of you recognize this as evil, right?

Am I the only one that ever played it? I don't see any hands coming up, except Mike's honest back there. There's even Nora.

This was something in the early, late 60s, early 70s that people did. Maybe they still do, do they? I don't know. I wouldn't think so as much. But it just got people looking at the dark side, or, wow, could the future be told? What if we want to find out these answers?

Evil. Evil. How about this individual?

Recognize? Most people recognize this as a picture of evil, because of what he did. How he acted, how he carried on. It's interesting. One of his most famous quotes is, I use emotion for the many when I am speaking and logic for the few.

An insight into an evil mind. I use emotion for the many. That's how he got people stirred up to do what he wanted to do. And logic for the few that had to know or question him on these things.

Good versus evil. That is what this message is about today.

How does it weigh in your mind?

Are you sure? Are you sure you know what is good and what is evil?

It's interesting in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew. You can see the word. It's one word for evil in the Hebrew.

Ra. Easy to remember, huh? Just two words. Ra. Except it actually has as many Hebrew words have this guttural sound. Ra. Ra. And when people would say it, they wouldn't just go, Ra. It was Ra. Because they realized, that's a strong word. It's powerful word because it means what? Evil. Ra. When you heard it, you knew it.

When you saw it, you realized it.

And this word, Ra, Ra, actually means bad.

It means wickedness, adversity, or calamity.

Is that how you picture evil? It actually comes from the root word, R-A-A. Ra. It was a very, that's for the root word, Ra. And it actually meant to spoil, to break into pieces, to destroy, to do harm, and to afflict. That's why you see it mentioned evil, mentioned so many times in the Scripture. It's an important word that we should know. As we define our lives, as Mr. Jean talked about, we define our lives by following Christ.

We also have to define our lives by the absence of evil. By the absence of evil.

So, why is this worth a sermon? Don't we know all this?

Interesting, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ, is talking. He talks about when you pray. Then he says, Pray, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from what?

Deliver us from evil. We'd be praying. So evil is out there. And we talked about the origin of it. It took place millions of years ago when iniquity was found in him. But in that scripture in Matthew 6, the actual Hebrew, and so many of the new translations actually bring it up to date, the actual word evil is masculine, not neuter. So it actually, the truer translations, deliver us from the evil one. You may have that in your Bible, the newer ones. Deliver us from the evil one, because there is such an influence that he has over this world today. I'd like you to go, if you will, turn with me to Mark 7. Mark 7.

Mark 7 in verse 20, I'll read from the New King James today. Mark 7 in verse 20. And Christ said, what comes out of a man, that defiles a man.

For from within, out of the heart.

For from within, out of the heart of men. So he's talking about the heart here. Heart is the center. Heart is the focus. Heart is referencing what your inner thoughts, your innermost being, who you really are. By the time shown by, what's in your heart, doesn't it?

And it says, From within, out of the heart of men proceed.

What evil thoughts. Evil thoughts. You ever had any? Yes? Well, guess what? You're going to have some more. And we have to battle it. So he's saying, it comes from the heart. You may say, well, no, I know better. It's like the mind and the heart.

Isn't that why God said that he would write his laws in our minds and in our hearts, so that we can battle this. Out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, and then it says in mind, an evil eye. An evil eye. What's an evil eye?

Looks for evil. Always looking to bad. Yeah, when you break it down, one other translation actually says, a lustful eye. A lustful eye.

Do we have one?

We have to learn to reign, to control these lusts, these desires, these evil thoughts. Then he talks about blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man. So they're inside of us, even though we are influenced by the outside.

A lot of times we can battle those off, can't we? But many times it's what is deep within us. Is this a reason that God asks us to examine ourselves every year? To dig deep, to rededicate our lives to the path that we hopefully are following? The path that Jesus Christ put in front of us? Good versus evil. Who decides? Tell me, who decides? You decide. I decide. I decide just how much evil is in here. How much evil I want to get out of here, and those evil thoughts. So it's a very deep subject, very personal. And as I heard one man say, offensive to me before, when I touched on this subject. Because you've gone to meddling. You hit a chord. Because we're all the same. We're all made with flaws. But we're all given a chance and time to overcome those flaws, aren't we? To work on ourselves, to try to have a better pattern of life. Raw. Raw.

Evil? Or the other word in the Old Testament?

Tob. Tob means good. Good. Almost seems to be. Maybe that's just a coincidence. But Tob, it doesn't have that, ha! It's just kind of a Tob sound in it, from the Hebrew language.

So are we, ra? Or Tob? We get to answer that question at this time of the year. Hopefully we ask it a few more times as we go to repentance daily. In the Greek, it's actually poneros. P-O-N-E-R-O-S. That's the word for evil in the Greek. It actually means to hurt, to be vicious, to inflict pain. So they both follow the same, whether it's in the Greek, whether it's ra or nares, or Tob. Good. I want to bring something out that was brought to my attention because I studied this subject probably 10 to 12 years ago. And just basically forgot about it until someone recommended a sermon that I listened to. Also, if you hear a sermon sometime you think I could benefit from, I'm going to ask you to send it my way. I always like to hear.

But Steve Shafer actually brought this out in one of his messages. Our pastor, I forget what church. Where is he? Minnesota? Michigan. Okay. I think it was one of those Yankee states.

But he brought this out, and there's a very good study. And I hope to bring it to you sometime. I'd like to do a whole sermon on it because it's very, very interesting. And it can be backed up with quite a bit of archaeology and research and history. And it's the study of word pictures. Word pictures. The actual Egyptians had hieroglyphics. And this has different words. Pictography. There's various words that's used in the study. And if you are interested in it, let me know. I know I was many years ago, and then I just kind of lost track of it as I got in other things. But I just dug it back up after he said something and went in. Started researching it. And actually, there's a great deal of proof. I wouldn't base my salvation on it. But a great deal of proof that before the children of Israel came into Egypt, that there really wasn't a Hebrew language. And that most of the language from the time of Babel, up until actual writings of Moses, who wrote Genesis, Exodus, and the Torah, that most of the world communicated with word pictures. And it's very interesting how these word pictures work, because they would just be symbols. It would just be a picture, yet people knew what it represented. And if you're interested sometime, I'd like to do a message on it, because it tells you the various words that existed before the Hebrew language that were actually used by so many people. Even if you didn't speak the same language, you have to remember all the various languages were split at the time of Nimr. And so there would actually be symbols, and people would put these symbols on rocks, or whatever they had before the papyrus of Egypt. And people understood what word they meant by these word pictures. It's interesting that one of the word pictures for evil is a picture of this.

And they would have different symbols. Can anybody tell me why this would picture evil? I couldn't. When I looked at it, I had to research it and go, well, you know, I guess I'm not up on my word pictures.

Could be scary at night. Yes, true. Hiding place? Guard of Eden?

Snakes? I thought the same thing too. I had all these thoughts as I was looking at it. But then I find out that according to these writings, that this picture is evil because there's no path. And it actually meant getting off the path. Getting off following the path that God has laid out. You might say Adam and Eve went from the Garden of Eden to the forest, didn't they?

The path is what we've been called to follow.

The first mention, if you would go with me, the first mention of evil in the Scriptures is where?

Well, you never fail by saying Genesis, right?

But it actually took place at the very start with Adam and Eve. Genesis 3 and verse 1, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, As God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the tree of the fruit of the garden, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, you shall not touch it, lest you die. Now, in Scripture, it doesn't say anything about touch. I don't know. Was that her adding to it, or was that something that perhaps Adam told her? Don't even touch it!

But then it says, The serpent said to her, You will not surely die. Doubt, putting doubt in the mind. Actually, the Hebrew, if you go and read from the actual Hebrew script, it's actually put a little more harsh than that. It's actually said, Satan said, No, you will not die.

Calling to the fact that he's telling her something she did not know. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Knowing good and evil. Was he right? Absolutely. He was right. Because she had only seen, only been around, good. She did not know evil. There was no evil around. Everything was good. And now she was going to be able to know evil.

Yes, she did. And it didn't take long. Because one of the first things she saw about evil was what? Her husband, blaming her.

He didn't take anything upon himself, did he?

He said, no, it's that woman you gave me. How do you think that made her feel?

And it didn't take long after that, did it?

Before she saw evil, she felt the pain from childbirth. And evil, it didn't have to happen. Pain.

And God said, now because of this, you're going to face pain. And then she even faced a greater pain. What? Her son. One of her sons killing her other son. That's like seeing evil in the face, isn't it?

That is seeing evil. For where it is. Genesis 6. The page is over. Genesis 6, please.

Genesis 6, as God looks down, in verse 5, He said, What is that word? Heart was only evil continually. Only evil continually.

Evil was now taking over the world.

And it would love to take over the world today.

Wasn't it David who said, Psalm 23, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will do what? Fear no evil. Like our message before me, Do we? Do we walk?

Dark times, troubled times in this world? And fear?

David didn't. He was a warrior. He knew. He knew what fear was. He knew what it was to have God on His side. Interesting when God brings out in Proverbs 6, the six things, no seven things that God hates.

Remember what the next and last one was? Feet that are swift, running to evil. Haven't you seen that? You see it today. There are people that just, wickedness, they just run. It's not like, Oh, well, I might get in trouble. It's like, yes, I don't care. I'm going to go do this. Evil.

That's why God says in Proverbs 22, verse 3, The prudent man foresees evil. He foresees it. And you know what Scripture says? And hides. Hides from it.

Doesn't play with it. Doesn't caress it. Doesn't say, I've got this under control. Because when we say that, we usually don't, do we?

Like you go with me to Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 8.

Ecclesiastes 8, verse 11.

He says, Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is fully set in those who do evil. You know, people get away with something for a long time. And you know, it also happens to us. God doesn't, when we sin, He just doesn't go, wham! Slap you down! We get up and we go, oh, I'm not going to do that again. But He doesn't do that, does He? Sometimes He works with us and sometimes He doesn't. But many times He likes for us to make a mistake and want to come around and come to that understanding ourselves, being led by His Word and His Spirit.

But we can look around and we say, look at all these evil people out there! Nothing happens to them! Matter of fact, they're rich!

That's why He's saying this in Ecclesiastes. But He says, Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear God, who have that fear. Do we? Do we fear evil? Enough. I have to ask myself that. We sometimes make mistakes and do things. I think it was the prophet Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 20 of memory Scripture, that says, Woe to those who call, Raw, Tob, and Tob, Raw! Woe to those who call, Evil, Good, and Good, Evil! And that is a line that is so blurred in today's society, isn't it? It's blurred in business. It's blurred in entertainment. It's blurred everywhere.

Well, maybe I wouldn't call it evil.

So, like our previous strip up here, who decides?

For us, it's decided by God's Word, isn't it? What is good and what is evil?

Amos actually tells us to seek good and not evil. I think we all know that. We've seeked a little evil in our lives and know what it means, but he actually says, Hate! Hate evil and love good. Hate, evil, and love good. Let's go to Romans 12. Romans 12.

Romans 12, verse 9. He said, Let agape be without hypocrisy. Then he said, Abhor, what is evil? What does it mean to abhor? Hate. Have you ever abhorred anything? You have? What?

Okay. Anybody else? Of course.

Yeah, to see someone murdered, like we had over here in the school, and just walks in and kills 17 people and injures 17 others, we should abhor. That was evil, wasn't it? He says, Abhor, what is evil and cling to what is good? That's us. Will we cling to it? Because if we're clinging to good, we can let evil go. But if we're holding on to a little evil, we don't have a good grip on good. Do we? So will we be able to do this? Is this something that we want to do? I went in Romans. Look down at verse 12. Romans 12. Oh, excuse me. Verse 17. Paul mentions this many times in the book of Romans. Why? Obviously, there was a problem in Rome. There was a lot of evil in Rome.

And he said, Repain no one evil for evil. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Boy, what the world wouldn't be. But if you accidentally stick it to me, guess what? I'm going to stick it to you. But he's saying, Don't do that. And then he comes over in verse 21. And he says, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

How do you do that? I mean, that's easy to say, but how do I overcome this evil? Don't let it overcome me. Or actually, the Greek word actually means conquer. When you see overcome, you can also see one of the words. How do I not let evil conquer me, but I can conquer it with good? Well, it comes into the mindset. What are we putting in our minds? What are we putting in our hearts?

Because we have to dig some of this stuff out. I've got stuff I put in there when I was a teenager that I'm still trying to get out. Now, maybe you don't have that issue. But I had a lot of wasted youth and some adult life. And so, it went not only in my mind, but it got in there, got in my heart. And I have to work in getting that out.

And the only way I can overcome good, what he's saying here, overcome evil with good, is I have to do more good than evil, and the only way I know what good is, is what is in this book. That's why it's so important. And you may think, sometimes, boy, you're very redundant. You just keep saying, get in the book, get in the book, get in the book, get in the book, get in the book! Because if you're not in the book, you're going to be in the world. It's that simple. And I can tell you, if I didn't get in this book, I'm going to be in the world.

And I don't think you want a worldly pastor. I don't think you want worldly members. I told Mary this week, I had to last night, I said, you know, I did not study the Word this week like I needed to. Was I in this every day? Absolutely. But was it enough for me? No. No, I have to be honest with you. I let things get in the way this week. And I didn't go to this like I do, like I normally do.

And I felt it. And I hope you don't do that. And that's why I bring this out before you. I confess my sin. I should have been in there. Because with me, when I'm not there, or when I know I should be, whatever is not of faith is of sin. And I need to do more study. I need to be in there. But I was reading other stuff.

I had other stuff to do. I was over here. I was very, very busy. In fact, I talked to the regional director of the French work this week as I was talking about Haiti. I was talking to Tim Pebworth. And Tim told me he's been flying all over here, flying all over the world, and doing this. And he goes, Chuck, why don't we both try to remind each other? We need to make sure we're grounded. Because we can get so busy doing the work that we forget the work that God is doing in us. And we let some stuff slide, or we read the Bible, but we just read it.

We don't study it. We don't own it. And I hope I can do a better job of that. You know, James thought it was so important to the church at the time that he said, Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. Let's make sure that we build this up. Brethren, evil, as I wrap this up today. Raw! Raw! Evil comes in all shapes and sizes, and evil is in every one of us.

But it varies by degrees. It varies by percentage. What percentage of you is evil? Do you know? And if you don't, isn't that something good to examine? And say, well, wait a minute, can I change that? Can I change that percentage? By examining and measuring ourselves, we get a chance to maybe get rid of a percentage of evil that we have not focused on before. That's maybe buried way deep. As David who said, created me a clean heart.

Let's get some of the evil out. See, you cannot fix the engine of a car if you've never lift the hood. Right? Any of you who's ever worked on cars? You go, well, something's wrong with you. I think it's maybe a belt. I don't know. I don't know what to do. I guess I'll drive it on. No, you can't fix it. We can't fix with God's help because He wants us fixed. He knows we're human.

And there's a whole plan of God is giving us a way to cleanse ourselves every day, to come back, to be redeemed as we are by Him. I told this story many times.

You'll bear with me. It's very short, but it hits a point. I've told this many times before about a grandfather and his grandson going to the zoo. And the grandson always wanted to see the wolves. He just loved how they looked at him. And he said, Grandpa, can we go see the wolves? So Grandpa takes him over there and knows he loves to see it, and he sees those wolves.

And he tells his grandson, he said, Son, you know there's wolves inside of you. He said, Really? Grandpa, is there? He said, Yes. There's a good wolf and there's an evil wolf. And he said, They war against each other and they fight against each other every day. And he said, Grandpa, which one will win? And he says, The one you feed. The one that you feed. Brethren, how do we feed it?

Good, not evil. Where do we find good? One place. It's called the good book, or it used to be. Now you hardly ever hear that term. Do you? When's the last time you heard someone, newspaper, or newsman, or something call it the good book? They don't call it good because they don't think there's good in here.

Because it's judgmental. It's very condemning. And how can that be good? God defined evil and he defined good. Brethren, this week, examine the Ra and replace it with Toba.

We will have a wonderful time tomorrow. I hope I pray. Ask that you will too. As we're able to spend time with each other, share some food and fellowship and fun and games and watch the kids and kind of just take some time off and enjoy life. That's what we want. We want to see the good.

So, brethren, I ask you this week to please try and have an evil-less week.

More Toba and less Ra.