Calling Evil Good and Good Evil

Brethren, I'd like to take the basis of my message today from the book of Isaiah, Chapter 5. You could be making your way there as I go into the introduction today. Isaiah, Chapter 5. In the history of both Israel and Judah, there was a societal mindset that had entered in among many of the leaders as well as the people. And it was a mindset that in part precipitated God's judgment on those nations. As you recall, the history of Israel, they were carried off by the Assyrians, displaced from their land rather brutally and ultimately scattered among the nations. And God gave the nation of Judah a little more time to correct the error of their ways. But as they continued to turn away from God, do what seemed right in their own eyes, God ultimately brought them into judgment as well. And they were carried off in the captivity into Babylon. Now, the mindset today I'm referring to is an attitude that we can find around us in the world today. It's an attitude that runs rampant in our society, the result of which will play no better for the modern-day descendants of Israel than the previous generations that have gone before. It's a mindset, brethren, that can creep in the doors of the Church of God and into our personal and spiritual lives if you and I are not careful as well. And so in Isaiah 5, we find the mindset described. It's listed amongst other weaknesses of the nation of Judah. And we can also see God's warning contained here as well. Essentially, the chapter begins with a song about God's people, how God planted a vineyard, tended for it, and he expected it to produce good grapes. After all, he was their God. He was guiding and directing and investing his energy into this vineyard, as the analogy is. And instead of producing good grapes, produced wild grapes, it produced the fruit of sin. And so in light of that rebellious response, the chapter goes on to describe several woes that are pronounced against the nation of Judah. And so the mindset I want to focus on today is contained within the second woe. And we find that in Isaiah 5 and verse 20. Isaiah 5 and verse 20. And it says, woe. And the word woe is essentially a warning. You know, look out, pay attention, be on guard. God's going to judge your evil deeds. So it says, verse 20, woe to those who call evil good and good evil.

Other translations essentially say, cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, or how terrible it is to those who would do such things. New Living Translation says, destruction is certain for those who say evil is good. So the warning is, look out, you who take what is designated to be good, consider it, and then call it evil.

God says, be aware, be cautious, woe unto you, judgment is coming. Verse 20, as it continues on, again, what are those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. And so this is a mindset. This isn't only the words that you speak, but it's the things that you think. It's the thoughts and the intents of your heart. It's the actions of your hands that then follow from those things.

They're all tied together. To consider good to be evil and evil to be good, and then to act on them as such, is an abomination to God. The nation of Judah, as they're the ones here that are specifically addressed, were taking the laws of God, the standards of God, the things that He had commanded them for a good life, they were turning their back on them, and instead they were embracing the morality, the things of the nations around them, the idolatrous practices, the false gods. They're embracing those things as good. Again, they were the things that were pleasant in their eyes, the things that they wanted to embrace.

They called those things good. God said, they are evil. He said, those to you who confuse the two, woe to you. Look out. It's going to come into judgment, and as we see with both the nation of Israel and Judah, indeed they did.

Brother, we don't have to go very far to see this mindset in society around us today. The mindset that declares good to be evil and evil to be good, the mindset that puts darkness for light and light for darkness, mindset that says, you know, what you call sweet is actually bitter. And this bitter thing over here, well, that is sweet. We don't have to look too far to see that taking place in the world around us today.

In our current culture, adherence to God's biblical standard of right and wrong, those things that we would say are good things. And they are good things. But those standards are often called into question, and they're often labeled as intolerance. Taking what is good, calling it intolerant, is assigning an evil intent to that which God has created to be good.

Traditional values, and we would say biblical values, moral values, the values of our grandparents, many ways of values in which society was founded on, are now labeled in many cases as backwards and repressive. Again, taking good, giving an evil label to it. The patriarchal family, you know, the strong family where the husband and wife work together as one, and yet it's according to the biblical model. The husband, the head of the household, and yet loving his wife, she respecting her husband, working together in unity, having children in a household that functions in that way. That patriarchal family structure is often considered chauvinistic.

Opposition to murder of unborn children. Again, we would defend that as a good thing, as a biblical standard. It's often called anti-choice, or restricting a woman's right to freedom. Outright rejection of homosexuality as a legitimate relationship, according to the standard of God's words. If you're going to do that, if you're going to stand up for that good and that right thing, you're going to be called, oftentimes, homophobic. It's called hate-mongering. It's called bigotry. This is the world we live in. Now, if you can flip that over on the other side of the coin, an acceptance of all kinds of views. You know, anything goes.

You can have your view. I can have my view. And it's all okay. We can function as a society where everything goes. You know, that's called being open-minded. Accepting. Understanding. And that's good. See how this works? You can take the good, slap a bad label on it, evil label on it. You can take what God has said is detestable, and you can slap a good label on it. Happening all around us today. The denigrating of the husbands and the fathers in the home is called equality. Isn't that nice? Equality. That's a nice sounding ring to it, doesn't it? Promiscuity, perversity of all kinds is celebrated as freedom and self-expression.

Homosexuality and relationships outside of what God designed as natural and to be in place among humanity are simply considered alternative lifestyles. Support of abortion is labeled pro-choice. Again, all good sounding words. Brethren, this is what calling evil good and good evil looks like. We need to make no mistake about it. And the Bible says, woe to those who would do such thing. Judgment is coming. Now, it's not my intent today to necessarily go forward to look at the judgment that's coming on this age, but simply to remind us that God set the standard among His physical people and judgment came.

That standard is set among us today as well here in the Church of God. And there is judgment and accountability to the world around us as well, even if they are not the called of God.

There is judgment that is coming in how they live their lives and what they do with that which is considered good and evil. The Apostle Paul wrote the Timothy regarding in-time conditions that are going to exist before the return of Jesus Christ. And, you know, we can go to the book of Matthew, chapter 24, and we can see what Jesus Christ had to say in terms of tribulation and calamity, physical judgment.

And that way, as well, that would come on the earth. But I want to look more at the mindset, the morality, and what takes place in the heart of a person on the individual level. So Paul expressed those things to Timothy in 2 Timothy, chapter 3. Follow me there. In 2 Timothy 3, we're going to begin in verse 1.

2 Timothy 3, 1, Paul says, You know, it's describing a people that are going to be doing things which seem right in their own eyes, things that please the senses temporarily, but they're things that are evil in God's eyes. 3. Unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good. In other words, they'll take the things that are good, and that God has called good.

They'll look down on them, they'll defame them, they'll criticize them, they will be despisers of good. 4. Traders, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And Paul says, And from such people turn away. Paul says, Don't even associate with people who would do these things, because you see, bad company corrupts good morals. These prophecies are attributes of a person's heart.

They're characteristics of what's going to be happening in their minds and in their actions, because in their self-focused thinking, society is becoming degraded. If it's about me, if it's about self, pleasing myself, my wants, my desires, chasing after just anything that looks good and enticing, again, it's a self-serving mindset, leads to the degrading of society. Its result is a deviation from the right way to live. So, brethren, you and I need to be on guard, on guard for allowing this mindset to creep in, on guard for what it is that we're exposed to. What do we call good? Is it truly good? Is it purely good?

Or is it maybe sometimes good mixed with a little bit of evil? There is no middle ground. What is good is good. What is evil is evil. And God doesn't want us to confuse the two, blur the lines, or mix the two in any way.

Things that happen around us in the world, brethren, have a way of creeping in the doors of the Church of God, and we have to resist them and fight against them. And the way to do that is to bury yourself in God's Word, study it, and apply these principles. I remember an article years ago that came out, and I don't even remember off the top of my head what the point of the article was, but I just remember it talked about understanding what a counterfeit was. And you know how you identify a counterfeit, like a counterfeit bill, for example?

The professionals who identify that counterfeit bill, they don't have to learn every nuance or aspect to how somebody else would counterfeit and look for those things, per se. But they have to know what the authentic article looks like. They have to know it very, very well. So if you know what the true, the good, the right article looks like, then you'll understand and recognize the counterfeit when you see it.

And it's the same with the truth of God's Word. When you understand what the truth is, when you know what is good and what God calls good, you don't really have to know all about the evil.

Know the good, and you'll recognize the evil when you see it. Again, it's a part of what we need to do in terms of balancing how we live in this society. We live in a society that mixes good and evil, and it's a society of shifting morals.

We already live in an age of situation ethics, situation morality, and too many would say that right is wrong and good is evil depends on the situation. In a situational ethics, it's okay to do this in this situation, but not in that. You know, it's okay to tell a little white lie if it keeps from hurting somebody's feelings, if it's not going to cause damage, or if the truth would maybe cause some damage or some offense or hurt.

We're going to tell a little white lie. It's okay in that situation. That's situational morality in ethics. You know, it's okay maybe to cheat on your taxes. After all, the government shouldn't be taking your money by force, and I've got to provide for my family anyway. So maybe it's okay in certain circumstances to cut corners, to lie, to cheat. Again, that's situation morality, situation ethics. What about absolute truth? How does the world around us today feel about absolute truth?

Well, the rejection of absolute truth is actually the truth of the day. We can decide for ourselves. We can determine for ourselves what is right, what is wrong, what is true, what is not. And you know what might be true to you? It doesn't have to be true to me. And who's to say that your truth is any better than mine? Can't we all just get along, be happy, and anything goes? If you're someone, brethren, who stands on absolute truth, absolute values, if you have an absolute sense of what is moral, what is good, versus what is wrong, and you live by it, then you're turning into the minority in today's society.

I've shared this poll with you before, but I think it's enlightening. I'll bring it back in once again. The source for this is with the Barna Group, www.barna.com. And they conducted a survey and wrote a report about it. And in February 2002, a report titled, Americans are most likely to base truth on feelings, the Barna Group wrote this commentary.

They say in two national surveys conducted by Barna Research, one among adults and one among teenagers, people were asked if they believed that there are moral absolutes that are unchanging, or that moral truth is relative to the circumstances.

In other words, is absolute truth always the truth, or does the truth depend on the circumstance? By a margin of 3 to 1, 64% of adults said truth is always relative to the person and their situation. Since the perspective was even more lopsided among teenagers, 83% of whom said moral truth depends on the circumstances, and only 6% of whom said moral truth is absolute.

Pretty stunning, isn't it? Pretty sobering. The survey went on to say that less than one out of three so-called, born-again Christians, less than one out of three, adopt the notion of absolute moral truth. So less than 30% of people that call themselves Christians would say that truth is absolute, that you can't bend it with the situation. It applies differently from person to person, depending on what they're going through. But, brethren, we know that God's Word is truth. It's based in absolute truth. The whole mixed up in the mindset is the argument here that I can decide for myself what is true and what is not. I get to make that decision.

Who's to say there's an absolute? I can decide for myself. And it's an age-old argument that actually stems from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I can decide for myself. In John 17, 17, we won't turn there. We know it well. Jesus Christ, praying to His Father before His arrest and crucifixion, He said, Thy Word is truth. That's God's Word. It's the standard for absolute moral truth. Christ said, Thy Word is truth. And He asked God to set His people apart by the standard of the truth.

So the truth is a distinguishing factor of the Church of God. The Bible calls the Church of God the pillar and ground of the truth, which means this is a place that truth must be established, that truth must be the support for the structure of the Church, and that when you think of truth, you're to look here in terms of to see how it is lived and how it is applied.

To consider God's Word as absolute truth flies in the face of today's mindset. In a world that says morals are dependent on situation, God's truth is often considered naive and outdated by the modern thinking. And because the absolute lines that exist between good and evil are blurred, people have a hard time even recognizing the difference between right and wrong. What is good and what is evil? If the standard is, decide for yourself there is no absolute truth, then people are struggling in this day and age to know the difference between right and wrong, between darkness and light.

Brethren, amongst us in the Church of God, it must not be so. God has called us to know His truth, to know what is good and what is evil, what is darkness and what is light, to separate what is bitter and what is sweet, to never mix them. Calling evil good doesn't make it good. Calling what is false true doesn't make it true. I'm going to share a stunning revelation with you.

For something to be true, it must be true. Maybe that's a little simplistic, but it's true. For something to be true, it must be true. For something to be good, it must be good. And that which is evil is evil. Clear and exacting. From God's perspective, there's no blurring of the lines between good and evil. The distinction between the two is absolute, and it must not be confused among us. If you've paid much attention at all, you've probably noticed how words have a way of changing over time, and the meanings of words, and how words that used to mean one thing maybe back in the 50s and 60s, means something completely different today.

You know, to be gay used to mean you were happy. You were a happy person. Well, it has a different meaning and connotation by and large today. You know, Darla and I have actually based our purchases on the store over the words on a label. Have you ever done that? He said, well, that looks like a pretty good product. Pick it up and see the label and the title on the label, and he decided, well, I really don't want that in my cabinet at home. Darla had a mouthwash that she found that she liked, and she has a little bit of a sensitive mouth, and most strong mouthwashes burn her mouth, and so she found one that she liked, and, you know, minty fresh, and it was working well, and one day she went to the store and the label had changed.

And it was just a small change in wording, but instead of minty fresh, now it said, wicked fresh. Wicked fresh mouthwash. You know, wicked used to mean extremely bad, evil. Now it's used to describe something that's good, that's positive, that's awesome. Well, Darla doesn't want something in her cabinet called wicked fresh, so I guess they just lost the customer. But, you know, this goes a hundred different ways. I remember one time we had a bottle of, I don't remember what the source of it was, we had a bottle of vodka show up at our house, and the label was Vodka of the Gods.

This isn't an advertisement to discredit any company, but again, it said Vodka of the Gods, and I looked at that and I thought, you know, I really don't want that here. So I peeled the label off. I wasn't going to throw the bottle out, I mean.

They're just words. I didn't think it infected the integrity of what was in the bottle, but the point being, I didn't want that label sitting there, Vodka of the Gods with depiction of all kinds of false gods sitting there on the label. And we could say, you know, those are just words, those are just whatever.

But how cautious are we to say, I don't want to mix good and evil. I don't want to allow certain things into my home. How about our entertainment, what comes across on the television, the movies that we go and see? Something that I've noticed over time is that in a lot of movies, the main hero often has a dark side. That's something that's changed since I was a kid. I remember the superhero was purely good. You know, he maybe made fun of the underwear that Superman wore and called it a costume, but the fact was, at least as it was portrayed, he was good. And many of the good guys on a lot of television shows who fought the bad guys or the police who caught the criminals, they were good.

But by today's standard, by and large, what I've noticed is if I watch television, it would seem like every person that's held up for good often has a dark twist to that purity. And they have their inner demons that they're fighting, and it's part of the reality of the person. And I would say we would call that life, and I would agree that obviously nobody is purely good, but it would seem to be a trend of our entertainment today to take the good person and show the dark side, and in fact go as far to show that maybe this person has to draw on their dark side in order to accomplish what it is that they're doing.

You know, if you're going to catch a criminal, you've got to think like a criminal, maybe even almost have to be like a criminal just a little bit. And so this is our entertainment. It's the mixing of darkness and light, and we're entertained by those things. Brethren, as a nation, we've lost our spiritual and our moral equilibrium, and as the people of God, we must not. We must know what the balance is between good and evil, between lightness and dark, and again, we must not mix the two. Right is right, wrong is wrong, light is light, and darkness is darkness. Good is good, and evil is evil. Don't confuse them, don't compromise them, don't blur the lines. Notice the words of Jesus Christ in Luke 11.

Luke 11, verse 33.

Luke 11, verse 33. Jesus says, No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. There's a purpose for lighting a lamp, so that it illuminates the room, and you can see. Verse 34, the lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. So if you focus on the good, and make that your priority and your standard, you will be light. But if your focus is on the evil, Christ says, you will be darkness. You can't ride the fence, rather than you can't do both. You can't be both dark and light.

Verse 35. Therefore, take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. Again, you can't mix the two. There can be no compromise, no gray areas, no blurring of the lines. We must walk as children of light.

In order to keep the distinction between good and evil absolutely clear, we need to always recognize who it is that is the source of all good in the universe, and who and what it is that is the primary source of evil as well. So first of all, the good. Who is the ultimate good? The ultimate source of good in the universe. When I talk about good, I'm not talking about any kind of a mixture. I'm talking about pure good, pure light, unadulterated, unpolluted. Well, clearly that's God. God is the source of all good. Let's look at a few scriptures that back that up. James 1.

James 1. We'll begin in verse 16.

James 1.16. James says, Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. He says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. And so God is good. He has always been good. He will always be good. That's His nature. That's His character. It's unchanging. There's no variation. There's no dark shadow. There's no dark side to God. No hidden spot that we would not know about it. No evil side. God alone is good, and He is the source of all good in the universe.

Verse 13, if we just jump back up the page a little bit, James 1.13. James says, Let no one say, When He is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. So the temptation to do evil is not a part of God's nature at all. He doesn't lay evil before us and say, Go ahead and do it.

That's what the devil does. Now God does allow us and give us opportunity to make a choice. So go back to the Garden of Eden. You had the tree of life. You had the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God placed both in the midst of the Garden. But what was His instruction? It was, Stay away from the evil. Choose the good. God brought Israel out of Egypt, and He said, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. I'm not indifferent. He said, Choose life that you and your descendants may live. So again, God does not tempt us onto evil. That is what Satan does. Satan says, Doesn't that look good? Don't you want a piece of that? Don't you want that bit of enjoyment and that temporary satisfaction from coming to do that? Go ahead. That's what temptation to do evil looks like. God does not do such. 1 John 1.

1 John 1, beginning in verse 5. Again, we're looking at the purity of the good of God. 1 John 1, verse 5. John says, This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. God is that superhero, if we want to call Him such. That is all good. No underlying dark side with God. And brethren, that must be the standard that you and I strive for as well. Carrying on to verse 6, He says, If we say that we have fellowship with Him, with God, and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. So walking in the light of good and truth that comes from God allows us to have fellowship with God. God is light. God is good. If you walk in the light and walk according to the good, you will have fellowship with God. It is also the standard by which we must have fellowship with one another. And as John said, walking according to that way as well brings us under the protection of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So that is where I want to be. I want to be someone that walks in the light, and I hope and I assume and I pray that you do as well. That takes work. It takes effort. But again, it comes from immersing ourselves in the Word of God and coming to understand fully who God is, what it is He intends for us in our life. God is good. And Jesus Christ confirmed that in His ministry when He said, Why do you call Me good? There is none good but God. Again, pure good, unadulterated. Obviously, Jesus Christ was good. And we are to strive for that standard as well. But when we understand that God is the source from where all good flows, why would we want to compromise with evil? Why would we want to play with it? Why would we want to mix the two? To call evil good takes something disgusting that is not of God and it attributes it to the source of all good, which is God. So take something evil and say, Well, that's of God. That's essentially what that is saying. To take something that is good and call it evil, then, on the other side of the coin, slanders the things of God and denigrates His name, casts doubt on the righteousness and the goodness of God in the eyes of others. To call good evil is to attribute the things of God to another source. So what would that other source be, primarily? What is the primary source of evil in this world? And I say primary source, not the only source, because, brethren, we have the ability to do evil even apart from the adversary. To choose God's way is to choose good. God gives us a choice to do His way or not to do His way. Anything apart from choosing His way is evil and He's allowed us to have that choice even of and by ourselves. But as we know, we have an adversary that is sort of like the gasoline that gets thrown on the fire, that little flame that we can light. Satan is the accelerant unto sin, and He is that primary source of evil.

Again, God is the source of good. There's also the primary source of evil. Notice Jesus Christ's words in John 8, verse 44. John 8, verse 44. Here Jesus is contending with the Jews of His day.

And here in John 8, verse 44, Jesus said, You are of your Father the devil. Well, those are pretty strong words, and they took them as strong words. And Jesus Christ meant exactly what it is that He said. He said, In the desires of your Father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in Him. When He speaks a lie, He speaks from His own resources, for He is a liar and the father of it. So just as there is no darkness, no shadow, no variation of turning in God, flip that on the other side, and the opposite would be Satan the devil, in whom there is no truth. He is the clear source of evil and wickedness in the universe and in this world. Ephesians 6 calls Satan the ruler of the darkness of this age. Let's go there.

Ephesians 6, verse 10.

It becomes pretty clear when you understand who is the source of good, that we must adhere to the good. But what this does in my mind, brethren, and as I was sitting down and trying to formulate this message in my mind and look at these scriptures, to me it just makes it clear as day, why would you want to take good, which comes from one source, and mix it with the evil from another?

Differences like day and night. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Paul says, The devil, along with his fellow hosts of wickedness, is the primary source of evil that we contend with in the world. If you're going to put darkness for light and you know who the source of each is, then I would say, brethren, you're wandering into an area that is a very dangerous place to be. God in his instructions said, look out. Verse 13, Paul says, Therefore take up the whole armor of God, and may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. The term stand here is actually a military word, meaning to hold your ground. Stand your position. Don't back down. Don't turn. Don't run. Don't retreat.

When we contend against Satan and the demons, we must stand. Turning and retreating, running away, showing fear, withdrawing, falling down on the ground, whatever you might do as opposed to standing firm in opposition, actually emboldens the enemy. That's not how he's defeated. Satan the devil is defeated by resisting him, by God's help, and he will flee from you.

Verse 14, Stand therefore, and God gives us the ability to stand, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That's what the gospel message is. It's a gospel. It's a message of peace, of what God is doing, and what it is you can do in your life today. Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. So, Satan clearly is the wicked one. He's the primary source of evil in the universe and in the lives of mankind. So, again, when you clearly understand who is the source of light and good, and who is the source of darkness and evil, why would you ever want to mix the two? More than that, why would you ever want to attribute one to the other? It's a dangerous place to go. Clearly, God hates that, and He says, whoa, look out, you who do such things.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ endured such things, being said about Him. He was accused of doing good works by the power of a demon. Can you imagine, to heal somebody, to cast out a demon? They say, well, you cast out that demon by the power of the chief prince of demons. That's where you get your power. And yet, this was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, empowered by God's Holy Spirit. Let's take a look at Jesus' reply, Mark 3, verse 28.

Let's not have been to this place a whole lot in my Bible. My pages are still sticking. Mark 3, verse 28. This particular passage, you can go through the Gospels and find this in parallel account. Here Jesus said, So here Jesus Christ was doing these miracles by the power of God, and they said, that's not the power of God, that's a demon. And Christ said, you better be careful what you attribute to demons, especially if it is good and if it is of the power of God. He says, you're walking a very dangerous line. Attributing, brethren, the things of God to the things of the devil is no small matter. Taking something that is good, attributing it to being evil, is a big deal, and it's exactly what is taking place when one engages in the practice of calling good evil. Also, we need to be aware that one of Satan's greatest ploys of deception is to try to take evil and wrap it in a cloak of good. To take what is not of God and make it appear as something that is of God, as if it is something of light. We call that Halloween, Christmas, Easter. Those are things we would look at as the obvious points, but it goes out a hundred different directions. Satan the devil also does the same thing for himself. Notice 2 Corinthians 11.

2 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 10.

Here is the Apostle Paul writing. 2 Corinthians 11, 10. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia, the gospel and the truth, and the things he is portraying. He is discussing the serious matter and the nature by which he considered his apostleship. The serious level by which he took his calling and applied it. Verse 11, why not? Because I do not love you? He says, God knows. He says, but what I do... Let me start out again. Verse 12. But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded, just as we are, and the things of which they boast. So now there are men coming into the region claiming to be apostles as well, and preaching a different gospel. Verse 13, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And what is their source? He says, verse 14, and no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. And no wonder, again, therefore it is no great thing that his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. So Satan's whole strategy is to make himself look good. To make sin look good. Sin look appealing and desirous and something. Yes, that's good. I want that. I want to go after it. That is Satan. He is evil wrapped in a cloak of darkness.

Christ said, if your eye is evil, all of you is evil and darkness. Calling good evil and evil good is his mode of operation. It's his ploy of deception. And it's no wonder that God hates that mindset so much. Again, that is Satan's strategy. God is all light with no darkness, no shadow of turning. God does not mix the two, and, brethren, neither should we. Good is good. Evil is evil.

Says here, Satan masquerades himself as a being of light. But the reality is, no truth exists in him, as Jesus Christ said. He simply wants all mankind to believe that his darkness is actually light. That's the deception. Make it look good. Now, in response to the knowledge of what God gives us in the Scripture, we need to be clear on how this process works. Understand absolutely what is evil and what is not. And the clear instruction from God is, they must not be mixed. We, as God's people, must seek to flee the evil and pursue purity that is founded in the goodness of God. Romans 12, beginning in verse 1, here are the words of the Apostle Paul. Romans 12, verse 1, Paul says, Paul says, That you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. We say that is a very good cause. Verse 2, Jumping forward to verse 9, He says, Finally, verse 17, still in Romans 12, So Paul says, you know what? Don't do what the rest of the world is doing. Don't be conformed to their thought process, to their way of evaluating what is good and what is not. Come out of those ways, flee the evil, pursue the good and the pure and the righteous things of God.

As God's people, that is where we are to live. Proverbs 8, verse 13.

Proverbs 8, 13.

Short Proverb, but I think it makes a big point. Proverbs 8, 13.

All people who fear God as a part of that relationship will hate evil. Which means they'll watch for it, they'll be on guard against it, they'll be as far away from it in their life as they possibly can. Fear the Lord so they hate evil, pride in arrogance in the evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate.

Again, don't play with it. Don't be enticed by it. Don't turn on the TV and be entertained by it. Psalm 97.

Psalm 97, verse 10. It says, You who love the Lord hate evil.

That's an instruction, it's not a suggestion. If you fear God, if you say you love God, if you're committed to following His way, it says, Hate evil.

Hate's a pretty strong word.

Hate's something that we should only apply in very limited circumstances, but it must be applied in the right and proper place, and in the proper place. Hate evil. He says, He preserves the soul of His saints. Speaking of God, He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

Light, verse 11, is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Verse 12, Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at all remembrance of the Lord. And, gladness for the upright in heart. Verse 12, Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at all remembrance of His holy name. Those are the things that we're to pursue. The right, the perfect, the pure, the righteous things of God, and remembrance of His name, and who He is, and what His nature is, and what that nature is that is to be developed in us. There's a couple of more scriptures in conclusion. Romans 16.

Romans 16, verse 17, again back to the writings of Paul. I just love this scripture. Romans 16, beginning in verse 17, Paul says, Now I urge you, brethren, know those who cause divisions and offenses. This isn't the part that I love. We'll get to it. Contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. For those who are such, do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. He says, For your obedience has become known to all. Here's the part that I love. Therefore I am glad on your behalf, but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil.

God wants us to be wise in what is good. We should love it. We should embrace it. We should know all about it. Know how it works, and we should apply it in our life. But also the instruction is to be simple concerning evil. You really shouldn't know too much about it. It's kind of like the counterfeit. Know the good. Explore the good. You'll recognize the evil. You don't have to explore the evil to understand. You have to explore the good to understand the evil.

So Paul here is just simply saying, I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil.

Don't need to know how it works. Don't need to be experienced in it, enticed by it, or even play with it one little bit. To be simple concerning evil means we identify it as contrary to the good. We turn the other way. We don't soil our boots in it, and we certainly do not mix it, brethren, with the good. Light is light. Darkness is darkness. What are those who call evil good and good evil? Who put darkness for light and light for darkness? Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter? Brethren, let us be vigilant so that such a mindset is not found among us in the Church of God. Let's conclude at 1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in verse 21.

1 Thessalonians 5, verse 21.

It says, Test all things.

Hold fast to what is good. If you pick something up and you see that it's evil, set it aside. Don't even play with it. Test all things. Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you, set you apart, completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Brethren, we must work to put the evil out completely. We must embrace the good, live the good, and never mix the two.