Overcome Evil with Good

Intro:

Tonight as we begin I want us to go to one of my favorite verses in Romans.

It’s a short verse — in fact, an easy one to memorize, and one that will probably help us a lot …

And it’s Romans 12:21 - “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

We live in a world that is marred by sin.

As we talked about in our sermon this morning, it HAS been marred by sin since shortly after the beginning, when Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis chapter 3.

But the thing about a dark world that is marred by sin is that, as the world becomes darker and darker, the light shines brighter and brighter!

I want to begin by talking about …

The Existence of Evil in the World:

This is an important dicussion in the realm of philosophy and in the broader field of Apologetics (Christian Evidences).

Unfortunately, it is the atheist’s “go-to argument” it seems, to say - “How can there exist an all-good God with so much evil, pain and suffering in the world?”

They will sometimes even boldly and irreverently say - “If God does exist, then He either is not good (because of the existence of evil, pain and suffering), or He is powerless to stop it, because it still exists.”

(That’s what the ATHEISTS say.)

So how do we answer that?

After all, we of all people must be prepared to give an answer, a defense, an apologeia for the reason of the hope that is within us with meekness and fear (1 Pet. 3:15).

So how do we answer that?

Well, first of all, I would submit to you that we need to turn that question back around on the atheist.

That is, we need to ask him, with all the evil, pain and suffering that exists in the world, do you not believe in a GOOD alternative to all of that?

Think about it — Absolute evil exists in the world — and we don’t have to look into the history books very far to know that is the case!

9-11. The Holocost. Hitler. Stalin. Polpot. Slavery. The French Revolution. On and on we could go describing historical events that prove that evil exists in the world!

But if absolute evil exists, I submit that there MUST be absolute good that exists to COUNTER such evil!

Think about it — We know where evil comes from — The depths of depravity from hearts that are bent toward doing wrong.

But where does GOOD come from?

For every instance of evil that we could list, surely we could also list some things that men have done that would be considered GOOD.

Where does good come from?

I would submit that it comes from an almighty, all-knowing and all GOOD Creator God!

Well, the atheist says: “But why would an almighty, all-knowing and all good God ALLOW us to suffer?”

Well, two things …

First of all, I always go back to the fact that SIN is ultimately what causes pain and suffering, and that’s not God’s fault!

That’s man’s fault, and ultimately the Devil’s fault!

In Genesis chapter one, (I’ve said it many times in this pulpit), 6 times the Bible says God created, and “it was GOOD!”

And then God created man and “it was VERY GOOD!”

Genesis chapter two we find that it was “not good that man should be alone,” but God took care of that and made man a woman!

It wasn’t until Genesis chapter 3 when man SINNED that BAD entered the picture, “pandora’s box” was opened, if you will, and the rest is history!

So that’s the first thing.

The second is — Not all pain is even bad, per se.

The human body needs pain so that when we get a little too close to the fire, we jerk back and don’t burn ourselves up!

Sometimes pain can lead to a diagnosis that can then lead to a proper treatment plan that then saves a life!

And sometimes suffering makes us stronger and more reliant on God as our faith builds!

Romans 5:1–5 - “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations … knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

1 Peter 3:13–17 speaks along these lines when it says: “And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

And of course, who could forget the words of Christ in Matthew 5:10–12 - “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The atheist has NO CONCEPT of rejoicing in suffering! But the Christian does!

And there is great HOPE in that!

So now we’ve talked about the EXISTENCE of evil!

Let’s talk a little more about that idea that the darker the world becomes, the brighter God’s light shines!

The Darker the World Becomes, the Brighter the Light Shines:

Go with me to John chapter 1.

I love the Gospel of John, and I especially love how it begins in chapter 1!

Let’s begin reading in verse 1, and we’ll go to verse 18.

John 1:1–18 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life [What is man’s greatest enemy, physically? Death! Caused be the spiritual enemy — sin — Notice, man’s greatest enemey — death! Jesus came and He was LIFE!] , and the life was the LIGHT of men [What is one of the most common phobias among men, especially little children — Darkness? — But Jesus gave LIGHT!]. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. [That is, the darkness did not overcome the light! That’s what we’re talking about tonight!] There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [the immerser]. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

Don’t you just love that?!

Now, tell me that we don’t have HOPE in this dark world marred by sin!

(We DO!)

I want to read you some of the words of a song called Light of the World:

This was written by Paul Duncan, Paul Mabury, and Lauren Daigle (So credit to whom credit is due).

“The world waits for a miracle. The heart longs for a little bit of hope [That’s what we’re talking about tonight isn’t it?], oh come, oh come Emmanuel.” [Which means, “God with us”]

“A child prays for peace on earth, then she’s calling out from a sea of hurt, oh come, oh come Emmanuel.”

“And can you hear the angels singing? Glory to the light of the world!”

“Glory, the the light of the world is here!”

“He is the song for the suffering, He is Messiah; the Prince of Peace has come; He has come, Emmanuel!”

“Glory to the Light of the world!”

“Glory to the Light of the world!”

Luke 2:14 - The angels did sing when the Light of the world came, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Aren’t we glad?!

Well, let’s finish tonight by talking about …

Overcoming Evil with Good:

Again, this comes from Romans 12:21.

So what are some ways we can not only NOT be overcome with evil ourselves, but also to actually overcome EVIL itself … with good?

Well, I want to break this down into three categories:

Trials.

Temptations.

And the Ultimate Test.

Trials — Let’s start with the most obvious:

Trials afflict us all — It’s part of the human experience; it’s part of this fallen world that we live in, thanks to sin.

But how do we overcome the trials and the setbacks that stand in our way?

I’ll give you a clue — (It comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that we looked at this morning!)

The key to overcoming the trials of life is to rememeber that the victory is already won!

Jesus defeated that ultimate enemy which is death, and because of that, 1 Corinthians 15:58 says: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord!”

That’s how we overcome the evil that is our trials and setbacks that affect us all in life!

We keep that proper end perspective in view!

Temptations — That is, the things that the Devil has in his toolbox that he uses to try to get us to stumble through sin!

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life!

How do we defeat our temptations?

The key is to wield the Sword of the Spirit against Him, which is the Word of God! (Eph. 6:17)

Hiding that Word in our hearts, that we might not sin against God! (Psalm 119:11)

And when the Devil comes a calling, we need to RESIST him, and the Bible says he will flee from us (James 4:7)!

In addition to knowing the Word of God, another key to this (I think) is to remain humble and to repent when needed - The next few verses — James 4:8–10 - “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Finally, The Ultimate Test — What I mean by this is, if we truly are the saved (as we have clearly learned that we are based on God’s Word and our accepting of His Word), then the test of our faith continued onward is … … … ???

Are we willing to share that faith with others and truly be a force for good in this world through evangelistic efforts to share the Gospel?!

Romans 1:16 Paul felt that way! - “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

He went and taught others about the salvation that he now had, and we should too!

James 5:20 - “Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins!”

Sounds pretty important!

Conclusion:

Are you doing your part to overcome evil with good?

Or, have you found yourself being the one OVERCOME with evil?!

If that is the case, you have opportunity to make that right tonight!