The Word Evil
Key Words of the Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Introduction
Introduction
Words are an important part of our lives. Without words, we would not be able to communicate. In our series on the Key Words of the Bible, we are looking to define these important words as we study the Word of God.
The twelfth word that we are going to see in this series is the word “evil.” The words “evil” or “evils” are used 624 times in the King James. They show us a sharp contrast with the word “holy” from several weeks ago. Evil is often an adjective. Men are evil. Demons are evil. Thoughts are evil. Hearts are evil. Sometime it is a noun. Evil is a corruption of what was good. Evil is what good fights against. Evil is present in the world. It gives us the idea of decay and destruction. Evil is a present reality of our day as it was in Genesis 6.
Webster’s dictionary says evil means,
2evil noun
before 12th century
1 a: the fact of suffering, misfortune, and wrongdoing
b: a cosmic evil force
2: something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity
In our passage here in Genesis, we see that universal suffering is about to occur because of the evil of the men on the earth. In Genesis 1-2, we can see the account of God’s creation of the universe. As He completes the creation work of the days, God uses the word “good” multiple times. He even calls it “very good”. But sin enters into the world as a result of man’s choice in Genesis 3. The Fall means that the world now contains things that are not “good”.
The effects of the sin nature of man through Adam are seen in Genesis 4-5. We have the account of the murder of Abel by Cain. We have the curse of Cain and the scattering of men across the earth. We see the descendents of Cain doing sinful things: murder, polygamy, etc. One person summed it up this way,
In the Beginning: Genesis 1–11 Sermon 12: Living in Two Different Worlds (Gen. 4:16–6:7)
In Genesis one and two we see our world as it was shaped by God. The final verdict was that it was “good” (1:31). In Genesis four through six we see our world as it was shaped by man. The final verdict on it was that it was bad, so bad in fact that God decided to destroy the human race and start over
All of these events bring us to the point in time found in verse one of our text. The truth is that God is not pleased with evil. He cannot even look upon it or allow it into His presence. Yet we know, evil exist on the earth. Why, some have asked, is there evil? The answer is that God will use evil for good in the working of His eternal plan.
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
God is a good God who will punish evil and bless righteousness. Evil can be outwardly evident, but we will see today that evil is not just outwardly but also is inwardly.
Declaration
Declaration
Evil is present inside of us. There is nothing we can do about that until we reach eternity. What we can do is to find grace in the LORD and seek to bring joy to God's heart. We must choose to be like Noah. We see two facts about evil and a fact about grace this morning.
1. Evil is seen Outwardly
1. Evil is seen Outwardly
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
A. In the Sons of God v. 1-2
A. In the Sons of God v. 1-2
The first group mentioned in this passage are the sons of God. Who were these people? Three major views exist. All point to the corruption of sin in the perfect people God had created.
These could be fallen angels that came to earth to have children with mankind. If so, God created them perfect but they chose to follow Satan in rebellion and are now fallen.
They could be rulers that identified themselves as children of the gods. This was a common practice in the post-flood, ancient world. However, there is no archeological or biblical evidence that this was practice before the flood. If they are rulers, they likely began the first systematized polygamy of kings.
They could be the descendents of Seth. They are the righteous line that will carry through to Christ by way of Noah. God has curse Cain and blesses Seth.
Whichever view is taken, the experience that causes these to be included here in Genesis 6 is that they “saw the daughters of men.” They saw and their desires of their flesh are about to get them into trouble. Sight was the beginning of an evil sequence of events.
We see that they are attracted by the beauty of another group, the daughters of men. The Bible says that they saw that they were “fair”. There are many things in the world that can be attractive to us. These sons of God saw the daughters and took them as their wives. The desire for something that looked attractive was a choice of compromise for the people of God.
In the Beginning: Genesis 1–11 Genesis 6:5–11
When the world gets into the church the result is a dead church and a depraved world. When, through marriage, the world gets into the families of the people of God, there is little hope for the home, for the church or for the nation. The world will pull a home, a church and an individual down to its degraded level. There are few things in the Word of God that God pleads with us to avoid, more than union with unbelievers.
A saved person at this time would have been someone who was looking forward to the coming Saviour based on the promise of God in the Garden. God expects both the saint of that day and of this to live a life of distinction from the evil in the world around Him. Every day we must choose the right over the wrong. In the garden, God promised,
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Choosing right is a choice that we all must make.
B. In the Daughters of Men and the Giants v. 2-4
B. In the Daughters of Men and the Giants v. 2-4
The second group mentioned is the daughters of men. The word “man” here is the same one found referring to mankind as a whole elsewhere. It carries the idea of man as the image of God. Who were they? Most view these women as regular humans, some as the descendants of Cain. Their attractiveness caused the intermarriage of the sons of men. Something could be said here for the concept of modesty in the Word of God. Modesty is choosing to bring attention to God instead of yourself. Men and women need to improve in this area. Paul speaks to women,
In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
We see also mentioned the “giants” in the land. They may have been the children of the sons of God and the daughters of men or they may have just lived at the same time. Great evil is present on the earth. The Jewish translators of the Old Testament into Greek connected this word with Num 13:33. However, we don’t truly know what the significance of the Hebrew word is.
And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
They could be literal “giants”. They were taller than the average human living at the time. The giants that we see in the land of Canaan after the arrival of the Israelites are connected with blasphemy, idolatry and corruption in the land, e.g. Goliath and his siblings, Og and Sihon, etc.
One way of looking at the word translated giants here is as connected with the Hebrew word for “fallen”. They could be those fallen in combat or fallen in sin. They could be connected with the warrior who were famous in the land.
Another possibility of definition could be connected to their deformity in appearance or function. The giants were deformed men as a result of evil present in the world.
Any of these views shows the reader the evil that is found in this antediluvian world. There is corruption of the world that created and called good in Genesis 1. In verse 4, we see there are great warriors and famous heroes in these ancient times. Augustine said regarding evil,
For who can doubt that the whole of that which is called evil is nothing else than corruption? Different evils may, indeed, be called by different names; but that which is the evil of all things in which any evil is perceptible is corruption. So the corruption of an educated mind is ignorance; the corruption of a prudent mind is imprudence; the corruption of a just mind, injustice; the corruption of a brave mind, cowardice; the corruption of a calm, peaceful mind, cupidity, fear, sorrow, pride. Again, in a living body, the corruption of health is pain and disease; the corruption of strength is exhaustion; the corruption of rest is toil.
Notice the statement by God in verse 3. God says that He will not as in the old days stay or judge mankind. His spirit will not be as it has been in the past. Isaiah uses this word “spirit” similarly,
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord,
That take counsel, but not of me;
And that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit,
That they may add sin to sin:
God observes that man is human. Unlike God who is a spirit, man is fleshly. He is corrupted by the presence of his sinful nature.
In God I will praise his word,
In God I have put my trust; I will not fear
What flesh can do unto me.
God promises that the bounds that God gives to the lives of man are 120 years. This could be the age of the men meaning they will die at 120 now. It could be how long until judgment (the Flood) would come. This was the interpretation of the Jewish scholars. Whichever view is taken, God has placed bounds on the sinful choices of man.
What is the principle that we see from these first four verses? Whether saved or unsaved, we all struggle with evil outwardly in the world. The world is full of sinful attractiveness that will lead to a life of destruction. The corrupt choices of others affect us and they bring chaos and rebellion. Christ preached during His time on earth that the significant events in these verses will occur again before His return. One of the major characteristics mentioned by Christ was the marriages in the days of Noah.
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Evil is seen outwardly but we see secondly that…
2. Evil is seen Inwardly
2. Evil is seen Inwardly
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
A. The State of Man’s Heart
A. The State of Man’s Heart
The first three words here are “And God saw.” Just as the sons of God saw the daughters of men, God saw the wickedness of man. The sons were attracted. God is repulsed.
Verses 5-6 are the key verses in the today’s passage. We see the sight of God turned toward men. His sight is not met by good but by evil.
Instead of good, God sees that there is wickedness. The wickedness is the brokenness and defacing of the image of God on mankind in the world. Man is depraved.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
The word imagination refers to what the mind would construct inside. What evil can be thought up by man! God knows that man’s ability to form thoughts is fallen. God speaks to Israel by way of Moses,
And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
Not only wickedness, but God sees that there is evil. Evil is the destroyed or fallen morality of man. The word here is giving the idea of inner evil.
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
The heart is where this evil is found. We saw under the word heart that in the Bible, this word gives the idea of our mental inner self. This is not just a physical organ.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Verse 5 says that the evil was in their hearts “continually”. This verse gives us the reason for the flood. One commentator said,
There is hardly a stronger statement in the Bible about the sin of mankind.
B. The State of God’s Heart
B. The State of God’s Heart
What does the experience of seeing the evil do to God’s heart? It causes “repentance”. God does not repent because He made a mistake. Instead, the idea here is that God changes His actions toward mankind because man changes their actions toward Him. God is always consistent with His nature. We see this in the story of Saul.
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.
The second statement tells us that it causes God to be grieved in His heart. This word is used in Genesis in connection with mourning a family member who has died. This experience of the evil of man affects the very heart of God. There is thereby pain in the heart of God. God sees the evil and feels the pain, perhaps of rebellion by man in the garden; perhaps He feels the pain of rejection by man throughout history; surely, He feels the pain of the coming Redemption through His Son. As one person has stated,
Genesis 1–11:26 Genesis 6:6
Our God is incomparably affected by, even pained by, the sinner’s rebellion.
The good news for the inward and outward evil is that God has already chosen in eternity past to send His Only Begotten Son to die for these people. More than the sin of man’s affect on His heart, the way of salvation was painful to God. Sending His Son was worth it to redeem evil man!
We see the two truths that Evil is seen outwardly and it is seen inwardly, now we will see a truth about grace…
3. Grace must be sought Diligently
3. Grace must be sought Diligently
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
A. By all who are condemned v. 7
A. By all who are condemned v. 7
The result of God’s observations in verses 5-6 is a decision for destruction. Why would God decided to destroy what He had so lovingly created?
For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness:
Neither shall evil dwell with thee.
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight:
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing:
The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
God is righteous and He hates evil. God makes a promise in verse 7. God decides to wipe out His creatures on the earth, including man. The sin of man affects all of the creation around him. Again the word is used “it repenteth me”. God is changing His actions toward man in response to the evil of man’s heart. Later in this chapter, the Bible says
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Why would a good God choose to bring judgment upon mankind? The answer is found in the book of Ezekiel. God brings judgment because man chooses not to repent of his evil.
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
God leaves a testimony for the people of the earth and calls out to them for repentance.
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
He does the same today. We have the Word of God which not only tells us that we have a problem of evil, it points us to what we are all searching for.
B. In the eyes of the LORD v. 8
B. In the eyes of the LORD v. 8
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy:
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
But, something was different about one man in the world. What distinguishes Noah from the rest of the evil world in verse 8? He is out searching for something. He is looking for favour from God. Unlike the others who were seeking what they could see and reaching out for what they desired, Noah was searching for something of eternal value. He could not rely on his own righteousness because he also had evil inside. Instead, he seeks favour from the Righteous One. In verse 8, we see that He has found it.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Noah experiences the grace of God in the eyes of the LORD. What is grace? Grace is ill-deserved favour requiring a response of thankfulness. God gives us grace through the death of His Son on the cross. In the LXX, this word “grace” is translated as the Greek word charis. This word is used often in the New Testament. Paul connects this word with salvation especially in the letters to the Corinthians and his later letters.
And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
God’s eyes look down on the world often in the first few chapters of Genesis. God’s eyes look with love. They also look with sadness. The determining factor is how mankind responds to the commands of God. When man changes his behaviour, God will act differently as well.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
Beholding the evil and the good.
Here, they look with grace. What do the eyes of God see when they look upon you and I? Searching for grace will end with finding it in the eyes of the LORD. This is the truth of grace in Genesis 6.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Evil is present inside of us. There is nothing we can do about that until we reach eternity. What we can do is to find grace in the LORD and seek to bring joy to God's heart. We must choose to be like Noah. We must seek and find grace in the eyes of the LORD.
We have seen this morning the outward presence of evil. In fact, we need no reminder as we see it everyday all around us. Evil is there in the world that we inhabit.
We have also seen this evil is inside of each of us. It influences our actions, whether we are saved or unsaved. It is there because we have inherited a sin nature through the line of Adam.
But we have also seen that there is favour for the one who will seek it from the eyes of God. The name here is the same as was in the passage from Jeremiah, it God as the I AM. God is the present one who communicates with His people. Grace is available for the taking.
In the New Testament, we have this promise
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
If grace were something that we could earn, we would never be able to because our righteousness is tainted by evil. Only the death of Christ on the Cross and His resurrection will bring righteousness to us. What are you choosing to do about the evil that you live with inside? Realize you are a sinner. Recognize that your sin has been paid for by Jesus’ sacrifice for you on the cross. Accept the free gift of eternal life today! Evil is a corruption of the good. Only good can defeat evil. Choose the goodness of Jesus today!
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.