Basket Case
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Basket Case
Big Idea: A Holy People Must Be Rid of Wickedness
(We can either get carried away with our wickedness, or let the Lord carry away our wickedness)
Wickedness was our nature
Wickedness can be contained
Wickedness will be expelled
Wicked! Wicked is a word that in some parts of the country means something like “cool”. Wicked, however, in our passage today is definitely not cool, nor is it something the bible speaks of in any casual sense. In our passage today, in the vision of Zechariah, Wickedness is personified as a woman. She must be put away, shut in, and carried off. God’s holy people must not tolerate wickedness, and yet we cannot drive it away on our own. We need God to take wickedness away from us. When we submit to Him, He will do this for us.
The vision is a promise that eventually, wickedness will be taken away once and for all. The Bible promises this in many places, and it is evident that the whole earth is groaning for the day of redemption, when wickedness no longer reigns on earth. Though God will eventually remove all wickedness from earth, we as His holy people need not wait until the day of judgment, because by His Holy Spirit we can be empowered to put wickedness away from us now. Our job is to allow the Holy Spirit, who is given to us by Christ for this reason, that we have power to be His witnesses and undergo the sanctifying work he does, to show us the wickedness in our lives that we may purge it from us. Let’s look at our passage today, and keep in mind our Big Idea and 3 thoughts on Wickedness:
Big Idea: A Holy People Must Be Rid of Wickedness
(We can either get carried away with our wickedness, or let the Lord carry away our wickedness)
Wickedness was our nature
Wickedness can be contained
Wickedness will be expelled
Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.”
And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.”
And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket!
And he said, “This is Wickedness.” And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening.
Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”
He said to me, “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.”
Big Idea: A Holy People Must Be Rid of Wickedness
(We can either get carried away with our wickedness, or let the Lord carry away our wickedness)
Wickedness was our nature
Wickedness can be contained
Wickedness will be expelled
So we read this passage, and like most of the book of Zechariah, we can derive some hope form it. We see that God again promises that He will remove wickedness. In a bit, we will get to some other scriptures that speak of wickedness and God’s removal of it when Christ returns. When we see a passage like this, it can apply to any kind of wickedness. It can apply to wickedness of nations, of false religions, of corporate greed, of perverted views of sex, or coveting, and the like.
I could preach for a long time about the evil in our time, the abortion, pornography, depraved ideas about marriage, and the like. I could preach on the evil regimes in the world, who use terror in their wickedness to cause fear. I could preach on the many false religions, including false teachers that claim to preach the gospel of Christ.
You would probably like me to do that, but you don't get off so easy, and neither do I. I believe that the wickedness in our own hearts is trouble enough for us to concentrate on. Sure, we would all feel better if I preached on all of those other people in the world, but we would miss an opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit through the Word of God to pierce us, to cut between joint and marrow, to reveal our hearts. As much as it comforts me to compare myself to other evil people in the world, I think it better for my soul if I confront the evil in my own heart.
We can be aware of what is in the world, there is nothing wrong with that. But we miss the point of God’s gift to us, His Son, His Spirit, and His Word, when we merely look at others to apply it to them, ignoring how it applies to us. I say to you, church: It doesn't matter what I say today, it only matters what scripture says. Measure what you hear by searching scripture to see if it is true. Don’t follow me unless I follow Christ. Don’t submit to what I say, but submit to the Spirit of God and the Word of God. It is my prayer that He speak to you this morning.
Our first point is that wickedness is our nature. Many people bristle at this comment. People who know not the Lord bristle to hear that they are wicked, and those who do know the Lord often forget that they are wicked. So often we hear things like, “I think people deep down are good”. That’s not what God says about us, and I have found some scripture that tells us that. Not some obscure passage, either. The whole Bible tells us that we have a sinful nature. An old preacher said once that if you don't believe we are born with a sin nature, spend some time in the church nursery and find out.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
So Wickedness is our nature. Wickedness is our nature, yet for the Christian, we receive a new nature; Wickedness can be contained, but not on our own. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Allowing Him access to do the work of purging the evil that is with us requires one thing that many people struggle with: Submission. We have to submit to God’s Word, God’s plan, God’s guidance. He must be Lord of all, and He promises to change us if we are willing. He makes us a new creature, and he turns our wicked, hard heart into a heart of flesh.
So how do we contain our own wickedness? By being submitted to God. And in our submission to God, we also ought to be submitted to other Christians. When we hold ourselves accountable, we only need to have a bad day or a bad attitude to allow ourselves to do something evil. When we allow others to hold us accountable, then we are more likely to follow through on those things we have said we will do. When we don’t allow others to hold us accountable, we are in violation of God’s plan for us. He designed a community of believers that would do just that.
As the Church, we are to hold each other accountable to live according to what we profess. We talked in our Men’s group about values and virtues. A value is only something we say we agree with or believe. We simply affirm it. But when we live it, and act on it, it becomes a virtue. We hold each other accountable so that more and more of the things we say we hold as our values become virtues. They become part of how we live. Over time, these virtues are evident to everyone. We become more like Christ when we allow ourselves to be held accountable.
Christ submitted His life to God the Father, even though He himself was God. He didn't consider it robbery to be submitted. If the Son of God can be submitted, and if He is our example of what we would attain to be like, then certainly we cannot think of ourselves too highly that we cannot submit to others who love us and want to see us grow in grace.
Containing the wickedness in ourselves means we learn what is wicked in us. Ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, to reveal to us our shortcomings. Until we confront the evil in our hearts, we don’t grow up as Christians. We are to move on from just being milk fed to eating meat. We are to mature into grace, knowledge, wisdom, love. We are to increase in joy and peace. We are to learn patience, gentleness, and self-control, and faithfulness.
Instructions for containing our wickedness can be found throughout scripture. If you aren't sure where to start, start with the ten commandments. Following these will contain wickedness. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands.” Read what Jesus commanded. The Sermon on the Mount, and many other passages, provide us with insight into the type of living that Jesus prescribed. Paul, Peter, John, and others expound on this in the New Testament. The Proverbs are full of wisdom that can be applied to daily living. Learn how to love God and love others. When your heart is for God, you want to do these things. When you want to do these things, you can contain the wickedness, but you may still make mistakes. Live in God’s grace and keep moving forward.
So Wickedness is indeed in our nature. And we can put a containment around our wickedness by allowing the Holy Spirit control and submitting to God’s Word. In the vision, Zechariah saw the woman representing wickedness thrust back into the basket. Wickedness will always try to get out. But in the end, wickedness will be expelled. The vision showed two winged women lifting the basket up and Zechariah wants to know where they are taking it. “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it.” So where is Shinar? This is Babylon. And Babylon always represents where wickedness dwells.
Babylon is where people wanted to be like God and tried to build the tower. God confused the languages and forced them to spread out. Babylon is where Nebuchadnezzar tried to make himself God and was cursed to be like an animal. Babylon in the end times prophecy of the Bible represents Greed and corruption. It is said to be the dwelling place of demons. It represents sexual immorality, and is called the “great prostitute”. It is marked for its luxury goods, delicacies, & splendor, fine linen and jewels. It is the center of all trade.
Babylon represents vice and wickedness. It is there in babylon where the things that are idolatrous to God’s people are worshiped. Babylon is always opposed to God’s will. In the end, wickedness will be centered there. In the vision, it is said a house is being built for the basket with Wickedness in it. This may well be a temple, which is often called the house of a god. Wickedness, in other words, will be celebrated, honored, worshipped in Babylon. Whatever is detestable to God will be done as worship in Babylon. Utter depravity and every kind of vice will be practiced there. What is evil will be said to be good, and what is good will be cast out as evil. Always in the Bible this is what Babylon represents. Saddam Hussien tried to rebuild babylon.
Like Nebuchadnezzar, he had his name stamped into the bricks to honor himself, making himself like a God. But as Nebuchadnezzar learned, so did Saddam. God will not be mocked. Now you may be beginning to wonder what this Babylon will be in the end times, what is it a symbol of. Some believe it will be the center of European power, or perhaps a city in the United States. If you are thinking about where that evil will end up, let me stop you in your tracks and remind you this sermon is to be applied to ourselves.
It’s easy enough to say, “Yes, Lord, cast the evil out! Judge Babylon!” yet, I ask that you remember that our application of scripture today, as every week, ought to be first and foremost to look into our own hearts, dealing with our own evil. We need to contain it, and more than that, send it away. The vision promises that God will once and finally cast evil out of the world, but in the meantime, we need to cast it out of ourselves, with His help.
Though we are born with a sin nature, and we couldn't help that, we are always to be casting evil out of our midst. In fact, God ordained for Israel to have a Day of Atonement to do just that. It was once a year. On the day of atonement, four animals were brought. You can read about this in Leviticus chapter 16. Aaron the priest was to offer a bull as a sin offering for himself and for his house. A ram was brought as a burnt offering, and then there were the two goats.
One could spend weeks studying the sacrifices and offerings, but for today let’s see what those two goats have to do with our message today, about putting wickedness away. The two goats were really wonderful. These animals were precious not because of being goats, but because of what they represented. They would cast lots over the goats. One would be killed and sacrificed. This was the sin offering for the people of Israel. God accepted the sin offering based upon their faith that he would forgive them of their sin. You may already know this, but I want to tell you anyways, because it is good news.
Jesus became our sin offering. God accepted this offering based upon our faith that he would forgive us of our sin. The day Jesus died was the Day of Atonement, once and for all, for those who put their faith in Him. It is a wonderful thing, and not just a great story, much more. It is the truth and our life. Jesus took the place of the annual sin offering, and made it so that no more animals would ever need to be sacrificed for the sin of mankind.
That is so cool! One of those two goats was the sin offering, and Jesus fulfilled the law that required it so that we can simply accept his replacement of the sin offering by faith. So I suppose you may want to know about the second goat. The second goat reminds us to put wickedness out of our midst.
The second goat was also part of the removal of sin, but in a different way. The goat that was a sin offering was for forgiveness of sins. That is fulfilled in Christ. The second goat was for the removal of sins, and that will be completed in Christ as well, when He returns once and for all to remove all sin and wickedness from our midst.
The goat that lived was the scapegoat. You may have heard the term and have no idea it comes form the book of Leviticus. The scapegoat was a visual representation of sin, just as the woman called Wickedness in Zechariah’s vision. And just like the woman Wickedness, the scape goat carried the wickedness and sin of Israel away. The first goat was for forgiveness of sins, but the sins were still there. The second goat took the sins away.
“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.
The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
John the Baptist identified Jesus as the scapegoat.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’
I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.
I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
And after Jesus ascended, a writer of scripture explained further to us what Jesus had done:
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.
For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.
Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.
For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.”
And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,
for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
And this was done so that the believer could live, not in his wickedness, but in righteousness.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Friends, what wonderful news! Jesus took the place of all of those sacrifices. Once for all. The three musketeers had a saying, all for one, and one for all, Peter gave us a far better saying when he said of Christ that he died once for all. So if Christ is for all, why are not all for Him? Why not once for all and all for Him? The one who chooses Christ will have a cost of ownership. Salvation is free, but it does mean giving up our old self.
The sin forgiven by the first goat still had to be removed by the second goat, but now that Christ has finished the work on the cross, you can have your sin both forgiven and removed by Him! We cannot continue to live in our sinful way, because it would be murdering Christ again, and that cannot be done, because He died only once for all. Once is all he needed. He died to grant us forgiveness, and He died to remove the stain of sin in our lives.
So once we understand that, and receive Christ as our sin offering, and lay our sins on Him as our scapegoat, we ought to honor Him by continually driving wickedness away from us. We do make mistakes, we do fall, but when we allow Christ to rule and reign in our lives, we turn our sin problem over to Him and say “search me, and know my heart” “Create in me a new heart and renew a right Spirit in me.” Those words are from David the adulterer, David the murderer, David the conspirator. God heard his cry for forgiveness and restored his soul as requested. David was a man after God’s own heart, and yet he failed terribly he did not contain his wickedness, but when presented with the reality of his sin by the prophet Nathan, he repented.
And when he repented, he drove away the wickedness. Look at the Psalm and see how he pleaded with God “Create in me a new heart, renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and restore to me the joy of my salvation.” We can pray this prayer and receive the same answer. I have prayed this prayer often. The Lord will always renew us when we ask.
What should the Christian do with this message? How are we to live? Is it possible to put our wickedness away from us? Yes! By the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in us, and with a broken and repentant heart, we can do it. We can stop living like we did before knowing Christ and live like children of God.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
We are to put wickedness away from us by putting to death the things of our past:
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
And when we have put off those things, we are ready to put on better things:
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Big Idea: A Holy People Must Be Rid of Wickedness
(We can either get carried away with our wickedness, or let the Lord carry away our wickedness)
Wickedness was our nature
Wickedness can be contained
Wickedness will be expelled
