Sermon – “Overcoming Evil With Good”

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 4 Because John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. 7 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.” 9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. 10 So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. 13 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” 16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 18 He said, “Bring them here to Me.” 19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

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17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”[b] 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. 2 He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. 3 Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day. 4 He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones. 5 He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe. 6 He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago. 7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy. 8 Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. 9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. 10 He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush. 11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate. 12 He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow. 13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.[a] 14 I have become the ridicule of all my people— Their taunting song all the day. 15 He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood. 16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes. 17 You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity. 18 And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the Lord.” 19 Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. 20 My soul still remembers And sinks within me. 21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. 26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth. 28 Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him; 29 Let him put his mouth in the dust— There may yet be hope. 30 Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach. 31 For the Lord will not cast off forever. 32 Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. 33 For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men. 34 To crush under one’s feet All the prisoners of the earth, 35 To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High, 36 Or subvert a man in his cause— The Lord does not approve. 37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed? 39 Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins? 40 Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord; 41 Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven. 42 We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned. 43 You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and not pitied. 44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through. 45 You have made us an offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples. 46 All our enemies Have opened their mouths against us. 47 Fear and a snare have come upon us, Desolation and destruction. 48 My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 My eyes flow and do not cease, Without interruption, 50 Till the Lord from heaven Looks down and sees. 51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. 52 My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird. 53 They silenced[b] my life in the pit And threw stones at me. 54 The waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!” 55 I called on Your name, O Lord, From the lowest pit. 56 You have heard my voice: “Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help.” 57 You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, “Do not fear!” 58 O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; You have redeemed my life. 59 O Lord, You have seen how I am wronged; Judge my case. 60 You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. 61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord, All their schemes against me, 62 The lips of my enemies And their whispering against me all the day. 63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up; I am their taunting song. 64 Repay them, O Lord, According to the work of their hands. 65 Give them a veiled[c] heart; Your curse be upon them! 66 In Your anger, Pursue and destroy them From under the heavens of the Lord.

Let’s begin this morning with a word of prayer Heavenly Father we thank you and praise you for your grace and your mercy Father we thank you for your presence in our lives through the through your Holy Spirit and God may your spirt not just be present in this building more but in our hearts and in our minds today father may our hearts be open to receive the words that you have forced Today Father may your peace that passes all understanding fill our hearts today Father Father as we gather here may we push out the things of the world today that our minds would be clear to receive what you have for store but we come here at the end of our busy week and Lord help us for to set that aside for this time and focus solely on what you have forced today God hear our prayers answer our prayers today help us to be faithful to you father in Jesus name Amen Amen you know we all know that if you turn the news on or listen to the radio whatever you’re going to hear of all kinds of. Things happen in the world today that many of them are evil things. We deal with it every day of our lives time of year that we celebrate peace peace came to earth peace came to earth in the form of Jesus Christ can we have peace can we overcome the evil we’re we’re living in a time where there is evil all about us but what can we overcome it I believe that we can overcome evil we can overcome it in the spiritual realm in the spiritual sense we can overcome evil with good that’s what I titled my message today overcoming evil with good Jesus gives us an example how to overcome evil with good my first grip of this morning comes from Matthew Chapter fourteen versus one hundred twenty one hear the word of the Lord and at that time Herod to tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants This is John the Baptist’s he has risen from the dead and therefore these powers are at work in Him It’s amazing he had faith to believe that John was raised from the dead and these powers were the powers of John the Baptist work and in Jesus he had great faith didn’t he believed there was a resurrection. For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of her odious his brother Philip’s wife because John had said to him it is not lawful for you to have her and although he wanted to put into death he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet Herod feared the multitude hair was not a man of faith but what he feared was losing his place of position because he knew that if they had a. An uproar in the city that he might be removed because if his hierarchy was that you can’t control this town we’re going to remove him put someone there that can so that’s what he was fearful of that’s why he feared the multitude first six but when Herod’s birthday was celebrated the daughter of Rudy has danced before them and pleased haired. Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask so she having been prompted by Mother said give me John the Baptists head here on a platter and the king was very sorry nevertheless because of the oaths and because of those who sat with them he commanded it to be given to her so he set sent and had John beheaded in prison and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl and she brought it to her mother. Then the disciples came and took away the body and buried it and went and told Jesus when Jesus heard it he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself but when the multitude heard it they followed him on foot from the cities and when Jesus went out he saw the great multitude and he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. When it was evening his disciples came to him saying this is a deserted place and the IRA is already late send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food when Jesus but Jesus said to them they do not need to go away you give them something to eat and they said to him we have here only five loaves and two fish he said bring them here to me then he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and he took the five loaves and the two fish and looked up to heaven and he blessed and broke and gave the loaves to disciples and the disciples gave to the multitude so they all ate and were filled in to and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men besides women and children may god add his blessing so they hear it in the reading of his whole the world has his holy word. How should Christians respond to evil in the world you know whether it is evil that happens in you know distant cities or distant countries or dissed or the. Evil that happens right here in our own neighborhoods where God forbid evil that happens directly to us how should we respond what should we think about it you know there’s death there’s natural disasters there’s pain and suffering there’s all these things how do we respond to them. How should we how should we think about these things what should our actions be I’m going to try to answer that with a very simple question one more question Who do we imitate who are we supposed to imitate friends Jesus therefore we should respond to evil the same way Jesus responds to evolution we that is how we should respond you know like I love how children will often imitate their parents still trouble dress like on the walk like them they try to act like I’m that’s what we should do that’s how we should follow Jesus we should try to act like he acts and do like he did we should respond the way he does now before I get into overcoming evil let’s look at this evil act that I read about from our passages Smalling the murder of John the Baptist to be more explicitly. The beheading of John the Baptists. It’s hard to fathom hard to grasp that a woman asked for this a woman says ask them the be had and bring that head to me on a platter how groups how grew Teske that a young girl would ask for a man to be beheaded and his head brought to or. What an awful thing it just shows the total lack of value placed on human lives by many people I was going to say in that time but Exodus say by many people to refresh your memories a little bit Harry did Herod to tetter ark while on a journey to Rome to visit his brother Philip while he was there he fell in love with his brother Philip’s wife. And after they fell in love you can just and you know it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to envision that they slipped away and had they they were just driven by lust by the the lust of the flesh. So they fell in love and Herod agreed to put away his own wife No I didn’t do the lot of research to see what did that entailed How did he put her away than just divorce or I didn’t do the research on that but he put her away and then her odious agreed that she would leave her brother Philip and go and live with hared. So they were living in an adulterous incestuous situation they were married they were just living together and this is wrong and John the Baptist’s. Is not afraid to call someone out on their actions on their sins he had no problem calling them out he told them that it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife it is not law for you to be living that way you should not be living that way so apparently this was a foreign in the side of her odious she didn’t like someone telling her that that’s not the way they should be living there’s many in the world today that don’t like to hear that that’s not the way you should be living they don’t want to hear that that’s just your opinion it was not just John’s opinion that was according to God’s laws God’s commands and he called them out on it he had no problem calling anyone out on their sins listen to what he had to say to the religious leaders in Matthew chapter three verse a seven through ten but when he saw many of the fair season Sadducees coming to his baptism he said to them broda vipers who warned you to flee from the raft to come therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance and do not think to say to yourselves that we have Abraham as our Father for I say to you that God is able to raise up children Abraham from these stones and even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire he called them a bunch of snakes is basically what he called them the religious leaders he says You bunch of snakes these these guys thought that they were the elite when it comes to be unholy they thought they were they were it these were the ones that would stand on a corner and say Thank You God that I am not like that all the tax collector over there but I am all holy and mighty That’s who these guys were thank you to that I’m not like them you can join us in person and John says basically saying the stones are holy holier than you are God can raise the stones up he called them out on their own righteousness John’s message was a message it would cut to the heart he didn’t sugarcoat it. John’s message was not a bunch of fluff he gave a message of repentance and my friends that’s what it takes is repentance and that she’d be born again you shall not enter the Kingdom of God you must be born again Matthew three one two says in those days John the Baptist came preaching in a wilderness of G.-D. a sane repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent the word repent is being translated from the Greek word but Metallica meant Tenney O. it means to change or to change one’s mind according to the lexicon it means to have a change of heart to make a serious change in one’s life. It’s not to be taken lightly it is a serious change in one’s life that’s what it means to repent and that’s what John called the people that day to do to to make a serious change in our lives in other words Repent means to divert from our old activities our old activities were which were focused on our selfish selfishness our lust and to humble ourselves before God It means regaining that relationship with God that God intended the word kingdom here is being translated from the Greek word bus Ilia the lexicon describes this word to mean royal power kingship Dominion rule it’s not to be confused with a physical kingdom but rather the authority to rule over a kingdom. The Kingdom of God His authority is at hand. His ruling authority is at hand. He is speaking to the father’s dominion the alternate of storage which is belongs to God. Having a change of heart requires humility it requires surrendering to God’s authority. So now how do we respond to evil First we must expect the net well expect is not a good word but to know that evil is going to happen we should not be surprised by it in first Peter four twelve it says Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you we should know the evil when righteousness lives together on the world so don’t be surprised by it Secondly we must endure we must endure it anymore First Corinthians thirteen love bears all things love believes all things love hopes all things love and doers of things even the evil that be Falls us we will endure when we are in Christ we must give thanks for all things good thanks. For all things to God and the father in God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ infusions. Romans twelve nine says Let love be without hypocrisy whore what is evil cling to what is good. It is hard for us at times to separate the person from the evil deed we are to love the sinner but hate the sin hate that sin which they do we have a hard time separating those two but that we must do and of course the most important Romans twelve seventeen through twenty one and this is for God’s children repay no one evil for evil. But that sink in for a moment repay no one evil for evil have regard for good things in the sight of all men if it is possible as much as the Pens when you live peaceably with all men beloved Do not a vendor sells but rather give place to wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord therefore if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him a drink for in so doing you will he pole heap coals of fire on his head do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good that is how we overcome evil we overcome it with good two wrongs do not make a right do they. Know but a wrong responded to with good can make a right because it could change a heart between April in June one thousand nine hundred ninety four an estimated eight hundred thousand Rwandans were killed in the space of one hundred days that is eight thousand people a day were killed through there is an amazing example forgiveness after this terrible genocide when the killing began in earnest Stephen the Hoggy fled his home and burger Sia I can’t pronounce some of these names but Berger Syria district of Rwanda to neighbor and Burundi by the time he returned the next year fifty two members of his family were dead most of them including his sister were slaughtered in the first week of the twentieth century’s final genocide when God he returned to Rwanda after the genocide he had nothing he had no home no family and eventually he moved past his anger and he entered into the seminary in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine he began visiting the lama prison and Burgess Sera the new home to thousands of the genocide every genocide man the men who Wow did the mat the machetes into a llama he met the band he met the band of fifteen who killed his sister he met the very ones who killed his sister at first the prisoners thought that he had been sent by the government they thought that he was a spa I were in a clerical collar to investigate their crimes. But even when they were satisfied that the hog wasn’t a spy they were skeptical of his motives why would this man come to their prison to preach to them when he knew what they had done. But one of the god messages resonated with them that message was that it was even possible for them. To be forgiven. So more and more of these genocide. Men became and began attending his teachings he became their pastor the very men that killed his family he became their pastor that is overcoming evil with good sharing the message of salvation with the very ones. Who did you harm. This is perfectly in line with the example that Jesus set for us to follow after hared had beheaded John the Baptist’s Jesus departed by a boat at these sort of place. He was going to have a time of Solitude but the multitude followed. It would have been perfectly OK if Jesus would went out and set up I’m sorry but I’m in my time of mourning can you come back tomorrow or could you come back next week you know I just lost a crow close relative. That would have been perfectly OK Right I mean nobody would have judged him for that but he didn’t instead of telling them leave me alone he had compassion on them he went out to them what did the words say healed their sick Matthew says he healed or said Mark says that he began to teach them. So Jesus response to that evil deed of hared the beheading of John the Baptist Well I’m going to go out here and heal some blind people I’m going to touch the lame that they’re going to walk I’m going to touch the ears of the deaf that they’ll hear. I’m going to change their lives. I’m going to do them good he taught them he taught them about the Kingdom of God so spiritually lives were changed. This act of evil as horrible as it was Jesus says I’m going to do good I’m going to tell them about the about my father that they can be reconciled my friends that’s how we respond that’s how we respond to the enemy the devil probably thought Boy I’m going to slow him down I’m going to crush the spear but instead he overcame. He overcame the end of his attack. And restored lives restored so it’s he. Five One says therefore be imitators of God as do your children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us an offering in a sacrifice to God a sweet smelling a Roma my friends offer ourselves for his service walk in love that we would have compassion on others that we would imitate the Lord a great but be a great place to start to not respond as the world responds to hatred but the responded as Christ respond to hatred not with revenge but with compassion. Imagine the impact the church can and could have if we respond like that respond like Jesus responds to evil when we make our greatest concern that of the souls of men. People could be healed physically and spiritually restored to God limitations you’re not going to have the correct Scripture because I had a typo this week and I said the result of that was limitations twenty one through fifteen she says that I don’t think this is right I’m like wow I think I was going to read a backwards no it should have been twenty one or twenty five and I told her it was maybe as one hundred twenty five but it’s twenty one through twenty five so your you may or may not have it. Limitations three twenty one through twenty five this I recall to my mind therefore I have hope through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed because his compassion fails not they are new every morning how a little you God’s mercies are new every single morning great is your faithfulness the Lord is my portion says my soul therefore I have hope in Him the Lord is good to those who wait for him to the souls who seek Him. That is good news that God’s mercy is are new every morning if you mess up today. Tomorrow morning’s a new day God’s mercy is are new tomorrow Amen that should be your prayer Lord move our hearts to compassion. Nor give me a heart like Christ create a new heart in me people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. Let’s show them how much we care there is for things that we should never do with evil we should never despair that this evil and evil world is out of God’s control. Because God is in control we should never give in to the sense that these seemingly random acts of evil as has makes life meaningless because it is not meaningless. Our life does have meaning through Christ. Says how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for from him and through him and to him are all things to him Be The Glory forever amen we should never yield to the thought that God sins or is ever unjust. For the Lord is righteous in all his ways. He is righteous and all of his weights and friends this week one morning as I would go up and speak in the my heart about this this message and I thought of Peter and most. Many are probably familiar with Peter and whatever the night did Jesus was betrayed Judas had betrayed the Lord and and went to the religious leaders and betrayed our Lord for thirty seconds of silver I know I’m at the wrong holiday I know that. Just bear with me. So the religious leaders got there their band of soldiers and they come after Jesus and Peter’s there with the Lord in the disciples are there with him and you know that the disciples were with Jesus for three years for three three years they they heard all of these teachings you heard all the parables they walked with him they slept the they they seen the miracles they were there. But yet. Peter still responded in the natural sense when the men came with a sword what did Peter do. He drew out that sword and. He cut off the ear. Of the High Priest servant. But what the Jesus do. He reached up and touched that man’s ear and restored it my friends this sword represents the natural this sword represents evil this sword represents death this sword represents destruction. This sword represents the world’s response to evil My friends this sword represents how we are to respond to evil this sword represents life this sword represents hope this sword represents peace. The peace that man can have with God. This sword tells you how to have peace with God It begins with repentance Yes but it guides you and teaches you how to respond to evil and we can overcome evil but we can overcome it with this because as I said in the beginning two wrongs don’t make a right. Because when we respond to evil with this. We have become evil but when we respond to evil with this with the Word of God in the love of God we can overcome evil we can overcome evil in this world but most important we can overcome the evil. That affects us we can overcome its impact on our lives we can have true peace by this sword.