A Propensity to Moral Failure 2

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Psalm 51:12-13 NKJV [12] Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. [13]Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.

  1. Joy of your salvation
  2. Uphold me by Your generous Spirit
  3. Teach transgressors Your ways
  4. Sinners shall be converted to You

Before fulfilling the great commission, though we need not be perfects yet, our hearts must be right with God first.

  • Psalm 51:10 NKJV Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
  • Matthew 6:33 NKJV But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
  • Ephesians 6:10-20 (NKJV) 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly 13  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14  Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15  and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16  above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18  praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints– 19  and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20  for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
  • Luke 4:25-27 (NKJV) 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

Ra’

The Hebrew word for “evil” (ra’) do not always refer to the sin or the effects of evil persons,

  • such as Abraham’s “distress” (lit. “is evil in your eyes”) over having to drive away his son through Hagar
  • Genesis 21:11–12 11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.
  • Hannah’s “sadness” (lit. “is evil to your heart” because of her childlessness
  • 1 Samuel 1:8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
  • the “days of trouble” in old age (lit. “evil days”)
  • Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”:

But these and other instances of “evil” do reflect conditions that are the effect of sin and would not be present if sin were not in the world.

  • They all detract from the well-being of life.

This is also the meaning of “evil” when God is said to create “evil” or bring it upon people.

  • Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’
  • Amos 3:6 If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?

He brings calamity or the disruption of the “good” life in retributive judgment.

  • It is punishment that when God’s principles are broken.
  • It is not personal but is directed only at wrongdoing.
  • It involves no pleasure at the suffering of others.
  • It is not God’s revenge. Reserved for Judgment Day.

This is designed to crush sinful hearts and stir them to repentance that they may experience the “good.”

Evil

  • Propensity = Tendency, Inclination, Predisposition

According to God’s Word, the entrance of sin into the world through the disobedience of the first man and woman affected all of their offspring the entire human race.

We all came into this world separated from God.

  • Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
  • Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

Our heart that suffers from serious irreversible problems. No one is exempt

  • Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

God’s solution

  • Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Colloquialism

Colloquialism is a word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary or familiar conversation.

  • “Daily basis” (but, instead God chose Israel)
  • “Matrix”
  • Black Sabbath – Live Evil, 1982
  • Evil is live spelled backward

This sums up its meaning

Evil is in opposition to life. It is that which opposes all that is good.

  • James 1:17 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.
  • Serpent, Job, David, Paul, John

No matter what is said and meant locally, Satan, the personal embodiment of all of the negativity of evil and its radical opposition to God, is rightly called “the evil one” and “a murderer from the beginning”

  • Ephesians 6:16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
  • 1 John 2:13-14 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. [14] I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
  • John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and 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.

The Fallen Heart

The person living apart from God today still has the remnant of the image of God as part of the “very good” creation,

  • he or she still has a longing for the qualities of the good life.

But at the depth of one’s being, at the core of his or her person, Scripture says a person’s heart is evil

  • it is bent against God and thus against the good.

The first mention of the fallen nature of our heart

  • Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The flood with its destruction of evil humanity did not cure this problem.

  • The same description of the human heart is repeated after the flood;
  • Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
  • The heart was wicked because of our fallen nature. Scriptures affirmed this:
  • Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
  • Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

Like an insane or mad person lives irrationally or contrary to reality, the evil heart lives against the reality of God and his good, ordered ways and thus suffers consequences.

To live against reality is hard. Yet we often do it again and again.

The definition of insanity often attributed to Albert Einstein: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

  • Psalm 86:11 (NIV) Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
  • Psalm 86:11 Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.

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