Lesson 51

Every believer is a child of God.
He therefore needs to know the heart of the Father God.
He is to hate what our Father God hates, and delight in what God delight in.
If we do not know what is in the Father's heart and live against His will and desire, we grieve the Spirit of God living in us.

God hates evil (Zechariah 8:16-17; Habakkuk 1:13).
We are likewise to hate evil (Amos 5:15).
We are to hate evil in our thoughts, words, and deeds, in ourselves and in others.
We must never, never, never show a delight in evil (1 Corinthians 13:16).

"These are the things you are to do: SPEAK THE TRUTH to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not PLOT EVIL against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I HATE all this," declares the LORD.                                       (Zechariah 8:16-17)

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
     you cannot tolerate wrong.                                                     (Habakkuk 1:13)

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.                                                                                              (1 Corinthians 13:6)

On the other hand, whenever truth is proclaimed, whenever truth prevails, whenever truth is demonstrated, we are to rejoice with the truth.
Whether it is without or outside the church, we must rejoice whenever truth is manifested.
We must not be jealous or be envious when others are promoting God's truth, but rejoice with them and support them.

Because many of us still live by the flesh (our sinful nature) and not after the Spirit, we often fall into the sin of "delighting in evil."
When we do this, we break God's heart.
By this, we show that we take the interests of God lightly.
In fact, we are taking the side of the devil against God.

This is because the devil is the one who causes evil to grow and prevail on this earth.
He is the one whom Jesus said has come "to kill, steal and destroy" (John 10:10).
On the other hand, Jesus has come to give life, life abundantly (John 10:10).

We can "delight in evil" in our attitude, words, or deeds.
This sinful attitude arises first from our heart, and expresses itself through our words and actions.
Therefore, we must be ever vigilant and guard our spirit always (Malachi 2:15-16).
Never approve of evil, in our own lives or in those of others.

The following examples are given to sensitize us to the various situation where we can fall into the sin of delighting in evil and as a result grieve the Spirit of God.

E.g. When a sister in the church chases her husband out of the home because of his disagreements with the wife, what would your response be?

If you talk like this, you are delighting in evil:
     "Sister, you should have done that long ago!!!"
     "Sister, you should have thrown his clothing out into the streets also."
     "Sister, what you do is right; this will teach him a lesson!!!"
     "Serve that brother right; he has been such a pain in the neck to her all this while."
     "He treats the house as a hotel, etc.; he has it coming to him."

If we talk like that, we are not having God's kingdom and purposes in our heart.
We are aggravating the situation by encouraging the wife's wrongdoing.
We are affirming the sister in her hatred and fury (which are sinful attitudes).
We are encouraging family division, causing hurt to the spouses themselves and to their children.
We are condoning an action that brings shame to God's name before the world.

Instead, we should encourage and promote the truth of God, by saying:
     "Sister, it is wrong to chase your husband out of the house.
     He is the head of your household. Learn to submit to him in the Lord."
     "If he has done wrong, you can point out his error and settle your differences peacefully."
     "If you still cannot agree, you can seek the church leaders for counseling."
     "Sister, be patient with your husband, forgive him."
     "Walk in mercy and love your husband."
     "Pray for him, and believe that God is changing him."
     "With God, all things are possible; he will be changed by God if you begin to praise God for hearing your prayer."
     "Sister, do not curse your husband like that; you are binding him to the past with your words."

E.g. A brother who has been going to the Cell Group meetings suddenly decides not to go by giving one of the following reasons: the teaching is lousy, the singing of praise and the music is of low quality; the next meeting venue is too far away, etc.

Such excuses are blatantly wrong and sinful.
To criticize a leader's teaching by calling it lousy is totally without contractive value and is judgmental.
Pray for him and he will improve.
The leader ahs been appointed by the Pastor and is the best available.

To condemn the worship and music is being petty.
We do to gather together because of good music and praise.
By God's grace, we will have good worship and music on Sunday morning.
We gather together to build up and encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25).

To complain of the long distance is being selfish.
Others have to travel from far away to meet with you in your home too.

If everyone agrees with such excuses, in the end the whole Care Group will disintegrate and God's purposes will be undone.
The one who started the ball rolling with his excuses and those who agreed with him would then have served the purposes of the devil through their careless and evil attitude.

You will be delighting in evil if you agree with the brother, by saying:
     "Yes, I agree with you; I will also not attend the meeting any more."
     "Yes, the teaching is lousy; the pastor should have appointed a better teacher."
     "Yes, its too far away; I will also not attend the next meeting."

Instead, we should speak the truth by saying:
     "Brother, you should not skip any meeting; you will be blessed by going."
     "I agree that the music and praise is not as inspiring as the Sunday morning's but we are not gathering for the music and praise.
     Anyway, let's thank God for the musicians in our Cell Group."

     "Let's give our leader more time to learn; his teaching will get better with experience."
     "Come on brother, its alright to travel a bit further this week; we need to encourage this brother by meeting in his house.
     Moreover, he also travels from far away to other brother's home every week."

E.g. A famous and pretty princess goes about doing charitable work and is adored by people all over the world. Nonetheless, she openly commit fornication and adultery and admits it in public without shame or remorse.

You will be delighting in evil if you agree with her acts by saying:
     "She has been bullied by the palace officials and other members of the royal family in the past. Now she deserves some fun in her life."
     "People are calling her a saint. I believe she is a good role model for any girl to follow."

     "Her husband committed adultery first. She has every right to do the same." (Two sins do not make a situation right).
     "We are now living in modern times. We do not have to judge her by old standards."

However, you will be speaking the truth by saying:
     "She is an adulteress and is not a good role model for any girl in to follow."
     "She ought to be ashamed of herself by bringing embarrassment to her children with her indiscretions.
     They will find it hard to face the remarks of others as they grow up.
     No proper mother who love her children will do that to her own."

As children of God, we must consciously reject evil and stand for truth.
We must not allow even the slightest endorsement of evil through our attitude, words or actions.

To develop this attitude, we need to know and act on the following truths:

God is our Father.
We are His children.
We please God when we love what He loves and hate what He hates.

It grieves our Father's heart when we rejoice in evil and suppress the truth.
We no longer express our Father's character of righteousness and holiness when we do that.
Instead we are siding with God's enemy, the devil, when we rejoice in evil.

Therefore, as children of God, let us make it our supreme desire to please the heart of Father God.
Let us never delight in evil, but always rejoice with the truth.
Live us live to do God's will and please Him, as Christ did (Hebrews 10:5-7).

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
     but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
     you were not PLEASED.
Then I said, 'Here I am -- it is written about me in the scroll --
     I have come TO DO YOUR WILL'"
                                                       (Hebrews 10:5-7)

Do not take evil or sin lightly, in ourselves or in others.
It was sin that brought separation of man from God.
It was sin that will bring man to the eternal fires of hell.

It was sin that caused Jesus to leave His glory behind and die as a criminal for the sins of the whole world.
It was sin that caused the agony of Jesus' suffering on the cross for us.

God knows the great tragedy of sin and evil.
God paid a great price to redeem us from sin and evil and death.
We are therefore never to love evil, but hate it from our heart.
God commands us to do so (Amos 5:14-15).
Let us choose to obey God.

Seek good, not evil,
     that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
     just as you say He is.
Hate evil, love good;
     maintain justice in the courts.                   (Amos 5:14-15)

If we condone or approve of evil, we are indirectly participating in it.
This will bring a curse upon ourselves (Isaiah 5:20).
As a result, we will come under God's judgment (Isaiah 5:24-25).

Woe to those who call evil good
     and good evil,
who put darkness for light
     and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
     and sweet for bitter.

Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
     and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay
     and their flowers blow away as dust;
for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty
     and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the LORD's anger burns against His people;
     His hand is raised and He strikes them down.
                                                                      (Isaiah 5:24-25)

It is not popular to speak the truth, whether in the church or outside the church.
For speaking the truth, Jesus was persecuted and crucified by His fellow Jews.
Carnal people do not like to hear the truth.
The world only wants to hear what is acceptable or correct socially and politically.

However, we are ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).
And Christ is "The Way and the truth and the Life" (John 14:6).
And we have no choice but to honor Jesus always and speak the truth.

The truth may be unpleasant to many, may anger many, and may provoke others.
It is painful to our ego (sinful nature) to hear the truth.
However, only the truth brings us back to the ways of God (John 14:6).
And only the truth can set us free -- from the lies of the devil, from self-deception, from bondages and curses, from sin and death (John 8:31-32).

To the Jews who had believed in Him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth set you free."  
                                                                       (John 8:31-32)

We are therefore commanded to speak the truth, in love, at all times (Ephesians 4:15).
And we need to speak the truth fearlessly and boldly.
We do not need to fear man, but God alone, as we stand for the truth.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and help together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.                      (Ephesians 4:15-16)

E.g. "Sister, you need to control your temper or you'll destroy yourself, your family and your testimony." (Galatians 5:15, 19-21).

E.g. "Brother, you need to go to work -- just find any work -- so that you may earn some money and bless others (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12).

E.g. "Homosexuality is wrong in the eyes of God even if it is approved by the Supreme Court of the land. God loves the sinner and has a plan of salvation for him, but God condemns homosexual practices in His word" (Romans 1:21-32).

We must not only be teachers or hearers of the truth but doers also (James 1:22).
If we know the truth and yet do not put it into practice, we are hypocrites, just like the religious Pharisees in the time of Jesus (Matthew 23:1-3,13).

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.                            (James 1:22-24)

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do for they do not practice what they preach.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's face. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."                          (Matthew 23:1-3,13)

When we do not practice the truth ourselves, we will find it hard to reprove others who do evil.
In fact, we will tend to overlook the evil around us.
As we learn to tolerate evil, our moral standards will drop, and decay will set into the family, office, church or society around us.

We will then no longer act as the salt of the earth.
Men will trample on us and cast us away (Matthew 5:13).
Our words will count for nothing if we do not practice the truth ourselves.

Always rejoice with the truth that is being proclaimed and acted on.
No matter who is doing it, whether believers or unbelievers, always be thankful that God's righteousness is being established.

Support brothers from other churches who are holding evangelism campaigns and crusades; never put them down out of envy (Mark 9:38-40).
Rejoice when other believers are able to cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead and bring in the mighty harvest in Jesus' name.
Join in the work, learn from them and rejoice that God's kingdom has come among the people (Matthew 12:28).

"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."
"Do not stop him," Jesus said, "No one who does a miracle in my name can in next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us."  
                                                                                      (Mark 9:38-40)

Rejoice when a brother is promoted because of his diligence.
Rejoice when a sister's children do well in school.
Rejoice when God's Spirit moves mightily upon a backslidden brother.

Support the government when it declares war on corruption and sexual immorality; do not be cynical or indifferent.
Rejoice when the public reaches out to help those who are starving in other nations; join in the effort.

Always rejoice with the truth, giving thanks to God, and thereby encouraging others to maintain God's standards of righteousness.

Your thought

1. In what ways have we unconsciously or consciously condone evil in ourselves or in others?
   

2. Why is delighting in evil wrong?
   

3. Why do we find it so difficult at times to speak out for the truth?
   How do we overcome our weaknesses in this area?
   

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