Overcoming Evil with Good

You know, it was nine weeks ago we began our study on the family and looking at the foundations that will strengthen, stabilize, and fortify the family unit Time flies when you're having fun Only two weeks left, then we're done It's hard to accomplish everything in 11 weeks, but that was the plan And hopefully, you've been encouraged, and hopefully, you've learned a lot, and hopefully, God has begun to work in your family But we began by looking at foundation number one, a forgiving spirit And that was foundation number one And that's where it all begins

And yet, tonight, we're going to help you understand whether or not you really, truly have a forgiving spirit All right, by looking at foundation number nine Because it will evidence to us and to yourself whether or not you really have the kind of attitude, the kind of lifestyle that demonstrates a desire. to forgive And you're going to see that here in a moment. A number of years ago, we did a series called Encouragement to Excellence How many of you were here for that series called Encouragement to excellence Raise your hand real high so I can see Okay, a few of you are

Others of you don't even remember we even did it Okay, some of you don't even care that we did it, but that's okay It was all about encouraging you to excellence in your worship Encouraging you to excellence in not only your worship of the king, but in your work for the king Encouragement to excellence in waiting On the king Encouragement in excellence in working for the king And we talked about in that series, Encouragement to Excellence, on your walk with the king Because our walk with the Lord must be absolutely pristine Because so many times we fall by the wayside

So, what does it mean to have the kind of walk with the Lord? That truly is an excellent walk The Bible says in Psalm 84, verse number 11, that the Lord is a son and a shield He is a Provider and a protector As son, he provides, as a shield, he protects But our Lord is a son and a shield, and no good thing Does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly? That's a great verse No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk straight, who walk righteously Our God is a protector and provider, and God will make sure you have everything you need as long as you walk uprightly

And Paul would say in 1 Thessalonians 4, these words: Finally, then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus That as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still All the more Paul was concerned that you are walking with the Lord, and we want you to do that, but we want you to be more excellent in your walk with the Lord We want you to excel in your walk with the Lord because he knew Psalm 8:11 That no good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly

And of course, Enoch was one who was characterized as the individual who walked with God All you do is read Genesis chapter 5 Right? He's also in Hebrews 11, the hall of faith, he was so attuned in communing with God, walking with God, that God just took him right up into heaven He walked so close to God that he walked right up into glory What an incredible experience That must have been for Enoch So the question comes: how do we exem that kind of walk? 1 John 2. 6 says that if we say that we abide in Him, then we ourselves ought to walk even as He Himself walked

So, if our walk is to be excellent, then we must walk as Christ Himself walks Our conduct must be exactly as His conduct was And that can happen because 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse number 6, tells us that we have a body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit And our Lord does not dwell in temples made with hands He dwells in our bodies, in our hearts, in our lives Walks among us because he lives in us and walks in us So the opportunity to walk uprightly Is accomplished by the fact that Christ Himself walks in us and He walks through us

Okay? And so, what does that walk look like? And so, we told you back in Ephesians chapter 4 Therefore, I, prisoner of the Lord, implore you To walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called So we are to walk worthily That is, we are to walk equally That is, our walk is to match Our pos in Christ Our daily conduct is to match who we are in Christ That means you walk equal That is, your life is equal to your position As a child of the living God, you walk worthy of your calling How do you do that? You walk humbly, you walk gently, you walk patiently

And verse number three: you walk diligently And then over in chapter 4, verse number 17, he says this So this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding Excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart And they have And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity and greediness

So your walk not only is to be one that's worthy and one that's humble and gentle and diligent, but it's a walk that's uniquely and distinctly different than the world You don't walk in impurity You don't walk in sensuality You don't walk in greediness No, you're the opposite of that You walk in holiness You walk differently and uniquely than the way of the world

And then later on in the book of Ephesians, the fifth chapter, the first verse, it says, Therefore be imitators of God, beloved children, and walk in Love just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us in offering and sacrificing God as a fragrant aroma So you are to walk lovingly You're to walk as an imitator of God Himself And then, down in verse number 8, you're to walk as children of the light You're to walk brightly Down in verse number 15, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise You're to walk wisely So, if you're going to have a worthy Walk It is a humble walk

It is a diligent walk It is a gentle walk It is a patient walk It is a walk that's uniquely different than the world It's a bright Walk because you walk as a children of the light, you walk in love because you're an imitator of the living God, and you are one who walks wisely because you want to have a more excellent walk That's how Christ Himself lived And then, of course, over in the book of Galatians, the fifth chapter, you are to walk dependently upon the Lord because you're to walk in the spirit, right? So you don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh

And then over in 3 John 4, I had no greater joy than to hear that my children walked In truth, so you're to walk truthfully. 2 Corinthians 5 says that we are to walk by faith and not by sight So we're to walk faithfully You getting all these down? You writing them down? You're getting all this? Because this is what it means to have an excellent walk So we're to walk faithfully We're to walk truthfully, brightly Humbly, lovingly, equally, distinctly, uniquely, wisely, because that is the excellent Walk That's how the Lord expects us to live our lives

Okay? And so as you go through all those, you begin to realize that the Bible says in Colossians 2 that we are to walk in Him So we are to walk Intimately And as we walk intimately, we're to do it giving thanks We're to walk thankfully Gotta go down yet? They're just one upon the other They all build one upon the other All that means you are to walk excellently That's the excellent walk But there's one more Only one more There's probably many more, but there's only one for tonight And that is, you are to walk victorious Victoriously And this is where foundation number nine comes in

Because the one thing that you need to do is the one thing you probably never want to do But in order for you to walk victoriously, you need to do it Are you with me so far? So let me talk to you about that How do you walk victoriously? I'm going to read to you the verse and then I'll have you turn there Here it is You ready? This is how you walk victorious Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good The one thing you don't want to do is the one thing you must absolutely do That is, you must be the individual Who does not be overcome by evil, but truly overcomes evil With good

That's how you know, by the way, you have a forgiving spirit So, foundation number nine is over evil With good This is the principle of dominance You dominate a relationship By overcoming ev with good And this is going to come to light for you in a unique and special way this evening Because if you got your Bible, turn with me to Romans chapter 12, because that's where that verse is located We are to be overcomers, right? Revelation 2 and 3 gives a promise to the overcomer And one of the ways you become an overcomer, which means victorious warrior

Remember that? It's the Greek word nika, where we the English word nike from It 's the victorious warrior And so there's a promise given to the victorious warrior who is a believer He is the overcomer And Christ him is the ultimate overcomer And Romans 8 says that we are overwhelmingly Conquerors That means we overwhelmingly are victorious warriors because of who Christ is And the way we live and walk victoriously is to overcome evil With good Now we live in our families dealing with evil and wrongdoing all the time

So, how do you deal with the evil in your home? How do you deal with wrongdoing in your home? How do you deal with bad attitudes in your home? You overcome evil with good. I'm going show you how you do that Because it's a foundational element to your home Because most of us, we want to pay back We want to be able to get back at someone else We want to get the upper hand on someone else Usually it's our spouse, right? We don't want them to have the upper hand We want the upper hand And so we don't want to overcome evil with good

We want to overcome evil with more evil so we can get the upper hand But that's not what the scripture says So, if you go back up to Romans 12, verse number 9, it says this: Let love, and this is where the section begins, verses 9 down through verse number 21 And it's kind of all out there, so you really can't outline it in a unique and special way. I can alliterate it for you, but I'm not going to do that for you This evening, because it's all out there, but it says, it says, Let love be without hypocrisy

Okay, so if you're going to overcome evil with good your love must be un your your love must be genuine Your love must be true Your love must be pure Your love must be honest It must be clean It must be c That is an unhypocritical kind of love You must have a genuine kind of love one for another Let love be without hypocrisy Abhor what is evil and cling to what is good So, if you're going to overcome evil with good, you must abhor evil And you must cling to that which is good, or you can't overcome evil with good Let love be genuine

How do you know your love is genuine? You overcome evil with good You abhor that which is evil You cling to that which is good So, what is good? We know God is good, right? Psalm 119:6: God is good and doeth good So, we know that God is good We know that the will of God is good because Romans 12, 1, and 2 talk about proving what is that good and ac will of God So the will of God is good We know that Hebrews 6:5 tells us that the word of God Is good

Romans 8:2 tells us that the work of God is good because all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose We know that every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, in which there is no variation or shadow of turning So, every good and perfect gift cometh down from God, okay? And we know that children are a gift from the Lord, and so therefore, that gift also is a good gift So, you to cling to that which is good

Oh, by the way, Proverbs 18 says, He who finds a wife, Finds a good thing, right? So you abhor evil and you cling to your wife You say, what if my wife is evil? Okay? She's not Okay? Whoso findeth the wife findeth a good thing Poor that was evil, cling to that which is good Cling to your wife because she's good Cling to your children because they're a good gift from above Cling to the word of God because it's It's good, the will of God, the work of God, because all that's good, cling to God because He's good You with me so far? I got take a breath Hold a second

Okay, this is so r that there's not enough time in the evening to cover the beauty of this foundation How to overcome evil with good Let love be without hypocrisy How do you do that? Abhor that which is evil Cling Be glued to that which is good By the way, the word evil, Pan, is a word that's used of Satan, who is the evil one Okay, so anything that's satanic, anything that deals with Satan, okay, you abhor, you run from, you despise But you cling to that which is good because at the very end, verse 21, you overcome evil With good Do not be a victim of evil, but be a vict over evil

How do you do that? By overcoming evil with good Paul says, Don't become a victim, don't be overcome, don't let evil be victorious in your life Instead, you be victorious over evil by returning good for the evil Evil done to you Neck right We so easily resort to revenge Remember, we told you in week number one About forgiveness, and that we need to be obsessed with forgiveness But instead, we are obsessed with vengeance, not forgiveness And yet, the Bible speaks to the believer as being one who truly and readily forgives And how do you know you're a forgiver? You over evil with good

Let love be without hypocrisy You know, love is such a misused word Next week we'll talk about never-ending love because that's the next foundation in our outline. I've already given it to you for next week, so you still got to come, but it's next week But the bottom line is that we misunderstand love Remember 1 Corinthians 13, 4? Love is patient, love is kind Remember that? Now the def article is used twice when it comes to love in 1 Corinthians 13 It's the love is patient and the love is kind So the different article sets it apart as a uniquely, distinctly

Kind of love, a distinct kind of love What love? It's God's love It's the love What love is that? It's God's love The love is patient The love is kind In other words, God's Is characterized by being patient and kind Ac fum, long fused God's love is patient It's long fuse God's word has a long fuse to it Okay? The flip side of that is that God's love is kind So while God's love is long fused, All the while it's long fused, it's bestowing kindness to the people he is long fused toward

So in other words, God is overcoming your evil with all of his goodness and kindness because that is the love of God That's Romans 12, verse number 21 So Romans 12, 9 says, Let love be genuine What kind of love is to be genuine? The love of God is genuine The kind of love that is long-suffering, the kind of love that is kind The kind that's patient and the one that's kind Because that one will abhor evil and cling to that which is good So the love of God that is long-suffering, long-fused, is the quality That allows one to go to the end of their rope That's the kind of love that God has

The one that goes to the end of its rope It's the kind of love that is used of the man Who, when wronged, and he has all the power within himself to enact vengeance, but doesn't That is the kind of love that's long fused That's God's love, right? Because God has all the power to enact His vengeance upon those who have sinned against Him, right? But instead, he demonstrates his love For instance, 2 Peter 3:9, God is long-suffering, right? God is long- God is patient Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance

So God is long fused with sinners because He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked Willing that they come to a place of repent That 's the patience of God That 's why the Bible also says In the book of Romans chapter 2, verse number 4, these words: Do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience? Not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance Paul says, Are you thinking lightly of God's long-suffering? Of God's long fuse toward you Because he is so long fused toward you

That all the while he is waiting for you to repent, he is bestowing acts of kindness and goodness It's called common grace toward the unbeliever And so God is constantly overcoming man's evil with his good Because that's the kind of God that we serve That's a love that's genuine and unhypocritical So you have to ask yourself within your family units, do you have a genuine kind of love one toward another? Is it an unfe love? Is it an unhypocritical kind of love? Is it a pure and genuine kind of love? Is it long-fused? And is it kind? Very important

The Bible says that this is the way in the book of Proverbs Proverbs chapter 14, verse number 29 He who is slow to anger, that is long-fused, that is patient Has great understand Great understanding But he who is quick-tempered exalts Folly It says in Proverbs 15, verse number 18: A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger calms a dispute So think about that in your family The man who is quick to anger stirs up all kinds of strife

Right? Is your home filled with strife? Is it to the point where you have an individual, a husband or a wife, a son or a daughter, who is not slow to anger, but bursts out and causes strife? The Bible says that the one who is slow to anger, the one who is long-f, is the one who calms disputes The one who is loving unhypocritically, the one who loves in a way that's genuine and true and honest, loves God's way His love is patient His love is Kind His love is long fused And then it says in Proverbs 16, verse number 32, these words

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules a spirit than he who captures a city In other words, if you're able to control your em, if you're able to control your anger, You're better and stronger than a mighty man when it rules a city Because it's really easier to conquer a city than it is to conquer your soul It's easier for you to conquer a town than it is to tame your tongue So work on the inner man

It says over in Proverbs chapter 19, verse number 11: A man's discretion makes him slow to anger, long-suffering, long-fused, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression Okay, so we use that verse, Proverbs 19:11 When it comes to a forgiving spirit, the glory, the beauty of the man is best seen when he overlooks a transgression, right? Well, the reason he is able to overlook the transgression is because he is slow to anger He is long fused He definitely demonstrates the love of Christ For the love of Christ is truly patient, macrother, long fused And it's kind

That is, all the while it's waiting, it just keeps bestowing acts of kindness, acts of kindness, words of kindness, deeds of kindness Toward the one who has wronged you, who has spoken against you Could you imagine if everybody in the family Was bent on always returning good, no matter what the situation or the circumstance Can you imagine what your family life would be like? God's love is patient God's love is kind Remember the book of Titus, the third chapter, the Bible says this

But when the kindness of God, our Savior, and his love for mankind appeared, Titus chapter 3, verse number 4, when did God's kindness app? Well, in the coming of his Son To earth, right? But God was long fused He was kind, right? He was continually bestowing acts of grace and mercy towards sinners so he could send the ultimate form of grace in his son because he embodies both truth and grace To the earth, so that he could demonstrate his love for us That while we were yet sinners, Christ would die on the cross for us, right? Still being lung-f Because the kind of God app

That's why I like what it says in 1 Peter We talked about this: about thirsting for Christ It says, Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect of salvation, if or since you have tasted The kind of God Since when did you taste the kindness of God? You tasted you would partake of God's kindness when you embraced Him as Lord and Savior amidst all of your sin, begged Him for forgiveness

And he would bestow his grace upon you and demonstrate his kindness towards you and save you from your sin That's the kindness of God The love is patient The love is kind Two positive aspects of the love of God Then it gives eight negative aspects. of the love, eight things that God is God's love is not, but the two things that it is is the love is patient, the love is kind, the love is long-suffering, it's long fused, and all the while it holds Back, it is continually not withholding kind and goodness

Remember in Matthew 11, when Christ said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you Learn from me, for I am what kind easy That's the way I am. I am easy, and I want you to come to me That's the goodness and the kindness of God that leads us to repentance See? So, if you go back with me to Romans 12, maybe you're still in Romans 12, and if you are, that's good If you're not, you need to be there

And so, go to Romans chapter 12, and it' Says, verse number nine, these words: let love be without hypocrisy, poor that which is evil, clean to what is good Okay, then this is this Be devoted to one another in brotherly love Give preference to one another in honor Okay, now remember, you're going to overcome ev with good Well, to do that, your love must be genuine And it can't be genuine if you're clinging to that which is evil You've got to despise the evil, cling to that which is good And as you cling to that which is good, you need to be devoted To one another in brother love

You need to treat others like your family Like they are your brothers and sisters Okay, now he's speaking to the church, but in your family unit, you are to treat one another with brotherly love Then it says Give preference to one another in honor Not only do you treat one another loving, You treasure one another You treat them with honor It's a word give preference to, it means lead the way In giving honor, lead the way in treasuring the brother you say you love Wouldn it be great if everybody in the family treasured everybody else? But we want everybody to treasure us in the family

We think we're the priceless treasure in the family But if we treasured everybody else as valuable in the family, can you imagine the family dynamic of your home? Right? It would be so pristine It would be so beautiful to behold And so Paul says, be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference to one another, not lagging behind in diligence Why does he say that? Because that's what you're going to do You're going to lag behind Instead of leading the way and treasuring one another, You're going to start to slack off So don't lag behind in your diligence

Proverbs 12:2: man's most precious possession is His diligence Two of you remember that Okay? Man's most precious possession is his diligence, right? A diligent spirit So Paul says, what? Don't lag behind in diligence Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord Because he knows, he knows how hard it is to be devoted to one another in brotherly love To give preference to one another, to lead the way in treasuring someone with honor, because you're going to get tired of doing that And you're going to want someone to treasure you and value you and respect you

And when they don't do that, you're going to start doing it to others That's not the way it works In fact, the less you are treasured, the more you should treasure others Because the more you treasure others, the more valuable they are to you, you realize The promise of Acts chapter 20, verse number 35, the blessing of what it means to give, because it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. I wish we'd believe that We don't believe that We like to quote it, but we really don't believe that

If we knew and believed it was more blessed to give than to receive, we would never expect anything from anybody else Ever, if we really believe that No, we don't believe that because we expect things, don't we? But the blessing comes not in the receiving Receiving the accolade, receiving the affirmation, receiving the reward, receiving whatever it is we want to receive, the blessing truly is in the giving of myself to someone else. I mean, that is exemplified in Christ Himself, right? He gave his life away

And what did he receive? The ultimate blessing, being exalted to the highest place because of his commitment to his father So Paul says these words: Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints Practicing hospitality, okay? Bless those who per you Bless and do not curse It's almost like he has to reiterate it Because you didn't get it the first time, right? Bless those who persecute you No, you to be kidding me No, no, bless and do not curse. I didn't say curse, I said bless. I know you thought I said curse

But I didn't say that. I said, bless those who persecute you. I said, bless and do not curse Because what's our des? To curse those who persecute us Now, make sure you're being persecuted for', not for unrighteousness' sake, but we are to bless those We are to bestow blessing upon those who come against us Not curse them, but to bless them Paul makes it very clear Stephen in Acts 7 blessed those who stoned him, right? Because he asked God to forgive them for what they were doing

Our Lord, when he was being crucified, asked that his Father would forgive them, for they know not what they were doing He bestowed a blessing upon those who persecuted him He did not curse them, but he blessed them So the Bible says, Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse What did Christ say in Matthew 5, verse number 10? Blessed are the persecuted Right? For they and they only are the ones who are ultimately reward And then he says, Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, be of the same mind toward one another

In other words, don't look at somebody else as if they're lesser than you Be of the same mind Don't show partiality Be of the same mind one toward another Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly Do not be wise in your own estimation It's like a reminder: you think too highly of yourself Don't be wise in your own mind Don't be wise in your own estimation Don't get to the point where you think that somehow you're better than somebody else Or that you deserve more than somebody else, or you deserve to be treated better than somebody else

Be of the same mind, be of equal mind, one toward another That's very important This is this never pay back evil for evil to anyone Never. I wish I could stand before you today and say that as a husband I have never paid back evil to my wife. I wish I could say that. I wish I could stand before you and say, I have never said an evil word to my wife. I wish I could say that. I can't say it Well, I could say it, but I'd be lying, right? So I really can't say that So Paul says, never Never There is never a reason for you to pay back ev for ev to anyone Now get this This is over the top inc

He says Respect or provide what is right or good or honest in the sight of all men Okay, the word of respect The word provide is a word of pre Have you heard of pre murder? Right? This is pre goodness Do you know that you are to pre The good you will do to anyone who does evil to you That's what the Bible says We are to premeditate goodness That just blows my mind

Because how many of us do that? We live in the moment, and then when something evil happens to us, we, because we did not premeditate our response that it would be good and not evil. I go on raw emotion and I return evil for evil, right? That's what I do That's what you do That's what we all do Because we're not in the business of premeditating goodness

Could you imagine? You need to get up in the morning and think, okay, now, how am I going to return good to my wife today when she yells at me for not getting done what needs to be done? How am I going to do that? How am I, as a son or daughter, going to premeditate my good response to my mom and dad when they discipline me? How is it I'm going to premeditate all the goodness I'm going to do to all those who do evil to me this day? Do you get up in the morning and premeditate your goodness? But probably not, right? You probably never heard of it till tonight

But that's exactly what the Bible says we're to do Can you imagine if our homes were filled with that? We had a time every morning Boy, what am I going do today? I'm going to premeditate all my good acts today. I'm going to write them all down. I'm gonna go buy them in advance. I'm gonna go do what I need to do in advance. I'm gonna have them all stored up So, when someone does evil against me, well, I gonna pull that baby out and I'm gonna just gonna bestow goodness toward them because I'm not gonna pay evil for evil because The Bible says never return evil for evil

But instead, make sure you plan well enough in advance how it is That when evil comes your way, you just bestow goodness, kind, because that kind of love is unhypocritical It's unfe It's pure, true, and love Because that is the love of God See, God premeditates his kindness, right? He prepares his kindness amidst all of his long-suffering Now, God doesn't do it in the moment because God is God, He is eternal, this is who He is But everything about His kindness comes in such a way that it's always in reference to the evil that we have done toward Him

But he keeps bestowing loving kind, mercy, grace, good, because that's the way he is That's the way we need to be That's why this is so foundational That's how we live victoriously in the family We live as overcomers And what do we overcome? We overcome evil with good Why do we do that? Because we've already premeditated how it is we're going to bestow goodness on whoever speaks Ill of me, whoever does evil toward me, whether it be my wife, my husband, my aunt, my uncle, my son, my daughter, my brother, or my sister, I have stored up all these good

Ways in which I'm going to respond to your evil Wow That's just amazing And that's the way we are to live our lives That's living the Christ life That is an unhypocritical kind of love, which allows me to overcome evil With good God says this, if possible So far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men Be at peace As far as it depends upon you, now you can do all you want to do and not be at peace with someone because of Of their sin and because of their attitude, vice versa

But the bottom line is, you do all that you can without ever compromising truth, right? Can't compromise truth to be at peace with somebody else Okay, because then you're compromising your walk with God, and you're no longer at peace with God because you have compromised the truth of God So you can't live a life of compromise That's foundation number Yeah, number four, right? A non-compromising life, right? So you don't want to compromise truth But you want to make sure that whatever you can do, you do to live at peace with all men How do you do that? Premeditate your goodness

Premeditate in a very tangible, visible, kind of way in which you will return good For evil, because that's how you overcome evil Never take your own revenge, bel, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine I will rep, says the Lord But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head

An ancient Egyptian ritual where they would take a pan with burning coals on it, hold it above their head out of shame and out of guilt for the wrong that they have committed because they had been shamed And the Bible says that when you return good for evil, this is exactly what you do in people's lives They are shamed because of the kind and the good that you bestowed upon them Now, over evil with good is the victorious life But we don't want to do that We'd rather be vengeful We'd rather win the argument We'd rather win the battle than anything else

Instead of learning to overcome evil with good There are a plethora of illustrations of this in Scripture My favorite illustration is found in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 24 If you got your Bible, turn there with me if you would, please. 1 Samuel 24 It's about David and Saul David was hiding in the caves of Engeti If've been to Israel with me, you know where Enget is, and the number of caves that are there in the place of the spring The spring is filled with springs It's a beautiful, picturesque place in the desert there in the Judean wilderness And David was hiding in one of the caves

And Saul was pursuing David Saul wanted David dead because Saul knew that David was the next king of Israel He'd already been anointed king by Samuel So he knew he was the next king of Israel And so David was hiding in the cave with his small band of men, and Saul had 3,000 men And Saul would go into the cave to relieve himself That is, he's going to go into the cave and use the bathroom Okay, there were no port-p back in the days of David and Saul, so this is what they did And so he went into the cave to use the restroom

But would you not know that it was in the providence of God that he would, of all the hundreds of caves in Engeti, choose the one that David was hiding in? Talk about God's providence And that's why the men, David's men, said to David Kill him now God has delivered him into your hands This sm of God's sovereignty This is so providential What better way to rid yourself of your enemy than to kill him right now? What better way to overcome his evil? By killing him

All the evil he's done to you, all the things he's said about you, all the times he's tried to kill you, now God has just given him to you on a silver platter All you got to do while he's in his most vulnerable position is slit his throat It's just that simple And you now are k of Israel We know that God has anointed you as king We know God wants you to be king So just usher God's plan along a little faster than normal, and you kill him, and you'll be king of Israel What better way to understand God's providence in your life, right? So, this is what the Bible says

Verse 4: The men of David said to him, Behold, this is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold, I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you They are actually, actually playing the part of God in David's life They're actually, and you met people like this, right? They're in the church They're saying, look what God has done God has delivered This is God's will for you This is God's plan for you Now, God has delivered your enemy into your hand You know, some of the worst counsel you'll ever receive comes from church people

Did you know that? They're well-intentioned people, they really are But boy, they gave you some bad counsel Remember Job and his three friends? They were called wise counselors They weren't too wise They said some pretty horrific things to Job And if truth be known, we can say some pretty horrific things to people in the church thinking we're giving them wise counsel And these men were thinking, We're going to give David wise counsel Look what God's done Kill him now Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul's robe secretly

And it came about afterward that David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul's robe So he said to his men, Far be it from me, because of the Lord, that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed, stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord's anointed And David persuaded his men with these words, and did not allow them to rise up against Saul And Saul arose, left the cave, and went on his way You can imagine David's men You're letting him go He's walking scot free

What are you thinking, David? Afterward, David arose, went out of the cave, called out to Saul, saying, My lord the king! When Saul looked Behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself David is bowing before his enemy, his arch enemy

And David said to Saul, Why do you listen to the words of men saying, Behold, David seeks to harm you? Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord had given you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you. I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed Now, my father, see, indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand, for in that I cut off the edge of your robe and did not kill you Know and perceive that there is

Is no evil or rebellion in my hands, and I have not sinned against you, though you are lying in wait for my life to take it Here is the edge of your robe You are in the palm of my hand You are putty in my hands You, Saul, were a dead man But I did not kill you. I did not Instead I let you go. I did not stretch out my hand There is no evil in my heart toward you There is no rebellion against your authority over me, Saul Verse 12: May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord avenge me on you, and my hand shall not be against you

As a proverb of the ancient says, Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness, but my hand shall not be against you After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea? The Lord, therefore, be judged and decide between you and me, and may He see and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand This is the New Testament, Old Testament illustration of the New Testament passage in Romans 12 About vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord David says, God's in charge of this. I'm not God will repay you when it is time That's not my job

My job: overcome evil With good Never pay back evil for evil For my love will be unhypocritical, it will be sincere When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept He said to David, You are more righteous than I, for you have dealt well with me, while I have dealt wickedly with you This is heaping burning coals of shame upon his head Saul is now shamed in front of his entire army You have declared today that you have done good to me, that the Lord delivered me into your hand, and yet you did not kill me

For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely? May the Lord therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me in the This day, he would return good to David He would bless David Now, behold, I know that you are surely king And that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your ha Is there any reason not to believe that David was a man after God's own heart? The reason David was a man after God's own heart, listen carefully, is number one, because he lived a life of repentance He repented when he sinned That's why he was a man after God's own heart

Number one, number two is that David was a man after God's own heart because he never sought reven Because vengeance is God's, not man's Isn't that great? That's why he was a man of Not because he never sinned We know David sinned His sin is sprawled over pages of scripture, right? But he repented when he sinned, and he never sought revenge against his arch enemy Because he lived Romans 12 David lived victoriously He overcame Evil with good How about you? Will you do that way? Will you live that way? Day in and day out, that will build, strengthen, and solidify your home That's right

Father, thank you for tonight Thank you for the opportunity you've given us to be in your word Truly, Lord, you are a great God So much to say, so very little time to say it But we trust that your word would speak to all of our hearts, encourage us to live for the glory of your kingdom In Jesus' name, amen.