Latest / End-Time Revival Ministries, USA / Episode 100: The Problem Of Evil - Introduction

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Episode 100: The Problem Of Evil - Introduction · End-Time Revival Ministries, USA

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  All right, God bless you, God bless you. We welcome you once
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  again, ladies and gentlemen, to this another edition of End Time Revival Ministries
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  USA Podcasts. And of course this is our first video podcast that we're going
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  to be doing for this particular news series that we are starting on today.
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  Topic a title, a series of podcasts over the next few weeks entitle the
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  problem of evil. The problem of evil, and certainly it is something that
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  we must all contend with every day, generation to generation, and we want
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  to see and understand what the Bible has to say with the word of God
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  has to say, what God himself has to say about this evil that is
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  undeniable in our world today. All right, So before we begin, of
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  course, as always, as is customary, we begin with a word of
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  prayer. So we'll take a moment just to invoke the presence of the Lord
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  and to give him thanks. Father. We love you, we bless your
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  name, we glorify you for all of your goodness, mercy, loving kindness
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  toward each and every one of us. And Lord, we pray today that
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  somewhere somebody will hear the voice of the Savior, come to know that you
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  are the Truth and living God. What we pray that your word will have
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  effect, will have effectual working in the hearts of someone today. God be
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  glorified. And all we say and do is you get the glory out of
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  our lives. Your kingdom. Come, Your will be done in Jesus,
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  and we pray and give thanks. Amen and Amen. All right, the
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  problem of evil, the problem of evil, And we're going to pretty much
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  today kind of set some somewhat of a foundation, cover a couple of things,
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  and we're going to read from the Word of the Lord, also a
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  scripture or two, just again to lay the foundation of what this series is
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  all about. In the basic understanding of things that we need to know.
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  Amen, If we're going to have a good understanding of evil, what again
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  God has to say about it? And certainly our responsibility Amen, in regards
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  to all of this. First and foremost, I just want to point out
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  a couple of things, and again this is not exhaustive, but I want
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  to point out a couple of things that Number one, what I believe is
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  fundamental, fundamental problem with evil in our world today is the pretense on the
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  part of some, not all, the pretense that evil is something other than
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  what it is, there's a pretense in the hearts and minds of some to
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  believe that evil is something other than what it is, something other than what
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  God has called evil. And secondarily, but certainly not lesser of a problem
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  with evil in our world today is the denial of where evil emanates from.
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  Evil is in the heart of man. The Bible makes it very clear that
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  the heart of man is desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. Evil is in our
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  heart and and and and and this is what we need to understand foundationally,
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  fundamentally, if we're going to a man deal with the problem of evil from
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  the Biblical perspective. This is not to uh. Again, recognizing understanding evil
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  in the heart of man is not to minimize in any sense or uh to
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  deny the the the existence and the influence of the evil forces of the darkness
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  of the demonic, of the devil Satan, who is our adversary. They
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  these fallen angels, as the Bible lets us know, comprise the forces of
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  the realm of darkness of the demonic UH. And they're always seeking to suppress
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  and to obstruct man from doing the good that we know we ought to do.
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  That is the wicked working of these principalities and powers of the darkness of
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  this world and their influence does not excuse man. By the way their influence
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  they're working, their evil, power and persuasion, and all of that does
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  not excuse man from the responsibility of the evil that he chooses to carry out
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  in his doings. The problem, again, fundamentally, is what's in our
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  heart. And what is in our heart the Bible tells us very clearly,
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  is that we are haters of God by nature, we are children of wrath.
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  We are exchanged from God. And our hatred of God and our resistance
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  to his right to reign and rule over us, to reign in our hearts
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  is what it does. It negatively intensifies our inability to resist the evil that
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  is already working in us. That evil that is seeking to destroy us,
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  whether we realize it, whether we recognize it, whether we understand it or
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  not, evil is seeking to destroy us. Man has several inabilities, as
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  it were, to or rather concerning evil, and that's why I want to
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  point out a few of these, and again I'm just lending foundation for this
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  inexhaustive study on the problem of evil. We fallen creatures human beings have several
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  inabilities concerned even I just want to point out three of them. Number one,
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  we have an inability in and of ourself to deal with evil, and
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  I'll get to that in detail and due course. But number one, we
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  have an inability within us to deal with evil as it ought to be dealt
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  with. We don't have it. We don't have that ability to do that
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  on our own. Number two, we have an inability within us to reconcile
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  evil, reconcile even again, I'll get to that also and do course.
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  And number three, we certainly have the inability or lack thereof no ability.
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  Let's put it that way. I don't want to use the word inability,
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  because either way we say it, either way we slice it, dice it.
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  We do not have the wherewithal. We do not have the ability to
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  eradicate evil from us, from our myths, from our world. That's been
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  proven. Believe, whether or not you want to believe in a God,
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  believe in the Bible, believe what the Bible has to say about evil.
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  You cannot deny no one can deny man's inability to eradicate evil from this world,
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  from our hearts, from our actions, and of thinking and all of
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  that. The irreconcilability with what evil really is can lead fallen man, a
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  man ultimately to deny that there is a God. He can be led to
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  deny good, the presence of good. And certainly, again the Bible teaches
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  about the goodness that is in this world emanates from God, and men we're
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  all a and recipients of God's goodness. But when we cannot reconcile evil,
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  and our inability to do so, it can lead it can lead us to
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  denying God, denying the goodness of God. And we can also, on
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  the other hand, deny depravity. There's a denial of depravity, a denial
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  of our fallenness, who we really are. We don't want to go in
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  and with introspection to look at us, to look at ourselves, to look
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  at and to take responsibility for you know, the problem that lies within each
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  and every one of us. There's a denial of depravity that can happen,
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  certainly, a denial of the helplessness in which we are all living without God.
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  Apart from God, a man, we are completely helpless creatures. But
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  you know, when we can't reconcile evil, there's a denial of that.
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  There's a denial furthermore, of salvation. When you don't recognize the state that
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  you're in and realize the states that you're in and come to the necessary requirement
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  of repentance, there's a denial of salvation and at least all kinds of problems,
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  hopelessness, despair, despondency, all of these are things that the devil,
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  the adversary of the soul of man, wants to drive us to.
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  But we don't have the ability to reconcile evil, and this is why we
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  are in desperate need of help. And certainly, last, but not least,
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  amongst many other things it could lead to, is the denial of eternal
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  life, heaven, hell, judgment. All of those things can be unreconciled
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  if you will, or not reconciled within the heart of man when it comes
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  to evil, and you're not getting a good basic biblical understanding and the knowledge
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  of again the real presence and problem of evil in our world. There's a
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  wretchedness of evil that is inside of the heart of man, and it is
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  only being restrained. Please understand this. The evil that is in us is
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  only being restrained by the goodness of God demonstrating his great love, his compassion,
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  his long suffering, his forbearance, all of that toward us. While
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  Amen, we are living here in our fallen state, in this fallen world,
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  a man world that filled with depravity, a man and rebellion against the
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  rightful reign and rule of God. And by nature again, the Bible makes
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  it clear that we are enemy combatants to the rightful, sovereign rule of God,
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  our creator. Amen, we don't want him to rule over us.
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  We don't want him to rule in our hearts. Romans Chapter one again is
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  very clear about this, and Romans chapter seven speaks of the wretchedness of man,
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  Oh wretched man that I am. Paul comes to the conclusion, who
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  can deliver me from this body of death? When I know to do good?
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  I know, and I consent to the law of God that it is
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  good. But when I want to do good, evil is present with me.
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  And so there's a war that rages on the inside of us. And
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  this is our nature because of the fall and the adversary of the relationship that
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  we ought to have with our God that has been a man separated because of
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  sin. The relationship has been exchanged because of sin as it were. There's
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  this chasm, there's this great divide between the Holy God and sin for man
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  that needed to be reconciled. That something that we could not do any of
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  ourselves, because again we are running away from God, we are fleeing from
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  him. We don't want or desire a man his word to again be in
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  us, the knowledge of Him, to even be in us. That's the
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  indictment that is against us. When they knew God, the Bible says,
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  they glorified him not as God. And they refuse to retain God in their
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  knowledge, and and and and and the more we do that, we again
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  move toward reprobation. Amen, and and and see the adversary he knows,
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  Amen. The devil knows our human tendency. Amen. And he exploits this
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  weakness, this flaw, this preference that we have toward evil, and he
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  uses it to stir up the evil that is already in us uh in order
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  to steer us uh, to direct us to do more evil, to carry
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  out the evil thoughts and desire. See sin when it is as the Bible
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  says. Look, this is when the Bible says, James, I believe
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  it is he writes in his epistle. Amen, let no man say when
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  he is tempted, I am tempted of God. Because God cannot be tempted
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  with evil. Neither does God tempt any man. Every man is tempted when
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  he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Jesus put it this
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  way. Out of the heart of man proceeds all of these things, adulteries,
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  fornications, deaths, murder, hatred. All of this comes out of
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  the heart of man. Again, the Bible aptly describes the heart of man.
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  It is desperately wicked. Amen, it is desperately wicked, and the
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  adversary, the enemy of our souls. He knows this. He knows our
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  fallen state and our tendency to gravitate towards doing what is wrong rather than what
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  is right. The knowledge of good and evil both are in us. But
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  we are steered, we are coerced, we are manipulated. And not only
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  that, we are in agreement with the adversary to do these things a man.
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  All men have the potential to do good. All men have the potential
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  to do what is right. We are not totally depraved to the point where
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  we have no image of God left in us. God can work, Amen.
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  And he has, by myriads of testimonies that I myself have just read
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  and known of, God has the ability to turn even the most strikent harden
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  adversary of holiness and righteousness. He has the power and the ability to turn
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  such a person, a man to his a man way of holiness. And
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  and and and He's done it. He's demonstrated it year in and year out,
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  centuries, millennial, He's done it. Amen. But we all have
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  basic UH within us, fundamentally within us UH, the potential to do good.
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  But again, as the apostle Paul was described, me, when I
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  would do good, when I when I would do what I know that I
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  ought to be doing, there's this problem of evil that is present, this
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  problem of evil that is there, this problem of the darkness that pulls at
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  me, that tugs at me. And I I by I, by my
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  actions, Paul said, because the conscience of the good that's in me is
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  seeking to persuade me to do what it's good. But but but but I'm
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  I'm I'm compelled to do what is wrong instead of what is right, and
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  and and and by me acknowledging in my mind that I ought to do what
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  is good, but instead I end up doing what is evil. He said,
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  I am consenting, I am agreeing, as it were, that the
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  law of God, what I know that is good to do, that is
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  indeed what I ought to be doing. I know that I ought not to
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  be committing adultery, but I find myself doing it. I know that I
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  ought not to be stealing the law of God. The aughtness, the sense
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  of aughtness that's in me tells me, convicts me, works at me to
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  know that I should not take that which does not belong to me. But
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  I find myself doing it anyway because of the evil that's in me. That's
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  what Paul was talking about. In chapter seven. He comes to the clusion,
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  Hey, old wretched man that I am, I'm wretched. Who can
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  deliver me? Who shall deliver me? There's any only one deliverance that we
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  have. We have the ability is now in us. It's not of us,
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  Amen. And it's all this, all, of course, started from
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  the very beginning of our disobedience to God in the garden of Eden, through
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  Adam. In Adam, we all sin, Amen. And we have known
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  what is good, and we have known what is evil. With the very
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  first murder of Cain, shedding the blood of his brother Abel, Cain knew.
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  Cain knew that he was committing he was committing an evil act. He
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  knew that sniffing out, snuffing out as it were, snuffing out brother,
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  the life of his brother Abel. He knew that he was a guilty man,
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  and he knew that he was worthy of punishment. He knew this Amen
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  again, the knowledge, the knowledge. He knew that murder had never been
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  done before. Killing, shedding of blood had never been done before, human
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  blood. This man knew evil, He knew wrong. He knew that it
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  was antithetical to what God had a man placed within them. The knowledge of
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  good was in him, the knowledge of evil was in him, and he
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  chose to do evil. Amen. He knew that he was guilty, and
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  he knew again that he was worthy of being punished. And listened. From
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  the very moment that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of
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  good and evil, a man that was forbidden to them. The innocence,
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  how long it lasted, that they had enjoyed, it vanished away instantly,
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  Instantly. Evil now was present inside of the hearts of them both, and
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  they would no longer walk with their Lord, with their creator in the same
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  way, in the same relationship. Because again, when the Lord came on
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  that fate full day, Adam and he hid themselves. They ran away.
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  And that's our that's our nature. Now we run away from God, we
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  run away from God. And so uh evil is now present inside of the
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  heart of man and and and and and we are now by nature rebels,
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  resistant to God's will and his word. Uh. Now they were wretched creatures
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  with hearts exchanged from God. Uh. With each passing day and the and
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  the more we run, the more we resist, the more we we rebel,
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  the worse we get, uh, the worst our world will be.
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  And and with their rebellion, with their sin, they were no longer the
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  masters of their world because of the evil of the human heart, a man
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  that was now degenerating every aspect of life on this on this on this earth,
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  and and and and I can only imagine, Oh, how they must
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  have wept uh in bitterness to live. Adam lived aunt nine hundred and thirty
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  years, I believe it, excuse me, nine hundred and thirty years.
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  Oh, how they must have wept in bitterness? And and and regret to
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  see all of the murder and the mayhem, and the violence and the wickedness
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  that was now running rampant in their offspring. List is in the hearts of
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  man. But yet the falling nature, the falling nature of man, in
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  his extragement from God, drives him to choose to do evil rather than good.
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  That's that's that's what's in us a man, and in and in choosing
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  to practice evil over doing what is good. We have historically, and we
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  have systematically been a world of preference to evil over good and and and and
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  it has been publicly endorsed and supported in nation after nation of tyrannical evil that
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  has caused death and destruction a man for century after century. The tolerance,
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  the very tolerance of publicly known evil is an open end. Hear it carefully.
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  The tolerance of publicly known evil is an open invitation for more evil to
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  arise out of the hearts and into manifestation of our actions and deeds. And
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  this is one of the things that we're covering. This hopefully in due course,
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  is one of the reasons why God, when he set Israel apart,
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  gave them these commands about putting away evil, and much of this was through
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  the death penalty. Amen, through the death penalty, the wages of sin
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  is dead. By the way, Thank God for his mercy, Thank God
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  for his forbearance, Thank God for his long suffering. Thank God for his
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  goodness. The Bible says that leads us to repentance. Amen. If God
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  were to mark iniquity, the Bible says, who would be able to stand
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  none of us? And so we'll again, But we certainly not to take
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  the grace of God for granted, take it in vain. Amen. And
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  putting away evil from our mints, first of all requires that we acknowledge evil
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  for what it is and decisively do away with it publicly, swiftly. Amen.
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  Listen what the Bible says. And I'm just a scripture I want to
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  read for you. If you have your Bible, you can turn and look,
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  or take note and go back and read. Amen. This Isaiah chapter
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  five, Isaiah chapter five, verse eighteen. This is applicable to any people,
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  any nation, in any time, anywhere. Woe to those the Bible
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  pronounces woes, Woe to those who draw iniquity with chords of vanity and sin,
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  as if with a cart rope that say, let him, that is,
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  let God make speed and haste in his work, that we may see
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  it. And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israels draw near and
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  come that we may know it. Verse twenty. Woe to those who call
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  evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
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  who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who
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  are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Woe to
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  men mighty at drinking wine. Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,
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  who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away justice from the righteous man.
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  Ladies and chentlemen. Make no mistake about it. What makes a nation
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  or civilization more prone to being destroyed ready right for the judgment of God is
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  the redefining of what evil is according to the law of God, according to
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  the knowledge of good and evil that the Bible clearly states. And we know
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  this, We know that is already embedded, that is innate within the human
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  heart. We know what is good, we know what is evil. I
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  don't care if you've never been to a church or synagogue. I don't care.
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  If you've never been I don't if you've never heard a message, never
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  heard a preacher, you know, instinctively, inately within you there is the
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  knowledge of good and evil. But when we deviate from punishing and putting away
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  evil, when we begin to call good evil and call evil good, when
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  we begin to compromise and to cozy up with what we know is evil,
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  calling what is evil okay, calling it acceptable, making it acceptable, we
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  therein open wide the gate to our own destruction. Evil is what destroys a
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  man, is what destroys a marriage. Evil is what destroys families and relationships
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  and civilizations. It is evil that separates us from God. And there is
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  only one way for us out of this stronghold of evil, that, again
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  the Bible says, is in the heart. It's in the heart of man.
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  The heart of man is desperately wicked. The one way of escape from
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  this vice grip that evil has in the human heart repentance, ladies and gentlemen.
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  It is Church of the Living God. It is people everywhere. It
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  is repentance. Turn from your wicked ways. There is a way that seems
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  right into a man. But the end thereof is death. The wages of
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  sin is death. This is the only way to eradicate. We don't have
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  the ability us. It's not of us. It has to come from outside
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  of us, and it did in the person in the work of Jesus,
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  the Christ, who abolished sin and has brought immortality and life to us.
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  And all any man has to do is to turn in repentance to God,
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  who is the Savior, who is the Redeemer, who is the deliverer of
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  everyone who puts their trust in him. He will come in and work or
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  work in you. But you must first repent, and the power of the
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  Holy ghosts will come to work in you and be in you to deliver you,
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  as Paul says, from the wretchedness that is in your soul. Father,
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  we thank you for your word, We thank you for your power.
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  We thank you for the anointing that destroys the yoke and sets the captive free.
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  Lord. We pray today that somewhere someone will hear the voice of the
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  Savior and come to know that you are the only hope of our salvation,
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  deliverance from this problem of evil that is in our world, that is in
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  our hearts, that is in our midst that is all around us. You
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  are the hope of glory. You are the savior of all them that believe.
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  So we give you glory and honor. Today we pray your blessings upon
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  every obedient heart in Jesus' name. Amen and Amen.