Q: Why do people call what is of God evil and of the devil?
Why do they call good evil and evil good?
A:
Isaiah 5:20-24 talks about this.
Isaiah 5:20-21:
"20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"
Evil men are depending on their own understanding (their own mind). Isaiah 5:21 talks about this. Romans 8:6-7 (see also Romans 8:5-8) says:
Isaiah 5:20-21:
"20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"
Evil men are depending on their own understanding (their own mind). Isaiah 5:21 talks about this. Romans 8:6-7 (see also Romans 8:5-8) says:
Romans 8:6-7
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
If we do not
seek God, we will be depending on our own carnal mind, which is “enmity against
God” and at war with God.
Evil men will not seek God.
Psalm 10:4 says, “The wicked, through the pride of his
countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”
Evil men
call good evil and evil good because they are not seeking God and are depending
instead on their own carnal mind.
Depending on
your own will instead of on God’s will is a type of rebellion.
Luke 16:13 says, “No servant can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Mammon is
money and the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). If we do
our own will we are not serving God, but we are serving ourselves. We can’t do
both. If you serve yourself (and thus love the world) you cannot love God or be
filled with God’s love (1 John 2:15-17).
In Mark 9,
Jesus Christ said to remove what causes you to sin (or be offended) lest you be
cast into Hell.
Mark 9:47-48
47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better
for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to
be cast into hell fire:
48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Sin can lead
to spiritual separation in Hell (death).
Romans 6:16 says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of
sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
We need to
deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.
Jesus Christ
told us to do this in Mark 8:34-35. Verse 35 tells us that we need to lose our
lives—our pursuits, goals, and fleshly desires which are apart from God’s will.
If we chose our own will over God’s will, God is then not the one we are
serving. We would be serving ourselves instead of God. Remember, Jesus Christ said
we cannot serve two masters (Luke 16:13). We will love one and hate the other.
We cannot serve God and ourselves.
Jesus warned
all of us with these words in Matthew 7.
Matthew 7:21: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Emphasis
added)
How do we
do God’s will?
We do God’s
will by seeking God and obeying God. Seeking God means asking God His will and
seeking to know Him better in a relationship with Him. Obeying God is choosing
to do God’s will and not your own.
Are we
Saved by Works? Absolutely Not!
Jesus Christ
paid for all our sins. Trying to pay for what He paid for is wrong and cannot
be done.
Galatians 2:16 says, “Knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed
in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by
the works of the law: for by the
works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Emphasis added) (See
also, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5-6, and Romans 3:28.)
Why is
doing our own will so wrong?
If we do our
own will, and not God’s will, we are making ourselves and our own interests
idols (or gods). God said that all idolaters (worshippers of idols or false
gods) shall be cast into “the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which
is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8).
Revelation 21:7-8:
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be
his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the
second death.
Jesus Christ
says this in Revelation 3:5, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in
white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I
will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”
If Jesus
will not blot out the name of those who overcome, what will He do to those who
refuse to seek Him and do His will?
The need
today is to seek God and to know Him deeply, and personally.
_____________________________________________________________
Would You Like to Have a Relationship with God, Be an Adopted Child of God, and Go to Heaven?
God loves us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and shed His precious blood to pay for all of these sins (John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians. 15:3-4). And He rose from the grave on the third day (1 Cor. 15:4).
The Bible says this about Jesus and Salvation:
John 14:6 (bold added)
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
1 Timothy 2:5 (bold added)
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
Acts 4:12 (bold added)
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
HOW TO GET SAVED and KNOW GOD:
1. If you repent (turn away) from your sins (Acts 3:19),
2. and believe and confess aloud that Christ has paid for your sins with his precious blood and has risen from the dead (Romans 10:9-10),
3. and have made Him your Lord and Savior (again Romans 10:9-10) you are saved.
4. Now seek God with all your heart. Seek to know Him and you will (Jeremiah 29:13).
John 17:3 says: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
Would You Like to Have a Relationship with God, Be an Adopted Child of God, and Go to Heaven?
God loves us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and shed His precious blood to pay for all of these sins (John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians. 15:3-4). And He rose from the grave on the third day (1 Cor. 15:4).
The Bible says this about Jesus and Salvation:
John 14:6 (bold added)
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
1 Timothy 2:5 (bold added)
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
Acts 4:12 (bold added)
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
HOW TO GET SAVED and KNOW GOD:
1. If you repent (turn away) from your sins (Acts 3:19),
2. and believe and confess aloud that Christ has paid for your sins with his precious blood and has risen from the dead (Romans 10:9-10),
3. and have made Him your Lord and Savior (again Romans 10:9-10) you are saved.
4. Now seek God with all your heart. Seek to know Him and you will (Jeremiah 29:13).
John 17:3 says: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
