Today we read a text from Romans 12,
verse 21.
Last night as I lay on my bed,
not sleeping, I prayed and said, Lord, give
me a text that I can share with
your people tomorrow.
And this is the verse I received, Romans
12, verse 21.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome
evil with good.
Then I found two places that explain this
particular text.
Now we are surrounded by evil in this
world.
Yes, the world is evil, it is not
good.
Daily one meets up with evil.
But the Lord says here, do not be
overcome by that, rather overcome evil with good.
It is a sad, tragic thing, if the
evil that you come across conquers you, it's
like death.
But it's wonderful if you come across evil
and conquer.
Let me use the first example, the first
illustration from Luke 9.
The ninth chapter of Luke, verse 54.
Now, you'll have to excuse me not being
able to amply prepare, but you can go
and read the context, the chapter for yourself.
Luke 9, verse 54.
And when his disciples James and John saw
this, they said, Lord, do you want us
to command fire to come down from heaven
and consume them, just as Elijah did?
But he turned and rebuked them and said,
you do not know what manner of spirit
you are of.
For the Son of Man did not come
to destroy men's lives, but to save them,
and they went to another village.
Now, this first text with which we illustrate
the point, happened as Jesus was set on
his way to Jerusalem.
They had recently been on the Mount of
Transfiguration, where Jesus had been accompanied by Moses
and Elijah.
Now, they were passing by, they were going
to enter into the village of the Samaritans.
And he sent two messengers ahead to go
and prepare the way.
But these two messengers were rejected by the
village of Samaria, and they said, no, we
do not accept you and your Lord, your
master.
Now we know that with the birth of
Jesus, there was also no room in Bethlehem.
Now, the Lord Jesus had been on that
Mount of Transfiguration at the same place where
Peter had said, let's build three cubicles, three
places where you can stay.
But they went down from there, and now
they were rejected a place to stay in
Samaria.
That was the common experience of our Lord
Jesus, that when you get to a place,
people would reject him and not give him
a place.
I don't know when he comes to us,
do we open for him, or do we
lock him outside?
That is a tragic thing.
We need to be on our guard and
be prayerful and say, Lord, in any way
which you approach me, however you come to
me, let me always be receptive.
Let me never be one who says no,
away with him.
You know that song which says, you've got
time for everything, but you've got no time
for Jesus.
Jesus can come
in
many various forms and appearances to us.
We may not recognize him.
The Lord also speaks of the time when
there will be those who will say, but
where did we see you?
Where were we with you?
Pray and say, Lord, when you come to
me, let me see you.
Let me never forbid you and stop you
from coming in.
Now, when they returned these messengers and they
came with the news, they said, Lord, they
don't want us and they don't want you.
Two of the disciples, James and John, having
recently seen Elijah and Moses on the mount,
having seen Elijah, that prophet of fire who
had once called down fire from heaven, Maybe
it was the freshness of that experience and
the reality of seeing Elijah, the one who
had called down fire from heaven, which prompted
them to then ask the Lord, shall we
call down fire from heaven and consume and
destroy these unkind people?
Jesus rebuked them and said, you do not
know what spirit you are of.
Do you not know that the Son of
Man has come to save men's lives, not
to destroy them?
And then they proceeded to another village.
The intention of these two disciples was to
revenge evil with evil.
Jesus said no.
He said no.
And he sternly rebuked them and said, don't
you understand what manner of spirit you are
of?
It is not for us to judge the
enemies of God.
In 1 Corinthians 5 it says, deal with
and judge the one who is within, but
the one who is without, leave that person
over to God.
Now also in that same letter to the
Romans from which we have read, from verse
19, it says,
beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give
place to wrath.
For it is written, vengeance is mine, I
will repay, says the Lord.
Don't deal with things angrily.
Don't reward evil with evil.
Don't speak badly because someone else speaks badly.
And think because they've done something bad to
you that you must respond with a bad
deed.
The Lord is saying, whatever evil comes in
your direction, overcome that evil.
Don't be overcome by it.
For vengeance is with God.
He will revenge in His own way, in
His own time.
But Paul writes here, inspired by the Holy
Spirit, Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him,
and if he thirsts, give him a drink,
for in so doing you will heap coals
of fire on his head.
Brethren, we've been called to conquer evil, not
to be overcome by it.
Neither should we be discouraged and downhearted in
such circumstances, but rather be in prayer and
say, Lord, in this circumstance, what should I
be doing?
If you come across evil,
with
joy say, Lord, You've allowed this to happen.
Therefore give me the strength, give me Your
victory, that I will conquer this evil circumstance
with Your good.
But if you're conquered by evil, what is
the first thing that takes place?
A grudge springs up.
A bitter root, as it refers to it
in Hebrews, springs up.
And then you begin to handle things carnally,
with anger, with fierceness, and you try and
resist and fight the circumstance.
Remember, in so doing you lose your spiritual
dignity and integrity, whereas you should be busy
overcoming those evil circumstances with good.
And you'll miss out on
blessings,
and you will regret it.
You'll say, why was I overcome by these
things, instead of conquering and being victorious with
good over this evil?
Yesterday at the funeral, I was reminded of
the story of Billy Graham and his colleague.
A close friend and co-worker through whom
God had worked in their lives mightily through
them.
They parted, for
Billy Graham had made a decision of faith,
that I will accept the Bible as the
inspired word of God, the whole of it.
And Billy Graham testifies that when he made
that conscious decision, he was empowered with a
new strength, so that when he spoke, when
he preached, it was evident.
But his friend and colleague said, no, I
cannot accept the scripture as entirely true, as
completely infallible, because there are those who will
argue about things like the creation, and the
six day creation, they say, no, I cannot
accept that that could ever be true.
And some then add their particular spin, their
own interpretation on this.
And so their ways parted.
And that man, Dr. Templeton, recently died.
Billy Graham is also very old now.
And Dr. Templeton died recently.
But he, Dr. Templeton, said in his last
days, he said, oh, I've missed it, I've
missed him, I've gone off on my own
track.
I've missed him, I've
gone
off
on my own track.
Pray earnestly, with all your heart, that you
would not go astray and end up in
tragedy like him.
Where you come to the end of your
life and you say, well, I've missed it,
I've gone astray.
If you haven't prayed like that before, start
praying today that the Lord would help you.
Do you hear and feel the weightiness of
these words, the seriousness of it?
If you don't, maybe only on your dying
day will you realize how awfully serious it
is.
Therefore, I
urge you, young person, while it is still
time, I urge you strongly to repent now,
make the decision, say even if it is
difficult, even if I don't feel like it,
but make the decision to repent.
Broad is the way.
Broad is the way to destruction, narrow is
the way to life.
Sometimes it is so narrow it's like tightrope
walking, one foot in front of the other.
For if you fall there, it could be
your end.
Speaking regarding somebody, this is in another country
where the obvious problem was that the person
is double, is two people, not one, not
single.
You seek to be on the way of
the Lord.
Seek the reality of this text, do not
be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.
Ask yourself, have I been overcome and conquered
by evil?
Jesus said, be perfect as your Father in
heaven is perfect.
In Matthew 5 we read that.
Matthew 5 at the end.
From verse 43, you've heard that it was
said, you shall love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies,
bless those who curse you and do good
to those who hate you.
Your enemy may curse you, you bless him
and treat well those who hate
you.
The person who hates you, you treat him
well.
And those who hate you, pray for them.
And those who spitefully abuse you and persecute
you.
Those who speak evil of you, speak well
of them.
That is victory.
Do you know such victory?
A few weeks ago we spoke about the
victory as in the proclamation of the gospel.
Last Sunday we were in Mpumalanga province.
The tent was full of people.
And we praised God for His working.
If you want to see the gospel prosper
and being victoriously proclaimed, this is how you
ought to live, overcoming evil.
Without that, you will never succeed.
And things will never work out for you.
If you want to see the gospel prosper
and being victoriously proclaimed, this is how you
ought to live, overcoming evil.
If you
want
to see the gospel prosper and being victoriously
proclaimed, Do
not fight as people in this world.
Our weapons are not worldly weapons but spiritual
ones.
And even if we still walk in the
flesh, our weapons are not carnal but spiritual,
that we may conquer evil with good.
That was the first point in that text,
conquer evil with good.
Secondly, the second illustration we find in the
book of Samuel.
Second Samuel, and we find it in
chapter 9, verse 3.
Then the king said, Is there not still
someone of the house of Saul to whom
I may show the kindness of God?
Oh, I see it so clearly when God
says that David was a man after his
own heart.
Saul had been full of spite and malice
and hatred towards David and he became his
worst enemy.
After the saga with David and Goliath, when
they came back from battle, the praise singers
sang that Saul has killed his thousands but
David his tens of thousands.
And Saul was angry and jealous and said,
What, is he praised more than I am?
For Saul's heart was not completely upon the
Lord.
His position was of more importance to him.
He had thought that after he was dead,
his son would be the heir in his
position, Jonathan.
But Jonathan wasn't of such a spirit.
The Bible says that Jonathan loved David with
all his heart.
He loved him more than the love of
a woman towards a man.
That is the love of God.
Do you know such love?
Or is it just that you know of
the affairs where a boy says, I like
this girl or a girl says, I love
that boy.
The love of God exceeds that and overpowers
that.
Some with perverted...
Some with a perverted and hellish interpretation, they
put their spin on this by saying, well,
he must have been a homosexual.
Well, to the filthy and to the vile,
all things are vile.
And to the unclean, everything is unclean.
You can't think straight.
And you will remain perverted unless the Lord
sanctifies you.
Like that drunkard of whom we spoke earlier
on.
Now, as it said, to the unclean, all
things are unclean.
You might buy yourself a bottle of Aquila,
have it wrapped in paper as you come
out the shop.
But to the drunkard, he will interpret it
that you must have bought liquor.
David and Jonathan loved each other with the
love of God.
Jonathan wasn't even deterred by the knowledge that
he was to be the heir and David
was a potential competition.
No, the love of God superseded that.
And he stood by him.
He said, I stick to that and I
bless that which is blessed of God.
Even above my parents, that which is blessed
of God, I hold to.
As is the proverb, blood is thicker than
water.
You'll find a person forsakes the Lord and
then it goes according to the family.
They all just fall into the same ditch.
They don't know the Holy Spirit off their
head.
They have long since quenched Him.
You will stand by the Lord.
You will stay on His side, come what
may.
It doesn't matter what family member, even your
own children.
You will stick to the Lord.
Otherwise you develop a political spirit.
Jonathan was born to David.
Jonathan stood by David, knowing that his father
hated him and was his enemy.
But he recognized that in David there was
no enmity.
David was without malice.
Even when he had the opportunity to do
injury to Saul, he refrained.
Even when he had the opportunity to injure
Saul and to stab him with a sword,
no, he said, let not the Lord's anointed
be touched.
Even though David had himself been anointed of
the Lord to be king, but he refused
to push his way through.
He refused to grab that position.
That's why David was full of the love
of God.
But so too with Jonathan.
And there was nothing that could come in
between them.
When Saul was dead and Jonathan, David
then asked, is there someone of the house
of Saul left to whom I can show
the kindness of God?
I want to show him the mercy of
God.
He remembered his friend, Jonathan.
versus And
David asked is there no one in Saul's
household to whom I can show compassion.
And remember Saul was the arch-enemy, as
you get in church hierarchy, archbishops.
Now, Saul had been the arch-leader, the
main leader of hatred towards David, but David
just wanted to respond in kindness.
And then they said, there is someone who
had been a servant of Saul, Ziba.
Ziba said, and when they asked about him,
they said, he doesn't say the truth.
He'll tell us the truth.
And David asked Ziba, is there someone left
in the household of Saul to whom I
can show the kindness of God?
And Ziba said, there is someone left in
the household of Saul to whom I can
show the kindness of God.
I was tempted this morning just to leave
aside the Romans text and only preach on
this from Samuel.
Is there anyone left in the household of
Saul to whom I can show kindness?
The kindness of God.
The great grace of God.
When you meet up with evil, what is
your reaction?
How do you react?
The person gives you hatred?
Evil?
What do you give him?
And David said, I want to give them
the grace of God.
The kindness of God.
I want to show them what God is
like.
Reveal to them the character of God.
I want to show them God's kindness, His
grace.
When you meet up with evil, what is
your reaction?
How do you react?
The person gives you hatred?
Evil?
What do you give them?
I want to show them the character of
God.
I want to show them the character of
God.
You husband, take for example if you are
about to put salt on your food and
your wife hasn't properly closed the lid and
as you put the salt on, it all
comes out.
What comes out of you at that time?
Is it the compassion and love of God?
Would you shout at her and treat her
unkindly and say, what are you doing to
this food?
But what's up with you?
Whether it's your brother, child, friend, whoever it
is, what do they, what response do they
get from you?
Is it the mercy and kindness and compassion
of God?
David said, if there is still a son
of Saul left, bring him to me that
I might show him the compassion of God.
He refused to have a vengeful spirit.
He refused to say, well, it serves them
right.
Just see what has happened to the house
of Saul.
He revealed God to them.
Brother, sister, is that what you do?
Is that what your life is?
Are you showing forth the splendor of God?
God's attributes, God's life, the way God is
that they say, Oh, is God like this?
I say so easily, be like Jesus, that
they see Jesus, that they hear Jesus.
David says, bring a son of my archenemy.
I want to show him how tender, how
loving, how kind, how merciful God is.
I want him to experience God's mercy.
David says, if there is still a son
of Saul
left, bring him to me that I might
show him the compassion of God.
That is God's standard for you and for
me.
We shall show friends and enemies how God
is.
His grace, his kindness, his goodness.
By doing evil to us, we overcome them
with good.
God's grace, his kindness, his goodness.
By doing evil to us, we overcome them
with good.
God's grace, his kindness, his goodness.
But if you still have a place in
your life, with your wife and children.
Look, you are not a Christian, you are
a Malman.
Go to the mall, that is where you
belong.
Or come, let people pray for you, pay
all your sins.
Ziba, is there still one of Saul's people
that lives?
Ziba is...
My great enemy.
But I do not say that he is
my great enemy.
Because he respected and honored him.
And he said, this is the glory of
the Lord.
I will not do anything to him.
Not your compassion, not your goodness.
I want to re-show him the grace
of God.
I want him to experience the grace of
God.
Every time a person does something evil to
you, Thank God for that golden opportunity.
You can reveal the grace of God to
him.
You can show him now and bring him
into contact with the grace of God.
And that will be as burning coals upon
his head.
One day, maybe the Lord will allow us
to expound on that as well.
What does that mean?
Fiery coals on his head?
That cannot but have an effect upon him.
That's close to his brains, if he's got
any.
I want to show forth to him the
grace of God.
The compassion of God.
What a wonderful meaning it has, an explanation.
And what a wonderful challenge.
So as you meet up with evil, you
can spread the beauty of God.
And the nature of God.
And the character of God.
And then Ziba answered and said Indeed O
King, there is a son of Jonathan but
he is crippled.
God has not forsaken you as you are
a son of David.
But he wasn't born like that.
When they had all fled, he had been
carried and dropped and was a cripple from
that day on.
Lame from the waist down.
Probably his backbone was broken.
And David said, bring him.
And when they placed him before him, And
Mephibosheth bowed down to him.
In verse 6, Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan,
bowed prostrate before him.
He knew.
He knew the history of his grandfather and
how he had mistreated David.
But David said, Mephibosheth, fear not.
I'm not going to show you any evil.
I want to show you good.
And he said to him, from today onwards,
you will always sit at my table.
You will eat with me, with my food.
And he said, Mephibosheth, you will always sit
at my table.
And he said, Mephibosheth, fear not.
Even though David was to receive kings and
ambassadors to the palace and to the table,
he was not embarrassed to have Mephibosheth right
there, even though he was a cripple.
And along with being disabled and crippled in
that way, might have been that he was
incontinent and all the problems with it.
But David was not embarrassed to have him
right there.
God did a mighty work in David.
Even though David was now exalted and high
up, he was lowly enough to take Mephibosheth,
a cripple, a disabled person, to be right
there.
If you want to be blessed, go and
read this chapter for yourself.
You could have said, he spoils my appetite.
I can't eat in his presence.
And when my friends come and other dignitaries,
I'll be ashamed.
What a spirit!
Yesterday I forgot something.
But the sun was going down and one
of the visitors said, Hey, we'll come and
be buried in the dark.
I thought we could even put some lights
there, that we really can bury them in
the dark.
Very often, you can see what a child
will be like when it's grown up, while
it's still small.
Carmen and them went small when revival broke
out.
And blacks would come, sometimes many.
We would stay with some coworkers, black coworkers.
And you know what she would do?
As a child, she'd run into their house,
go into the pantry, go to the kitchen,
and take some food and bring it to
the blacks and say, I know you are
hungry.
My father doesn't want you to go hungry.
That's why I bring you this food.
She did it in secret.
I was often amused about it.
And I laughed.
I said, you're a good girl.
I'm not a good girl.
I'm not
a good girl.
She had compassion and pity on the black
people.
That's how she was.
David also commanded Ziba to see to the
properties of King Saul, all that was left
over, any properties that might have been since
inhabited by others, to have them removed, to
till the land, and to use all the
profits and whatever treasures there were of the
household of Saul.
David didn't say he's the son of Jonathan,
he said the son of Saul.
And he said, make sure that you give
it all to Mephibosheth.
And then, interestingly, David didn't use this in
an evil way and say, now I can
get rid of him.
He's got enough money, he's got all the
inheritance of the King Saul, everything is in,
he can live for himself now on his
own.
He says, everything that belonged to Saul, let
it come to his son.
And you work it, that he can live
by it.
And he, Mephibosheth, will stay and remain eating
with me at my table.
We Christians, very often, are very, very, very
evil.
We've got our tricks, pious tricks, and we
do this.
Wouldn't it ever be a good reason?
Mrs. David Kutcher had said, oh dear husband,
oh my king.
But she most probably just called him by
his name.
But I don't think so, nowadays they do
that.
Some women.
David said, he's going to stay here.
But he's got his own house now.
He's got his own palaces.
He can eat there.
David said, I want him to eat with
me.
What a man.
And what a spirit in that man.
That's God's grace, visible.
David Kutcher.
David
Kutcher.
Men and women, girls and boys, don't be
subtle and cunning in your ways.
Speak the truth.
Do the truth as it is.
By which you will show the character, the
attributes of God, his love, his compassion, the
kindness of God, not hatred.
Why said he?
Then replied.
Bowing down before him, he said, what is
your servant that you should look upon such
a dead dog as I?
Do you hear Mephibosheth?
Mephibosheth.
Had this answer, I as a dead dog.
This was his own opinion of himself.
Not like the one who walks struts around
in their pride, which God will say, out,
you are a living dog, but out of
my kingdom.
Now I've been speaking about this in a
simple way.
For the first years.
Now, if we would go on and be
second years, plus two, then I'd say David
symbolizes Christ.
Mephibosheth symbolizes you and me.
And what David did to this lame dead
dog.
Christ has done to us.
And we can sit with him in this
world and in the world to come.
By his side, at his table, with him
on the throne.
What a Lord, what a God.
And what grace he has shown to us.
Don't despise it.
Don't turn your back on it.
You're the biggest fool in this world.
You'll regret it for time and eternity.
Jesus is coming to you this morning.
Will he find place?
Will he have room in your inn or
not?
Let's stand.
We've been sitting for a long time.
You've shown us, oh God, to what you've
called us.
You've called us to conquer evil in this
world with good.
Lord, you know whether in the past we
were faithful to that.
You know whether we went astray from it
and entered into other things.
But even so, Lord, forgive us by your
grace.
Wash us in your blood.
That in the time to come we would
not go astray.
But that we would be faithful and upright
in the Lord.
Lord, you showed James and John of what
manner of spirit they were.
And you rebuked them and told them not
to be of that spirit.
And maybe, Lord, you are rebuking some in
our midst today as well.
But Lord, you also show us King David,
how he conquered evil with doing good.
And Lord, you've shown us through him that
great secret of showing love and compassion to
your enemies.
So that we might be victorious.
So that we would be conquerors.
For, Lord, you've said those who are victorious
to the end will be with you in
the kingdom of heaven, will reign with you.
Amen.