Is Something Evil Only If It Harms Others?

00:00:00.000 | [Music]

00:00:04.000 | "Evil is only evil because it harms others."

00:00:08.000 | That's a common mantra in our age.

00:00:10.000 | Evil is defined as an idea or a behavior that infringes upon others.

00:00:15.000 | It's a type of negative consequentialism, and thus morality is centered on minimizing harm to others.

00:00:21.000 | And this line of thinking conditions how we all think of evil.

00:00:25.000 | You see it in libertarianism, a political party in the States that says,

00:00:29.000 | "All Americans should be free to live their lives and to pursue their interests as they see fit,

00:00:34.000 | as long as they do no harm to another."

00:00:39.000 | And it's behind the widespread acceptance of so-called gay marriage in this country.

00:00:42.000 | So this "do what you want, just don't hurt anyone else" mantra is alive and well in America.

00:00:48.000 | But how does scripture define evil exactly?

00:00:51.000 | This topic was part of Pastor John's recent trip to Holland.

00:00:55.000 | And here's a clip of what he said there.

00:00:58.000 | >> Saving faith is a coming.

00:01:03.000 | This is not physical. I'm not walking anywhere, because he's in heaven.

00:01:08.000 | I'm coming spiritually. I'm moving in my heart.

00:01:13.000 | I'm reaching. I'm out. I'm embracing.

00:01:16.000 | I'm coming to Jesus to find the thirst of my soul, the longings of my soul, the achings of my soul satisfied in Him.

00:01:35.000 | That's faith.

00:01:37.000 | Which is why faith is such a powerful thing to change your life.

00:01:42.000 | And why so many people are not changed because they don't have faith.

00:01:47.000 | That faith.

00:01:49.000 | We've turned faith into such an intellectual thing, it has no power.

00:01:57.000 | And therefore, so many parts of the Bible don't make any sense.

00:02:02.000 | If you are a Christian, whether you have used these words or not doesn't matter to me.

00:02:10.000 | But if you are a Christian, your heart and your soul have come to Jesus and embraced Him as the satisfaction of your thirst and your hunger.

00:02:27.000 | That's what it means to be a Christian.

00:02:30.000 | To have saving faith.

00:02:33.000 | To find your superior satisfaction anywhere else but in God is the essence of evil.

00:02:47.000 | The essence of evil.

00:02:50.000 | All evil.

00:02:52.000 | Essence.

00:02:54.000 | Evil is bigger, but this is the essence.

00:02:57.000 | The essence of evil.

00:02:59.000 | What makes evil really evil is that it always involves finding more pleasure in something other than God.

00:03:16.000 | Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 12.

00:03:21.000 | "Be appalled, O heavens, at this.

00:03:26.000 | Be shocked.

00:03:29.000 | Be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils."

00:03:39.000 | What are they?

00:03:41.000 | Number one, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water.

00:03:51.000 | Number two, they have hewed out, dug out for themselves cisterns, wells for themselves.

00:04:03.000 | Broken cisterns that can hold no water.

00:04:08.000 | That's an amazing definition of evil, isn't it?

00:04:12.000 | Goes right to the heart of every evil.

00:04:15.000 | I mean, pick an evil.

00:04:17.000 | I mean, we're so humanistic, we're so man-centered, we think real evil is when you hurt somebody.

00:04:25.000 | That's not the real evil.

00:04:29.000 | The real evil, if you hurt somebody, is they're in the image of God.

00:04:33.000 | Don't you touch God.

00:04:37.000 | Evil has to do with God.

00:04:40.000 | What makes evil evil is here he is, and he's in this room, and he's offering himself right now as the fountain of living water.

00:04:52.000 | To every one of you, I am a never-ending fountain of all satisfying water.

00:05:02.000 | And if you put your tongue on that fountain, "Let me taste, let me test you, God.

00:05:10.000 | Let me taste.

00:05:12.000 | I don't like it.

00:05:13.000 | I'm going to dig a well."

00:05:16.000 | You're evil.

00:05:18.000 | I mean, pick an evil person in history.

00:05:21.000 | That's what you are.

00:05:24.000 | You taste God and turn away from the creator of the universe who is freely offering you.

00:05:33.000 | Let me add this.

00:05:34.000 | He offers this to you at the cost of the life of his son.

00:05:41.000 | So I want you to know what evil is.

00:05:45.000 | Evil is tasting God and preferring something else.

00:05:51.000 | And the reason the world is in the condition it's in is because Adam and Eve committed that evil, and we've all inherited it, and we're born loving other things more than God.

00:06:06.000 | It might be good to read what Adam and Eve did.

00:06:11.000 | This is Genesis chapter 3.

00:06:14.000 | When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it's going to be delicious, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was to be desired, to make one wise, wiser than God.

00:06:36.000 | I can make my own decisions, thank you.

00:06:38.000 | You can get out of here and leave me alone because I've got now wisdom.

00:06:43.000 | And they ate.

00:06:45.000 | And she also gave some to her husband, and he was with her and he ate.

00:06:50.000 | Good for food, delight to the eyes, desire to make one wise.

00:06:56.000 | Here's God, the fountain of living water.

00:06:59.000 | Here's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

00:07:02.000 | And they look and they say, "See you later, God."

00:07:06.000 | I want the tree. That's what all of us have done.

00:07:09.000 | All of us.

00:07:10.000 | Every temptation in your life is that temptation.

00:07:14.000 | Is he worth it? Is he precious? Is he beautiful?

00:07:17.000 | Is the fountain flowing? Am I drinking? Am I being satisfied by God?

00:07:22.000 | Or is the world constantly conquering me?

00:07:27.000 | That's argument number four for why you should pursue joy in God, because it is the essence of evil not to.

00:07:37.000 | Profound, absolutely profound.

00:07:39.000 | That's a clip from Pastor John's recent sermon in Holland.

00:07:42.000 | The sermon is titled, "Seven Reasons We Must Pursue Supreme Satisfaction in God."

00:07:47.000 | The full message is at DesiringGod.org.

00:07:50.000 | And wherever you're listening in the midst of your day, driving to work, driving from work,

00:07:54.000 | or driving the kids around, or at the gym doing chores, whatever you're doing, thank you for joining us.

00:07:59.000 | You can subscribe to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast app, in YouTube, or in Spotify.

00:08:04.000 | And for our episode archive, or to submit a question of your own, go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:08:11.000 | We end the week with a question from a man whose father has just died.

00:08:16.000 | And this man, this grown son, is struggling with the haunting question over his lack of faith.

00:08:21.000 | If he had more faith, would his plea to God to spare the life of his dad have been heard?

00:08:27.000 | Could it be that his dad would still be alive if he had more faith?

00:08:33.000 | It's a heavy, heavy question. It's up next.

00:08:36.000 | I'm Tony Reinke, and I'll join Pastor John back in the studio here on Friday for that.

00:08:41.000 | See you then.

00:08:42.000 | [Silence]

Is Something Evil Only If It Harms Others?

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