departing from evil
Jim
A passage in the Bible urges us to "Depart from evil, and do good; And dwell
forevermore." (Psalm 37:27) And that's more than good advice. It's the
secret to a meaningful life in this world and the key to eternal life
itself.
Like all secrets, there's much more just under the surface, waiting to be
uncovered. In this case, the secret behind the transformed life is Jesus
Christ.
Think about it. How can any man or any woman simply change paths? Without
God's help it isn't possible.
Now don't get me wrong. Anyone can force himself to learn a new pattern of
behavior and trade some old habits for new ones. We can stop smoking if we
really want to. Alcoholics can even stop drinking. They do it all the
time.
But to truly turn away from evil, well, that requires a change of heart.
And it isn't in us to change our own hearts. In fact, the Bible warns us to
beware the heart's treachery, saying: "The heart is deceitful above all
things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
Such evil isn't simply something we do. It's what we are, at the innermost
level. We may be able to mask it, to deny it, to cover it up pretty well.
But it's part of our nature, and we can't get rid of it on our own. The
flaw in us that leads to evil choices runs to the very core of our being
(and all the way back to Adam and Eve).
Jesus talks about this, saying, "What comes out of a person is what defiles
him. For it's from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come:
fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come
from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:20-23)
He also made it clear that religion itself is not the answer. When a very
religious man came to talk with Jesus, complimenting Him on the wonderful
things He was doing, the Lord Jesus cut to the very heart of the matter,
refusing to even talk religion. You can read about this in the New
Testament Gospel of John, in chapter three. Their conversation went like
this:
Nicodemus (the very religious man) said to Jesus, "Rabbi, we know that You
are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do
unless God is with him."
But Jesus answered, saying, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Nicodemus said, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a
second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not
marvel that I tell you, `You must be born again.'" (John 3:2-7)
The phrase Jesus is using ("born again") means to literally be made new,
from the head to the feet. It means to be literally born again from God's
own Holy Spirit. The Bible talks about that in quite a few places. It
isn't just a recent evangelical Protestant (or even a New Testament)
concept. It is Bible truth from way back. God has been revealing it in
Scripture since Moses began to pen the first books of the Bible.
The new birth is never something that we can do for ourselves. God must do
it. (In fact, the Bible says, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the
leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil."
(Jeremiah 13:23)
In one place, Moses said, "the LORD your God will circumcise your heart...
so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all
your soul, in order that you may live." (Deuteronomy 30:6)
In another place, the prophet Ezekiel says quite a bit: "if a wicked man
turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and
does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None
of the transgressions which he committed before shall be remembered against
him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I
have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD,
"and not that he should turn from his ways and live? (Ezekiel 18:21-23)
Ezekiel then explains how this change of heart takes place. Through the
prophet God Himself says: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a
heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell
in the land... you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will
deliver you from all your uncleanness." (Ezekiel 36:26-29a)
And by the prophet Jeremiah the Lord promised: "I will put My law in their
minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall
be My people... for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the
greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and
their sin I will remember no more." (from Jeremiah 31:33 & 34)
Only God can do the spiritual surgery on our hearts that is needed to change
us from the inside. Only the Holy Spirit can give us a new life from
within. But there are steps that we can take. There is something we can
do. Even this is revealed first in the ancient writings of the Old
Testament, and not just in the New.
The book of Job is considered by many scholars to be one of the oldest
portions of Scripture. And in this very ancient book, we see many important
spiritual truths, including what we need to do in order to be become a child
of God. In Job 22:21 & 22, we read: "Agree with God, and be at peace; in
this way good will come to you. Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay
up His words in your heart."
In that ancient book of the Bible we see the same teaching that Jesus and
His apostles later offered the people of the first century. "Agree with
God." Turn around and believe the good news offered by God. Believe what
God has said. Agree with what God says about Himself, about people, about
your own life -- and about eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.
We cannot give ourselves a new birth. We cannot change the essential being
that we are. But we can choose to listen to what God is saying to the
people of this planet through Jesus Christ. We can choose to place our
faith in what God says in the pages of the Bible. We can choose to believe
and agree with God -- with whatever He says.
When we choose to obey God from the heart, He does for us what we could
never do for ourselves. The Lord changes our very heart, our inner self,
and gives us a whole new life inside -- by the power of His own Holy Spirit.
That's what Moses was talking about way back in Deuteronomy 30:1-6. And
that's what God was promising through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
And that's what Jesus Christ was talking to Nicodemus about.
You and I must also be born again, if we want God's Holy Spirit to give us
the new spiritual life Jesus is talking about. It will do us no good to
simply try and "christianize" our philosophy or world view enough to include
some new ideas about Jesus. It will do us no good to simply try and become
a little more religious -- or even a lot more. It will do us no good to
simply get rid of some of our old bad habits and to try and learn some new
ones. While any of these self-imposed changes might improve our lives some,
they will not give us what we really want: a new life, and the power to
become a truly new person inside.
We need to be born again. We need a spiritual transformation: a new heart
and mind. We need what only God Himself can give. And he will give it to
us when we choose to trust completely in what Jesus Christ has already done
for us. When we choose to agree with what God says about Jesus Christ, then
God will give us a clean slate -- wiping out all our sins. When we place
our trust in Jesus, then He will give us new life. The very Spirit of God
will come into our being and change us into a new creation of God.
You can read about this in the New Testament book of Romans, chapters 4 & 5.
Take your time. The more you read and ponder those chapters, the more you
will begin to see what God has already done for all of us in Jesus Christ
our Lord. God takes our simple faith and uses it to wholly transform us
into His own people -- into children of God. And He places His own good and
holy nature inside of us by the very presence and power of His own Spirit.
All of this takes place when we choose to trust in Jesus, when we choose to
agree with God.
Let me wrap this up by quoting what one of Jesus' apostles said, almost two
thousand years ago. John, the disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ wrote:
"If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for
this is the testimony of God that He has given concerning his Son. Whoever
believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not
believe God has made Him out to be a liar because he has not believed the
testimony that God gave concerning His Son. And this is the testimony: God
gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has
life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these
things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may
know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:9-13)
If some or all of this is still a little confusing to you, then I urge you
to visit the following web page where you can learn more.
http://www.goodwordusa.org/word/peace4.htm
Whatever you plan or hope to get done in life, make sure that you make real
peace with God -- on His terms. Discover what He's been saying to the human
race through the Holy Bible. Make up your mind to agree with what He says.
And give Him the opportunity to transform your life by the power of His own
Holy Spirit -- through simple faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Trust in Jesus. That's what God requires of you. God Himself will do the
impossible part. He'll give you new life and a new heart -- a heart that
will love and obey God, serving Him with gladness.
Jim