The Gospel: The Origin of Evil

Good to see you tonight. Thanks for coming. Don't forget we're going to be having a meeting here every night, 7.30 all week.

We'd like you to all come back if you can. The verse I'm going to read, one of the verses is found in Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 31. And God saw everything that he had made.

And behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. And behold, it was very good.

Now, chapter 2. Oh yeah, that'll help. Yeah, that's better. Now, chapter 2 and verse 8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Verse 16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that a tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Chapter 4. And verse 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. As she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was the keeper of sheep, but Cain was the tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.

And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from the ground. When thou tellest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Let's go over to the New Testament, to Galatians chapter 1. And reading verse 3. Galatians chapter 1, verse 3 and verse 4. Grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. Tonight we want to talk for a little while about evil.

Where did it come from? What is it? When God finished creating the heavens and the earth, He looked at everything that He made. And He said, Behold, it was very good. He had no complaint, nothing wrong with anything He saw that He created.

It all was very good. Well, what happened to it? Because it's certainly not good today. Something happened to God's creation.

And when we came to Galatians chapter 1, verse 4, it says that Christ gave Himself to deliver us from this present evil world. So from the day that God created it and declared it was all very good, something happened that is now evil. And practically everything God has made has been touched with evil.

And God lost everything. Now we want to look tonight now for a few minutes at this term evil. Where did it come from? What is it? How would you define evil? Well, evil is that which robs that which is good from its goodness.

Evil is an adjective. It's describing something. So for instance, you hear people say, one man says, I got good eyesight.

And the other fellow says, I got bad eyesight. One of my eyes are bad. Well, that bad eye is the evil that's robbed them from having good eyesight.

You see? You might have a case of oranges. You might have a good case of oranges. But then you might have a case that has two rotten in it.

And that's not a good case of oranges. The two rotten ones have robbed the case of oranges from being the good case. So evil is that which robs that which is good from being good.

And constitutes it evil. Now when God made the man, that's the man Adam, created him, made that garden, and put the man into that garden. Now remember if you were here this afternoon, we noticed that God created man with a free will.

With the ability to choose right or wrong, obey or disobey, love or hate, he's got a choice he can make. That's the way God made him. And if you weren't here this afternoon, we can't go back over talking about that again.

But the fact of the matter is that Adam was given at creation a free will. Now why did God give him that free will? Well, He didn't want him to be a robot. He wanted his creature man to make a choice.

That he would obey his Creator, love his Creator, worship his Creator, and walk with his Creator God. God wanted to reveal Himself to His creature man. And have that man respond to that with obedience and love and so on.

But God did allow there to be another choice. And the man has to make the choice now. So when God put Adam in the garden, everything was there that was essential for Adam's well-being.

That which was pleasing to his sight, that which was pleasing to the taste, sufficient to eat, sufficient to look at for pleasure, the rivers flowing there with water. But in that garden He put one tree. And this is where the critic and the ungodly, the unsanctified mind say, God is to blame.

Shouldn't have put that tree there. He's provoking them. He's responsible.

He shouldn't have put that tree there. Well, who says God shouldn't have put that tree there? Well, the higher critics of our world and some religious leaders and people who are ungodly, they will tell you the whole thing is God's fault. He should not have put that tree there.

Well, then you can't tell. You can't be like the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 29 and verse 16. The thing cannot say, why did you do this? Or in Romans chapter 9 and 20.

There the apostle says, can the clay say to the potter, why are you making me this way? The thing created can't talk to the Creator and criticize the Creator for the way He made it. Now we talk about that this afternoon. God is sovereign.

He made man as He wanted to make him. And He made him with a free will. With the intent that the man would respond to God's love.

So, God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in that garden. Now remember, it's the tree of the knowledge. It's that knowledge.

It's that understanding. God did not want him to know good and evil. He didn't want him to know that.

And the reason He didn't want him to know that is because God knew if He learned the distinction between the two, He would not have the power to resist the evil and He wouldn't have the power to do the good. And God did not want him. He wanted Adam to make a choice.

In all moral issues, he would obey God. He would exercise his free will to choose to follow and obey God. And so God put that tree in the garden with this intent to test the man.

It's a test. Will the man use his free will to obey Me, his Creator? Or will he use his free will to obey evil? And so the tree is put in the garden. Now, I want you to understand this is being carried out.

God is talking to Adam in the garden and He's talking directly to the man and to his will. He's telling Adam, Thou shalt not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Do not eat of it because in the day you eat of it, you will die.

So He's addressing the man's will. He's telling him what not to do. And He's telling him what will happen if he disobeys.

So Adam's listening and Adam's hearing and Adam's got intelligence, so he has to make a choice. And that choice comes in the next chapter. Because the serpent comes now to the woman, first of all, and begins to talk to the woman.

Now listen, the serpent now, he's talking and addressing the will of the woman. He's talking to the woman. He's saying to the woman, Has God said? Well, the woman has to think.

And she has to ponder what? Did God say that you shouldn't eat of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil? You'll die? And she said, yes. Well, the serpent says, You won't die. Now the woman has to react.

You see, it's like a conversation. Our wills are always active. We're always listening.

We're making a decision. We're obeying or we're disobeying. The law says 30 miles an hour.

And we make a choice now. Will I go 30 or will I go 50? See, life is made up with choices. Our brain is always working.

This is right. This is wrong. We're always active in that.

But here at the very beginning, Adam and Eve, at this point, they're innocent. They don't know the difference between good and evil. They haven't got that knowledge yet.

They just got the warning from God. God instructed them and told them the issues that were at stake. Now the serpent comes.

And he's addressing their will. And he's telling the woman, Did God say this? And the woman said, yes. Well, you will not die.

Then he says, Hath God said you shouldn't eat of the fruit of that tree? Well, God's holding back on you. God knows if you eat of that tree, you'll become like Him. And He doesn't want you to know as He knows.

So He's holding back on you. So, all this is going to the woman's mind. Yes, she looks at it.

It's pleasant to the eye. It's pleasant to the taste. And it will make me wise.

Now she's got to react. What will she do? Well, she's going to disobey. She's going to take and eat of what God forbid them to eat of.

That's a choice that woman made. As the serpent, the devil, addressed her will. A free will.

She didn't have to. But she went by what her eye saw. She went by what would taste nice.

And she went by what would intellectually make her and her eyes become like God. She made her choice. And then Adam came.

And Adam, he has to make a choice now. Adam knows what God said. In the day you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die.

Adam knows his wife is eaten. She's going to die. She's already died spiritually and she will die physically later on.

And he knows the woman is going to be thrown out of the garden. And he'll be left alone. And he don't want to lose the woman.

Now he makes a choice. Will I choose the woman? Or will I choose to obey God and lose the woman? Now the woman was tested by an outside force. The serpent.

But the man, Adam, is making a willing choice of rebellion. A willful choice of rebellion. Remember, Adam is the head of the human family.

He's God's representative. This man here, we're going to talk a lot about him in the days to come. He was put in that garden to represent the human family.

What that man does is going to affect the whole rest of the human family. God made him of the dust of the ground. And God breathed into him the breath of life.

Life. Not lives. Plural.

But life. And all human life finds its origin in him. He simply passed it on to his two boys.

And they got married and passed it on. All that's happening is that the life that God breathed into that man's nostrils has been destroyed. It's become spiritually dead.

It's become evil. And that's what was passed on to all his descendants. Now, that happened because Adam made a wealthful choice to rebel against God.

Now, what did that do? Because Adam previously was good. And Eve was good. But now, something's happened.

They exercised their free will to disobey God. And when they abused their free will, that became the evil. That's what destroyed them.

The abuse of their free will. Now, you might not pay a whole lot of attention to this because you don't think of it so much. But now listen.

Every day you live, every waking hour you're awake, you're exercising your will. It's working. Unconsciously, it's working.

And it's going one or two ways. Either in favor, in obedience to God, or in disobedience to God. God has warned Adam, reasoned with him.

And then when the test came between Satan and the woman, the woman bowed her will and submitted to the devil's suggestions. The man comes upon the scene. He sees he's going to lose the woman.

And he makes a voluntary choice to rebel against God that he might retain the woman. And they're both now in the garden. And they're both cast out.

They're both now spiritually dead. Now, do you understand what it means to be spiritually dead? See, these are terms that we must all get a hold of. To be spiritually dead means you've been separated from God.

Physical death is I die, my body stays here, my spirit's gone. Body and spirit are separated. Separated from my family, separated from friends, so on.

Death simply means separation. Now, there is a spiritual separation. People who are born into the world as they're born, see those little children? Precious as they are.

They're born into the world of sinner. Spiritually dead. Sin has driven a wedge between them and God.

That's spiritual death. The second death is if we meet God as a child of Adam, without ever being saved as our young brother here got saved. If you die and meet God like that, then God will say, bind them hands and feet and cast them into the lake of fire.

Which is the second death from which there is no recovery. You're separated from God forever without a chance of reconciliation. Now, that's the idea of death.

Now, we want to go and talk about Cain now because this is going to be giving us a little idea of how God works. Cain and Abel are the two sons of Adam and Eve. Now, if we'd have gone back because of time, we can't go on to that story about how God found a way to save, as it were, Adam and Eve.

He took an animal. He killed the animal. The innocent animal dies in their place.

And God takes the skins of those two animals now and clothes Adam and Eve with garments of salvation as the prophet Isaiah would say. But let's move on from that now. Years later, Cain and Abel are born.

They grow up. Abel, he understands the need of a sacrifice because of his sin. And he complies with the will of God.

And he gets a little lamb, the firstling of the flock, and the best of the animal he brings and he puts it on the altar for God. And fire comes down out of heaven and consumes it. And the little animal is accepted in the place of Abel.

It dies. Abel goes free. But Cain, he did not do that.

Cain brought it the fruit of the ground. Something that had no life in it. No blood in it.

Something that could not die for him. It comes out of the ground that has already been cursed by God because of Adam's sin. And he brings that and God will not accept it.

And he becomes angry. Now, this is the point I want to draw your attention to now. God comes and reasons with Cain.

Now, remember, Cain is going to listen. And he's got to use his mind, his will. He's going to listen to what God says.

He's going to have to make a choice. Now, before I go further, if there's somebody in the meeting tonight and you're not saved, you're making choices. And the choices you're making as you hear the Gospel, you don't know, but tonight might be the final choice.

You might get up from our meeting tonight and go home making the choice of not getting saved. That might be your final choice. Nobody knows when that moment will come.

But I want you to understand, you're hearing tonight, a young brother told you about how he made his choice. And you got to make your choice. Now, God's talking to Cain.

And God's saying to Cain, now, what's wrong, Cain? What's wrong? If you offer the right sacrifice, won't you be accepted? See how kind God is? How good He is? He's talking to His will. He's addressing Him. Cain has to listen and Cain's mind has to make choices.

God's asking him, if you do right and well, Cain, won't you be accepted? But if you don't, Cain, sin's crouching at the door and it will destroy you. Cain, don't listen. He's got something else in his mind.

He's angry with God because God accepted Abel's sacrifice and refused His. His mind is so bitter, so frustrated that he meets his brother Abel out in the field. And out of jealousy, he killed him.

And God came again and talked to Cain. And said, Cain, where's your brother Abel? Now, Cain's going to react. What's he going to do? Well, Cain chose to lie.

I don't know, am I ever a brother's keeper? Well, God says, Cain, your brother's blood is crying on to me from the ground. Crying out for vengeance. And we read that Cain walked out from the presence of God.

He made a choice. I don't want to hear any more about this matter. He went out with a great lament.

Yes, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Afritz and Ivana, vagabond, I'll be in the earth. All that came true.

But he still made his choice to turn his back on God. And he walked out. And it was night.

He went away. Built himself a city. Started something new.

My friends tonight, listen. You're making a choice. And that's what's going to damn you or bring you blessing.

It's a choice you make. God's giving you a chance. God's bringing issues before you.

There's your sin. And there's heaven and there's hell. There's Jesus Christ who died for your sins.

All these matters. There's God who is your Creator. There's all these issues that you must think about.

And then you must react. Up until now, what's your reaction? You see, what's going to constitute you good or bad, saved or lost, is your will. What are you going to... Well, we can go to the man called Pilate.

There Pilate one day was stood and they brought the Lord Jesus before him to judge him. And Pilate found that the Lord Jesus was innocent. And they said away with him.

Give on to us Barabbas. And then Pilate says, well, now hear it now. What will I now or then do with Jesus which is called the Christ? What am I going to do with Him? There's your choice, Pilate.

Your will is brought to act now. What are you going to do with Him? And Pilate made his choice. He sent Him away to be crucified.

That was his choice. Now friend, tonight we come down to our meeting tonight. What is your choice going to be? You choose what you're going to do with Jesus Christ.

You choose whether you're going to accept Him or reject Him. That's a choice you got to make. Along with all the other choices of life.

But the one that brought such havoc to our world and constitutes the world to be an evil world is because this man introduced sin into it. And sin robbed the good world from being good. And turned it into an evil world.

And that's why God sent Jesus Christ, His Son into this world to deliver us from this present evil world. Now, I don't have to tell you what the Lord Jesus did on the cross. You know that.

I'm going to quote a verse now that's got to do with your will. I will bring the meeting to an end with this verse. John 3 and 36 says this, He that believeth on the Son has, present tense, everlasting life.

He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him. Now, you make a choice. You have to make a choice.

You got no choice. Because God's telling you. This isn't me reading it.

This is John 3 and 36. God is saying to you, He that believeth on the Son, the man who will exercise His will and put his faith in Jesus Christ who died upon the cross for our sins, He that believeth on the Son, God says, has everlasting life. Will you believe? That's up to you.

That's your will. But He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God will abide upon Him. Now, that's your choice too.

You don't have to believe. You got a free will. You can believe or you can disbelieve.

But whatever choice you make, if it's to believe, it's going to take you to heaven. If you disbelieve, it's going to take you to hell. That's the choice you got.

Adam had a choice. If you disobey and you eat of the forbidden treat, you'll die. He ate, he died.

Cain. God told Cain, If thou doest well, thou shalt not be received. And if thou doest not well, sin crouches at the door.

He murdered his brother. He walked out on God. And he's in hell tonight.

Well, whose fault is that? Whose fault is he in hell? He made his choice. Where's Pilate tonight? What shall I then do with Jesus which was called to Christ? And he sent Him away to be crucified. He's in hell.

Whose choice? Whose fault? Judas sold the Lord Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And the Lord Jesus at the supper offered Him the bread of His friendship. And Judas as a hypocrite took it.

And then went out and sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And before he went at the supper, the Lord Jesus told him, Better for this man have he had never been born. And Judas heard him.

And he went out and he sold the Lord Jesus. And tonight he's in hell. Whose fault? He made his choice.

My friend, tonight you're going to make a choice. You've got to make a choice. If you're not saved and you go home tonight unsaved, it's because you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because God said, he that believeth on the Son has everlasting life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. So if you will comply and you exercise your will and the act of faith in God's Word and in God's Son, you'll be saved.

But if you do not do so, and you leave the meeting tonight unsaved, it's because you made your choice not to be saved. That's how it is, friend. Evil in this world comes about by the abuse of man's free will.

God did not make him to sin, but God made man with the possibility that he might sin. God created man with the possibility of sinning. But man makes the sinning actual.

Man does the sinning. He does not have to sin. God has pleaded with the human family now in this day of grace for over 2,000 years.

God has been waiting patiently for mankind, the human family, to make their choice of putting faith in His Son. How many people on the cross are making a positive choice to put their faith in Jesus Christ? How many? Well, we'll let the people on the cross go. How many in the meeting tonight have made their choice? I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins.

I believe it. And because I believe it, I'm saved. God said so.

I make my choice to put faith and accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. How many will do that tonight? Or will you go home unsaved? And go home and take the chance of dying in your sins and experiencing the wrath of God. We hope you won't do that.

Now tomorrow night, we're going to talk about this here, the fall of man. Now, we're only talking tonight about the free will and what evil is and how evil came. But tomorrow night, we want to talk about what evil has done to the human family.

Now, it's not going to be a pretty picture. But you young people, if you're going to understand your salvation, the wonder of it, and appreciate it, and you're going to be able to intelligently preach the Gospel to other people, then you must understand the position and the condition of the people you're trying to win for the Lord Jesus. Come back tomorrow night.

If you're unsaved, come. It will do you good. And if you are saved, we expect you to be here.

Let us pray. Our Father, we ask Thy blessing upon Thy Word tonight. A young man got saved.

What a wonderful thing. And of all the young men in the world, so many want nothing to do with it. And yet, our Father, out of that family, those two boys accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

And they exercised their will to faith in Christ. And now, Father, there's all kinds, thousands upon thousands of Americans and Canadians. They're wandering out there tonight and they put their will to oppose Thee.

And they've chosen the giddy pleasures of the world. And, our Father, they're going to perish unless they repent, unless they exercise their will to put faith in Thy Word and in Thy Son. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life.

But he that believeth not shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth upon him. The statements are simple, they're final, and they are eternal.

God does not repent. Thou wilt never change Thy mind. What Thy Word says stands sure and steadfast.

And so, the one that will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, and so we pray. Anyone in this meeting tonight that's not saved will exercise their will in putting faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who loved sinners and died for them on the cross. And they'll not be like Pilate who will say, what shall I then do with Jesus which is called Christ, and then send Him away to His death.

Or like Judas to sell the Lord Jesus for a little bit of money. Or like Esau who would sell his place in heaven for a little bit of food to satisfy a hunger that nothing could satisfy but Thy Son. And the story goes on of those who sold the Savior, exercised their will to not believe but to go their own way.

So we ask Thy blessing now as we part. In the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.