During the coming days our nation will hold its first annual observance of the 9-11 massacre.  Special materials are being distributed for use in worship services with suggested prayers, worship helps and message on how to help people worship God while recalling the darkest day our nation has had in 60 years.  Over 3000 people died senselessly at the hands of Muslim zealots who are jealous of our way of life and at war with America's predominant faith.  They thought their actions would cause disruption.  Little did they know how successful they would be!

          During the past 12 months we've had much public discussion about who's to blame and what can be done to keep this from happening again.  Frankly, I doubt this kind of terrorism will be repeated, at least to the extent of last year.  In some respects I believe 9-11 was a fluke.  If you'll pardon the term, some evil people got "lucky," and it's doubtful something like 9-11 will happen again.  But Washington is wisely not taking my word on it.

          But rather than debating the need for a Homeland Security or staging an Iraq attack, today I'd like us all for a few moments to consider the problem of evil, what it is and how we can overcome it.  St. Paul wrote to the Romans, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."  Words so easily spoken, and so difficult to live out!

          But what is "evil"?  For a year the answer to this has been debated in newspapers and classrooms all across America.  In the Bible, "evil" covers a wide area.  Evil is whatever is bad or harmful to us.  It can be as simple as a disease or as complex as satan's interference in our life.  The Bible shows evil as coming from both the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - as well as from the "unholy trinity" - the devil, the world, and our flesh.  The evil that comes from God is minimal and designed to test us.  The evil from Satan is brutal and is designed to kill us.  A man who has suffered great loss is described as having an evil heart due to his great sorrow.  On the other hand, an evil heart can be vicious and deadly, capable of killing and destroying.

          But the kind we'll concentrate on today is of the latter kind, the vicious and deadly kind, the kind that wants death and destruction on all with whom it comes into contact.  Yet whatever the evil may be, St. Paul says our love must remain sincere.  We should "hate what is evil and cling to what is good."  We should not repay evil for evil, and certainly not take revenge.  That's God's job.  One thing I want us all to remember today:  God will always balance the accounts.  He always settles the scores.  It's our nature to want vengeance, but we must leave that to God - or at least the government.  As tempting as it seems to be, we never have the right to take the law into our own hands.  Doing so is a sure ticket to experiencing a new evil - imprisonment.

          This revelation will probably raise your suspicions about me.  I read westerns, pocket westerns.  A couple of hours with a Louis Lamour hero shooting up the bad guys is a satisfying thing to me.  When a Zane Grey good guy beats the outlaw with knife or gun, I smile.  There's something simple and straight forward about it when the good guys win.  Louis Lamour has more guys getting shot in one of his books than died in 50 years of actual gun battles.  His version of the old American West has about as much reality as a Molly Ivans commentary.  But I like reading this stuff, maybe because the good guys are easy to identify and they always win.  Unlike today, evil gets what's coming to it.

          And this is certainly an escape from what we read in the papers.  There's so much evil reported in the News or the Post that it's hard to accept its reality, or to take it seriously.  We've become a bit calloused to the murder, assault, robbery and destruction around us.  We watch the floods in Europe and the monsoons in India and it hardly bothers us because we're in drought.  We shake our heads at the white-collar crooks indicted for embezzlement, fraud and conspiracy.  We know they're out there, but they don't seem real, that is, until our stocks or mutuals take a nose dive.

          We're no longer surprised by CEOs who raid the company coffers, or by brainwashed young Palestinians strapping bombs to themselves and killing anything within 100 feet.  In some ways we're not even shocked when we hear of firemen starting fires.  We take for granted the lies, truth-bending and manipulation that surround politics.  Even the evil of disease doesn't phase us.  Some days it seems there's just too much evil to deal with.  You and I just need to escape somewhere.  Hopefully, it's not escape to another kind of evil.  And satan is behind all this, laughing, watching us fight each other, even in the churches.

          Our Lord knew this would happen and so He taught us to pray, "Deliver us from Evil."  The word He used was "porneria," meaning "the evil one", satan.  Porneria is the root word for pornography.  How about that - satan is wrapped up in pornography!  Now there's another topic for discussion.  My, but how the cunning deceiver has pulled the wool over our eyes about what's real art and mere pornography!  The great pornographer is at work all around us, in our magazines, computers, movies, always trying to separate us from God and from each other.

          Satan always starts by making us doubt there is a moral yardstick, a genuine measure of right and wrong.  When Adam and Eve were first placed in the Garden, they knew only what was right.  Because there was no sin, they knew no wrong.  Right was doing God's will and that's what they did.  It was only after disobedience entered the world that they understood evil.

          And the serpent made sure that happened.  He started with doubt.  "Did God really say you couldn't eat of any tree in the garden?" (Genesis 3)   When Eve answered rightly that only eating of that one tree would cause their deaths, the serpent contradicted God completely, not by lying but by bending the truth.  "You won't die," he said, "You'll know good and evil and be just like God."

          And satan was right.  They wouldn't die right at that moment - they'd die later, slowly, painfully after toil and sweat and aches and pains.  No, they wouldn't die immediately, but they would eventually.  But they gave in to the deceit, and so they learned of good and evil - the hard way!  They thought knowing Good and Evil was like knowing right or wrong, just having more choices to make.  But with the knowledge of Good and Evil comes a burden that kills us all.

          You see, it's not about what's right or wrong for the world, but what's good or evil for me.  With sin came self-centeredness.  Now I am the measure of what's right and wrong, or so I think.  And so I take my place today among the millions who think there is no absolute measure of right or wrong, only what's right and wrong for me.  And now we have a whole world who thinks they know it all.

          But the Law of God is not neutral.  His judgment is like a two-edged sword.  God is the only true measure of what's good or evil, and He will be the one to mete out justice.  As Jesus once said, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)   We should fear, love and trust in God above all things, because He is the one who balances the accounts.  He always settles the scores.  But thanks be to God He loves us to save us.  Our loving God chose not to settle the score with us, but with Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes on the Son of God will not perish, but have eternal life.

          But this message is about "Overcoming Evil," not analyzing it.  As we consider how to overcome it, we need to remember some things:

          First, we must never forget that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and son of Mary, died for our sins, once and for all.  He took upon Himself the weight and guilt of humanity's sin and removed it.  He lived under the law and fulfilled it.  He died an innocent man and was buried for three days.  And He rose again to show us He's the eternal Son of God.  His death and resurrection bridged the gap between us and God.

          Secondly, we must remember that Jesus overcame satan.  He defeated the devil, once and for all.  In the wilderness early in His ministry He faced down the accuser, the father of lies, and beat him at his own game.  The Good Guy won - the bad guy didn't get away!  Using God's Word, Jesus pushed satan back into his hole and sealed it with Calvary's stone.  Now the devil can only holler and scream in his prison.  He can try to hurt and deceive, but he cannot make us stop believing in Jesus.  Satan can knock us around, but he can't win when we trust in Christ.  Like a rattler with his head cut off, he can only make noises, but he no longer can do us any real harm.

          And finally, we must remember that, with the help of God, good always wins out.  There is no evil that cannot be neutralized by the love of God in Christ Jesus.  And so Paul said confidently, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38 -39)

          Overcoming evil comes by faith in Jesus.  St. John said, "There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear." (1 John 4:18)   My friends, don't fear satan or his evil.  As Luther wrote in his hymn, "He can harm us none;  he's judged - the deed is done.  One little word can fell him."  And that word is the precious name of Jesus.  Blessed be the name of Christ who overcomes all evil!  Amen

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.