Proverbs 4:10-19 (Naming Evil)

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon. We pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who Christ is.

May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you. When God created Adam He gave him a very important job right there at the very beginning. You see God when he first created things he named things in categories he named large Overarching things big things, but he didn't go down to the granular in his naming.

For instance, he named the Sun and the moon and the stars. But he did not name in Genesis 1 all of the stars and he did not name all of the galaxies. He kept things on a categorical level. Defining things like day and night but still leaving room for further taxonomical distinctions to be added in.

He named things in categories like water and sea. But he did not name specific oceans specific lakes specific rivers. He named things in categories like dry land and earth, but he did not name regions except for Eden.

He named things in categories like creeping things, but he did not specify between the monkey and the mongoose. Because why? He extended that vocation to man. He predestined man to extend his work of naming.

For a very important reason. Why? Because when you name something you were taking dominion of that thing when you name something you were saying that it belongs to you. That you have leadership over it that you have Responsibility over it in order to subdue it.

So God hardwired Adam In this down to his bones that he would be a naming being. That he would be someone who gave names extended God's dominion to things and that's exactly what Adam did in the very first Day that he was alive he went out and he started naming things different species of arachnids and he named the Orangutans and the wildebeest and he gave them all names and the reason that he gave them names is because he was Extending the dominion of God.

He was not giving them names for no reason just because he was bored because he never a wife yet. That's that's not what he was doing. Imagine Adam sitting around twiddling his thumbs. Well, I do I guess I'll name it orangutan.

That's not what he's doing. What he's doing is he's Extending the dominion of God because to give something a name is to say that it belongs to you that you have Responsibility for it you have authority over it that it is yours to protect.

So he goes and he names the animals the creeping things and all of it.

Now.

We do this today. We understand this because in.

Marriage.

The wife takes the name of her husband. Even in a society so infected by third-wave feminism we still mostly do this. Why? Because the husband is saying she belongs to me and I will protect her. I will care for her.

I will honor her. I will do everything that I can to keep her safe. She is my Responsibility and I will live and I will die for her. You got it, babe. That's why we give Our wives our name. Same thing is true with our children.

We give our children our name because they're ours and we bear the responsibility for raising them up and Helping them attain to the image what it means to be us. For instance, I will sometimes I'll tell my children this is that what a Lankford would do.

It's really bad when they say well, that's what you do. Just kidding they never say that. Naming is a part of extending God's dominion. It's important, which is why? Precisely why the cowardly American church that refuses to name evil is wrong.

Because if naming something is extending God's dominion over that thing we must name evil. We must call it what it is. We must speak about it truthfully because God has dominion over these things and the church is supposed to subdue these things.

And.

That's what I want to talk about today as we get back to Proverbs. What does it mean to name evil? What is evil? What does it look like? How does it function and how by the Spirit of God? Once we've named it.

Do we kill it? That's what I want to talk about today as we turn to Proverbs 4 Verses 10 through 19. If you will join me there, we will read it and then we will get right in Proverbs 4 verses 10 through 19.

Starting with verse 10. Hear my son and accept my sayings and The years of your life will be many. I Have directed you in the way of wisdom. I Have led you in upright paths. When you walk your steps will not be impeded and If you run you will not stumble.

Take hold of instruction. Do not let go. Guard her for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not proceed in the way of evil. Men avoid it. Do not pass by it. Turn away from it and pass on.

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil and they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble for they eat the bread of wickedness and Drink the wine of violence, but the path of the righteous is like the dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

The way of the wicked is like darkness and they do not know over where they stumble.

Let's pray.

Lord we thank you That you have told us in this passage what evil is the motivations under it the Emotions that fuel it. Lord, I pray that we would see it clearly. I Pray that we would name it specifically.

I Pray that we would fight it biblically and I pray that we would receive The blessings of such a holy and righteous work. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. If we're going to take Dominion over the world and we have to name Evil, the church must be the one who names it the church must be the one who describes it the church must be the one who talks about it and the church must be the one who instead of Planting our heads firmly in the sand like cowardly ostriches actually has the guts to talk about evil.

Solomon said these things about evil for they cannot sleep until they do evil and They are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness. They drink the wine of violence.

The way of the wicked is like darkness and they do not know over what they stumble. So if we're gonna name evil I want us to go through these passages. It's for 16 17 and 19 that describes it. And the first thing I would say about naming what evil is.

It says they cannot even sleep Unless they do evil and in that sense evil is like a kind of demonic adrenaline. It's like meth Fueling the body, you know a meth addict who stays up for days and days and days.

I know it's a strong example, but we're talking about evil. I'm gonna use more strong examples. Where the chemical inside of their body fuels them towards a kind of madness where they cannot sleep. That is what evil is lying dormant in the soul of man.

It is a disease. It is a cancer. It is a fuel it is an energy that propels sinful man to do reckless restless sinful things. According to this passage. It is a kind of restless sleepless possession. Driven for you to accomplish carnal appetites and pleasures.

Evil is the thing that captivates Us towards calamity. It propels us towards perversity. It grips us towards the grotesque. It haunts us towards haughtiness. It drives us like an unreasoning animal to debase Ourselves evil is like spiritual rabies.

It causes us to be restless and to prowl around. Looking for something to bite. It's like a forest fire seeking something that it can consume always looking for more fuel. If you've ever noticed sin doesn't stay in the small places.

Sin when you engage in it always is never satisfied. It wants more and it wants more and what's more just like a wildfire always looking for the next tree. To consume evil in the same way. It's like a parasite squeezing sucking and Devouring the life out of the Christian out of the heathen out of all men under the Sun.

Solomon says that evil does not sleep. It simmers it festers it boils it curdles it drives The soul of man it propels the body of men and women towards an insatiable pursuit of wickedness and the evidence of this is.

Everywhere I.

Just saw something. I Don't know if you've ever had a moment like this. Where? You see something and you don't really know what it is at first and you're looking at it. And then you realize what it is too late and you're like, what did I just see?

I Was I saw that I had a notification on X. I opened it up and here's a Woman standing in the middle of a library and then all of a sudden there's a child Adolescent who runs at her lunges at her and hits her so hard that her body went flying and she landed unconscious because she landed on her head and then the adolescent sat down on top of her chest and hit her head until her skull collapsed and she died.

That Is pure evil. It is a restless insatiable hunger for things that are debased and sinful. Do you know what that child? Did that for? Because the teacher took his Nintendo switch. Because he wasn't paying attention in class.

That's evil. That's I know that's an extreme example. That is an example of what evil does in the soul of the reprobate. It Perverts it twists it mangles and it produces a kind of animalistic fury so that when God removes his Restraining grace.

That's what it looks like. Think about abortion in this country. Abortion comes out of the appetite of selfishness the appetite of preservation the appetite of fear and it drives many young women to Sacrifice their own children on the altar of Malik in this country.

Millions, that's evil. That is an appetite for destruction. You think about the outgoing administration? I'm just using recent examples pardoning an entire family a crime syndicate family only in America can the president perpetrate crimes and Then pardon all of his accessories.

You think about George Soros a Man who has made a career of getting wealthy so that he could appoint evil judges evil DA's evil people in high places and in local places so that he could pervert the hands of justice.

You think about the transgender movement? Nothing, but pure evil. You think about God made male and God made female and he made them very good and this movement is fueled By kind of insatiable hunger to change the very physiology of a of a child.

Lobby is standing on the street the street screaming about the right to castrate little boys. That is evil. The pornography industry is evil never sleeps. Always looking for the next soul that it can crush underneath the web of its disgusting Sedition and rebellion.

You think there's a I saw a Christian reporter who just posted about and I don't know how old this news is but a woman. Just for the sake of doing it slept with a thousand men in a day or however long it was I don't know to whore herself out.

Like a filthy animal to debase her own Humanity and to debase the image of God in her in the most flagrant insane debauched self-maladictory way that I could even conceive. Brothers and sisters. Evil is running amok in our society.

Evil is like the venom of A brown recluse that keeps rotting the next patch of skin. Evil makes us like zombies always propelled. Never satisfied never satiated. We have to name these things. We have to not become Synthesized to these things.

We have to not continue to see the headlines and the tickers and say oh, well. That's just what the world is. No, I Think we have to have a righteous fury over the things that offend a holy God. I think we have to have a righteous hatred over the things like we just saying I hate with a perfect hate these things.

Because they're evil, but it doesn't just stop there. It would be bad enough if evil drove people to harm themselves. But that is not the chief end of what evil does. Evil does not Become satisfied that it destroys you.

It's not looking just to you. It's looking to destroy everyone around you. Solomon says they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone else stumble. So what we're seeing here is a characteristic and a quality of evil is that it is not satisfied to annihilate you.

In one way you could say sin is spiritual suicide. Because it's harming yourself. It's like if you're not in Christ sin is like taking your own Eternity up to your head like a gun and pulling the trigger.

But it's worse than that because this passage says that it's not just trying to destroy you. It's trying to destroy everyone around you almost like a suicide bomber strapping on dynamite looking to blow up everyone.

Evil is looking past you to the people around you and there's so many examples of this Men. If you're up late at night. Looking at pornography and you think that it's only affecting you. Over decades you will watch as your family suffers.

Even if you think you're keeping it a secret. The wife who cheats on her husband. She doesn't just harm herself. She destroys families. Social media what it's doing to us as a people is not just harming us.

It's harming those around us. Evil wants more than you it wants those around you. And the reason why we have to name it and talk about it and be flagrantly honest about it is. Because as Christians we need to be equipped to fight it.

We're not victims. We are under the lordship of the only victor. So as evil as evil is as powerful as evil is there is something more powerful than evil and it is Jesus Christ. We talk about it honestly not to scare us.

We do talk about it honestly to shock us back to reality to wake us up from our slumber. Why? So that we can fight. That's the point Paul says if by the Spirit of the Lord you put to death the misdeeds of the flesh then you will live so.

Living is connected to fighting. Thriving in our faith is connected to war. We must make war. With sin, but before we get there I want to talk about one more aspect of what evil is. Because after evil destroys you and After evil has had its way and worked itself into your family and into your friends into churches into communities into governments.

Then its chief aim and ultimate goal is to get you into a place Where you're so addicted to it that it becomes so central to your identity that you cannot live without it. It says in verse 17 for they eat the bread of wickedness and they drink the wine of violence.

What is more basic to humans than what we eat and what we drink? What is more necessary for our existence than what we eat and what we drink our daily life? Mostly revolves around what we do at tables.

Evils point is To drive down and burrow down like a tapeworm so deep into the intestines of your soul. That it has all of you that you will Serve it you will love it and that you will thrive on it. That's what it wants.

I'll give you an example. My mom worked in a nursing home when I was growing up. It was a very sad place as a kid. I would go in there and the smell of a nursing home is really sad. And I remember that She had this patient who had been an alcoholic his entire life.

He didn't he didn't have alcohol in his bottle, obviously, but I mean he was drinking when he was 11. Drinking when he was a teenager. He was I think 50 years old and he was dying of cirrhosis. And I remember my mom telling me I think I was like eight years old.

She said that the doctor had prescribed for him three shots of alcohol a day. And I thought to myself I've never heard of a doctor prescribing alcohol to an alcoholic. What is the deal and my mom said That his body was so chemically addicted to the alcohol that if he stopped it would kill him.

So the thing that was killing him Was the thing that he had to keep doing in order to survive. That is what evil is. It kills you slowly. But also you try to rip it out without Jesus. It'll kill you quickly.

Do you see? It is a restless evil that never sleeps that wants you that wants your loved ones and Wants your death. But thank God there's hope. There's hope because of Jesus Christ. There's hope because even as Solomon says the way of the wicked is darkness in Jesus.

We don't have to live in the dark. We live in the light of Christ because of what he did on the cross his death. Satisfied the punishment of sin the power of sin and by his death now We are healed by his death.

We have been made whole by his death the power of sin has been broken so that now we can live for God now. We don't have to stumble in the dark anymore. Like John 11 10 says now we don't have to grope in the darkness like Job 12 25 says now.

We don't have to live under the curse of penetrating blindness like Deuteronomy 28 28 through 29 says.

Now.

Because of what Jesus Christ has done that thing that enemy that.

Power.

That you did not even realize how powerful that it was. Cannot harm you anymore. Therefore there is now no condemnation. For those who are in Jesus Christ. You and I let me tell you what salvation is.

You and I were like a child playing with a venomous Cobra and then someone came along and Smashed the head of the serpent just before we were struck fatally and We smiled and we giggled and we were thankful, but we had no idea the peril that we were actually in.

That's what we've been saved from. We didn't know how bad off we were but Christ did and he knew it so deeply. He came and he lived and Obeyed in the way that you could not obey and he died in a way that you should have died and I should have died.

And for the joy set before him. He went up the cross and experienced the most horrific physical suffering and the most horrific spiritual suffering. He drank the cup of darkness that you and I should have been thrown into.

Why. So that we could go to church once a week. So that we could claim to be a Christian and live like hell for the rest of the week. He took the bullet. So that instead of you and I Continuing to live the same way we would be transformed.

Transformed into joyful people transformed into righteous people and transformed into people who fight and crush and slay and squash Evil everywhere it exists. We name it first and Then we crush it. And how do we do that?

Well number one we have to listen to the words of God. Proverbs 4 10 through 11 says this hear my son and accept my sayings and The years of your life will be many. I have directed you in the ways of wisdom and I have led you in the upright Paths.

This is more than fatherly counsel here. We are reading as we've talked about before Solomon's book that he wrote in order to disciple his son Rehoboam. But it's more than that. Because by the will of God and by the love and tenderness and affection of the Holy Spirit this book comes down to us.

God's preserved it for 3 ,000 years so that you and I can look at these passages read these passages so that it's not just Solomon a father giving directions to Rehoboam a son. It is God the father giving instructions to you and I who are sons and daughters of the Living King.

These passages are for us and the way that we fight evil first and foremost and initially is to hear the words of God. I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God. When we hear the words of God and what that word means Biblically is when we listen to the words of God then we have life.

That is how we fight evil is by naming it for what it is but by listening to what God says by hearing what God says by obeying what God says by Reading what God says by praying what God says by singing what God says.

There is no battle apart from picking up the sword of the word. There is no battle. Fight it on your own and you will be face-planted in your own hubris but grab God's Word and wrestle with it like Jacob and Read it late at night like David and love it and sing about it and read about it and treasure it.

That is your weapon. That's how wickedness will be defeated by Christ's Word at work in us. Amen. We must listen to the Bible read it gain wisdom from an understanding from it and we've talked about this already in this series.

What is wisdom? Wisdom is knowing the word and Doing the word it's both. Wisdom is in every situation knowing what God would have you do and then doing it. That's the first weapon. The second is that we have to take hold of it.

It says in verse 13 take hold of instruction do not let it go. This verse is a great verse against the easy believism and the cheap grace of modern evangelical faith. Instead of a arms distance approach where the Bible sits on my shelf, but I feel righteous because I own a copy.

We actually have to take hold of it. We actually have to open it. We actually have to read it. We actually have to cling to it. We actually have to hold on to it. The word here for take hold is Kind of the word that you would use if someone is hanging on the edge of a cliff with their fingernails.

Dug into the dirt hanging on so that they don't fall. That's the attitudinal response of a Christian. Yes, we name evil. But we're not Westboro Baptist Church. Where we're filled with hatred in our heart.

Because we also cling to the Bible we hold on to the Bible we read it. We love it. We treasure it. We look at it like it's our safety raft when we are adrift in the middle of the ocean. We look at it like it's our oxygen mask when there is no oxygen left.

We look at it like it's our food and it's our drink and it's our greatest friend in times of need. We look at the Bible is the gift that it is that God gave it to us that this thing was given to us for our life.

It's a heart shift. Where we pilfer the Bible for truth. Where we look at it for everything you're facing something right now all of us are. Where you don't quite know what to do, maybe it's a small thing, maybe it's a big thing.

Grab hold of the Word of God. Open it and Ask yourself one simple question. What does God say? And then go look and then go read and then go find it. That's wisdom. Maybe you have like what we've been walking through.

Shannon had a cancer on her back and in that moment where we're tempted towards despair. We grab the Bible and we say what does the Word of God say? And it says fear not for I am with you and I'm near to the brokenhearted.

So my response is we must not fear. You think about our brother Don Smith? We're tempted to doubt. We're tempted to be he would of all people be tempted to be frustrated. Why is this happening to me?

And.

Yet What Don Smith has done even though his hands don't work yet. He's grabbed hold of the scripture and He says that my God is good. My God is great that my God loves me and this will abound for the glory of God and I in it will.

You think about a brother Mike. Mike's a new Christian. Mike is a new Christian and I remember six months ago. I told him Mike The Lord does this funny thing and maybe you can relate to this and if you haven't gone through it yet Tuck it away for later.

The Lord does this funny thing when you come to Christ? We have this anticipation that I made it. I Believe in Jesus now smooth sailing. But the Lord is more Invested in your development than you are.

The Lord is more invested in your sanctification than you are. We go through hard times because God loves us. We go through pain because he cares not because he doesn't. You grab hold of the Word of God in your pain you grab hold of the Word of God in your suffering.

You grab Hold of the Word of God in your loneliness. You grab hold of the Word of God in your Misery, whatever it is. You grab hold of it. You grab hold of the Word of God in your prosperity and in your blessing and You find out what saith the Lord for me to do and then do that.

That's how we fight evil. We fight evil by being so attuned to the will of God That the enemy has no cracks with which to slither in. Third thing is we must guard wisdom. The word there guard is a military term, which means take up your weapon and make sure that no enemies get in.

Wisdom of course, we've said is knowing and doing the will of God so guard your life. Guard your walk guard your obedience if there is some Situation that you are putting yourself in that is causing you to sin.

Flee it if There is a relationship a friendship that you have that is causing you to stumble that's causing you to gossip that it's causing you to Whatever flee it. Guard her for she is your life. That's the third thing.

The fourth thing on how to fight evil Is just simply do not enter the path of the wicked. We've talked about a positive approach. What should you do positively. Grab hold of the Word of God positively?

Look to God positively cling to it and also in your guarding it. That's positive as well. And then after you've done those three things Refuse to go down the paths of the wicked whatever they are. Whatever your weakness is.

If you're attempted fight it. The Bible promises that the enemy will flee. Whatever it is if it's loneliness if it's lust. Whatever the sin whatever the temptation whatever the brokenness inside of you.

Do not give in to it. Do not walk down it do not proceed in the way of evil men. Because it leads to death suffering and misery. And for Christians We have this idea that I'm saved and I'm safe. Yeah.

We're not we don't believe that you're gonna lose your salvation. But is that all you want is Just to get into heaven by the skin of your teeth. Don't you want joy? Don't you want. Don't you want passion and excitement?

Don't you want the things that God promises you along the the long life with him the the excitement with him the the Thrill of knowing him the the vigor of being in his presence the the calm and the peace in the midst of the storms all Of the blessings that he promises.

Don't you want that? Then fight evil and fight sin and fight wickedness like your life depends on it because it does and That leads us To our final part of this sermon. We've talked about naming evil.

There's something really important when you name something. If You go to the doctor and you get a diagnosis your life kind of changes because of a word. You weren't the same as you were before when you walked in because of a word.

Naming evil is a powerful part of the process. The second thing we do is we take up the weapons of warfare. Which are the Word of God clinging to it loving it put on the armor of God. Ephesians tells.

Ephesians tells us take up your weapons and The third thing that we do Once we fought it is we live in the blessings. It's not enough to just name evil and it's not enough to just fight the good fight now.

I want you to remember that God intends to bless you and he intends for you to praise him and He intends for you to worship him and he intends for you to be joyful and he intends for you to have peace and he Intends for you to be a person so that when people see you and they see the light that is shining through you.

They know that something is different in you. Your life is not just vigilante warring against sin. That's part of it. But there's also this element where God wants to bless you. He wants you to smile.

He wants you to be optimistic. He wants you to tell other people about how good God is. Solomon is not promising. He says number one that our life will be lengthened. Hear my son and accept my sayings and the years of your life will be many.

This is a tough passage. Because I know many faithful Christians who died in their 20s. I Know Christians who went and gave their life like Jim Elliot for the sake of Christ and who died young. Solomon's not promising here ipso facto that if you Love God and you name evil and you fight against sin that you're going to live 80 90 100 years.

What he's talking about here is God's design. God did not design us to live under the power of sin. God designed us to live under him and Generally speaking when we do that peace comes into our life. Health comes into our life.

Blessing comes into our life.

And.

There are examples that are contrary to this because we do live in a sinful world. But I do want you to think about the ultimate fulfillment of this passage. The ultimate fulfillment of this passage is through Christ.

Your days really will be lengthened eternally and infinitely. So you will be with him forever. The second blessing. For those who name evil fight evil and put on the armor of Jesus Christ is not only that you will live forever with him.

But your steps will not be hindered. It says when you walk your steps will not be impeded and if you run you will not stumble. This is an incredible blessing because the wicked are always described in this kind of stupor this drunk stumbling.

Wickedness where they where they fall over themselves where they walk around like blind people there. They're talked about as being insecure and unstable. Why. Because they're leading towards hell. In the great Jonathan Edwards sermon centers in the hands of the angry God it was based off a verse in Deuteronomy where it says their foot shall slip and Edwards points out that Ultimately, that means that they will fall headlong into the fires and flames of hell and into eternal suffering forever.

And yet this is not true for you and I. Because in Jesus Christ and Christ alone we will never slip. You may have seasons of your life where you stumble, but you will not ultimately stumble. You have seasons of your life where it feels like you're slipping, but you will not slip.

Jude and we're gonna read this for our benediction says that in Christ He will keep you from stumbling and this is what it looks like when Jesus grabs you and calls you and you're his. Your feet may be doing this and You may feel like you're unstable, but you're being carried by held by dragged by Jesus Into his kingdom so that you may feel unstable.

But you are held and you are not Unstable and you will not slip. None who are called by him will be taken out of his great hands. The final blessing that it's talked about here is that you will live in the light.

It says but the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter into the full day.

This is an eschatological hope.

You and I our life now is brighter than it was when we first were saved. More of the Holy Spirit's light has come into you if you were a Christian because sanctification happens. His light comes into you it changes you and it grows in you over the course of your life.

More and more and more until the great and glorious day of Christ when he returns when that day dawns and when that day dawns. We will live in the light and that gaseous ball in the sky is no longer necessary because Jesus is our light.

These are blessings that come to us in Christ and in Christ we name evil and in Christ we fight evil and in Christ we praise Jesus and live in his blessings and we do that as a testimony to the own looking world of who God is and I want to conclude by Going back to the example of the man who was an alcoholic because many of us When God found us we're in the same position.

All of us were our sin was killing us and yet we were so addicted to it. We couldn't let it go that man. Became a Christian. My mom had conversations with him every night and the Holy Spirit started working on his heart and The alcohol that he knew was going to kill him.

But he also knew that if he stopped taking it was going to kill him faster. One night when my mom walked into the room, he said Her name was D Dribble. He called her D D. He said D D. I know I'm getting ready to die and I will not go and meet my Savior with liquor on my lips.

And he refused it. He refused it in the morning. He refused it at lunch. He refused it in the evening and he refused it for five days. Until he passed away sober. Because the power of the gospel had come into him and now the thing that was killing him.

He was no longer afraid of anymore because he knew that he had life and no one could take it from him. Brothers and sisters Evil is real. Evil is real and we must not be afraid of it. We name it. We call it what it is.

We also fight it because it has no power over the Living Christ. But we also lay down our swords and we come to the table. Isn't it interesting that in the passage? It says that the wicked eat the bread of sin and they drink the cup of violence in Jesus Christ that bread that moldy maggot infested bread has been put away and In Christ that hemlock Infused cup has been taken from you.

Jesus ate that bread for you. Jesus drank that cup for you. Why? So that you and I can come to a better table. So that we can eat the bread. That's him so that we could drink the cup. That is his blood.

So that we could have blessings. Christ took our curse To give us his blessings. Let us pray Lord, we thank you that your word is so clear on What evil is Lord we thank you that your word is also superiorly and infinitely clear on how powerful you are.