Evil Men in the Plan of God — Carter Conlon

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, P .O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 903 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends.

Evil Men in the Plan of God

The message tonight is called Evil Men in the Plan of God. Evil Men in the Plan of God. Psalm 94. Father, I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for your strength and your power in this house tonight.

And I know in my heart, Lord, that you love with an unfathomable love every person who has come into this house tonight. From every background, from every situation, every kindred, Lord, every kind of situation imaginable.

Lord, you know them all. You are walking in the midst of every trial. You're walking in the midst of every difficulty with every person who's come here tonight. And you love us. You love every one of us, Lord, with an unsearchable love.

And Lord, I ask tonight for an anointing of that love to literally fall like an ocean from heaven upon every heart, upon every life. That, Lord, that you would bathe us in that love and that you would anoint your word to release every heart, to release every life from every grip of darkness that would be formed against the testimony that you would want to form in the hearts and lives of your children.

I thank you, Jesus, that you're my comforter, you're my guide, you're my friend, you're my strength, you're my life. You are everything that I have. I cherish you. I treasure you. I ask, Lord, tonight that I might be able to bring you out of the words of this Bible, O God, Lord, in a way that people can lay hold of it and take it home as a treasure, O God.

A treasure that they can hold close to their heart for all of eternity. We love you tonight, Jesus, in this house. We want to tell you that we love you. We thank you that you send your word to heal us and you send your word to deliver us.

So I stand in the strength of the Holy Spirit tonight and I thank you, God, that your purposes will be accomplished in every life and at every heart. We give you all the praise and all the glory. Father, in Jesus' name, hallelujah.

There's nothing that's any greater a need in any one of our lives. You're welcome. There's no greater need in any one of our lives in this hour that we're living in than to know Jesus, to desire him, to have his heart.

I'm going to be speaking on Sunday a message called Keeping the Fire of God and there is no other way than to love him and to desire him and to do it his way. I feel that some difficult days are ahead for all of the world, not just New York City, but the entire known world.

There are some difficult days ahead of us. But in the midst of those difficult days, the good news is that we have a great, big, powerful, wonderful God. And he said, I will hide you under the shadow of my wings until these calamities are over past you.

Hallelujah. One of the things as a young Christian that I had a hard time to understand is how evil men can so seemingly prosper against the righteous. I remember when I was young in the Lord that it was so hard for me not to strap on my sword and, you know, there were...

Before I got saved, folks, I've got to be honest with you tonight, before I got saved, there were some people that they would look at me the wrong way and they'd wear their teeth on their shoes. And I tell you that with a boastful heart or anything like that, that was not the right way to live.

But when you get saved, it's sometimes hard to lay down those tendencies and to let God fight for you. And sometimes there's a cry that comes into the heart of even those that have walked with the Lord for quite a season.

Psalm 94 and the Apparent Triumph of the Wicked

It's, O God, in Psalm 94, he says, O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself, lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth, and render a reward to the proud.

That's Psalm 94. Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and speak hard things and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage.

They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless. Yet they say the Lord shall not see and neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye brutish among the people and ye fools, when will you be wise?

He that planted the ear shall he not hear and he that formed the eye shall he not see? He that chastised the heathen shall he not correct? He that teaches man knowledge shall he not know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity.

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law, that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

For judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

When I said, My foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts, within me thy comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by law?

They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defense, and my God is the rock of my refuge. He shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness.

Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. And we hear the anguish of the psalmist in Psalm 94, verse 1, Lord, show thyself. And I believe with all my heart that that's certainly been the cry of my life at times and quite possibly the cry of some of your lives in this house tonight.

It seems that there are wicked workers that have been raised up against you, not necessarily outside of the church, sometimes even inside of the church. False apostles, deceitful workers, raised up and throwing evil words and evil suggestions in your direction.

And there's a cry that's in the heart, Oh God, show yourself. Don't let these people prosper in what they're doing. In verse 3 he says, How long shall the wicked triumph? You see, many, many righteous people throughout history and even today find themselves oppressed by evil persons whose schemes and scorning and oppression can make even the most noble of saints see the wicked sometimes from a false perspective, as if they are in a position of triumph.

And that's what the psalmist is saying, How long shall the wicked triumph? Folks, they're not triumphing. They may have won one battle, but the war is not over yet. You get to the end of the book and you see that they haven't triumphed at all.

In reality, they're not in a triumphant position. They are completely under the authority of and in the plan of God. It's a hard truth sometimes to hear, but there are evil people who even fit into the plan of God.

They're part of the plan of God. And I'm going to show you how this works. Now one of the classic examples of this is Judas. Now go to the book of John, please, chapter 6. John chapter 6. Now Judas was one of the twelve disciples that were chosen by Jesus.

Judas did not just slip in to the inner circle of those that had been selected to follow Christ. He was chosen, and he was chosen for a particular thing or a multitude of things probably that were in his life.

In Simon Peter, in verse 68, in John chapter 6, Simon Peter answered him, Lord, he said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe in our sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

Jesus answered them, he said, Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil? This spake he of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him being one of the twelve. Now go to John chapter 12.

John chapter 12, verse 6. Now this is a situation where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. They're in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. And Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.

The scripture says the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. And now one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, said why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?

He said this, he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. So first of all, Jesus says I've chosen a man and this particular man is a devil.

In other words, the devil's heart is manifested in him. The devil controls him. The devil controls how he thinks and what he does. And not only that, but he was a thief. And this didn't catch Jesus by surprise.

Jesus knew this was a man who was a thief, but he needed him for his particular plan and purpose to be fulfilled. He didn't care about the poor. He was the treasurer, in other words, for this group. And he was dipping his hand in the bag continually and using it for his own purposes.

And God the Son knew that. Now, in John chapter 13, go ahead. The disciples now are at the Last Supper and Judas is full of himself. He is a son of pride, just like the devil was a son of pride. In John chapter 13, let's begin at verse 21.

When Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.

Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter, therefore, beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast said unto him, Lord, who is it?

Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. When he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly.

Now this is an incredible scenario here because the sop and dip, if you were living back in those days and you wanted to hold a banquet and you were sitting around a table and wanted to honor a particular person, you would take a piece of bread and dip it in the wine and the person you handed it to, you would, in effect, be honoring that particular person.

And so Jesus knew who was going to betray him. He took the bread, he dipped it in the juice, which represented his blood, and then he gave it to Judas, a man who was full of pride. He's sitting there at the table.

The others are listening. They're trying to understand what the master plan is for the life of Christ and the mission and the purpose of Christ. But Judas is sitting there and he has it all down in his own heart.

He says, I'm above the others. I have the plan. And when he was, when Jesus handed this to him, I believe that he took that as a sign that his plan was, in fact, the right one. And Satan entered into him.

He was a man who was blinded by his own ambition. Totally blinded. Some say he just betrayed him because he was a thief. Others say he betrayed him because he just didn't like the way the plan was unfolding.

He knew that Jesus could raise the dead. He knew he could walk on water. He knew he could still the wind and the waves. He was a zealot and he wanted the kingdom of God to come quickly. He wasn't willing to wait and have it done God's way.

He was a stubborn man, full of pride. And perhaps he took that as a sign that it's just you and me. You've got the plan. Yes, he was, in fact, in the plan of God, but not in the way that he thought. I've often thought, just as a police, a former police officer, that if Judas just betrayed Jesus for the money, usually when I've seen a man betray somebody's life just for money, they're usually so hard and so calloused, they walk away and don't care what happens to that person.

If it was just for the money, it really doesn't make sense to me he would go back into the temple and cast it down and go and hang himself. If he was that depraved and that given over. Certainly that is in the realm of possibility.

But I kind of feel in my heart that Judas felt, I'm going to give the kingdom of God just a little push. I know who this man is. And I'm going to force his hand. I'm going to send him into the midst of all of the religious and pharisaical system and the Roman legal system.

And I know with one word he can blow them all down. And I've heard him talk about his kingdom and I'm tired of waiting for this kingdom to come. And so I'm just going to give him a little hand and maybe get a few pieces of silver from myself along the way.

He was a thief. He was a man driven by ambition. He had the heart of the devil in him. But Jesus had chosen him because he was part of God's master plan. You see folks, without a Judas there wouldn't have been a Calvary.

There had to be a betrayer. There had to be somebody who would go and fulfill the Old Testament scripture that says the price that I was bargained for was 30 pieces of silver. Judas was the son of perdition that was prophesied about in the Old Testament that he would be lost.

He would be the one that would be used to betray the son of God. And in reality his soul would be lost and could never be redeemed. Now, Psalm 59. If you'll turn back there please with me. Psalm 59. Psalm 59.

Deliver me, the psalmist says. David says, for mine enemies, O my God, defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men. Judas thought that his plan was unfolding.

The Pharisees thought that their plan was unfolding. Everybody that hated Christ thought that their plan was unfolding. And yet, even though there were many evil people involved, not only Judas, the plan of God was going ahead full steam for you and for me, for our redemption.

Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men. For lo, they lie and wait for my soul. Verse 3. The mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.

They run and prepare themselves without my fault and wait to help me and behold. Thou therefore, O Lord, God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors, say thou.

They return at evening. They make a noise like a dog and go round about the city. Behold, they belch out with their mouths. Swords are on their lips. For who, say they, doth hear? But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them.

Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision. In other words, God has a master plan. And even though it seems that evil people are prospering for a season, God says, the word of the Lord says, God shall laugh at them.

He shall have all of them in derision. Absolute confusion. Because of his strength, David says, will I wait upon thee? For God is my defense. God is my defense. Even evil men have a purpose in the plan of God.

There was someone who would say here tonight, now how can evil men possibly be in the plan of God for my life? How can I understand this? I'm going to give you three examples of how evil men can be used.

I mean, obviously, if I say men, it includes women too as well, that can be used as part of the plan of God for your life. Now, go to the book of First Samuel, in the Old Testament. First Samuel. Do you love his word?

Evil Men Purify and Test the Motives of the Righteous

First Samuel. Now, firstly, evil men are sent to purify and test the motives of the righteous. I want to say that again. You know, if you have a pen tonight, we're going to be doing a little bit of a study in a moment.

It would be wise to get it. If there's anything you can write on in your Bible, any piece of paper, you can get a hold of. I think this will help you because every one of us in our lives encounter people that we just know, we hope they come to God, but some of them won't come to God and some are just given to evil.

We say, Lord, how can these people be part of your plan for my life? Now, firstly, evil men are sent to purify and test the motives of the righteous. Now, in 1 Samuel 24, just go back one chapter. Now, David has been pursued by Saul and Saul has wanted to kill David.

And you know the story about how Saul went up into a cave and David and all his men were in the cave and some of the servants of David said, here's Saul. He's come into the cave. Just, let's kill him.

God's delivered him into our hands. Now, you see in 1 Samuel 24, verse 10, David said to Saul, verse 9, he says, David said to Saul, wherefore, hearst thou men's words saying, behold, David, seeketh thy hurt.

He says, verse 10, he says, behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the Lord had delivered thee today into my hand in the cave and some bade me kill thee but mine eyes spared thee and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my Lord for he is the Lord's anointed.

Moreover, he says, in verse 11, my father, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not. Know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand and I have not sinned against you yet you hunt my soul to take it.

In verse 13, he says, as saith the proverb of the ancients, wickedness proceedeth from the wicked but my hand shall not be upon thee. Now, this is very noble of David, very righteous of David. He says, in other words, he's saying, wickedness, if I were a wicked man, he was saying, in effect, then I would do a wicked thing.

He said, but my hand shall not be upon thee. In other words, he's saying, I am a righteous man. I will not do this thing because I know you are the Lord's anointed. And he says, in verse 15, he says, the Lord, therefore, be judge and judge between me and thee and see and plead my cause and deliver me out of thine hand.

Now, that's the right attitude. It's the right heart. David says, the Lord will judge between you and me and the Lord will plead my cause and the Lord will deliver me out of your hand. Now, this is wonderful and this is admirable in the heart of David and there are many, many people who come to church and profess to love God.

It's, it's, it's, if I were to preach a message tonight on loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself, there would be many, many people respond to the altar and say, yes, I do love God and yes, I do love my neighbor and there are many who profess in church to love God and their fellow man but God may allow an evil man to be placed before you to test the truth of this profession or as God already knows all things, to expose an area of your heart that requires a deeper working of grace.

We can easily, anybody in the house of the Lord can say, I love, oh God, I love people just the way you do. You see, this is what David was saying. I will not touch the Lord's anointed. I will, wickedness proceeds from the wicked but my hand will not be upon you and he's making an incredible pronouncement but in chapter 25 all of a sudden things begin to change.

Maybe David's feeling very good about himself. I could have killed him but I didn't. You know, sometimes we can get the feeling pretty good about ourselves when certain circumstances happen in the workplace, in our community, in our home.

I could have killed him but I didn't kill him. I could have slayed him with my tongue. I could have slandered him. I could have turned him in. I could have done this. I could have done that but I didn't do it because I'm not wicked because the spirit of God is within me and we come to church feeling pretty good about ourselves.

Say, Lord, I love my neighbor. I love my neighbor. Oh God, just like you love my neighbor. And then all of a sudden just one chapter over there's this man called Nabal. This happens virtually in a breath from what happened with Saul.

And David's men used to live in the wilderness and they used to guard his sheep and guard everything he had and then David sends a group of young men over to Nabal to say, listen, we're hungry and we protected you when we were in the wilderness.

Now we need some sheep and we need some food and we need some bread and things like that. And Nabal rails on the men when he comes and he says in verse 10, he says, Nabal answered David's servants and said, who is David and who is the son of Jesse?

There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed from my shearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be?

In other words, Nabal says, David's just a runaway slave. That's all he is. Run away from his master. Why should I help him? Now, in verse 13, and David said to his men, there's a little change in heart from just about a couple days before, gird on every man his sword and they girded on every man his sword and David also girded on his sword and they went up after David about 400 men and 200 men bowed by the stuff.

In other words, David said, there's not going to be, by morning light there will be one male person left in the camp of Nabal. We're going to kill the whole works of them. This man has rewarded me evil for good.

Now, what a change from his attitude just a chapter before towards Saul. You see, evil men will be sent to purify and test the motives of the righteous and whenever we set out, there are some here tonight that are, you're setting out to do something to somebody that's harmed you.

You didn't intend, you wouldn't have done it a month ago and you maybe wouldn't have done it a year ago but something happened. It just is another person, it's just another circumstance. Sometimes it hits you unaware.

I mean, you can stand seemingly in the face of all obstacles and all trials and you could have somebody come against you with the power of a hurricane and you can stand and resist them with a humble spirit like David did before Saul and say, I'm not going to do this thing, I'm not going to raise my hand but all of a sudden somebody of insignificance and that's, Nabal was just an insignificant person.

Somebody of insignificance comes and tells a lie about you at work or starts a rumor about you in your neighborhood and it seems like you had all the power of heaven at your disposal to perhaps turn away from one situation but the next one something gets into the heart and you say, that's enough, that's absolutely enough of that, I'm going to put an end to this right now.

And so David takes 400 men and he's, there's no, no doubt in his mind what he's going to do. I'm going to kill him and I'm going to kill every man in his camp for what he's done to me. What a different heart from what he had had before Saul when he was in the cave.

But how many know that the word of the Lord will always come and stop us from doing things that are not right in the sight of God. Very often evil men will be sent to purify and test our motives. And in verse 23, the word of the Lord now came through Abigail, the wife of Nabal.

When Abigail saw David she hasted, in verse 23, and lighted off the ass and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground and fell at his feet and said, Upon me, my Lord. Upon me, let this iniquity be.

Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not, my Lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal. For as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him.

But I, thine handmaid, saw not the young men of my Lord whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my Lord, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord has withholden thee from coming to shed blood and from avenging thyself with thine own hand.

Now let thine enemies be as they that seek evil to my Lord. Be as Nabal. In verse 28, she says, Listen, I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid. For the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house because my Lord fights the battles of the Lord and evil has not been found in the all thy days.

Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy soul. But the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God and the souls of thine enemies, them, this is God, shall he sling out as out of the middle of a sling.

And it shall come to pass when the Lord shall have done to my Lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel that this shall be no grief unto thee nor offense of heart unto my Lord either that thou has shed blood causeless or that my Lord has avenged himself.

But when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord, then remember thine handmaid. In other words, he's saying God's going to establish you. God's promises to you are sure they are true. There's only one thing that can really hurt you in all of this.

Is that you lose all trusting in him. And this is what the Lord was saying. The word of the Lord came to David through Abigail. And the Lord was speaking through this humble handmaiden of the Lord and he was saying to David, you have trusted me all this time and I have defended you and I have avenged you and you have seen that I can even put your enemies right in your hand.

David, why would you spoil our relationship? Why would you spoil it by setting out to shed blood now? By avenging yourself? So that when I have established you as king of Israel, this thing will be a grief to your heart.

It will be a continuous grief throughout your life. You will always remember the time that you didn't trust in me and the time that you took things in your own hands. And folks, I want to tell you something.

When we take things into our own hands, it has repercussions for years after sometimes. Better to let the Lord defend us. Better to hold our peace. Better to trust him for strength. Better to hear his word.

I believe this word tonight is coming as turning some of you back from doing something that you would regret for many, many years to come. David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me.

And blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou, which has kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with my own hand. We are not to avenge ourselves with our own hand. The book of Matthew, chapter 5, Matthew chapter 5, verse 43, Jesus said, You have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.

For he makes his Son to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans or sinners, in other words, the same?

Evil Men Confirm the Pathway of Truth

And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Number two, evil men are sent to confirm the fact that the righteous are on the pathway of truth.

Let me say that again. Evil men are sent to confirm the fact that the righteous are on the pathway of truth. Look at Matthew chapter 27 with me please. Matthew 27. Evil men in the plan of God. Jesus was on the pathway of truth.

Judas had betrayed him. The devil thought he had him. The scribes and Pharisees thought they had triumphed over him. In verse 39 in Matthew chapter 27. This is the end of salvation. The Messiah reviled him wagging their heads and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself.

If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and elders said, He saved others. Himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him.

He trusted in God. Let him deliver him now if he will have him. For he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. In other words, he cast the same insults at him.

There were evil men all around him while he was on the cross at Calvary. And what they were doing is confirming that in fact he was fulfilling the will of God his Father. They were confirming the fact that he was on the pathway of truth.

Matthew chapter 5 if you go back there with me. Matthew chapter 5 verse 11 Jesus said, Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Blessed are you when men shall revile you. When people say evil things about you.

If you know in your heart you love God. You know you're walking on the pathway of God. Then family members or some ex-family members come and start telling you you're insane. People at work start telling you you're an idiot and you've lost your mind.

People in your neighborhood start vicious evil rumors about you. And even those that perhaps you trusted at one time start things about you. But you know in your heart. You know in your heart that you're on the pathway of truth.

And they begin to revile you. Then Jesus said you are blessed when men shall revile you. And when they see evil against you falsely for my sake. He says rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven.

These evil persons have been sent to confirm the fact that you are indeed on the pathway of truth. Don't get bitter. Get blessed. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You can walk out of some of these situations and say Lord I'm blessed.

I'm blessed. I'm blessed. God I know my heart is clean. I know my hands are clean. I know I'm walking on the pathway of truth. I only want to do what is right. And Lord these folks have started these kinds of rumors about me.

And Jesus said you're blessed then. You're blessed. And so don't get bitter. Get blessed. Now go to Psalm 37. Now this is where you're going to need a pencil or a pen. Psalm 37. This is my third point and final point tonight.

God's Power for Those Who Walk in Truth

Evil men are sent to show the righteous the power of God available to those who walk in truth. Evil men are sent to show the righteous the power of God available to those who walk in truth. Psalm 37. Now I want to divide this psalm into two parts.

You may want to underline some things if you have a pen here tonight. I'm going to call it my part and God's part. What God asks me to do when evil men come against me or evil persons come against me and then what God says if you do this I'll do this.