Rebecca Inglis - April 22, 2018
How Can I Resist Evil
On March 13, 1996, Thomas Hamilton, aged 43, entered a primary school gym in Dunblane and opened fire on a class of five and six-year-olds. Sixteen children and their teacher were killed; seventeen other children and teachers were wounded. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history. When addressing the media that day the principal said, “Evil has visited our school.” I think he was right, but what exactly is ‘evil’? Can it be resisted? Can it be overcome? In our society there’s an increasing interest in the demonic — in occult powers, witchcraft, spiritualism, palm-reading, ouija boards, channelling, consulting the dead, astrology, horoscopes. These are things that are expressly warned against in the Bible, and labelled as ‘evil’. Christians are called not to focus on these things, but on God. At the same time we know evil exists; we see it and we should believe in it. The apostle Paul believed in the existence of evil and instructed, ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ (Romans 12:21) Jesus himself was tempted by the devil. He believed in the existence of evil and taught his disciples to pray ‘deliver us from the evil one’. The key to resisting the devil is to sincerely and consistently draw near and remain close to God. James 4:7 instructs, ‘Submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.’ Submission is about who we ‘fall in line’ with. Instead of an unhealthy focus and obsession with evil, submission to God results in resisting the devil because we cannot serve two masters. Tune in as we continue our ‘Foundations’ series, exploring what it takes to resist evil.
From Series: "Foundations"
13 messages delivered at different times throughout 2018 covering the basic questions about the Christian Faith. An essential primer for the beginning Christian.
