Irreducible Evil and the Gospel

Father, we've asked in this last song that the Holy Spirit would come and move within us and deeply within us.

Father, we continue to ask for that.

We, Father, are going to open your word, and your word is going to talk about very difficult things about the world,

and your word is going to talk about very difficult things about each one of us who are here.

So we ask, Father, you know how our minds turn from these things and comfort ourselves with fantasies and lies.

So we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would move in a deep and powerful way within each one of us and bring your word to our heart.

Bring your word to our heart.

And as your word is brought to our heart, fan in the flame within us a deep longing and yearning to have our confidence and our identity and our joy in the person and work of Jesus.

And all this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

So I was young once, and back, I was 32 years old.

I've been ordained for three years already.

I was an assistant in a suburban church.

When I was 32, I got sent to my first church I was looking after.

It was four little churches up the valley in a place called Eganville, also Killaloo, Clontarf, and Tremor.

And I started in the church in June.

And in, I can't remember now if it was late August or maybe it was into middle September.

But out of the blue, I had a visit from an older minister.

I mean, he was probably younger than I am now, but an older minister.

He seemed really old to me then.

And he came just sort of unannounced.

I was dressed very, very, very casually.

I was young.

I said that before.

And he came to invite me to something that my predecessor, the minister who had been at the church before me, he went to all the time.

And what this was, was a gathering of ministers in Pembroke that happened once a month.

And as I said, my predecessor, the fellow who was a minister before me, he went to it all the time.

And so this ministry meets me.

You know, I don't look like I'm very conservative and all that.

And he starts, within like three minutes of inviting me, he starts to tell me how terrible evangelicals are and how terrible charismatics are,

how they're stupid and tells me funny stories about them.

And this particular man, they'd been studying a book by a man by the name of John Spong.

And John Spong basically doesn't believe anything in the Bible happened.

He didn't believe the incarnation happened.

He didn't believe the resurrection happened.

Like, basically nothing in the Bible actually happened.

And that's the book that they were going to study.

And my predecessor went there all the time.

And I guess because I was young and because my predecessor liked these things and because I was Anglican, he assumed I would like all of these things.

And so he thought he was winning me over by telling me all of these stories about the stupidity and foolishness of evangelicals and charismatics and traditional Catholics.

So I was polite.

Believe it or not, I didn't get into an argument with him or anything like that.

But I never went to the gathering.

Now, I mention all of this because it might help us to explain or understand a little bit or relate to something that's going to happen in the Bible text today,

which we talked about very briefly last week.

But I just, we're going to touch on it because it's important to this very horrible thing that happens in the rest of the text.

So if you turn, find your Bibles, it's Esther chapter 3, Esther chapter 3 verse 1.

Esther 3 · chapter mention Esther 3:1

If you're in your Bibles, you find the Psalms.

That's really easy to find.

Then just before the Psalms is Job.

And just before Job is the short book of Esther.

And we're going to begin at chapter 3 verse 1 again.

And if you're a guest here this week, what we've been doing is we're going through the book of Esther.

We're going to go through all of it from beginning to end.

And this is our fourth sermon on it.

In the first sermon, which was chapter 1, we met the king, King Xerxes, because this book is set in the reign of the king of Persia,

the same king who fought the Battle of Thermopylae, made famous in the movie 300 and other movies around that.

And that's in chapter 1.

And we discover that the king is very willful.

He gets drunk, asks his wife to do something.

She refuses to do it.

And not only does he banish his wife forever from being queen, but he punishes every woman in the empire at the same time.

And that's how we meet King Xerxes.

In second chapter and the second sermon, we discover that he gets sad afterwards because he misses her.

So he comes up with this brilliant plan that he's going to go ahead and use the powers of the state to round up anywhere between 400 to 1,500 young women,

forcibly take them from their homes, bring them to the capital where they would be spoiled for a year,

all so that he could spend one night in bed with them.

And then basically have them banished and childless and powerless for the rest of their lives.

And that's the king Xerxes that has done this.

And we're introduced at that time to a young woman by Esther, by the name of Esther, who's one of the people captured and brought to Susa.

But she ends up being the one who satisfies and delights the king the most, and she becomes queen.

And then last week, we looked at this story about how Esther's uncle Mordecai hears about a plot to assassinate the king.

And Mordecai lets the king know about it through Esther.

He gets the credit, and the assassination plot is foiled.

And then what happens is the most surprising thing in the world, and we talked about it last week.

I'm not going to talk about it this week, is that Mordecai has a conversion moment.

You see, Esther and Mordecai are Jewish people, but they're living as compromised Jews.

They're pretending that they're not Jewish.

In fact, it's more than just pretending.

They're acting completely and utterly as if they're Persian.

Mordecai doesn't use his Jewish name.

He uses Mordecai, which means worshiper of Marduk.

Esther doesn't use her Jewish name.

She uses Esther, which is named after the goddess Ishtar.

And Mordecai and Esther very specifically follow the policy of acting like Persians, looking like Persians,

and having nothing to do with their Jewish faith.

But as we're going to see, as we looked at last week, there's this surprising conversion moment that happens to Mordecai.

And it seems sort of a bit out of the blue, he announces that he's a Jew.

And that announcement that he's a Jew is going to set in motion a plan for genocide.

So let's just sort of catch up to where we are.

We're going to sort of read a little bit that we looked at last week, but for a different reason,

and see this horrendous evil which is launched by Mordecai's public declaration that he's a Jew.

So chapter 3, verse 1, here's how it goes.

After these things, remember we looked at this last week, but I want to bring out a different point because it's important.

After these things, King Xerxes, or Aehuserus, or King Headache, promoted Haman, the Agagite, the son of Hamadatha,

and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him.

Now just sort of pause there for a second.

One of the things, if you're trying to figure out how to read the Old Testament,

that's those books that are written before Jesus,

is that often a person's name when they're introduced is significant.

And it helps you to understand what's going on in the story.

And in this particular case, Haman is introduced for the first time,

and he's introduced as an Agagite.

And that's going to be very significant because Agagites were historic enemies of the Jewish people.

If you go back and you look in Exodus chapter 17,

Exodus 17 · chapter mention

after the Jewish people had been delivered from the land of slavery from Egypt,

and they cross the Red Sea, the very, very first nation that tries to destroy them are the Amalekites.

And it's very, very significant then that they sort of become almost like a bit of a symbol

in the Bible for those people who desire to destroy God's people.

And that's how Haman is introduced.

But what happens, well, let's just see what happens next.

Verse 2,

And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman,

for the king had so commanded concerning them.

Haman is like the most powerful person in the empire right under King Xerxes.

Then the king, verse 3,

The king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai,

Why do you transgress the king's command?

Sorry, I missed a part there.

We'll say verse 2 again.

And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman,

for the king had so commanded concerning him.

But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage.

Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai,

Why do you transgress the king's command?

And when they spoke to him day after day, and he would not listen to them,

they told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai's words, in other words, his actions, would stand.

Here's the kicker, for he had told them that he was a Jew.

I'm not going to go into it that much.

It's like a conversion moment.

Mordecai, in the weirdest way possible,

who's been hiding his Jewishness,

announced that he's a Jew.

Now, one of the reasons that he might have done that is,

well, remember I told you that when I first went to my first church in Eganville,

I followed a fellow who didn't believe that miracles happened,

didn't believe that the Bible is God's inspired word,

didn't believe that the resurrection happened,

didn't believe in the incarnation,

didn't believe any of these things.

And he was connected with other ministers who felt the same way.

And because I was following that minister,

and because I was young,

the leader of these other ministers just assumed that I was with them.

And he told jokes and everything about evangelicals

and told me about what they believed and what they did.

And I wonder if something similar happened to Haman and Mordecai,

because Mordecai would have been an official.

And maybe when Mordecai was with Haman at different times,

Haman would boast to people about the fact that he was an Agagite.

And what that means is that not only was he like the Amalekites

who attacked the Jewish people to try to destroy them,

the very, very first nation to attract the Jewish people

after they'd been delivered from bondage in Egypt,

but Agag was their king.

So it's as if, you know, Haman thinks,

I'm just with Persians,

I'm just with people who are like me,

because Mordecai goes by the name worshipper of Marduk,

and Mordecai looks like a Persian,

speaks like a Persian,

has nothing to do with Jewishness,

nothing Jewish,

there's nothing Jewish about him at all

that Haman can see,

and Mordecai is an official in the Persian Empire

under King Xerxes,

and so maybe when Haman was just hanging around

with guys like Mordecai,

he just assumed that Mordecai was with him.

And so he just said,

like, I'm a guy who,

I hate Jewish people,

I don't like them.

I'm opposed to them.

In fact, I'm like the king of those people opposed to him.

I'm going to do,

I just don't like them.

And Mordecai,

we don't know what went on in Mordecai's mind,

but maybe what went on in Mordecai's mind

to partially explain his surprising conversion

is that he remembered one of the stories

that was told in the book of Exodus,

because when the Amalekites are introduced

in the book of Exodus,

some of you are familiar with this story.

The Amalekites are attacking the Jewish people,

and Moses sends Joshua out to fight them.

But the Amalekites are winning.

And so Moses goes up onto the top of a mountain

over the battle,

and he raises the staff of God above his head.

And when he raises the staff of God above his head,

the Amalekites start to lose,

and Joshua and the Jewish people win.

But as Moses' hands get tired,

he starts to lower the staff,

and as soon as he lowers the staff,

the Amalekites begin to win,

and the Jewish people are losing.

And so Moses and Aaron and Hur,

who are with him,

realize that Moses has to keep the staff of the Lord

up above his head

if the Jewish people are going to survive this attack

by a superior military force

that's trying to destroy them.

And it's sort of a well-known story

in the Old Testament,

but the point of the Old Testament,

of this story,

is that the staff represents God's power

and his sovereignty.

And that's the function the staff serves

in all of the stories with Moses and the staff.

And so the lesson

that was to come from this story

is that when the Jewish people

depended upon God being sovereign and powerful

and submitted to it,

God won the battle.

But when they didn't have God

as their sovereign,

acknowledging his power,

but tried to work on their own power,

those who desired to kill the people of God

would win.

In other words,

the people of God were to depend

upon God's power and his sovereignty.

And maybe in some small way,

what went through Mordecai's mind

is he sees this man who hates the Jews

reaching the highest point of power

in the empire under the emperor.

Maybe that story told to him by his mother

or by his grandmother.

See, one of the reasons

why Sunday school is so important

is you never know the impact

of a story told to a young child

that it might have on their life later on.

It's why it's such an important ministry.

It's why parents,

if you're parents,

to read your children Bible stories,

is so important.

And maybe that story told by his mom

or his grandmom all those years ago,

and Mordecai has this moment

where he's pierced and realized

if he's going to survive this,

it's only if he acknowledges the Lord

as sovereign,

because only the Lord's power

is going to deliver his people.

And so Mordecai does this astounding thing

and says,

I'm a Jew.

I'm a Jew.

And he says it,

and it gets back to the man

who in a sense boasts

that he is the king of those people

who kill,

who are prejudiced,

and hate the Jews.

So how does Haman react?

Verse 5.

And when Haman saw

that Mordecai

did not bow down

or pay homage to him,

Haman was filled with fury.

But Haman disdained

to lay hands on Mordecai alone.

So as they had made known to him

the people of Mordecai,

Haman sought to destroy

all the Jews,

the people of Mordecai,

throughout the whole empire

of Xerxes.

I'll just sort of pause here

in the story.

We have here in the Bible

a perfect illustration

of prejudice

and hatred and racism.

Most of us,

in fact,

I would bet

that every single one of us here

would say that we do not

have any prejudices

nor are we guilty of racism.

But let me give you

a little bit of a gut check

because this perfectly illustrates

an example,

something that we need to do

for the examination

of our conscience.

If you're driving along

in your car

and somebody cuts you off

and you can see

maybe that it's a woman,

this is an example for men,

and internally you say,

look at that stupid driver.

All women are like that.

That's prejudice.

You've just revealed

that you have prejudice.

prejudice.

If you're in a lineup

for something

and somebody who looks

like they're from the Middle East

bumps into the line

and you don't just say,

well, that's a goofball,

but you say,

look at that goofball.

That's what all Arabs are like.

You're prejudiced.

If you're in a Starbucks

and your barista,

who's gay,

gets a little bit mad

at something that's going on

and you don't just say,

well, that person's having a bad day

or they're just high strung,

but you say,

look at that guy.

That's what all gays are like.

They throw hissy fits.

You're prejudiced.

You're prejudiced.

I'm prejudiced.

You see,

it's the very nature

of prejudice.

If you're not prejudiced

against somebody,

it's just an individual

doing something,

but if you're prejudiced,

it's everybody

who's like that

that's like that.

And the Bible here

is going to show you

that prejudice

is a great sin.

It's something

that we need to repent of.

You see,

Mordecai,

Haman doesn't say,

that goofball,

Mordecai,

why does he have it in for me?

I'm going to destroy

his career.

But Haman says,

all those Jews

are like that.

I got to kill them all.

You see,

all of a sudden,

this Bible story,

which seems to be so old

and so irrelevant,

all of a sudden,

it does something

which in a very,

very powerful way

illustrates the prejudices

of our own hearts.

So,

Haman decides

he's going to kill

all the Jews.

Now,

this next part here

is actually quite stunning.

If you look here

at the next verse,

verse 7,

in the first month,

which is the month

of Nisan,

in the 12th year

of King Xerxes,

they cast pur,

that is,

they cast lots,

before Haman

day after day

and they cast it

month after month

till the 12th month,

which is the month

of Adar.

Now,

I know,

if you're like me

and the first time

I read that,

I go,

Nisan,

Amar,

Adar,

day after day.

But this is actually

one of those things,

if the story is read

slowly and you meditate

upon,

it's a very,

very powerful story.

You see,

remember I said

that Mordecai

won't pay homage

to Haman

and Haman

decides he's going

to kill all the Jews.

And some of us

might think,

well,

okay,

so Haman's a bit

of a hothead,

maybe he's just

going to get over it.

If you go back,

they give a little

dating thing here,

which is very significant,

is that when Esther

is made queen,

which is chapter 2,

Isaiah 2:16

verse 16,

that is almost

five years

between now

and this.

So the implication

of the story

is that sometime,

very shortly

after Esther

becomes queen

and Mordecai

reveals this plot

to assassinate

the king

and the king's

life is saved

and then Haman

becomes the emperor,

it might have been

four whole years

between Haman

deciding he's going

to kill all the Jews

to what we see

right now.

Like,

this is settled

hatred.

This is persistent

evil.

And you see,

what Haman,

we're going to see it

more in a moment,

that what Haman

has done

is Haman,

it's going to be revealed

in the next verse,

Haman has not only

nurtured and nourished

his hatred

and his prejudice

and his murderous rage

for years,

he's come up

with a clever

institutional plan

to terrorize

and destroy

the Jews.

He spent the time

thinking this through,

planning it.

And now what he's doing

is he's seeking

to know

when the gods

are going to bless him.

That's why he's

casting

pur,

or the lots.

It's a method

back then

that they believed

that if they did this,

they were able

to figure out

when they should

do something

to get the full

blessing

of the gods

for his murderous

and evil plan.

And there's another

profound irony

about this

by the month

of Nisan.

Because you see,

for Jewish people,

the month of Nisan,

I don't know if I'm

pronouncing it correctly,

that's when they

prepared for the Passover.

So at the very,

very same time,

what happens

is the day comes

during this month

of Nisan,

Haman has been

nurturing his hatred

of the Jewish people,

but he's not just

a person who hates,

he's going to figure

out a plan.

He's going to figure

out a plan

to get the king

on board,

he's going to figure

out a plan

to get the king

actually desiring

to do this,

he's going to come

up with a plan

to involve

the bureaucracy

and the military

and all the resources

of the empire,

and he's going to

come up with a plan

that'll turn average

people against Jewish people

and he thinks

through this plan,

thinks through this plan,

he's ready to go

with his plan,

so he sits there

one day

and they cast the lots,

they cast the lots,

it's not good to do it

this month,

next month,

next month,

next month,

next month,

and then finally,

ah,

we have the time

when the gods

are going to grant me

favor to destroy

the Jewish people

and at the same time

that he's finishing

his plan

and seeking the favor

of the gods,

the Jewish people

are preparing

to remember

the Passover.

In other words,

they are preparing

to remember the time

when Moses

is raised up by God

to confront the Pharaoh

because the Jewish people

are in slavery

in Egypt

and there's a whole series

of power encounters

between Moses

announcing what God

is going to do

to dethrone

and de-idolize

the Pharaoh

to show that he's not a god

and that the gods

of the Egyptians

are not true gods

and that they should not

be keeping God's people

in slavery

nor should they keep

any people in slavery

and then the final

culminating miracle

that God does

to deliver the people

of Israel,

he says,

Pharaoh,

just before this,

Pharaoh says to Moses,

next time I see you,

you're going to die

and Moses says,

you're never going to

see my face again

and they go home

and Moses says

to the people of Israel,

you need to slaughter

a lamb

and after you've

slaughtered the lamb,

you need to put

some of the lamb

on the entranceway

to your door

and your family

needs to be gathered

because this night

God is going to do

a mighty act of deliverance

in the land of Egypt

and the angel of death

goes to the land of Egypt

and the firstborn

of every family dies

and it is only those people

who are in the house

eating the sacrificed lamb

where the entrance

to the house

is protected

by the blood of the lamb

those people

do not fall

under God's judgment.

It is God's profound

and mighty act

to deliver the Jews

and to make them

his own people.

By the way,

this is one of those stories

that show that both stories

can't be true.

There cannot be gods

that Haman

can manipulate

with his lots

and the God,

the Lord,

the creator of all things.

One of those stories,

I mean,

they both can be false

but both can't be true.

And I believe,

of course,

that the story in Exodus

is true.

And so at the very same time

that the Jewish people,

unbeknownst

that this huge evil

is about to fall,

they are preparing

and looking forward

to celebrating Passover.

Those observant Jews

are doing that.

Haman is trying to figure out

when the gods

will bless him

to kill all the Jews.

In verse 8,

he now has the date.

So then Haman said

to the king,

Xerxes,

verse 8,

there's a certain people

scattered abroad

and dispersed

among the peoples

in all the provinces

of your kingdom.

Their laws are different

from those

of every other people

and they do not keep

the king's laws,

your laws.

So,

it is not

to the king's profit

to tolerate them.

Actually,

in the original language,

it's to give them rest,

to have a place

where they can live.

If it please the king,

let it be decreed

that they be destroyed

and I will pay

ten thousand talents

of silver

into the hands

of those

who have charge

of the king's business

of your business

that they may put it

into the king's treasury,

your treasury.

Haman tells lies

and half-truths

and the king

listens to the lie,

listens to the half-truth.

And he's already

showed himself

that he doesn't mind

punishing all the women

in the empire

because of the act

of one woman.

He's already showed

that he doesn't mind

forcibly rounding up

young women

from all over the empire,

ruining their lives

and causing untold wounds

in families,

all to satisfy

one night of pleasure.

And he likes money.

So,

in verse 10,

the king took

his signet ring

from his hand

and gave it to Haman

the Agagite,

the son of Hamadatha,

the enemy of the Jews.

And the king said to Haman,

the money is given to you,

the people also,

to do with them

as it seems good to you.

So he gives him

his royal authority

and this is a literal

translation of an idiom.

Basically,

he says,

listen,

spend your own money,

do this,

but make sure

there's lots of money

left over for me

at the end.

Verse 12,

then the king's scribes

were summoned

on the 13th day

of the first month

and an edict

according to all

that Haman commanded

was written

to the king's satraps

and to the governors

over all the provinces

and to all the officials

of all the peoples,

to every province

in its own script

and every people

in its own language.

It was written

in the name

of King Xerxes

and sealed

with the king's

signet ring

and just pause.

Notice that Haman

sought it all through.

Every language,

every people group,

every official,

he sought it all through.

He has a list.

He has it all worked out.

And here's the thing

which is so,

so, so, so,

so fascinating

about this story.

The day that he's there,

just imagine I'm Haman

writing the edict out

and after the edict

is written out,

he takes the king's

signet ring,

puts the seal on it

and while he's doing that

and he's having

all the people copy it

and as each one

is copied,

he puts the king's

signature with

the signet ring

with the wax seal

and puts it on

every one of these

many messages.

The very day

that he is doing this

is the 13th day

of Nisan.

It is the day

that the Jewish people

are preparing

for Passover

which happens

because the Passover

sacrifice happens

the very next day,

3 o'clock in the afternoon

and the Passover meal,

the first Passover meal

is eaten

after sundown

because that's

a new Jewish day,

the 15th day

of Nisan.

So the very day

that Haman

is signing

this act

of profound evil

is the day

that the Jewish people

are preparing

to sacrifice

the Passover lamb

the next afternoon

and eat the first

Passover meal

after sundown.

And of course

for we as Christians

there's another

significance to this

as well

because

because

several,

quite a few centuries

after this

there would be

another Jewish man

by the name

of Jesus

and on the Wednesday

afternoon

the 13th day

of Nisan

the first day

of the Jewish calendar

he would be

talking to his disciples

to make the preparations

the next day

for him

to celebrate

the Passover

with his disciples.

and the Messiah

of the Jews

the next day

almost seven centuries

about seven centuries

later

sorry six centuries

later

sorry five

five centuries

I'm getting mixed up

with my math

he would be having

his disciples

prepare

for the sacrifice

of the Passover lamb

the next day

so he could have

that final Passover meal

with his disciples

that evening

where he instituted

the Lord's Supper

and on the 15th day

of Nisan

he would die

upon the cross

as the lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world

Haman doesn't know this

or if he does

he doesn't care

verse 13

so letters

were sent

by couriers

to all the king's

provinces

with instruction

to destroy

to kill

and to annihilate

see this is

bureaucratic language

you want to make sure

you cover all the bases

he consulted a lawyer

to get good legal language

to make sure

every Jew is killed

all of this

is legal language

look at it again

verse 13

to destroy

to kill

to annihilate

all Jews

Jews just men

no

young and old

women and children

in one day

the 13th day

of the 12th month

which is the month

of Edar

and to plunder

their goods

11 months hence

you see this is part

of the great evil

look at the next verse

and I'll come back

and talk about

how great this evil is

verse 14

a copy of the document

was to be issued

as a decree

in every province

by proclamation

to all the peoples

to be ready

for that day

you see

one of the things

which is so evil

about this

is that he's not

just going to use

the soldiers

and the equivalent

of the police

and the bureaucrats

to hunt down

and kill all the Jews

this edict means

that every Persian

on this particular day

has the full right

and authority

of the king

to kill their neighbors

to kill their neighbors

every one of them

the youngest child

the oldest person

to kill them

and he does it

11 months down the road

imagine for a moment

if you and I knew

that in 11 months

the city of Ottawa

would turn on us

to kill us

the terror

the terror

the terror

the despair

would be hard enough

if it was going to be

next week

it is profoundly isolating

and profoundly terrifying

to have the weight

of doom

for 11 months

and to alienate you

from every single

one of your neighbors

it's not

you just

not only that you fear

the sight of soldiers

on that day

but every person

you see

you will fear

friends

this

is profoundly

deeply

evil

and then

the storyteller

just recording

what really happens

tells this spectacular

final ending

twist

not a twist

verse 15

the couriers

went out hurriedly

by order of the king

and the decree

was issued in Susa

the citadel

where Mordecai lives

and the king

and Haman

sat down

to drink

but the city

of Susa

was thrown

into confusion

isn't this just

the way evil works

Haman and the king

have just come up

with a profoundly

deeply evil plan

and after the last

signet ring

is done

Haman calls out

to the king

well

I finished it all

and the two of them

said

let's have a beer

yeah that's a good idea

let's have a beer

no no

I think I'm going to

have a wine

some wine

can we get some nachos

with that

or maybe some tabbouleh

or some hummus

let's just have a beer

like this is exactly

how evil works

isn't it

very powerful story

so what does this all mean

in closing

some

one of the things

that people often

think about this story

is that it's

one of the weaknesses

of the story

is that they don't

explain

why it is

that Haman

does all of this

there's no explanation

for his evil act

they sort of have

a bit of a sense

of the weakness

of the character

of Xerxes

and his believing

of the lie

but they still

don't really explain

why it is

that Xerxes

would believe this lie

why is he so

incurious

and it seems to many

that it's a weakness

in the story

that the evil of Haman

and the evil of the king

isn't explained

but it's actually

one of the things

in the story

which is so powerful

if you could put up

the first point

Andrew

you see the thing is

is that evil is real

and irreducible

see our culture

has a very very hard

time

with evil

my wife and I

it took us two nights

because we sort of

got tired the first night

but it's a very good movie

not that I'm recommending

you watch it

but we watched

the Paul Greengrass movie

last night

called 22nd of July

it's the story

of what happened

in July 22nd

2012

in Norway

where a lone man

first planted

a truck bomb

right beside

the prime minister's office

in an attempt

to kill the prime minister

and he blew up the bomb

and it killed

I believe it was

eight people

that it killed there

and after he'd set

he'd set a timer for it

and left the truck there

to kill the prime minister

didn't kill the prime minister

but it killed eight people

wounded several hundred

but he left there

and he drove

a little bit away

to an island

where there was

a youth retreat

going on

by members

of the same party

of the prime minister

the labor party

and many of you

are familiar with this

and he went on

the island

pretending it was

a police officer

to protect them

rounded the teenagers up

and he began

to shoot them

and he killed

69

69 teenagers

69

over 100

extra

were wounded

31 other people

who were shot

but did not die

31 people

were shot

one or more times

but didn't die

69 people died

and the movie

portrays this

and then the movie

it's not a spoiler alert

if that's

what the movie's about

and then part of

what happens

afterwards

is they

show the capture

of course

of the man

who does it

and they show

the pre-trial

and then the trial

and of course

you see

what they want

to try to do

is they want

to try to say

that the man

must have been insane

why do they want

to say that he's insane

because you see

they want to

they can't handle

the idea

that it's just

evil

it's evil

it's easier

if evil

can always be reduced

it can be reduced

to something else

it can be reduced

to mental illness

it can be reduced

to the fact

that he didn't have

a mom that loved him enough

or he didn't have a dad

that loved him enough

or that he'd been told

some bad stories

because you see

if it's mental illness

you can give him drugs

if it's a bad mom

or a bad dad

well you can

I don't know

give parents to moms

or dads

or put all your kids

in daycare

or you can

you can control

the things

that make them read

what they read

or the stories

that they think

or they make sure

they don't play video games

or they don't do this

or they don't do that

because you see

at the end of the day

liberal Norway

and liberal Canada

has a very hard time

with the fact

that some things

are just evil

they cannot be reduced

to social processes

or biological

or chemical processes

it is evil

it is irreducible

and it's real

and so you see

the very lack

of an explanation

of the story

just confronts you

with irreducible

real evil

and some people

might say

okay George

but that's very

very very problematic

like George

don't you think

that if you start

to think

that there's

like real evil

like that

then it just

doesn't

don't you think

that actually fuels

what that guy did

killing those people

because you see

then it means

like there's evil people

and good people

like isn't that

what Christianity does

it divides the world

into good people

and evil people

but not at all

that's not what

Christianity teaches

at all

if you could put up

the next point

that would be

very helpful

you see

what Christianity teaches

is that like

every other human being

every part of who you are

is touched by evil

Christians do not believe

the world is divided

between good people

and bad people

that is not a Christian idea

Christianity is the only religion

that explains the news

and explains why you can have

the most advanced

and progressive

and prosperous

and best education

and best parenting

and best all of those things

but the fact of the matter

is that the newspapers

are still filled

with crime

and bad things

not just bad things

but also good things

why because

the Bible doesn't teach

that human beings

are evil

it teaches that human beings

are made in the image

and likeness of God

but that every single part

of who I am

whether it's my mind

or my affections

or my will

whether it's my memories

whether it's my desires

whatever part of makes

a human being

a human being

has been touched

by evil

in some way

and is now bent

and slightly broken

and for some of us

we give ourselves to evil

and give ourselves to evil

and we're consumed by it

just as some people

give themselves to demons

and give themselves to demons

and are consumed by it

and those are free choices

and they have to be dealt with

in the case of people

who give themselves to evil

like to completely

like a Stalin

or a Hitler

they have to

you have to try to defeat them

you have to try to defeat them

but a church

is not the gathering

of the good

if you came here today

thinking the church

is the gathering

of the good

I have to tell you

you came to the wrong place

I mean

you might want to go

to the gathering

of the caucus

of the liberals

or the conservatives

or the NDP

in their own different ways

thinking that they're

the gathering of the good

or you might want to go

to a faculty club

or a faculty room

or a yoga studio

I don't know

you might want to go

somewhere else

but if any church

ever thinks

that it's the gathering

of the good

it has ceased to understand

what a church is

because the church

is a hospital

for sinners

I am a sinner

I come every Sunday

to the hospital

to be with you

because we need

to get better

but here's this

other thing about it

if you could put up

the next point

you see

one of the things

in a very odd way

in the movie

the 22nd of July

because they struggle

with this thing

as to whether or not

the man is insane

but interestingly enough

and this isn't giving away

anything in the movie

the man doesn't think

he's insane

in fact refuses

to be diagnosed

as insane

he believes

he is completely

and utterly sane

and he probably is

by no normal

definition of insanity

would he

no amount of

chemicals

it wasn't a matter

that he has

some brain

chemicals

a little bit

out of balance

causing this

he was sane

he was just

completely and utterly

given over to evil

but you see

in an odd way

the point

part of the thing

that goes on

in the movie

even though

it's wrong

to try to reduce

evil to something else

what the desire

shows is something

which is fundamentally

human

if you could put up

the

that's it right there

it is part of

human nature

to hope

that evil

will not have

the final word

that's part of

human nature

we hope

you know in fact

if you met a human

being

if you met somebody

later on this week

I mean

so I meet people

and they've become

despairing

that this might be

the case

I've talked to

lots of people

in St. Arbux

that have come

to despair

they just think

evil

it just

their life

sucks

the bad

people get

promoted

the hard workers

don't

their parents

will never love

them or care

for them

people who've

done wrong

to them

just go on

to success

and they get

stuck with

what's left

and there are

people who've

despaired

but despair

is just a way

of complimenting

of trying to

believe that

in their

heart of

heart

they just

hope

and they know

that it has

to be true

they don't know

what to ground

it or how to

but they just

know that it

must be the

case that evil

cannot have

the final word

if you ever

met somebody

who said

actually I'm

hoping that

evil has

the final word

if you actually

believed that

they were serious

you would want

to call the

police about

them

because it's

something

fundamental

in human

beings to

believe that

evil will not

have the final

word

only the Bible

accounts for

that

you see

the Bible

portrays

human beings

as originally

being made

good in Adam

and Eve

and human

beings choosing

evil

choosing to try

to be like

God

and it was

human beings

that we

bent the image

of God

we bent the

likeness of God

but God didn't

take the image

or likeness of God

out of us

we're still made

in the image

and likeness of God

only it's bent

or it's twisted

and so on one hand

every single part

of who I am

is touched by evil

it means that

there will be

times in life

where I just

do what is wrong

and it can't be

explained because

I didn't have

enough sleep

I didn't have

enough caffeine

I didn't have

enough food

that you know

that another person

hasn't been kind

or nice to me

I just sometimes

do evil

and so do you

I just do it

sometimes

and the Bible

explains that

but at the same

time our longing

and yearning

because we are

made in the image

of God

our longing

and yearning

that evil

will not have

the final word

it shows that

in some way

whether we're

conscious or not

we believe

and hope

that the God

who's described

in the Bible

actually exists

it is that image

of God

within us

and the fact

that the order

is made

all of creation

is made by God

that calls out

to the God

that really does exist

even though he is

an unknown God

to most Canadians

our hearts cry out

to the unknown God

that surely

the unknown God

must exist

and in such a world

if you could put up

the next point

here's what the gospel

has to say

the true end of evil

was inaugurated

by the birth

life

death

and resurrection

of the Lord Jesus Christ

the true end

of evil

was inaugurated

when Mary

said yes

to God

and God

did a miracle

to create

within the womb

of Mary

that man

that we know of

as Jesus

and he was born

and he lived

and he lived

amongst us

God among us

and he died

on the cross

and he died

on the cross

where in a sense

the forces

and powers

of evil

do all they can

to actually

kill God

it's not enough

just to rage

against God

whom we cannot touch

so often people

who rage against God

whom we cannot touch

they rage

against his people

and so here we have

God among us

God in flesh

and so the evil

of the world

institutionalized

in religion

and Rome

with all of its power

and its glory

and its splendor

rage against God

and they kill

God among us

evil falling on him

but Jesus

that which they meant

for ill

God uses for good

because Jesus

dies in our place

in our stead

he takes the evil

that is in us

and the punishment

that we deserve

and he takes it

upon himself

and his perfect life

that we could not

live our own

he offers it to us

in

he offers that

to us

and his death

is not in fact

the defeat of God

but is the means

by which

the end of evil

is inaugurated

and God

has Jesus

experience

all there is

to experience

of death

and on the third day

he rises again

and brothers and sisters

he will return

and with the resurrection

of Jesus

the death and resurrection

of Jesus

the beginning

of the end

of evil

has begun

and we can be confident

that there will come a day

when all evil

will be done

will be finished

because Jesus

has triumphed

and we live

between the coming

of Jesus

when the end

of evil

is inaugurated

and that glorious day

when he will return

when evil

and death itself

goes

and is completely

and utterly destroyed

and we live

between

the beginning

of the end

and the end

of the end

and by faith

and trust

when we put our hands

in the hands

of Jesus

he takes us

as his own

and the final word

about each one

of us

will not be

rebel

or fighter

or one

who rages

against me

but when we put

our hands

in the hand

of Jesus

we share

in his victory

we share

in his triumph

and we can long

for the day

that he returns

Maranatha

come Lord

Jesus

come

please stand

if

if you haven't

given your life

to Jesus

there is no better

time than today

to just say

to Jesus

Jesus

be my savior

and be my lord

and never let me go

be my savior

be my lord

and never let me go

thank you for defeating evil

thank you for

dealing with the evil

that is in me

thank you that you will

one day

make me fit

to live in the new heaven

and the new earth

thank you that you did it all

and I want that to be mine

I want Jesus

to be my savior

and my lord

and in your own words

say that

and for each of us

who struggle with evil

in different ways

ask the father

to make the person

the work of Jesus

ever more deep

and real to us

so that we have

our identity

and who Jesus is

and as our identity

is formed by Jesus

we start to have

the security

to confront

those things

in our lives

that we do

that are evil

and know it's been

dealt with by Jesus

and we can say sorry

and we can ask

for help

to amend our lives

father

pour out the holy spirit

upon each one of us

make us disciples

of Jesus

who are gripped

by the gospel

learning to live

for your glory

father we thank you

for Jesus

and we thank you

father

that he is the end

of our longings

and yearnings

our human longings

and yearnings

that evil will not have

our final word

that unknown

way of solving

that we give you

thanks and praise

that you have revealed

this in Jesus

that you have really

defeated evil

and its end

is imminent