Evil

SCRIPTURE

As soon as day came, the elders of the people, the high priests and the scribes assembled and brought Him back before their council, and said, “Tell us if You are the Christ.”

~Luke 22:66, Williams

QUOTE

At the heart of the story stands the cross of Christ where evil did its worst and met its match.

~John W. Wenham

The cross exposes our depravity. The disciples acted in weakness and cowardice. One betrayed Christ, another denied Him and all abandoned Him.  The Jews were driven by envy, hate and murder. The Romans were cold, cruel, callous and careless. The women were the best of the lot and even they were helpless. I read Luke 22 in Williams yesterday and jotted down these characteristics of evil that we see in and around the cross.

1. Evil is persistent: The religious Jews never let up, they were determined to destroy Jesus.
2. Evil is driven by envy and hate.
3. Evil is disguised by pretense: the Jews pretended to be acting in God’s behalf.
4. Evil is diabolical, it loves the cover of darkness. They waited for daylight to pass the verdict but they did the dirty work during the night.
5. Evil is always antichrist.
6. Evil is present in us all. What sins are not evil? Is pride, prayerlessness and indifference not sins? Why do we pretend?
7. Evil is defeated in the end. The Jews thought the cross would put and end to Jesus but instead it put an end to the reign of sin, Satan and death.

• Baptism today at the conclusion of our worship celebration.
• Deacon’s meeting at 8:00, LCBS at 9:00 and worship celebration at 10:15.
• We have a very pressing schedule: prayer appreciated.
• We have them headed in all directions: to the beach, on cruises, camping and only the LORD knows where else. We’ll have church with whoever shows up. Going to be some more changes today. I know how much you love changing.
• The Sanctuary will look a little different: it is set up for the 2:00 PM memorial service for Clayton Clemons.