The sermon by Scott Brown, titled 'Overcome Evil With Good,' is based on Romans 12:14-21 and emphasizes the Christian response to persecution and evil. It highlights key commands: blessing persecutors, rejoicing with the joyful, and weeping with the sorrowful, promoting a harmonious church culture. Brown argues that these actions are countercultural and require a supernatural transformation of the believer's nature, as Christianity calls for premeditated grace and kindness, an 'unnatural' lifestyle compared to the natural world's instincts. The sermon underscores that Christians are to live peaceably, refrain from retaliation, and overcome evil with good, trusting God's ultimate justice. It stresses that church culture should reflect grace, humility, and unity, fostering a community that mirrors God's kindness and forgiveness, which leads to repentance and reconciliation. The 'vibe' of a church is crucial, as it reflects the transformation brought about by salvation and sanctification.

Bibles to Romans chapter 12 and find verse 14 Romans chapter 12 find verse 14 This is the inerrant all sufficient sweeter than honey word of God. Verse 14, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things but associate with the humble.

Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves but rather give place to wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord therefore if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him a drink for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these wonderful commands that you've given to us. They're so good, they're so life-giving.

You are the source of all goodness and life and beauty and joy. I pray that you would take these words and shape us even more. Amen. Please be seated. Amen.

Please be seated. One of the ways that pastors shepherd the flock of God, One of the ways that pastors shepherd the flock of God, one of the ways that pastors protect the church of God is by the Word of God to keep the sheep from devouring one another and to keep the sheep from getting devoured by one another. And it's the preaching of the Word of God and the obedience that makes such a wise and understanding people as they live together. And of course, as you know, as we've been walking through Romans chapter 12, it really defines the culture of a church. It's a Christian counterculture.

There's no other culture like this culture in a local church. And of course this is a letter written to a church, a local church in the city of Rome with people who've been converted just like all of us who came out of the world and have a lot to learn and he's speaking about the culture of this church and as you know also the first 11 chapters of Romans speak of the doctrinal foundation, and then in chapter 12 on is a very practical section. But it really has to do with what everybody's really concerned about, and that is, what's the vibe of this church? What's the vibe in your heart? Because what's the vibe in your heart is going to become the vibe of a church.

And every church has a vibe, doesn't it? And what do you want it to be? You know, you want it to be a church like this that's described. And here in it, what God has done with his people is he brings his people together, he saves their souls, they become a body, they're bound together by covenant, and they make a deal with one another that they're gonna walk with God and they're gonna create this kind of culture. Every person in this church should be dialing into creating this kind of culture in this church.

And it's such a beautiful church. Now, it's an unnatural life because it's a supernatural life. Let me say it this way. There is no teaching in the Christian life more unnatural than to bless those who persecute you and To not repay evil for evil and to overcome evil with good. That's the most unnatural thing in the world and but yet this is precisely where Christianity parts ways from natural man from actually from the rest of society and because there is something supernatural here because the Christian life is not simply a new set of rules It's actually the results of a new nature and that's what the Romans is really arguing for and this this is a summons to people who've been resurrected by Jesus Christ, to new life, the power of sin has been broken.

But guess what? Once the power of sin has been broken, there's still a lot more sin left over. And So we have these commands. Count them. There must be 25 commands.

And they are so simple. And in fact, if you look at my outline today, we're just going to bounce through the various commands. I've just written out the various commands. That's the outline of the sermon today. But to introduce this, before we get into the text itself, I want to make a point that I want us to really understand as a local church.

This is the premeditated lifestyle of the Christian. To follow Christ is to choose a life of premeditated grace. It's a lifestyle of grace where you have set your course to demonstrate these things, and particularly in a local church. In other words, what the Apostle Paul is teaching the Roman Church is how to act, how to think, how to feel before a difficulty, during a difficulty, and after a difficulty. It's a premeditated life to walk through every kind of life and to to create superior instincts, superior to the instincts that you used to have in your fallen nature.

Because these are manifestations of the new nature. They're not just rules to follow, but what God does with his people is he gives them a new nature and that new nature changes the way that they walk through trials before the trial, during the trial, and after the trial. Now everybody in this room is either before a trial, in the middle of one, or after one looking back. But these commands apply to all of it. And you know there's this matter of the force of nature that we see everywhere in the natural world.

You know, why do geese fly south in the winter? They have an instinct. They have a nature. Why, you know, why do salmon just instinctively swim upstream in the same stream that they were hatched? You know, why is it that every puppy looks for its mother's milk, its instinct, it's something something is something has been launched in their in their nature that makes them that way And that's exactly what has happened in a Christian.

And you know, Christians know that they change. If you didn't change, you shouldn't really become a Christian, something else happened. But It's their nature that makes them that way. And so you have these commands, you know, bless those who persecute you, do not repay, evil for evil. These, These really are counter to your nature, but it's the Spirit of God that overcomes your nature and actually helps you to fulfill these kind of things.

But they're premeditated. In a lot of ways, these should be premeditated resolutions in your life, that this is how you're going to act with your spouse, in the church, with your boss. This is the way that a Christian operates in the world. And the Christian actually has directions for all these kinds of things. Let me give an illustration.

You're familiar with Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He made I think something like 70 resolutions, ways that he determined to live. They all actually arise out of commands of scripture, but this was a premeditated lifestyle that when he was gonna go, before he went through something, while he was going through it, and after, he was gonna think and live this way. Let me just read the very first resolution of Jonathan Edwards resolutions, because I think this type of thinking is what we're being taught in Romans chapter 12. Resolved that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory and my own good, profit, and pleasure in the whole of my duration without any consideration of the time whether now nor of the ages to come.

Resolve to do whatever I think to be my duty for the most good and advantage of mankind in general Resolve to do this whatever difficulties I meet with how many and how great so ever those difficulties so This is let me just say it like this, this is premeditated victory. This is premeditated kindness. This is premeditated responses to think of ahead of time. In other words, that you're not a rattled person. You're not rattled by whatever comes to you.

You have a way to operate that God has told you how to operate. And in some ways you can operate Unrattled on autopilot because these are things that are predetermined in your mind. You have a roadmap for all of the personal relational problems that ever come into your life. What happens to us though is that we just start flailing, we're just moved around, we're pushed around by whatever's going on rather than being steadied like a rock by the Word of God and that's what the Word of God does. You know last week in God's providence in my normal reading I was reading through Psalm 119 and I thought What a treasure it is to have the Word of God to lead you through everything.

It's your counselor It's a treasure. It's a rock. It's honey. It's it's it's what you need And so I think that's really what is being spoken of here. It is a premeditated lifestyle, an unrattled way to run through the world.

Okay? Now, this behavior is a fruit of salvation. It's not a moralistic checklist, but it is a checklist to help us to understand how we're doing in those particular areas. These commands are the result really of a transformed life and sanctification that is in motion. And we know that because the first half of Romans is about what it means to be saved.

But in chapter 12 verse 1 and 2, we understand what is the heart of all this. Present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is the condition of the Christian. He has presented his body as a living sacrifice, and he's saying, Lord, not my will, but thine be done.

I wanna follow you. This is why most people become Christians. They want to stop following themselves and their friends. They want to start following God. And they're tired of the punishment of seeking their own ways because there's a lot of punishment in it.

So this begins with present your bodies a living sacrifice. So and I think a way that you can think about Salvation is like a seed. A seed when it is planted and germinates, it breaks open and it begins to bear fruit. It's like what Jesus said, you know, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, he will not bear fruit. So this is a fruit of salvation and it's what salvation does to the vibe of a church because the vibe of a church really, really matters.

And so here in Romans 12, we're instructed for how to respond to different kinds of people that come in our lives and different kinds of ways that those people treat us. And he starts right off in verse 14, bless those who persecute you. Bless and and do not curse. And the first person that he identifies that you meet is the person who's persecuting you. Ever had anything like that happen?

Paul is assuming that this is going to happen to you in the church and outside of the church. There's a big question you know is this is he talking about people in the church or out of the church? It's both because twice in this passage he says all men so I take that to mean that even Christians can persecute you okay and You know The Apostle Paul doesn't come to the church and say come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I'll take all your problems away from you." That's not what he's saying. He's saying, come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and when the problems come here's how you should act. But you know our knee-jerk reaction when persecuted is just like the disciples who were walking with Jesus.

They said, Lord, command fire to come down from heaven and consume them as Elijah did. Well, that's not what the Apostle Paul is commanding us to do. And when you're persecuted, you're wounded, I think what the Apostle Paul is saying, don't let your wound make you wound other people. Don't punish people for their punishment. Don't turn it around.

The devil, the devil wants to devour you, particularly when you have a dislocation within a relationship. And you know, when you're, when you're fighting with monsters, don't be a monster yourself. I think that's what he's saying Retweet grace how about that instead of you know strike back you know against against your enemies. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 5 43. You have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies and pray and bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you and then he says why that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good. He sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?

Do not even the tax collectors do the same and if you greet your brethren only what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so therefore you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect. So what we're being commanded to do is to take positive action toward those who persecute us, to be good to them. You know, maybe you're familiar with Frederick Nietzsche, that apostate philosopher. He said that This was written in Romans 12 for people who are just too weak to retaliate.

It's written for people who want to moralize their weakness. He said that, you know, empathy, weeping with those who weep, feeding your enemy. He says these are not noble. He says these are degenerative. He says these weaken the species.

Well he was wrong. This is premeditated wisdom. Before you are cursed, anticipate it. Don't worry about it. It's gonna happen during the time you're being cursed and after the time you're being cursed.

So that's the first admonition. Do not curse those who curse you. And the second, the second kind of person you're going to meet in this world is the person who's rejoicing. Something really fantastic has happened. Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Somebody gets a nicer car than you do. Somebody gets a better job. Somebody has a big windfall. Somebody has a baby and you don't have a baby. Somebody got pregnant and you didn't get pregnant.

Somebody didn't have a miscarriage and you got a miscarriage and you're having a really hard time rejoicing with those who rejoice. This happens in your little family too. You know one sibling has something that another sibling wants and it doesn't go well. The sin nature rises up. There's something twisted about our unwillingness to be glad for other people's blessings.

I think many people struggle with this. There's something twisted about it, there's something wrong, there's something wrong when you can't rejoice with those who rejoice. You know, it's much easier to join in other people's sorrow. It's easier to weep with those who weep. There's kind of a, it flatters sort of your pride.

Aren't we compassionate? We're so noble. We're sharing the burden, but to rejoice with those who rejoice seems to be a little bit harder. Often, often when we have a hard time rejoicing with those who rejoice, it's because our idols have been, are being revealed. We have an idol and now we're disappointed because somebody else was blessed with what we idolize and this is a cause for repentance.

It really requires the death of envy. Envy is so dangerous. Let me say it this way. If you only rejoice for yourself, What does that say? I mean this is really all about you know the progressive sanctification of a believer.

You know if you can't clap when somebody else wins You actually are clapping but it's your it's your envy that's clapping, your inner envy. And this is the poison that caused Cain to kill Abel. It's very dangerous. There's a commandment about it, the tenth commandment, thou shalt not covet. And in other words, Coveting is a secret sin.

Nobody knows when you're coveting there might be outward manifestations, but covetous is a secret sin What God is saying is don't when you when you start thinking don't even think it The sin begins in the heart Silently and quietly there are secret sins Coveting is probably one of the most predominant secret sins that we have. James talks about the danger of it. He says if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. And then he talks about just how devastating envy is. I've seen envy tear apart lots of relationships.

I've seen envy tear apart churches. It's very, very dangerous. You know envy, envy is kind of, it kind of operates like a gun, a loaded gun behind the back. It's all smiley up front, but inside, no one else knows about that gun. So, rejoice with those who rejoice.

Plan to do it before you encounter it, during the encounter, and after the encounter. And then there's another kind of person, weeping with those who weep, God has called us to enter into the sorrows that one another experience. The Bible says that in the church if something happens to one it happens to all and he said it like this, Paul did in 1st Corinthians 12, and if one member suffer all the members suffer with it, or if one member is honored all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members individually. So you know this this has to do with entering into the sorrows of people.

You know what when we gather together to pray on Wednesday nights there's always somebody we're praying for who's weeping always and we we have there are people being prayed for today in our church because they're going through some kind of physical or mental or spiritual struggle. It's happening in this church right now. There are people who are weeping with those who weep. There were a bunch of people praying for a woman today, this morning before church started, who was feeling very bad. But The Christianity that doesn't weep is the Christianity that doesn't know the man of sorrows.

It's very interesting. Somebody brought this up in Bible study. We're talking about Jesus wept. You know the shortest verse in the Bible Shortest verse in the Bible shows up where Lazarus has died and Jesus weeps But it's so strange because Jesus knows he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead and he still weeps with Lazarus's sisters. He enters into the sorrows of his children even though he knows he's sovereign and he is going to make it all right.

But he still enters in to the sorrows. It's really an amazing thing. This is premeditated resolve. You know, you're going to encounter people who are going through a hard time. Premeditate before, during, and after when you encounter that person.

And then there's another kind of person. There's, Well, I'm just going to call him sort of the contrarian person because verse 16 says live in harmony and Then he says, you know be of the same mind toward one another in other words The vibe in a church that you know the culture that God is trying to create in church, is not where the people are just focused on themselves. This is not focused on yourself. You are living in harmony, like you are thinking along the lines of other people. You're actually entering in to their interests.

You know there's a brilliant example of this. William Wilberforce, it was said, you know this he was used by the Lord to abolish slavery, that he was the most interesting person. The unbelievers testified that if William Wilberforce was with you, he was absolutely fascinated about everything you were doing, and he was the most, he was the most fun person to be with because he was interested in you and whatever your interest was he just entered into it that was the kind of person that he was. Believers and unbelievers alike in Parliament reported that that's what he that's what he was like. He loved people and that is to to be of the same mind to live in harmony not self-absorbed not wrapped up in your own thoughts your own feelings your old old troubles but you have sort of an amicable spirit and you're, you know, you're harmonious.

And think about Jesus. We know that he was the friend of, and I'm going to quote Matthew 11 19, the friend of tax collectors and sinners. How did that happen? Well, I think it's because this is what he was like. He entered into people, into people's lives.

He was interested. You know, you have these people, you know, they don't really, they're not really listening to what you're saying. The only thing they care about is what they're going to interject into the conversation. They just cannot wait to interrupt you. And not, what's the temptation all of us have who has not been an interrupter but you know most most of our problems come from our focus on me me me my feelings my situation I'm the most important person and you remember you remember that bumper sticker, perform random acts of kindness?

Remember that? A few years ago. How about, How about perform premeditated, preplanned, intentional acts of kindness with the people you know, okay? Not just the random people on the street that you don't know. How about the people you know?

Like, can we just live in this world that God has given us instead of, you know, we're all out, you know, on some ethereal, cyberspacial world instead of the people that we know? You know, our church covenant speaks about this. I'll just read from it. We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace with the aid of the Holy Spirit to walk together in Christian love. We will cultivate, oh there's that word, cultivate.

We will pre-meditate, okay. We will pre-plan that this is the kind of people we're going to be together. We will cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling, in courtesy, in speech, strive to avoid all scriptural prohibitions such as tattling, backbiting, unrighteous anger, to refrain from speaking evil of one another, to be slow to take offense, to think the best of one another. You can fix almost every relational church problem with that one right there. Think the best of one another.

And always be ready for biblical reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay so far as it depends on us. So plan it, premeditate it, resolve it. Resolved. This is the kind of person I'm gonna be in this local church. Before the incident, during the incident, and after the incident.

And the next kind of situation is when you're encountering the lowly and the humble. He says do not set your mind on high things but associate the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. It's kind of a replay of the the first, the previous verse. You know, be at ease.

Be at ease with people. You know, Paul said, look, you know, there are not many wise, there are not many noble among you. He says, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put the shame, the wisdom of the wise. He's chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen. So he says that no flesh should glory in his presence.

In other words, the Christian humbles himself, does not think himself better than other people. I think he's saying give yourself to humble tasks, to humble people, And you see this manifested in Jesus Christ in Philippians chapter two especially. You can go there and read it. The humility of Jesus Christ. And then he turns to, it seems like kind of an escalation of problems of the people who have genuinely wronged us.

And so in verse 17, he says, repay no one evil for evil. And again, I think he's talking about people inside of the church and outside of the church. He's saying, do not retaliate. The problem with retaliation is it always turns back on you. Revenge, it kind of like it spins a web and it traps you in that web.

It makes you the slave. So you know it's you know revenge is it's like a it's like a double-edged axe. It's going to come back and hit you too. And you know someone has done you evil. He said something evil, did something evil, was something evil, and now you have to deal with it.

And you want to get your pound of flesh. You want to hit back. By the way, this needs to be taught very early with children not to retaliate. Because every child wants to retaliate. And you're always trying to figure out who's first.

Because somebody did and there was a retaliation but you know Joe hits Mary and then Mary hits back who's in trouble everybody's in trouble okay you had the read you know you had the one that did the wrong, and then that caused everybody else to do wrong as well. You know, how do you repay evil for evil? There are a lot of different ways. Pouting, pouting. Do you wives have any husbands that ever pout?

Rolling your eyes, that's another way to pay people back. It's kind of a low level payback. You know, it happens. Proverbs 20, 22, do not say, I will recompense evil. Wait for the Lord and he will save you.

And then in verse 17 he says, be agreeable, have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible as much as depends on you live peaceably with all men I think he's talking about you know you can you can be kind of an ugly contrarian All you can talk about are the things that are wrong. All you can talk about is how other people are wrong and how other churches are wrong, how other politicians are wrong. There's just no sense of harmony that you can have. You know, if you have some different understanding of Scripture, you just can't live in harmony with them.

And he says, have regard for good things in the sight of all men if it is possible As much as depends on you live peaceably with all men in other words work at it work at being peaceable and Then verse in verse 19 he's really urging the church to trust in God's plan. He says, beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Don't punish people for their evil God God is not forbidding justice He's just saying don't take it into your own hands. And why?

Why is meeting out justice not for us? Because we're not as wise as God. And we don't know the whole story. Our judgment is often too tangled up in our pride. And so we're not the qualified ones in that sense.

This comes out of Deuteronomy 32, 35. Vengeance is mine and recompense. And then he says their foot shall slip in due time. In other words, I will take care of them, their foot will slip. You don't have to worry, you don't have to make their foot slip God is gonna do that he says for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things to come will hasten upon them for the Lord will judge his people So the Apostle Paul is really just carrying forward a principle from Deuteronomy chapter 32.

Let God take care of them. Proverbs 24-29 says the same thing. Do not say I will do to him just as he has done to me I will render to the man according to his work. 1st Thessalonians 5 15 says the same thing. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Now this is not an argument against self-defense. This is not an argument against stopping someone from hurting you or someone in your family or someone else. We actually have a responsibility to defend. We could talk about a biblical case for self-defense.

There is actually a strong case for self-defense. That's not what he's talking about here. But the idea here is that God will repay. And you don't need to build a website to denounce them. You don't need to email them all their faults.

There are all kinds of ways that we can repay. And we should be very, very careful. And then he says in verse 20, do good to your enemy. And not only do we refrain from repaying evil for evil we take another step we take positive action and so verse 20 says therefore if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him a drink for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." So we're talking about enemies. You have any enemies?

Their faces, if you're hearing what I'm saying, their faces are coming up in your mind now People who've wronged you and you've maintained your anger toward them and their faces are showing up in the back of your mind right now if you have them And here you know the admonition is if your enemy is hungry feed him if he's thirsty give him a drink. This is the hardest thing. This is very countercultural. What does it mean heap coals of fire? Well, there are lots of different interpretations.

One is that there's an ancient custom of keeping coals of fire on your neighbor's head because his fire went out and you, you know, put the coals of your fire in a pan and he took it home and was able to relight his fire. In other words, you're blessing your enemy. There's another interpretation of this. It arises out of an Egyptian custom where you heap coals of fire, but it's like to cause them shame. Like the coals of fire, these good things are like coals of fire and they cause shame and they cause repentance.

In other words, this doing something kind and gracious to your enemy gives them a moral disturbance and a discomfort, and it brings them to repentance. That's another interpretation. This phrase actually shows up in the Old Testament. Psalm 116. Upon the wicked he will rain coals of fire and brimstone and a burning wind will be the portion of their cup.

Psalm 140 verse 10, let burning coals fall upon them, let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they may rise not up again. So what does this mean to heat burning coals of fire? I've preached this verse in different ways over the years. I think like probably 18 years ago I preached on this verse and I said it was, you know, you're doing good to your neighbor. That might not be the right interpretation.

I think that the flow of this is that the believer has a duty to do good to those who hate them but God will rain coals of fire on their head if they don't repent. I think that's what it is. I think this passage is really about the judgment of God. I will repay says the Lord. You don't repay.

You replay good for evil. God will repay according to his right justice. That's what I think it means. It could mean some of these other things, but the passage is, I think, difficult to understand. And then he says, overcome evil with good.

And he ends with this exhortation with such an amazing thing do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good so all of all of this all of this has to do with the kind of a church that God is designed to create. And it's the vibe of a church where people are overcoming evil with good and God feeds his enemies. But even more than that, God saves sinners. God repays evil with good for those who call upon him. Every believer has received this kind of grace, And that kind of grace is meant to be passed on to one another.

We have been forgiven much. We were enemies of God. We hated God. But God came to us anyway and he changed our hearts. You know Paul said it's it's kindness that leads us to repentance.

That's what he's talking about and that's really the vibe of a local church. You know the church is meant to be a fountain of grace and it's not meant to be a firing squad. It's the place where we rejoice with those who rejoice. We bless those who persecute us. We seek to be united with one another.

We humble ourselves. We overcome evil with good. We don't keep people in a box. And we recognize that what God does, he makes enemies his friends. That's what he did with me, and that's what he did with you.

And so, Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, and bless those who persecute you. That's the vibe of a New Testament church. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that your word is a lamp unto our feet, that it is our life, that the way that seems right to a man is death, but your ways are pleasant ways, all your paths are peace. We thank you, oh Lord, for the greatness of your kingdom and the beauty of your ways and all that you have designed really for the vibe of every local church.

Amen. Thank you.