Sr. Pastor-Teacher: Rev. Mark A. Cain 

SERIES:   THE HERITAGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS

LESSON 3:  GOD'S PROMISE IS AS CERTAIN AS HIS CHARACTER

Text:   Psalm 37:22-31

Memory Verse— "For the Lord loves justice and does not foresake His godly ones; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.”    Psalm 37:28 (NASB)

 THE DOCTRINE OF EVIL 

1. Definition: Evil is the policy of Satan as the ruler of this world    by which he seeks to capture and control the human soul, establish his own millennium and become the victor in the angelic conflict.

2. Just as grace and Bible doctrine represent the genius and thinking of God in relation to the human race, so evil represents the genius and thinking of Satan; therefore, evil is a system of thought just as Bible doctrine is a system of thought (Ps. 19:14; Matt. 15:8).

3. Evil is the function of the old sin nature as the ruler of human life (Matt. 15:18-19).

4. Evil is the distortion of Bible doctrine and the assault of God's divine institutions of the Individual, Marriage, Family and Nationalism (Ps. 50:16).

5. Only what you do for Christ will last, therefore, when either sin or human good are intensified, they become evil. "Everything that glitters is not gold" or divine good. Evil is the total inclusion of human ability, human talent and works and the total exclusion of grace (Jer. 17:5-6, 9; 1 Cor. 3:11-15).

6. Sin is handled by confession (1 John 1:9); evil, by the daily intake and application of Bible doctrine as the believer advances toward spiritual maturity (Heb. 5:13-14).

7. Those under the influence of evil always have a price            (1 Tim. 6:10). They like many others began to rationalize the acceptance of low norms and standards (Isa. 4:20-21).

8. Evil people are self-destructive (Ps. 34:21; 37:15). They seek to build their happiness on someone else's unhappiness            (Ps. 35:11-13).

9. The mature believer is protected from evil when he has a soul that is saturated and guarded with Bible doctrine (Gen. 48:16; 50:20; Ps. 21:11; 23:4; 91:10; 97:10; 119:101; Prov. 1:33).

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