<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

W.D. Frazee Sermons Ministry

W.D. Frazee

L-I-V-E or E-V-I-L

Matthew 22, beginning with the 35th verse.

Then 1 of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these 2 commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

With that, I'd like to read Luke 10, verses 25-28.

Here is another lawyer on another occasion, but the subject is the same.

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

He said unto him, What is written in the law?

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.

And he, that is Jesus, said unto him, Thou hast answered right, this do, and thou shalt live.

Now that's what I want to study about tonight is living.

You can see our little motto that we've placed up here has it all in the short word L-I-V-E, and that spells what?

I wish everybody was doing what he said, don't you?

But along with this divine hand that points out the way to live, there is also a warning signal calling our attention to something else.

Let's go over to Deuteronomy, the 30th chapter.

Deuteronomy 30, beginning with the 15th verse.

See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil, In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply.

And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them, I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.

Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Here's the good way, the way to do what?

But over against that there is said another way.

And in that 15th verse, as life and good are associated together, what 2 other things are associated together?

Now I want to show you something very interesting tonight.

This is just a play on letters, but it has a great meaning, and I want you to study it with me, because all you have to do to make evil out of this is just to turn it around.

We'll take these same 4 letters and instead of starting with L we'll start with E.

That means we'll just go right backwards this time.

That's what I want to study with you tonight.

There's a great deal of evil in this world that consists in doing the right thing at the wrong time.

Volume 6, page 24 says, it is the very essence of all right faith to do the right thing at the right time.

So it isn't enough to do something that is right, it's important to do it at the right time.

The favorite excuse or alibi for many actions is, why, what's wrong with this?

I can't see any harm in what I'm doing, but I want to tell you something, friends.

If somebody is just about to die for lack of the oxygen tank, There's a good many good things that the nurse can be doing that are very evil.

There's 1 thing that somebody needs to be on the job doing right now.

And if that's your assignment and your job, there's just 1 right thing to do at that time.

We have a wonderful Heavenly Father, and he's never asked us, friends, to do more things than he gives us time to do.

We've been told that if every moment is valued and rightly employed, we shall have time for everything that we need to do for ourselves and for the world.

Solomon puts it this way in Ecclesiastes, the third chapter in the first verse, to everything there is a purpose, a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens.

A season for everything, a time for everything.

And when we do the right thing at the right time, that's the way to live.

And when we get things out of gear and out of order, and even though we're doing the right thing, it's the wrong time, that may be evil, very evil, my friend.

And instead of bringing life, it brings death.

There's a time for a child to eat solid food, but there's a time when that isn't the thing at all.

There's a time that to eat solid food means life, but under some circumstances, some perfectly good food would mean death to the little infant baby.

And so I might go on with many illustrations.

Now the sad fact is, friends, that the world has gotten everything backwards.

And so instead of spelling L-I-V-E, they're spelling E-V-I-L.

I repeat, the world has gotten everything backwards.

And that means that if you and I follow the divine spelling instead of the devil's spelling, we will be spelling what looks backward to the world.

I've been fascinated with this text in Acts 17 6.

See if you don't see something very interesting in it.

Now these were the enemies of the Apostles that said these words, and when they said them they thought they were making some terrible charges against the followers of Christ.

As a matter of fact, they were telling the truth and it was a compliment, but they didn't know it.

Acts 17 and 6, when they found them not, that is, these unruly ones that were looking for Paul and his group to try to persecute them, when they found them not they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.

What did they say Paul and his group were doing?

But do you know why they turn it world the world upside down?

I repeat, the world is doing things backwards.

And so the Christian, the reformer, seems to be an innovator when really all he's doing is restoring paths to dwell in, raising up the foundations of many generations, as Isaiah 58, 12 says.

A very obvious example of that that you and I will recognize quickly is in the Sabbath reform that God has given this people.

6 days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.

But is it possible to do the right thing at the wrong time?

And beginning a little while ago when the sun set until it sets tomorrow evening, thousands and millions of people all over this country will be doing the right thing, which is working, at the wrong time, which is the Sabbath.

Back to Menu

L-I-V-E or E-V-I-L

Transcript

Sponsor

Related

The Sign of Jonah and God’s Five Step Formula for Victory

51m

Youth, Do You Dare?

43m

A Man After Gods Own Heart: King David

18 A Perilous Thing to Lose Dependence On God

41m

Cultivating Faith

Cultivating Faith

1h 35m

Temple Run

40m

History and Heroes - Those That Stand: Part 3

1h 6m

Christ in Crisis

1h 7m

Balm of Gilead- Part 1

47m

Plenary

Explaining the Impossible

1h 20m

Keys of Revelation

19. The Last Faithful Daughter

1h 11m

Plenary

The Testimony of Anil Kanda

53m

Everything Depends On

1h

Sound Doctrine