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Colin Smith: When God says, "Do not be overcome by evil," the plain implication of the fact that he says that is that this is something that can happen, something that does happen, and that he's saying to his people, "Make sure that it does not happen to you."

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you're listening. Colin, I'm going to guess that everyone listening today would say, "Yeah, I want to make sure that that doesn't happen to me." But how can I make sure?

Colin Smith: Well, there's multiple ways in which it does happen. Let me give just one example. It is possible, for example, to absorb wall-to-wall news coverage and to end up absolutely in the grip of fear—for a Christian to be in the grip of fear in a way that is perhaps even more than is the case with other people.

And what is that but to be overcome by evil? So there's one example of a very simple way in which all that is around us can end up overcoming us. And the Lord is saying to us, "Do not be overcome by evil."

Instead of being overtaken by fear and by a sense of gloom and pessimism with everything that is around us, we're those who are called to point the way of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and putting our confidence in him. So we're learning how to do that, and we're learning it together from Romans chapter 12.

Steve Hiller: Well, open your Bible and join us there as we continue the message, "Overcoming Evil with Good." Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Shortly after the book of Romans was written, false charges were brought against the Apostle Paul in a place called Caesarea, and he was arrested. Serious charges that people wanted the death penalty to be applied to him. They wanted to stop him from preaching the gospel.

But Paul was a Roman citizen, and so any Roman citizen who was charged with a crime had the right of appeal to be tried in Rome itself rather than in one of the provinces that had been conquered by Rome. And so, having been arrested, the Apostle Paul said—and this is recorded in Acts 25—"I appeal to Caesar." And the local governor, a man by the name of Festus, said to him, "Well, to Caesar you have appealed, and to Caesar you will go."

And so you can read this at the end of the book of Acts. What followed was that Paul was taken by an armed guard on a ship to Rome. The ship got shipwrecked, but finally, in the last chapter of Acts, the Apostle Paul actually arrives in Rome itself.

And the book of Acts ends with two years in which we're told Paul was effectively under a kind of house arrest in Rome, and these would have been the years 60 and 61. Two years after that, we know that the Apostle Peter was in Rome, and while he was there, he wrote what we have in the New Testament, the first letter of Peter.

And moved by the Holy Spirit while he was in Rome, he writes these words: Chapter 4 and verse 12, "Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you." Now, he speaks prophetically there, surely. "The fiery trial when it comes upon you." "There's going to be a fiery trial," he says.

That's AD 63. What happened one year later? The Great Fire of Rome. Rome, the whole city, set ablaze. And the Roman historian Tacitus records there were 14 precincts in the city; only four of them were unaffected. The rest of the city was utterly devastated.

And Tacitus also records that at the very time that Rome burned, Nero got on his platform and was singing. He was happy about this. Why? Because the fire was giving the opportunity for the building of a grander and more glorious city. And that's, by the way, where you get the phrase "fiddling while Rome burned" because he was rejoicing while the city was being destroyed. Extraordinary thing.

Now, of course, people perceived and quickly got that actually Nero himself was behind the fire, and that was widely believed and widely spread around. And so Nero needed a scapegoat—someone else to blame for starting this fire. And the scapegoat that he chose was Christians.

Now, the Roman historian Tacitus again, no friend of Christianity, records, and I quote his exact words: "To scotch the rumor, Nero substituted as culprits and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, from whom they got their name, had been executed by the sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate when Tiberius was the emperor."

"First then, those who confessed themselves Christians were arrested. Next, on their disclosures, a vast multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge of arson—because, of course, there wasn't any evidence whatsoever that any of them had been involved in the fire; none of them were. A vast multitude of them were convicted, not so much on the charge of arson, but for hatred of the human race."

Oh, any echoes coming to your mind there? You see, the Christians weren't going in the direction of the culture, and so what did the culture say about them? "You folks must be haters. You must just be people who hate everyone else. You must be haters of the human race, and if you're haters of the human race, there's no place for you here in the human race."

I continue to quote Tacitus: "Their death was made a matter of sport. They were covered in wild beast skins and torn to pieces by dogs, or were fastened to crosses and set on fire in order to serve as torches by night when daylight failed."

"Hence," and this is Tacitus the Roman historian, "hence there arose a feeling of pity. Ordinary people had pity towards Christians because it was felt that they were being sacrificed not for the common good, but to gratify the savagery of one man."

Now, notice how quickly the world changed for Christians. In the late 50s, Paul could say, "I appeal to Caesar" and be very confident that if he was in Rome, even under a bad emperor, the Roman system of justice was sufficiently strong that it could protect his liberty to preach the gospel. So he said, "I'll be tried there. I'll get a fair trial there."

Within about five or six years of the Apostle Paul saying that, what do you have? You have Christians being thrown to the lions in Rome. And here's where it comes home for us today, because you'll have heard many resonances in the account that I've given to you.

When you find yourself saying, "It seems that our freedoms are under threat," when you find yourself saying the morality as we have known it seems to be swept away, remember this, friends: Christians have been here before. The church has been here before. And you know what? The church is alive and well today and the Roman Empire is not. Remember that.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "Overcoming Evil with Good." Taking a look today at Romans chapter 12, and we're going to get back to this message in just a moment.

Our message was originally part of a series called *Overcoming Evil*, but it's been one of the most listened-to messages in the past year. We went back and we took a look at what had been the most streamed, downloaded, and requested messages, and we've taken the top 10 and bundled them together in a series called *Listener Favorites*.

It's what you're listening to all month long on the radio. And we're also making the series available on CD. Ask about how you can get a copy when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. Or you'll find ordering information for *Listener Favorites 2026* at our website. Come to openthebile.org. Back to the message. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Now, what I want you to see as we take this journey through Romans and chapter 12 then over these weeks is that these are the very words of God that were spoken to his own people after they'd endured all the excess of Caligula and while they were in the middle of the nightmare of Nero.

How were Christians to respond to days of rapid social change? What is God say to them and therefore, by definition, what does he say to us as we face particular challenges today? Here we have it, the living word of God: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Now, these words are a kind of summary, the bottom line that sums up everything that has been said from verse 9 through to verse 21. And if you look back to verse 9, you'll see that these verses are almost like bookends on the word of God that is given to direct his people at this time.

They say almost exactly the same thing. You see verse 9? "Abhor what is evil and cling to what is good." Verse 21: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." So, although this last statement—because it is a kind of summary statement—I'm regarding it almost as a headline.

This is what the whole section is about. And what we're going to look at over these weeks is an unpacking of what it looks like to overcome evil with good. Now, notice that in this wonderful word from God, there are two possibilities quite clearly announced.

The first is that it is possible to be overcome by evil. When God says, "Do not be overcome by evil," the plain implication of the fact that he says that is that this is something that can happen, something that does happen, and that he's saying to his people, "Make sure that it does not happen to you." "Do not be overcome by evil."

Now, what would it look like for a person to be overcome by evil? Let me give you some examples. Here is a person who at home fills her mind and her heart with the drip-feed fear-mongering of the news channels. It's always on in her house.

And over time, though she doesn't really notice it herself, she becomes increasingly weighed down, more and more burdened, more and more gripped by fear. It's all in her conversation. And gradually she loses her peace and she loses her joy.

What is that but to be overcome by evil? To so subject yourself to a drip-feed of fear-mongering that you actually imbibe and become a kind of embodiment of fear yourself. That is to be overcome by evil. Don't let that happen to you.

Here is a student on a sports team at school. Most of the team are pursuing a completely different lifestyle from what this lad has learned at the home in which he's been raised, but he feels a lot of pressure to conform now that he's on the team.

So he goes to the parties, and he tries the drugs, and he experiments in different ways with sex. And what is that but to be overcome by evil? Here is a person at work. The culture is brutal in this company. It's dog-eat-dog in this business. It's devour or be devoured.

Pride fills the air in that office. Cynicism is rife. Understanding and compassion are hardly to be found. And over time, as you work in that environment, almost unnoticed, there is a growing hardness and a growing cynicism that is creeping into your own heart. What is that but to be overcome by evil?

May I ask you, please think about this with me: What evil have you suffered in your life that might threaten to overcome you? Have you suffered violence? Have you been discriminated against? Have you been abused—verbally, physically, sexually?

As I've been preparing for today, I've been thinking about and praying again for people whose names and faces come to mind in this congregation, members of The Orchard who have been scarred by neglect or abuse from parents who should have loved them.

I think of people who have been wrongfully accused—falsely accused—wrongfully imprisoned. And I think of people in our own congregation whose own loved ones have been violently killed. These are great evils.

Now, whatever is the greatest evil in your life, the greatest evil that you have experienced and encountered, you will know that the toughest challenge you face is to make sure that it does not overcome you. How easy it would be to live off a hatred of a person who has done this or that to you.

How easy it would be to move through life with a kind of inner rage that never really is at peace. How easy it would be to move through life with the wounds that you have experienced defining you, so that you lose confidence to go and do things, so you lose your peace and you lose your joy—to be overcome by evil.

Do not let that happen to you, God says, because there is another way that you can go. You don't have to be overcome by evil because there is another possibility. There is another path that by his grace is a possible path for you.

Do not be overcome by evil. Here's what you can do: Overcome evil with good. Now, remember again that the Apostle Paul here is writing to these Christians in Rome under Nero. And you see what he's saying?

The evils that you have suffered, he's saying, do not need to define you. The evils of this culture in which you live do not need to shape you. You can overcome—overcome, that's the word he uses. You can overcome what has been done against you, and you can overcome this awful evil that is around you.

So, do you see this is the most marvelous message of hope? This is bringing to us the light of hope in the darkness of this world. You do not have to be overcome by evil. By the grace of God, there is another possibility here. Now, what does it look like to overcome evil with good?

Well, that's what we're going to learn together over the next seven weeks, right? Because that's what Romans 12:9-21 is. It's an unpacking of what it means, step by step, to overcome evil with good. So I do hope that you will make the commitment to be part of this journey, and that together as we immerse ourselves in this wonderful part of Scripture, that God will enable us to overcome our fears and renew our hope, and that in his great mercy, he'll strengthen our resolve.

But I can't just leave you there. So let me just, in these last few moments, let me just give you a trailer. Just a trailer, okay, as to what's to come. Everything in Romans 12 is written to people who are in Christ. And notice right at the beginning of the chapter, you have the word "therefore." "I appeal to you therefore, brothers."

So everything in Romans 12 is to be read not only against the awful background of what was happening in Rome, but against the wonderful background of everything that is taught in Romans chapters 1 through 11. And if you want a quick summary of everything in Romans chapter 1 through 11, it would be just two words: in Christ. In Christ.

All the time Paul is talking about that. He talks about the righteousness of faith that is in Christ Jesus, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He makes it very clear that faith joins you to Jesus in the bond of a living union.

And when you're joined to Jesus Christ, what you were is buried because of his death, and now you're brought into a new life because of his resurrection, in which the power of his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is given to you to give you the hope of living a new and a different life.

Therefore, the evils that you have suffered may define what you were. But if you are in Christ, they cannot possibly define what you are. Because what you are is defined by being in Christ, and nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And no one ever faced more evil than Jesus did. I mean, think about the evils that were perpetrated against him. I mean, some of you have been thinking about the injustice that you have suffered, and the great evil that that is. Think about the injustice he suffered.

Think about the violence—some of you have thought about the experiences of violence that have scarred your life—think about the violence that he suffered. Think about the physical and verbal abuse that was poured out on him. People mocked him. People spat on him.

They took a stick and they beat him over the head, the Scripture says, again and again. No one ever endured evil in the way that Jesus did. But Jesus was not overcome by evil. He overcame evil with good. And the good with which he overcame evil—and here's where we're going over these next weeks—the good of faith that even when he did not know all that was happening in that darkness, he said, "My God, my God, why?"

And there'll be times when in the darkness you say, "God, why are you allowing this?" What did he do then? He said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." So he trusted the Father in the darkness, in the middle of this great torment and all that he did not at that moment grasp.

The good of faith, the good of hope. How did he get through all of that appalling evil that was unleashed on him? He endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. That's how he was able to deal with all the shame.

He was able to put it behind him because he was looking ahead to what would be accomplished: the glorious outcome of all that he would suffer, the gathering together of the entire company of the redeemed.

And then he overcame this evil with the good of love. They're nailing him to the cross, and out of agony, what does he say? "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing." And with compassion even in the face of such great evil, he prays to the Father, and in that prayer he creates room for evil men to repent.

Now, a good response to God's word today would surely therefore be for every one of us to say something like this: Lord, I don't want to be overcome by evil. I don't want to be overcome by the fear of it. I don't want to be overcome by participation in it.

I don't want to be defined by the evils I have suffered, and I do not want to be shaped by the evils of this world in which I live. And as you come to that place as we enter on this new series today, the good news is that there is hope for you in Jesus Christ today. Evil did not overcome him, and if this Jesus Christ is for you and with you and in you, evil will not overcome you.

Steve Hiller: What hope in Christ we're reminded of today. Evil did not overcome him, and because of him, it will not overcome us. You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, a message called "Overcoming Evil with Good," the first in our series simply called *Overcoming Evil*.

If you ever miss a broadcast in the series, come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. You can also listen through the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your app store.

As you give a gift of any amount this month, you're going to receive a copy of Pastor Brad Wetherell's book called *Saved to Sin No More*. And Colin, who is this book for?

Colin Smith: Well, it's really for every Christian who wants to make progress in his or her battle against sin, and that's surely got to be everyone who knows and loves the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I think one of the greatest struggles that we have is just discouragement.

And the doctrine of union with Christ is the most encouraging truth that I know in all of the Bible. Faith unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ so that his presence is in us through the Holy Spirit. And when Christ is in us, there's something of the power and the peace and the joy of the Lord Jesus that's actually in us too.

And when that's the case, it makes what would have been impossible for us on our own possible because his power and his presence is with us. So, getting hold of what it means to actually have Christ in us and for us to be in him—that's union with Christ—is going to be the most encouraging thing for moving forward in the battle against stubborn sins that often defeat us.

Steve Hiller: Well, we'd love to send you a copy of this book. Again, it's called *Saved to Sin No More*, and it's our thank you for your financial support this month. You can give a gift online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365.

That might be easier to remember as 1-877-673-6365. Our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: *Fly through the Bible* is a short, simple, and shareable book that you can use with a friend, a neighbor, or a loved one who needs to know Jesus. It's also freely available online. *Fly through the Bible* will introduce you to five people in the Old Testament, five events in the life of Jesus, and five gifts God gives to every believer.

You could ask a friend to read *Fly through the Bible* with you. The book has 15 chapters. You could read a chapter and meet together over coffee and discuss the questions. *Fly through the Bible* is designed to help you open the Bible with others.

It will give you a better grasp of the Bible's story, and most of all, it will help you to grow in your love for Jesus Christ. For more information, visit openthebible.org/fly. That's openthebible.org/fly.