Ezekiel 38:10 - Homiletics

An evil thought.

I. AS EVIL THOUGHT MAY COME UNBIDDEN . "Things come into" the mind. Like a bird of passage from a distant continent, like a stray seed dropped into a well-tilled garden, like a breath of infection on a healthy person, evil may come from without unsought and even unsuspected. Every one must be conscious of the way in which a thought will flash into his mind. But often a suggestion of evil may come from some visible external thing. An evil sight will suggest an evil thought; therefore we need to pray that God may turn away our eyes from beholding vanity. Bad companions will prompt evil thoughts; therefore we have to be on our guard as to what society we frequent. We cannot but be in the world, though we should not be of it. Sights and sounds of evil assail us on every side—in visible occurrences, in conversation, in newspapers, in books. It is impossible to bar every avenue against the intrusion of an evil thought. It may come to the purest soul.

II. AN EVIL THOUGHT IS A DANGEROUS GUEST . The Americans and the Australians are much concerned at the character of persons who pour into their territories from the overflowing population of Europe. Hence their regulations setting conditions to the reception of emigrants. We cannot always prevent the incoming of evil thoughts, but we must beware of the mischief of their presence when they have come.

1. An evil thought tends to spread . It is like the little leaven that leavens the whole lump, like the worthless seed which, growing up, produces a host of new seeds, and so makes the weeds take possession of the soil. A striking idea starts a whole chain of thoughts.

2. An evil thought tends to rouse an evil desire . The active evil from without appeals to the latent evil within the soul. Thus while in one place St. James writes of Satan as our tempter ( James 4:7 ), in another he says that we are tempted by our own evil desires ( James 1:14 ). The evil thought is most dangerous because it is lodged in an evil nature. Unhappily, the seed of evil falls on congenial soil. The germ of sin attacks one who has what the doctors would call a sinful diathesis , a temperament that is naturally prone to sin.

III. AN EVIL THOUGHT SHOULD BE QUICKLY EXPELLED . We cannot prevent its coming; but we may refuse to give it quarter. If we harbor it we consent to its presence, and take the guilt of it on ourselves. Thus we make it no longer a foreign intruder, but our own thought. The practical question is how may the evil thought be cast out?

1. Directly , by resisting it . We should pray against an evil thought, and firmly set our foot upon it when it has come near to us.

2. Indirectly , by encouraging a better thought . An empty mind is always ready to receive bad guests. The last state of the house from which the evil spirit was cast out became worse than the first, because, though it was swept and garnished, it was left empty ( Matthew 12:44 ). There are plants the very vigor of which, when they are once well established, will prevent the growth of weeds among them; in the struggle for existence they are stronger than the weeds. The presence of Christ in the heart is the best antidote to evil thoughts.