Should We Fear Evil?

[A response to a question]  

I received your text message, and I figured it would be easier to respond to your question in an email, with some verses attached. You asked, “Do I think that it is wrong to be afraid of evil, or to be afraid of going astray?” To answer that question, I think it is first important to make the following distinction.

• In one sense, I don't think that, as true followers of Christ, we need to be afraid of what man can do to us (“whose breath is in his nostrils” Isa. 2), or even what evil spirits, or evil plots, accidents, or natural disasters can do to us by harming us from without.
  
  
• But in another very important sense, I think it is absolutely right and wise for us to have a healthy fear concerning the evil that so easily and so subtly rises up from within us. I’m referring to the seed of evil that quickly springs up in our fallen, sinful flesh, that loves the pleasures of the world, that finds plenty of room to grow in us because of our corrupt will, that deceives us, causes us to join with the will and nature of evil spirits, and seeks to destroy the work of God in man. This we SHOULD fear, and I heartily believe this is an important part of what it means to “fear the Lord,”—that is, to fear what WE ARE, what WE THINK, what WE DESIRE, and what WE BECOME apart from Him, or apart from a careful and constant submission to His light.

The Bible tells us in many places that true followers of Christ need not fear the attacks of evil from without...or fear plagues, destruction, or even the death of our natural body. But the same Bible tells us in many places and in many ways, that these same followers of Christ MUST ALWAYS walk with great “circumspection” and caution, always being watchful and vigilant, praying without ceasing, knowing the enemy looks for places in us to deceive, distract, and destroy. “Paul tells us to “be watchful in all things.” (2 Tim 4:5). And, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” (1 Thes. 5:6) And he warns the Ephesians: “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” Eph 4:27

Jesus tells us to “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mat 26:41). And how many times does Jesus give us parables concluding with comments like, “Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:36-37)

Or what about this one: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Doesn’t the Lord also warn us about the birds, rocks, and weeds in the garden of our hearts, which He says are, “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things that enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19) And in this same parable we are told that there are many who “believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.” (Luke 8:13)

The truth of the matter is that the “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth;” (Gen 8:21), and that “the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen 6:5) To say that we don’t have to be fearful and cautious and watchful in our fallen condition about the seed of evil in man, about our natural inclination to evil, about our twisted love for the world, about the ease with which we are deceived and harmed by the work of the enemy in our heart, would be a great error. This fearlessness may look like “confidence in God,” but it is really SELF-confidence. Confidence in God is a continual looking unto Him, leaning and depending upon Him, praying, as He taught us, that He will “keep us out of temptation and deliver us from the evil one.” But this other self-confidence, though it may wear a mask of boldness, security, or faith, saying “there is nothing to fear for a Christian!”... behind this mask is a blindness concerning our fallen nature and our natural tendencies, a blindness concerning the enemy’s work in the heart, and a sort of spiritual pride that ignores many cautions and warnings in Scripture, like “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Pet 5:8)

Consider some of the following verses as well:

1 Peter 1:17. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

Romans 11:19-21. You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

Revelation 3:16. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that you may see.

Luke 12:3. And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!

2 Corinthians 11:3. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Philippians 2:12.  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Jeremiah 17:9. The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

Consider also how Christ taught us to pray:

Matt 6:13. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.

Here we are clearly instructed here to have a daily concern to be led away from temptation, and be daily delivered from the evil one. Jesus prays for us in John 17:15.

“Father, I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.”

And how are we taught to build the (inward) house of God through the example of the book of Nehemiah? Consider this quote:  “And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah.  Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built.” (Neh. 4:15-18)

Concerning whether we should fear the world, again, in one sense you could also say that Christians don’t need to fear the world. There is indeed some truth in this, because we do not need to fear what the world can do to us, or what the world thinks of us, or even the various evil things that we cannot help but witness all around us. But there most certainly IS something that should cause a real measure of fear, watchfulness and great caution in our hearts with regard to the world, and it is the fact that there is a great part of man (the first birth or natural man) that LOVES the world and the things of the world in a very wrong and dangerous way. The natural man loves the world, not as God loves it (who loves what bears His image, perfection, and righteousness, and longs to redeem and purify all that does not). No, man loves the world for the purposes of SELF, for the pleasures of SELF, for the gain and greed and exaltation of SELF. And this is why we are encouraged in such incredibly strong language by both James and John in the following words:

"Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." —James 4:4

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." —1 John 2:15-17

The point of these scriptures is not that Christians should walk around biting their nails in fear, and looking for demons behind every bush. The desire of these apostles is that we realize what we ARE in our fallen condition, what our flesh loves, why we love it, and what happens when the natural man develops a “friendship with world.” James and John tell us that when the heart of man unites to the things of the world, this is a very dangerous problem, and the reason is simple: It is because: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.” (Mat. 6:24)