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WISE TO DO EVIL by Matt Foster Jeremiah 4.22, "For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are silly children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." Here is a passage of scripture that sounds very unusual. How is it wise to do evil? Are you wise in doing evil? Do you know those who practice evil wisely? What can we learn from this unusual passage? My people. The first thing we can learn from this passage is who is under discussion. It is God's chosen people. God's people sinned and practiced evil. I am afraid the same is true of God's people today. God's children sometimes practice that which is evil, but one cannot be saved in sin. So, the child of God must repent of his sins or be lost. Foolish! It is so foolish for anyone to practice sin. But for a child of God to do such, the foolishness is multiplied because he knows the truth of God's word (2 Peter 2.20-22). Let us not be foolish! They have not known me! How can this be, they were God's chosen? To truly know God is to know and obey His commandments (1 John 2.3-6). Do you really know God? Many think they do, but they make God a god of love only. One who would never condemn anyone, even those in sin. They do not know the God of the Bible. The reason many do not know God is because they no longer seek His ways (Isaiah 1.3-4). Others do not know Him, because they have forgotten Him (Jeremiah 2.32; 3.21). Let us diligently seek to know the Lord by searching the scriptures daily. They are silly children. It is foolish to disobey one's parents when they know there will be consequences to their disobedience. How much sillier is it to disobey the God of Heaven, who sees all we do (Hebrews 4.12)? If we refuse to repent and obey, He has warned us that there will be severe consequences for our disobedience (2 Thessalonians 1.6-10). Let us not act as silly children, but as wise obedient children. They have no understanding. They did not have understanding, because they had stopped seeking to understand God's law. They were seeking their own desires rather than God's. Jeremiah 5.21 says, "Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not." Jeremiah 5.23 tells us they became a rebellious people. Let us not be rebellious and unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is and do it (Ephesians 5.17). They are wise to do evil. These people were wise and foolish at the same time. This is possible because there are different types of wisdom. There is natural wisdom which may seek after worldly things or heavenly things. There is wisdom that is from beneath and there is the wisdom from God above (James 3.13-18). God wants His children to be prudent and shrewd in the things of God, but also in our dealings with those in the world. Jesus said in Matthew 10.16, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." The problem with the people in our text was that they were cunning in inventing or practicing that which was evil, but they had no interest in the things of God. They were wise enough to acquire great riches, but not the true riches of God. While he was wise in one sense, he was a fool in another, because he never gave any thought to his spiritual condition. The children of God can have the same problem. Jesus said in the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16.8, "And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely; for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." In no way is this master nor our Lord commending the man for his evil practice, but in his being so shrewd in making sure he was taken care of in this life. How true these words are; people of the world exercise great wisdom in acquiring the things of the world, but God's own sons many times are not using such wisdom to acquire eternal life. Let us be wise in what is good, but simple concerning evil (Romans 16.19). But to do good they haven o knowledge. They were self seeking not God seeking. They had no knowledge, because they desired no such knowledge. They would not hear the word of the Lord. Such an attitude will lead to destruction, as we are told in Hosea 4.6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Let us not forget the law of God to do good. Timothy was to instruct the rich that they do good and be rich in good works (1 Timothy 6.17-189). Let us not be wise in evil, but in that which is good! |