Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1317
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21.
THIS is a very meaty verse and the form of it greatly assists the memory. It is worthy to be called a Christian Proverb. I would recommend every Christian to learn it by heart and have it ready for use, for there are a great many Proverbs which convey a very different sense and these are often quoted to give the weight of authority to unchristian principles. Here is an Inspired Proverb—carry it with you and use it as a weapon with which to parry the thrusts of the world’s wisdom. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Observe that the text appears to give us a choice between two things and bids us choose the better one. You must either be overcome of evil, or you must, yourself, overcome evil—one of the two.
You cannot let evil alone and evil will not let you alone. You must fight. And in the battle you must either conquer or be conquered. The words before us remind me of the saying of the Scot officer of the Highland regiment when he brought them up in front of the enemy and said, “Lads, there they are: if you dinna kill them they’ll kill you.” So does Paul marshal us in front of evil and, like a wise general, he puts us on our mettle by saying, “Overcome, or be overcome.” There is no avoiding the conflict, no making truce or holding parley, no suspension of hostilities after a brief skirmish. The battle must be fought through to the end and can only close with a decided victory to one or the other side.
Soldier of Christ, do you need to debate which of the two to choose, victory or defeat? To be utterly overcome of evil would be a very dreadful thing! I shall say but little about it, because I trust we shall, by Divine Grace, be upheld so as never to know by experience what it is to be overcome of evil! May we be “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” May we be happily ignorant of what it is to be vanquished by the powers of evil and remain like the British drummer boy who did not know how to beat a retreat, for he had never had any use for such a thing! May we not know the dishonor and misery of being overcome of evil because Divine Grace continually gives us the victory!
When we are overcome of evil, even for a moment, it discovers the sad weakness of our spiritual life. We must be babes in Grace and sadly carnal, still, if sin is allowed to master us. If we were stronger in the Lord and in the power of His might, we should overcome the world, itself, by faith! Did not John write unto young men and say, “You are strong and have overcome the Wicked One”? If we are overcome of evil, even for a moment, it will cause us great sorrow if we are in our right mind. A tender conscience will be greatly vexed as soon as defeat is sustained and, in looking back upon our fall, if fall we do, it will be a daily grief to us that we suffered ourselves to be overcome by evil at all.
To be overcome of evil is dishonoring to our Lord and opens the mouths of adversaries. Those who watch for our falling will be sure to make much of it. “Report it, report it,” they shout, and they do report it through the length and breadth of the land—that a servant of Christ has been overcome of evil. And if to be overcome of evil were not occasional but were continuous—if it could be said of our whole life that we were overcome of evil—it would prove that we were none of Christ’s, for he that is born of God overcomes the world. Our Lord Jesus said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” and He makes all His true disciples partakers of this victory!
Only to conquerors are the great promises of the Book of Revelation given—“To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna.” “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the house of My God.” “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me on My Throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father on His Throne.” To be defeated in the battle of life would prove that we did not belong to that conquering seed which, if its heel is bruised, shall, nevertheless, break the foeman’s head. Fix it, then, in your minds, that evil is to be overcome! It is a matter of necessity that we wage this war and succeed in it. We must triumph over the powers of darkness!
Few are the words, but weighty is the meaning of our text. In one terse sentence the conflict is set before us and the sword of the battle is put into our hands. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Good is the only weapon which, in this dread conflict, we are permitted to use! And we may rest assured it will be sufficient and effectual. To use any other weapon is not only unlawful but altogether impossible, for he who wields the sword of evil is no longer Christ’s soldier at all! The reference in the text is to personal injuries and, therefore, we shall confine ourselves to that one point, though the principle is capable of very great extension.