Good morning and welcome in today. Today, we are going to talk about a malicious heart.
The word malicious means characterized by malice with an intention to do harm to others. Somebody who is malicious has or shows a desire to cause harm to somebody else. It’s given to, marked by or arising from malicious gossip. Malice really proceeds from hatred, or ill will towards somebody else.
Malice is when you hate somebody, and you want to seek revenge. It is an active ill will or desire to harm another, or to do mischief against them. Malice is a desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another. You basically hate or dislike the other person so much that you try to figure a way to get back at them. Malice is behavior that is intended to harm people, or their reputations, or cause them embarrassment.
Eph 4:31
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
How many of you kids out there have been told by your parents to empty the garbage? They want you to empty all the garbage from each room in the house in one giant bag, and then tie it off. Then you walk outside and put all that trash away from you in the dumpster.
That’s what God wants us to do with malice, to put it away from ourselves.
You want to think about the other person and how it’s going to affect them. You want to think about this following passage.
Matthew 7:12
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Malice is defined as ill will. Ill will is animosity and bitterness. It is a really unfriendly feeling towards somebody else. It’s a feeling of hatred and dislike. When you bear ill will towards somebody else. It means that you want to do bad or evil to them. You want to do something that is contrary to what is right, or what is moral. Ill will is doing something that is evil, wicked and wrong to somebody else. That’s why it is a synonym for malicious. They mean the same thing.
Remember, in the Scriptures, the ministers were supposed to rebuke with all authority in the church. It wasn’t because they had ill will towards the church, it was so that they would correct themselves and be sound in the faith. It was so that they would ultimately become pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember, they stoned Stephen, which means they had ill will towards him. They were trying to punish the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ because they had ill will in their hearts towards them. Cain hated his brother Abel, because he had ill will toward him simply because his brothers works were righteous and his were evil.
Don’t confuse that with an open rebuke or correction in the church. That was commanded in the scriptures to be done. If your brother sins against you, you are supposed to rebuke him, if he repents, forgive him. If you have ill will towards somebody else, you really desire that something bad is going to happen to them. More than likely, you want to perpetuate that somehow, or be a part of that.
Romans 13:10
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
As I’ve taught for years, it doesn’t matter what other people do to you. It matters what you do to them.
Each of us may go through sufferings and things that we have to deal with while here upon the earth. But it matters how you treated others.
Love towards others does not work ill towards your neighbor. You are not going to have a desire as a Christian, to do evil to others, but rather to do what’s good and right.
Remember, If It isn’t love then it’s sin. If it’s sin, you’re not walking in love towards the other person. You’re not walking in a way towards them that’s going to benefit them or their soul. Either it’s love or it’s sin, one or the other.
When you when you preach God’s word, It’s one of the most loving things that you can do to somebody else. The reason why is because you show that you care about them and their souls and their eternal salvation. Some people might not want to hear the truth of what God’s Word teaches, but it’s for their own good.
God cares for us. He wants all men to come to repentance. It’s a great thing to pray for your neighbors, to pray, even for your enemies and to desire that they believe the truth and get saved. Ill will is the completely opposite. It’s roots have grown deep into the fertilizer of hatred.
The word animosity is very similar, because it means to hate, or hatred and
Animosity is a strong dislike and hatred and is filled enmity, which is the quality of being an enemy, or the opposite of friendship. If someone is going to profess to be a Christian, they can resist biblical truth. They can go against what the Bible says and fight against the truth in their own hearts and their minds. Remember, that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. All who believe and trust in Him, can get forgiven and begin a new relationship with God. In the past, we were at enmity with God, but now we’re renewed. Through His grace, that relationship is restored and reconciled to him.
Now back to the word, malicious.
Malicious means or shows spite, intentionally wanting to cause harm to somebody else. It’s not only in deeds, but it’s in your speech. Malicious talk or behavior is intended to harm people or their reputation, or to embarrass or to upset them. In the end, maliciousness is evil and it is intended to hurt the other person.
The disciples of the Lord preached Christ and preached the teachings of Jesus to the church. They rebuked people and corrected them, so that they would repent and believe that things of Christ. Malicious people do things for the point of hurting someone else. It’s not meant to help them as the disciples and ministers were doing for the church. It is motivated by spite. It’s motivated by a chance to get even with the other person.
If you describe somebody words or actions as malicious, it means that they are intended to harm a person, their reputation, or cause them embarrassment and upset. When people do malicious or bad things to you, it can make you really upset. It can make you downright angry. The Scriptures teach us to be angry, but sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, which means when we start the next day mercies are renewed each morning. Each day is a new opportunity to please God and to do His will. It just depends on the choices that you’re going to make in the morning.
Are you going to repent of your sins? Are you going to reconcile? Are you going to apologize? Are you going to confess your sins? Are you going to do what’s good and right? A malicious person is different. They purposely want to hurt other people. They want to see them suffer.
Romans 1:29
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness;
1 Pet 2:16
“As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.”
3 John 10
Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words:
Think about all the evil and the malicious things that were spoken of about the apostles and prophets, in the church 2000 years ago, Here’s an example of somebody who wanted the preeminence, he wanted to be in control, he wanted to be in charge. So what he did is he spoke malicious and evil words against those who were above him in the faith.
Think about one of Noahs sons who spoke out about the deeds and mistakes of his dad, and exposed it to others. Some people just want to be in control and they speak malicious things about others to try and gain control over them in the eyes of others.
Maliciousness is a very bad thing. You should never have a desire in your heart or an intention to want to hurt somebody else, either in your speech or your behavior. God cares for each of us. If somebody wrongs you, don’t return wrong for wrong.
Let’s think about those things for today. And Lord willing, we’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then bye Bye, everybody.
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 