WHEN THE CULTURE REVERSES GOOD AND EVIL, AND THE CHURCH MUST RECOVER DISCERNMENT
Part 1: When Good and Evil Change Places
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Isaiah 5:20, NKJV
There comes a point in the decline of a culture when people are no longer satisfied simply to practice what God calls evil.
They begin to rename it.
What God calls evil must now be called good.
What God calls good must now be considered evil.
What God calls darkness is presented as enlightenment.
What God calls light is portrayed as harmful.
What God calls bitter is advertised as sweet.
Isaiah saw this happening thousands of years ago.
But Isaiah 5:20 is not merely an ancient warning to Judah. It reveals a spiritual pattern that reaches all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
THE BATTLE OVER GOOD AND EVIL BEGAN IN GENESIS
Before we arrive at Isaiah, we need to go back to Genesis.
God placed Adam in the Garden and gave him a clear command concerning “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17).
Notice something important.
God had already established what was good.
Throughout Genesis 1 we repeatedly read:
“God saw that it was good.”
God was the Creator, therefore God possessed the authority to define what was good.
Then the serpent entered the Garden.
His first recorded attack was not against Adam's health, possessions, family or finances.
His attack was against God's Word.
“Has God indeed said...?”
Genesis 3:1
That question reveals one of Satan's oldest strategies.
Question what God has said.
Then challenge God's interpretation.
Then offer another interpretation.
Finally, encourage man to decide good and evil for himself.
The serpent told Eve that eating the forbidden fruit would cause them to be “like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
The temptation was deeper than eating forbidden fruit.
Humanity was being tempted to step outside God's authority and determine good and evil independently of Him.
And we have been dealing with the consequences ever since.
WHEN EVERYONE DOES WHAT IS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES
Judges describes where this kind of thinking eventually leads:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Judges 21:25
Notice the wording.
They were not necessarily doing what they believed was wrong.
They were doing what was right in their own eyes.
That is a dangerous spiritual condition.
When God's Word ceases to be the standard, man's opinion becomes the standard.
Then every generation can redefine morality.
Every culture can redefine righteousness.
Every individual can create his own truth.
But Scripture warns us:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Proverbs 14:12
Something can seem right and still be wrong.
Sincerity does not determine truth.
Popularity does not determine truth.
Government does not determine truth.
Social acceptance does not determine truth.
Even our feelings do not determine truth.
God determines truth.
ISAIAH SAW THE REVERSAL
By the time we reach Isaiah 5, something terrible has happened.
People are no longer merely committing evil.
They are changing the labels.
Isaiah declares:
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.”
The Hebrew word translated evil, raʿ, carries the idea of something bad, harmful, wicked or morally wrong.
The word translated good, tov, speaks of what is good, beneficial, pleasing and right.
God knows the difference.
The problem is not that God's definitions have become unclear.
The problem is that humanity continually attempts to reverse them.
And Isaiah gives us three reversals:
Evil becomes good.
Darkness becomes light.
Bitter becomes sweet.
Think about that progression.
First morality is reversed.
Then perception is reversed.
Eventually even our spiritual appetite becomes reversed.
We begin enjoying what should have tasted bitter and rejecting what God designed to be sweet.
That is why moral confusion is ultimately a spiritual problem.
JESUS SAID SOMETHING SIMILAR ABOUT LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Jesus told Nicodemus:
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
John 3:19
Notice again the language of light and darkness.
Isaiah said people would exchange one for the other.
Jesus explained why.
The problem is not always that people cannot see the light.
Sometimes they do not want the light, because light exposes what darkness conceals.
Jesus continued:
“For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
John 3:20
That should cause every one of us to examine our own hearts.
Because Isaiah 5:20 is very easy to preach at the world.
But before pointing our finger at culture, we should allow the Word of God to search us.
Have I allowed culture to redefine something God has already defined?
Have I accepted something because everybody around me accepts it?
Have I softened something Scripture speaks clearly about because God's position has become unpopular?
Have I allowed political ideology, entertainment, social media, tradition, education, friends, or even religious culture to shape my thinking more than Scripture?
Those are uncomfortable questions.
But discernment begins with allowing God to correct us first.
THE CHURCH CANNOT RECEIVE ITS DEFINITIONS FROM THE CULTURE
The Church has not been called to determine truth by taking a poll.
We have already been given truth.
Jesus prayed to the Father:
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
John 17:17
Notice that Jesus did not say God's Word contains some truth.
He said:
“Your word is truth.”
That gives the believer a fixed reference point.
Culture changes.
Human philosophy changes.
Political movements change.
Social standards change.
Public opinion changes.
But God's truth does not change with them.
Psalm 119:105 says:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
That becomes especially important when we connect it back to Isaiah.
If people are calling darkness light, how will we recognize the difference?
We need a true source of light.
God's Word is that lamp.
DISCERNMENT REQUIRES MORE THAN RECOGNIZING WHAT THE WORLD IS DOING
This is where I believe the Church needs to be careful.
Biblical discernment is not simply becoming experts at identifying everything wrong with society.
We can recognize darkness in everybody else while remaining blind to areas where our own thinking has been shaped by the world.
The first question should not merely be:
“What is happening to our culture?”
There is another question:
“What is shaping my mind?”
Paul writes:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”
Romans 12:2
That is where we are going in Part 2.
Because recognizing that good and evil have been reversed is only the beginning.
We must understand how our thinking is being formed.
GOD HAS NOT CHANGED THE DEFINITIONS
This is the foundation I want us to establish before going any further in this series:
When culture changes the labels, God has not changed the definitions.
Good does not become evil because good becomes unpopular.
Evil does not become good because evil becomes celebrated.
Darkness does not become light because enough people call it enlightened.
And truth does not become false because speaking it becomes costly.
God remains God.
His Word remains truth.
And His people must learn again how to discern the difference.
Paul told the Ephesians:
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
Ephesians 5:8
That is our calling.
Not merely to condemn darkness.
Walk in the light.
Not merely to identify deception.
Live the truth.
Not merely to complain about cultural confusion.
Develop biblical discernment.
The world desperately needs Christians who know the difference between good and evil, light and darkness, truth and deception, and who have the courage and humility to live accordingly.
So here is the question I want to leave with you:
Who has the authority to define good and evil in your life?
Culture?
Your feelings?
Popular opinion?
Or God and His Word?
Because sooner or later, every one of us must decide whose definition we are going to trust.
God's truth does not change, and His people must know it.
NEXT: PART 2, WHO IS SHAPING YOUR MIND?
We will move into Romans 12:2 and examine one of the most important questions facing Christians today:
If we belong to Christ, but continually allow the world to shape our thinking, how will we recognize when our thinking has become conformed to the very culture we are supposed to influence?
Scripture Study:
Genesis 2:16–17 → Genesis 3:1–6 → Judges 21:25 → Proverbs 14:12 → Isaiah 5:20 → John 3:19–21 → John 17:17 → Psalm 119:105 → Romans 12:2 → Ephesians 5:8–11
DISCERN • RENEW • GROW • WALK IN TRUTH
Part 1: When Good and Evil Change Places
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Isaiah 5:20, NKJV
There comes a point in the decline of a culture when people are no longer satisfied simply to practice what God calls evil.
They begin to rename it.
What God calls evil must now be called good.
What God calls good must now be considered evil.
What God calls darkness is presented as enlightenment.
What God calls light is portrayed as harmful.
What God calls bitter is advertised as sweet.
Isaiah saw this happening thousands of years ago.
But Isaiah 5:20 is not merely an ancient warning to Judah. It reveals a spiritual pattern that reaches all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
THE BATTLE OVER GOOD AND EVIL BEGAN IN GENESIS
Before we arrive at Isaiah, we need to go back to Genesis.
God placed Adam in the Garden and gave him a clear command concerning “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17).
Notice something important.
God had already established what was good.
Throughout Genesis 1 we repeatedly read:
“God saw that it was good.”
God was the Creator, therefore God possessed the authority to define what was good.
Then the serpent entered the Garden.
His first recorded attack was not against Adam's health, possessions, family or finances.
His attack was against God's Word.
“Has God indeed said...?”
Genesis 3:1
That question reveals one of Satan's oldest strategies.
Question what God has said.
Then challenge God's interpretation.
Then offer another interpretation.
Finally, encourage man to decide good and evil for himself.
The serpent told Eve that eating the forbidden fruit would cause them to be “like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
The temptation was deeper than eating forbidden fruit.
Humanity was being tempted to step outside God's authority and determine good and evil independently of Him.
And we have been dealing with the consequences ever since.
WHEN EVERYONE DOES WHAT IS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES
Judges describes where this kind of thinking eventually leads:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Judges 21:25
Notice the wording.
They were not necessarily doing what they believed was wrong.
They were doing what was right in their own eyes.
That is a dangerous spiritual condition.
When God's Word ceases to be the standard, man's opinion becomes the standard.
Then every generation can redefine morality.
Every culture can redefine righteousness.
Every individual can create his own truth.
But Scripture warns us:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Proverbs 14:12
Something can seem right and still be wrong.
Sincerity does not determine truth.
Popularity does not determine truth.
Government does not determine truth.
Social acceptance does not determine truth.
Even our feelings do not determine truth.
God determines truth.
ISAIAH SAW THE REVERSAL
By the time we reach Isaiah 5, something terrible has happened.
People are no longer merely committing evil.
They are changing the labels.
Isaiah declares:
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.”
The Hebrew word translated evil, raʿ, carries the idea of something bad, harmful, wicked or morally wrong.
The word translated good, tov, speaks of what is good, beneficial, pleasing and right.
God knows the difference.
The problem is not that God's definitions have become unclear.
The problem is that humanity continually attempts to reverse them.
And Isaiah gives us three reversals:
Evil becomes good.
Darkness becomes light.
Bitter becomes sweet.
Think about that progression.
First morality is reversed.
Then perception is reversed.
Eventually even our spiritual appetite becomes reversed.
We begin enjoying what should have tasted bitter and rejecting what God designed to be sweet.
That is why moral confusion is ultimately a spiritual problem.
JESUS SAID SOMETHING SIMILAR ABOUT LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Jesus told Nicodemus:
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
John 3:19
Notice again the language of light and darkness.
Isaiah said people would exchange one for the other.
Jesus explained why.
The problem is not always that people cannot see the light.
Sometimes they do not want the light, because light exposes what darkness conceals.
Jesus continued:
“For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
John 3:20
That should cause every one of us to examine our own hearts.
Because Isaiah 5:20 is very easy to preach at the world.
But before pointing our finger at culture, we should allow the Word of God to search us.
Have I allowed culture to redefine something God has already defined?
Have I accepted something because everybody around me accepts it?
Have I softened something Scripture speaks clearly about because God's position has become unpopular?
Have I allowed political ideology, entertainment, social media, tradition, education, friends, or even religious culture to shape my thinking more than Scripture?
Those are uncomfortable questions.
But discernment begins with allowing God to correct us first.
THE CHURCH CANNOT RECEIVE ITS DEFINITIONS FROM THE CULTURE
The Church has not been called to determine truth by taking a poll.
We have already been given truth.
Jesus prayed to the Father:
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
John 17:17
Notice that Jesus did not say God's Word contains some truth.
He said:
“Your word is truth.”
That gives the believer a fixed reference point.
Culture changes.
Human philosophy changes.
Political movements change.
Social standards change.
Public opinion changes.
But God's truth does not change with them.
Psalm 119:105 says:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
That becomes especially important when we connect it back to Isaiah.
If people are calling darkness light, how will we recognize the difference?
We need a true source of light.
God's Word is that lamp.
DISCERNMENT REQUIRES MORE THAN RECOGNIZING WHAT THE WORLD IS DOING
This is where I believe the Church needs to be careful.
Biblical discernment is not simply becoming experts at identifying everything wrong with society.
We can recognize darkness in everybody else while remaining blind to areas where our own thinking has been shaped by the world.
The first question should not merely be:
“What is happening to our culture?”
There is another question:
“What is shaping my mind?”
Paul writes:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”
Romans 12:2
That is where we are going in Part 2.
Because recognizing that good and evil have been reversed is only the beginning.
We must understand how our thinking is being formed.
GOD HAS NOT CHANGED THE DEFINITIONS
This is the foundation I want us to establish before going any further in this series:
When culture changes the labels, God has not changed the definitions.
Good does not become evil because good becomes unpopular.
Evil does not become good because evil becomes celebrated.
Darkness does not become light because enough people call it enlightened.
And truth does not become false because speaking it becomes costly.
God remains God.
His Word remains truth.
And His people must learn again how to discern the difference.
Paul told the Ephesians:
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
Ephesians 5:8
That is our calling.
Not merely to condemn darkness.
Walk in the light.
Not merely to identify deception.
Live the truth.
Not merely to complain about cultural confusion.
Develop biblical discernment.
The world desperately needs Christians who know the difference between good and evil, light and darkness, truth and deception, and who have the courage and humility to live accordingly.
So here is the question I want to leave with you:
Who has the authority to define good and evil in your life?
Culture?
Your feelings?
Popular opinion?
Or God and His Word?
Because sooner or later, every one of us must decide whose definition we are going to trust.
God's truth does not change, and His people must know it.
NEXT: PART 2, WHO IS SHAPING YOUR MIND?
We will move into Romans 12:2 and examine one of the most important questions facing Christians today:
If we belong to Christ, but continually allow the world to shape our thinking, how will we recognize when our thinking has become conformed to the very culture we are supposed to influence?
Scripture Study:
Genesis 2:16–17 → Genesis 3:1–6 → Judges 21:25 → Proverbs 14:12 → Isaiah 5:20 → John 3:19–21 → John 17:17 → Psalm 119:105 → Romans 12:2 → Ephesians 5:8–11
DISCERN • RENEW • GROW • WALK IN TRUTH
WHEN THE CULTURE REVERSES GOOD AND EVIL, AND THE CHURCH MUST RECOVER DISCERNMENT
Part 1: When Good and Evil Change Places
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Isaiah 5:20, NKJV
There comes a point in the decline of a culture when people are no longer satisfied simply to practice what God calls evil.
They begin to rename it.
What God calls evil must now be called good.
What God calls good must now be considered evil.
What God calls darkness is presented as enlightenment.
What God calls light is portrayed as harmful.
What God calls bitter is advertised as sweet.
Isaiah saw this happening thousands of years ago.
But Isaiah 5:20 is not merely an ancient warning to Judah. It reveals a spiritual pattern that reaches all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
THE BATTLE OVER GOOD AND EVIL BEGAN IN GENESIS
Before we arrive at Isaiah, we need to go back to Genesis.
God placed Adam in the Garden and gave him a clear command concerning “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17).
Notice something important.
God had already established what was good.
Throughout Genesis 1 we repeatedly read:
“God saw that it was good.”
God was the Creator, therefore God possessed the authority to define what was good.
Then the serpent entered the Garden.
His first recorded attack was not against Adam's health, possessions, family or finances.
His attack was against God's Word.
“Has God indeed said...?”
Genesis 3:1
That question reveals one of Satan's oldest strategies.
Question what God has said.
Then challenge God's interpretation.
Then offer another interpretation.
Finally, encourage man to decide good and evil for himself.
The serpent told Eve that eating the forbidden fruit would cause them to be “like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
The temptation was deeper than eating forbidden fruit.
Humanity was being tempted to step outside God's authority and determine good and evil independently of Him.
And we have been dealing with the consequences ever since.
WHEN EVERYONE DOES WHAT IS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES
Judges describes where this kind of thinking eventually leads:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Judges 21:25
Notice the wording.
They were not necessarily doing what they believed was wrong.
They were doing what was right in their own eyes.
That is a dangerous spiritual condition.
When God's Word ceases to be the standard, man's opinion becomes the standard.
Then every generation can redefine morality.
Every culture can redefine righteousness.
Every individual can create his own truth.
But Scripture warns us:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Proverbs 14:12
Something can seem right and still be wrong.
Sincerity does not determine truth.
Popularity does not determine truth.
Government does not determine truth.
Social acceptance does not determine truth.
Even our feelings do not determine truth.
God determines truth.
ISAIAH SAW THE REVERSAL
By the time we reach Isaiah 5, something terrible has happened.
People are no longer merely committing evil.
They are changing the labels.
Isaiah declares:
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.”
The Hebrew word translated evil, raʿ, carries the idea of something bad, harmful, wicked or morally wrong.
The word translated good, tov, speaks of what is good, beneficial, pleasing and right.
God knows the difference.
The problem is not that God's definitions have become unclear.
The problem is that humanity continually attempts to reverse them.
And Isaiah gives us three reversals:
Evil becomes good.
Darkness becomes light.
Bitter becomes sweet.
Think about that progression.
First morality is reversed.
Then perception is reversed.
Eventually even our spiritual appetite becomes reversed.
We begin enjoying what should have tasted bitter and rejecting what God designed to be sweet.
That is why moral confusion is ultimately a spiritual problem.
JESUS SAID SOMETHING SIMILAR ABOUT LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Jesus told Nicodemus:
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
John 3:19
Notice again the language of light and darkness.
Isaiah said people would exchange one for the other.
Jesus explained why.
The problem is not always that people cannot see the light.
Sometimes they do not want the light, because light exposes what darkness conceals.
Jesus continued:
“For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
John 3:20
That should cause every one of us to examine our own hearts.
Because Isaiah 5:20 is very easy to preach at the world.
But before pointing our finger at culture, we should allow the Word of God to search us.
Have I allowed culture to redefine something God has already defined?
Have I accepted something because everybody around me accepts it?
Have I softened something Scripture speaks clearly about because God's position has become unpopular?
Have I allowed political ideology, entertainment, social media, tradition, education, friends, or even religious culture to shape my thinking more than Scripture?
Those are uncomfortable questions.
But discernment begins with allowing God to correct us first.
THE CHURCH CANNOT RECEIVE ITS DEFINITIONS FROM THE CULTURE
The Church has not been called to determine truth by taking a poll.
We have already been given truth.
Jesus prayed to the Father:
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
John 17:17
Notice that Jesus did not say God's Word contains some truth.
He said:
“Your word is truth.”
That gives the believer a fixed reference point.
Culture changes.
Human philosophy changes.
Political movements change.
Social standards change.
Public opinion changes.
But God's truth does not change with them.
Psalm 119:105 says:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
That becomes especially important when we connect it back to Isaiah.
If people are calling darkness light, how will we recognize the difference?
We need a true source of light.
God's Word is that lamp.
DISCERNMENT REQUIRES MORE THAN RECOGNIZING WHAT THE WORLD IS DOING
This is where I believe the Church needs to be careful.
Biblical discernment is not simply becoming experts at identifying everything wrong with society.
We can recognize darkness in everybody else while remaining blind to areas where our own thinking has been shaped by the world.
The first question should not merely be:
“What is happening to our culture?”
There is another question:
“What is shaping my mind?”
Paul writes:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...”
Romans 12:2
That is where we are going in Part 2.
Because recognizing that good and evil have been reversed is only the beginning.
We must understand how our thinking is being formed.
GOD HAS NOT CHANGED THE DEFINITIONS
This is the foundation I want us to establish before going any further in this series:
When culture changes the labels, God has not changed the definitions.
Good does not become evil because good becomes unpopular.
Evil does not become good because evil becomes celebrated.
Darkness does not become light because enough people call it enlightened.
And truth does not become false because speaking it becomes costly.
God remains God.
His Word remains truth.
And His people must learn again how to discern the difference.
Paul told the Ephesians:
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
Ephesians 5:8
That is our calling.
Not merely to condemn darkness.
Walk in the light.
Not merely to identify deception.
Live the truth.
Not merely to complain about cultural confusion.
Develop biblical discernment.
The world desperately needs Christians who know the difference between good and evil, light and darkness, truth and deception, and who have the courage and humility to live accordingly.
So here is the question I want to leave with you:
Who has the authority to define good and evil in your life?
Culture?
Your feelings?
Popular opinion?
Or God and His Word?
Because sooner or later, every one of us must decide whose definition we are going to trust.
God's truth does not change, and His people must know it.
NEXT: PART 2, WHO IS SHAPING YOUR MIND?
We will move into Romans 12:2 and examine one of the most important questions facing Christians today:
If we belong to Christ, but continually allow the world to shape our thinking, how will we recognize when our thinking has become conformed to the very culture we are supposed to influence?
Scripture Study:
Genesis 2:16–17 → Genesis 3:1–6 → Judges 21:25 → Proverbs 14:12 → Isaiah 5:20 → John 3:19–21 → John 17:17 → Psalm 119:105 → Romans 12:2 → Ephesians 5:8–11
DISCERN • RENEW • GROW • WALK IN TRUTH
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