"You love evil more than good...."
Psalm 52:3
"Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man.... Therefore
God
also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to
dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the
lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator...
"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women
exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men... men with men
committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their
error which was due.
"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a debased [depraved] mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,
evil-mindedness.
"They are whisperers,
backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving,
unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who
practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but
also approve of those who practice them."
Romans 1:22-32
"Walk
in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you
do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by
the Spirit, you are not under the law.
"Now the works
of the flesh [human nature] are evident, which are: adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies,
outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders,
drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just
as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God.
"But the
fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
Galatians 5:19-26
"But if you have bitter envy and
self-seeking in
your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This
wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual,
demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and
every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy
and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy."
James 3:13
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;
who can know it?"
Jeremiah 17:5-10
"But
Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all
men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for
He knew what was in man."
John 2:24-25
"Those who
are well
[who see themselves as good
enough]
have no
need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to
call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Mark 2:17
"Blessed is the
man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he
will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised
to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted,
'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor
does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when
he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin,
when it is full-grown, brings forth death."
James 1:12-15
"You who love the Lord,
hate evil! "
Psalm 97:8
"... you He made alive, who were
dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who
now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted
ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh
and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:1-9