When Jesus and Peter, James, and John came down from the mount of transfiguration, a man with a possessed son cried out to Jesus because his disciples could not cast the spirit out of his son. In Lk 9:41 Jesus said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither”. Jesus ministered to a perverse generation. To hear the companion message to this sermon, go to A Perverse Generation.
Perverse is turned away from what is right or good: corrupt. Obstinate in opposing what is right, reasonable, or accepted. To pervert something is to twist the meaning or sense of; to cause to turn aside or away from what is good or true or morally right.
In the song of Moses, Deut 32:5 says, “They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation”.
In a perverted generation like the one we’re in:
Science is perverted. Science says our origin is natural not supernatural, Is 29:16.
Law is perverted. The perpetrator is now the victim, and the authority is now the criminal, Prov 18:5, 28:4.
Gender is perverted. The gender of biological males and females is now what they profess it to be rather than what it obviously is, Rom 9:20. They don’t believe in creation and yet they will say that they were “made” this way.
Family is perverted. Women rule over them and children are their oppressors, Is 3:12.
In addition, the words of God are perverted, just like the Pharisees perverted God’s words to create their own religion and justify their own self-righteousness. Jer 23:36 says, “ye have perverted the words of the living God”.
When the generation gets perverted and the words are perverted, then things go haywire. You have no absolute standard of authority in government, in the home, or in the church. Chaos abounds.
The result is:
A perverse spirit – Is 19:14 the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof.
This is what’s going on in our country. And when you are involved with this perverse spirit in media, podcasts, videos, conversations, emails, and books, and with professors, this perservsion gets in your heart.
A perverse heart – he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised, Prov 12:8. Contrast him with the man that shall be commended according to his wisdom, which begins with the fear fo God.
Once the heart is perverted then you get:
A perverse way – Num 22:32 Balaam’s way was perverse before the Lord. He that perverteth his ways shall be known, Prov 10:9
A perverse tongue – Prov 15:4. Which is a breach in the spirit. Breach – a break, a gap, a violation. When a man’s mouth is perverse, he has a spiritual problem. He has a breach in his spirit. Acts 20:30
Conclusion: when you see your way and tongue are perverted because of a perverse heart, then you must repent. Follow Job 33:27-30, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not.