Wicked/Wickedness

<<sinful, wrong>>

Because of the degree of human wickedness the flood was sent to rid the earth of evil, yet the new inhabitants quickly reverted to the bias of doing evil again (Gen 6:5-7). Later the Bible records, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jer 17:9). The OT system of sacrifices for sin only covered the transgression as it did not provide cleansing from the wickedness, however when Moses prophetically proclaimed, “The compassionate and gracious God...forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” he spoke of what the sacrifice of Jesus would accomplish (Ex 34:7,9). We are so blessed to live today, in the ‘day of grace’, where the sin we commit can be completely forgiven and its penalty averted, if we truly repent; however the earthly consequences will still remain.

At salvation, we must genuinely repent of our past sins, yet because of the ingrained evil in our hearts it will resurface, so when the Holy Spirit convicts of subsequent sin we need to repent of that, for we are not sinless saints rather saints who sin! Thank God for the blood of Christ that cleanses when we repent and God declares, “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sin no more” (Heb 8:12; 1 Jn 1:9).

God loves righteousness (qualities reflecting His nature) while hating Satan’s wickedness – which portrays his evil nature and is inherent in our sinful disposition, giving rise to wrong thoughts that are outworked in actions unless actively stopped (Gen 6:5; Ps 45:7; Mt 15:19). This is why we are to ‘guard our heart’ more than any treasure and take captive any thought that doesn’t conform to His standards, so we are not controlled by ‘the flesh’ (Prov 4:23; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 4:8; Tit 2:12). As our five senses are what provides the information for the brain to process we must monitor the input, especially regarding what we see. Even if this only leads to sinful desire it is considered as sin by God’s standards (Mt 5:28).

God blesses right living which results from obeying Him, while His displeasure is on those who live wicked disobedient lives; He would rather they turn from that lifestyle and so live eternally (Deut 28:1-68; Ps 107:33,34;

All wickedness has severe consequences

Ezek 33:11). Those that suppress the truth by wickedness and increase in their capacity or intensity of evil will experience God’s anger and be doomed to eternal damnation (Ps 1:4-6; Rom 1:18,29; 2 Thes 2:12). We determine the pathway we walk on, yet can’t control the consequences that will result from the lifestyle we follow (Job 34:11; Prov 10:16, 11:5, 12:3, 13:6; Eccl 8:8; Rom 8:13).

As Christians, we are not to use our bodies, including our minds for any form of ungodly behaviour, rather for His holy service, for “what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?...Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness” (Rom 6:13,19; 2 Cor 6:14; Col 3:5; 2 Tim 2:19; Jas 1:21). Jesus came to redeem us from all wickedness (Tit 2:14).

Satan (also termed the devil) is the wicked or evil one who currently has been permitted limited control of the world (Jn 17:15 ; 2 Thes 3:3; 1 Jn 5:19). God is in ultimate authority and the time is approaching when God will cast Satan and all who practice wickedness into the lake of fire (Rom 21:8; Rev 20:10,15).

As believers we are in a battle with wicked spiritual forces (Eph 6:12). Thank God He is with us and has given us spiritual armour to effectively defeat all the attacks against us as rely on and walk close to God (1 Cor 6:19; Eph 6:13-18; Heb 13:5).