Psalms 36:1-4 ESV
“Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.”
Who are the wicked? According to Scripture, they are all who
are living in sin, for whom sin is their practice, and righteousness, holiness,
and obedience to our Lord are not what they practice. So, yes, this includes
many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who deny him by their
actions. For their service to God is lip service only. Thus, the wicked are not
just those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
So, when this says
here that transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart, this is not
speaking only of those who do not profess Christ as Lord and Savior, but it
includes many who profess Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives. For out of
their hearts come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness,
deceit, sensuality, envy, pride, foolishness, sexual immorality, theft, false
witness, and slander, etc.
And many people, at
least here in America, who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior indeed have
no fear of God before their eyes, for they treat God as though they are doing
him a favor by professing faith in him, and they treat him often as though he
is a genie in the sky or a doting grandfather in the sky there to grant their
every wish and desire while they continue to ignore him and his commands and
continue in their sin and rebellion.
For so many of them
have bought into a cheapened form of God’s grace and his gospel which only
requires a one-time human-based faith in Christ which they believe guarantees
them forgiveness of all sin (past, present, and future), and which guarantees
them heaven when they die, regardless of how they live on this earth. For many
are being taught that they do not have to repent of their sins, and they do not
have to obey the Lord, and no works are required of them at all, but they leave
out Ephesians 2:10.
And, yes, the wicked
who profess faith in Jesus Christ do flatter themselves, not only that their
sins will not be discovered, but that their sins will not be held to their
account. For they presume upon God that his salvation from sin only entails
forgiveness of their sins and the guarantee of heaven when they die while they
dismiss all the Scriptures which teach that we must deny self and daily die to
sin and that we must walk in obedience to our Lord.
And they ignore all
the Scriptures which teach professing Christians that if they walk in sin,
according to the flesh, and if they do not walk in holiness and in
righteousness, in obedience to the Lord, that they will die in their sins and
they will not inherit eternal life with God. They act as though those
Scriptures do not even exist. For a lot of their “faith” is based off
Scriptures taught out of context and made to say what the Scriptures do not
say.
So, yes, the words
of the mouths of the wicked and the evildoers are trouble and deceit, because
they lie as a matter of practice in order to hide their sins, and they willfully
plot to deceive others with stories they make up in order to try to trick them
into believing their lies while ignoring the truth. So, not unlike the
Pharisees, they may put on a show of righteousness as a coverup for the evil
they are doing behind closed doors.
And they do indeed
plot trouble while on their beds, especially if the trouble they are involved
in has anything to do with sensuality and sexual immorality. For that, I
believe, is the predominant sin permeating today’s modern market-driven “churches”
(businesses called “church”). And it is the prevailing sin among those
professing faith in Jesus Christ, I believe. And it is absolutely wrecking
marriages and families and people’s lives.
And this is the sad
reality of the lives of many who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who are
convinced that their sins will not be discovered and that they will not be held
against them. But read the noted lists of Scriptures above. The Scriptures
teach the opposite of that. They teach that if we walk in sin and not in
righteousness and holiness, and not in obedience to our Lord, that we will not
inherit eternal life with God. We will die in our sins, and heaven will not be
our eternal destiny. So please take this to heart.
So, if you want to
be saved from your sins and to have eternal life with God, you must die with
our Lord to sin, not just once, but daily, and you must walk (in conduct, in
practice) according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. For
Jesus died that horrible death on that cross so we would die with him to sin
and live with him to his righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). And he died to free us
from our slavery to sin so we would now walk in obedience to his commands (New
Covenant). (See noted Scriptures above)
If That Isn’t Love
By Dottie Rambo
He left the splendor of heaven
Knowing His destiny
Was the lonely hill of Golgotha
There to lay down His life for me
And if that isn't love
Then the ocean is dry
There's no stars in the sky
And the little sparrows can't fly
Yeah if that isn't love
Then heaven's a myth
There's no feeling like this
If that isn't love
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