The Righteous and The Wicked

“The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven;

His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,

And the one who loves violence His soul hates.

Upon the wicked He will rain snares;

Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.

For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness;

The upright will behold His face.” (Psalms 11:4-7 NASB1995)

So much of what the New Testament teaches parallels what the Old Testament teaches, too, especially when it comes to the subjects of sin, wickedness, immorality, lying, cheating, and hating, and the subjects of love, godliness, righteousness, holiness, death to sin, and walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands. How God views these things is the same, Old Testament or New Testament. He hates wickedness and he loves godliness.

Now when this says that God tests us, both the righteous and the wicked, it isn’t for his benefit, as though he doesn’t know who we are or what we are up to. That is the reason we need to test other humans to see if they be of God or not, because we don’t know, and so we need to see what they are made of. And so we observe their words and their actions and we compare them to the teachings of the Scriptures to see if they agree or not.

But when the Lord tests us, I believe, he allows us to go through trials and tribulations, and for us who are Christians, in order to test our faith to see if it is genuine, or not, and again for our benefit, in case we are deceived. And it is also for the purpose to mature us in our walks of faith and to help us grow in Christ and to become more like him in character and in word and in deed, to be more steadfast and with greater dependence upon the Lord.

When he tests the wicked, I think it would be to humble them and to get them to repent of their sins and to obey the Lord and his commandments. Or it might be to deter them or to keep them from doing evil, in some cases, perhaps to save the righteous from the attacks of the wicked. For it isn’t that God does not know what they are up to. He does! But they can only do what he allows, and he has the power to stop them whenever he wants to, too.

And with regard to the wicked, they are those who are living in sin and not in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands, regardless of what their lips profess. For all who deliberately make sin their practice, and for whom righteousness and obedience to our Lord and to his commands are not their practice, they are not in relationship with God. And if they continue in those lifestyles, and they do not repent, heaven is not secured them.

But the righteous are all those who have, by faith in Jesus Christ, died with him to sin that they might now walk with him in righteousness and in obedience to his commands. They are not necessarily living in absolute sinless perfection, but sin is not their practice (habit, addiction), but walks of faith and obedience to the Lord and surrender of their lives to him, to do his will, is their practice, and what they live for, and what their lives are about.

So for all who make sin their deliberate and habitual practice, and not obedience to God, they will face the wrath of God in eternal punishment. Yet for all for whom righteousness and godly living and walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living are their deliberate practice, by the grace of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, and in the power of God, they have both the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God in his eternal kingdom.

So don’t take God and his teachings lightly, and don’t rely on gospel messages which are teaching Scriptures out of context to make them say what they do not teach if taught in context. For this is the way in which many are being deceived, by not studying the Scriptures for themselves, and by not reading them in their proper context, and by relying on other humans to tell them the truth. But not everyone tells the truth. Liars abound!

Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. Yet, if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord, in the power of God, then we have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God (see Luke 9:23-26).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Just a Closer Walk with Thee  

Hymn lyrics by Anonymous/Unknown

Music by American Melody

“For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you” (2 Co. 13:4 NASB).

I am weak, but Thou art strong;

Jesus, keep me from all wrong;

I’ll be satisfied as long

As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Through this world of toil and snares,

If I falter, Lord, who cares?

Who with me my burden shares?

None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,

Time for me will be no more;

Guide me gently, safely o’er

To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Just a closer walk with Thee,

Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,

Daily walking close to Thee,

Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Ks49apflE 

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The Righteous and The Wicked

An Original Work / February 22, 2025

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love