“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.” Isaiah 57:20-21 ->me: Today I poured over these 2 small verses. I did a study on ‘the wicked’. Here are the characteristics of the wicked – There is nothing steadfast or trustworthy in their talk. They flatten and make smooth their speech. They plot against the righteous, they love to cut people down with their words. They aim venomous words like arrows and they shoot them from ambush at the blameless man. They do this without self-reproach or fear. They love evil more than good; they would rather lie than speak righteousness and justice. They are at ease and prosper in their worldly dealings – they increase their riches. The wicked do not seek or hunger for the statutes of God. They are restless until they have caused trouble, made someone else angry, or caused someone else to fail. They love themselves and their lives are self-centered. They love money and are aroused by an inordinate desire for wealth. They are proud, arrogant, and contemptuous boasters. They are abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, and profane; without natural affection (callous and inhuman), slanderous, intemperate, and loose in morals and conduct; uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. These people cannot rest, for their lives are tumultuous and cause a wake of fog, chaos, and destruction. The scary part is that these characteristics do not need to be complete in order to call someone wicked. Any one of these things on its own is damning- this is why we must heed Paul’s warning to the church at Corinth – “Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?” 2 Corinthians 13:5
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