DO NOT (PART 18) – OUR WICKED NATURE

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company; for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about making trouble.

Proverbs 24:1-2          

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Let’s say you were sitting at an interview and were asked to give five qualities about yourself. How would you answer?

Take a moment to think about it.

Now, was wicked in your five? I would wager that it wasn’t but when you get down to it, it’s as much of our nature as the good qualities we have. You know I’m right. We just don’t like to admit it. But maybe we need to more often as Christians. More on that later because I would like to continue on the subject of our wicked nature.

We’re all afflicted with this disease called sin. It’s in our DNA unfortunately, entering into our makeup more than 2,000 years ago after a man and woman committed the first wicked act, disobeying a command from God, falling prey to evil suggestion from a serpent, and partaking of fruit from a tree they were forbidden by God to eat from (Genesis 3:1-6). The act recorded in Genesis ended up being the genesis of wickedness and made mankind innately wicked ever since.

The reason I want to ensure we fully understand this is that we can have a tendency to brush off scripture like the two verses we will see today from the 20th of the thirty Sayings of the Wise from Proverbs 24. Take a look here:

Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company; for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about making trouble. Proverbs 24:1-2

At face value, we might look at this and think, “This is non-applicable, N/A, because there is no way I will be in the company of the wicked. The truth is that you are always in the company of the wicked, it’s just that many of us are able to suppress our wickedness by desiring the Lord’s righteousness more. For when we seek after the Lord and what He can give us through His wisdom and guidance, when we obediently follow His will and way and word, then and only then can we answer the “do not” warning of this saying (“do not” desire the company of the wicked) and stay out of wanting to be with the wicked. Hanging out with the One who was and is sinless, our Savior Jesus Christ who was and is Emmanuel, God with us, we will always be hanging with a crowd who is pursuing righteousness and holiness and justification (translated in a way we can understand by way of knowing Jesus by way of His saving grace makes us just-as-if-I-had-never-sinned).

Yes, we are wicked in nature and we should freely tell others. Too often, Christians stunt their ability to share the Gospel with others in obedience to Christ’s calling (Matthew 28:18-20) because they act so self righteous that people think they are crazy and don’t want to have anything to do with them. Being a Christian doesn’t make us any different than anyone else when it comes to our wicked nature. We’re still just a sinner like everyone else and we need to confess that. When we do and let others know we struggle with the same affliction they do, then we can more effectively share the way to place our sin sickness into remission for the present time through Jesus and His righteousness until the day when this worldly life ends and we trade in our sin for an eternal life free from it. The good news of the Gospel is that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son Jesus who paid the price for our sins on Calvary’s cross. Through His sacrifice, our sin debt is paid and by His wounds we are healed (1 Peter 2:24). Whoever believes this and professes Jesus as Savior, acknowledging Him as the Way and the Truth and the Life and the only way to God the Father, will be saved and at life’s end receive the promise of life everlasting with God and Jesus where there will be no more pain and no more sickness and no more hardship and no more wickedness. We will be liberated from our wicked nature forever and enter into a life of light and love.

Friends, are these not things we should be thinking about every day?

We need to always remember we have a wicked nature but we also need to remember that we have a Savior in Jesus who gives us a grace greater than our sinfulness. It’s a message we need to share and one carried in one of my favorite old hymns, Grace Greater than Our Sin, written by Julia Johnson. I’ll close with these lyrics:

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Refrain

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Refrain

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Refrain

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

Refrain

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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