SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/30/2013 8:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: More on the
Wicked
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Various
Scriptures
Message of the
verses: We will continue looking at
the subject of the wicked in today’s Spiritual Diary.
Let us begin by looking at Proverbs 6:12-19 which is
somewhat of a summary statement that will describe the evil person and the
hateful sins that he commits. “12 A
worthless person, a wicked man, Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth, 13 Who
winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, Who points with his fingers; 14
Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil, Who spreads strife. 15
Therefore his calamity will come suddenly; Instantly he will be broken and
there will be no healing. 16 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes,
seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands
that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run
rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who
utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes that “Every part of the wicked
person’s anatomy is devoted to evil and his ‘body language’ communicates
evil.” Before we go on with the quote
let us look at Romans 3:10-18: “10 as it
is written: “None is righteous, no, not
one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks
for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one
does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues
to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under
their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet
are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way
of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their
eyes.’” (ESV) Notice the parts of the anatomy that are
mentioned in these verses which are all quotations from the OT. Now let us go on with the quote from Dr.
Wiersbe: “He can’t be trusted. When he wants to signal his confederates that
it’s time to do evil, he winks his eye; shuffles his feet, and motions with his
fingers; they get the message. The cause
of all this evil is the perversity of his inner person, for it is out of the heart
that evil comes (Mark 7:14-23; Jer. 17:9).
He’s skillful at plotting evil and the result is dissension. He’s a troublemaker who sows discord, but
judgment is certain and will come when he least expects it. How much better it is when the whole body is
yielded to God (Romans 12:2) and controlled by His Word (Proverbs 4:20-27)!”
There is a list of specific sins that are listed in the
verses from Proverbs that is quoted above, in Proverbs 6:16-19. First we see pride, and the reason that this
is listed first is because pride is the basic motivation for all the other
sins. We know from looking at Isaiah
14:12-14 that pride was what caused Lucifer to turn into Satan. We could say that it was pride that was the
first sin every committed for Lucifer committed the first sin. “12 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star
of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who
have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my
throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the
north. 14 ’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like
the Most High.’” (Isa. 14:12-14)
The next thing that God hates is lying or a lying tongue
as Solomon describes it. We know that
God is the God of truth: “"I am the
way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)
One of the Ten Commandments states that we should not bear false
witness, (Exodus 20:16). Jesus said to
the Pharisees that they were of their father the devil “"You are of your
father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is
no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for
he is a liar and the father of lies.”
(John 8:44)
The third sin mentioned that God hates is murder and this
is also seen in the Ten Commandants in Exodus 20:13: “"You shall not murder.” Notice that it states that you shall not
murder and that does not mean that it is wrong to fight in a just war. Early on after man was created we saw Cain
kill Able and a bit later God instituted capital punishment and it has never
been something that has been taken away by God.
God uses human government to exercise capital punishment (Gen. 9:5-6;
Rom. 13:1-7), “but the shedding of innocent blood pollutes the land (Num.
35:30-34). Murders have their part in
the lake of fire: ‘"But for the
cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and
sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that
burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.’”
Next sin God hates is:
“A heart that devises wicked plans.”
It is a shame that people have to devise wicked plans in their hearts
when they could do things that would please the Lord. Dr. Wiersbe states that this is misuse of the
gift of imagination that God has given to us.
Next we will talk about “Feet that run rapidly to
evil.” There is a verse in the book of
Isaiah and is quoted in the book of Romans that speaks of beautiful feet, and I
was told early in my Christian life that the feet are the only part of the body
that the Bible speaks of as being beautiful.
Why are the feet called beautiful because it is the feet that carry the
believer to tell the Good news of the Gospel:
“Isa 52:7 How lovely on the
mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And
brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion,
"Your God reigns!’” “Ro 10:15 How will they preach unless they are sent?
Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD
NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!’” Now contrast
with this verse in Romans “Ro 3:15
"THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD.” One more verse about the feet found in Romans
“Ro 16:20 The God of peace will soon
crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
The next sin God hates is “A false witness who utters
lies.” Exodus 20:16 states “"You
shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This is the ninth commandment. We are seeing a lot of lying in our
government today and Dr. Wiersbe states “Without truth, things start to fall
apart; when people ‘lie officially,’ the foundations of society begin to
crumble.”
The last sin that God hates that is seen in Proverbs six
is “one who spreads strife among brothers.”
Contrast this with Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!”
How does the wicked person destroy this unity? By sowing seeds that produce a bitter and
divisive harvest. Seeds like pride, “Only
by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.” (Pr. 13:10 AV) “9 ¶ I
wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among
them, does not accept what we say. 10
For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he
does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he
himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire
to do so and puts them out of the church.”
(3John 9-10) Gossip, anger,
hatred, a quarrelsome spirit, and foolish questions are also what can destroy
the unity among believers.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this chapter that
describes the wise and the wicked by stating:
“There is a wisdom from above that brings peace and purity to God’s
people, and there is a wisdom from beneath that brings strife and shame (James
3:13-18). There is a wisdom of this
world that destroys the church and a wisdom from God that builds the church
(1Cor. 3:16-23)
“’To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them’ (Isa. 8:20 NIV).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The contrast
between the wise and the wicked is a big contrast and it is obvious that I am
to follow the path of the wise. Jesus
talks about the goldy person in Matthew 5:1-16.
It is good to see this contrast this godly person with the wicked person
of which we have been studying. “ 1 ¶
When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat
down, His disciples came to Him. 2 He
opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
“3 ¶
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who
mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5
"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall receive mercy. 8 "Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 "Blessed are those who have been
persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people
insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you
because of Me. 12 "Rejoice and be
glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted
the prophets who were before you.
“13 ¶
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become
tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything,
except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city
set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor
does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and
it gives light to all who are in the house. 16
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Do all that is possible to live a wise and
godly life before the Lord.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 121:1-8
1I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; for where shall
my help come? 2 My help comes from the
LORD who made heaven and earth. 3 He
will not allow my foot to slip; He who keeps me will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps me will neither
slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your
shade on your right hand. 6 The sun will
not smite you by day nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will protect your soul. 8 The LORD will guard your going out and your
coming in from the time forth and forever.
Turning Points Wisdom for
today: “Words are things; and a small
drop of ink falling like dew upon a thought produces that which makes
thousands, perhaps millions, think.”
(Lord Byron) “A man has joy by
the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is!” Proverbs 15:23)
1/30/2013 10:15 AM
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