Who are "the wicked" in the bible?

Believers, did you know that it is only the path of the just (the righteous) that "is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” - Proverbs 4:18? The path of the wicked grows darker (Proverbs 4:19). But who are these “the wicked?”

When we believers think of “the wicked,” we think armed robbers, assassins, child-molesters, thieving politicians, kidnappers, ritual killers, warmongers and so on. We certainly don’t think of ourselves as being in this deplorables' basket of “the wicked.” But who does our Lord God consider to be righteous and who does He see as wicked?

Just look at what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-24 – “When the Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God's message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!’ Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’”

Even bible-toting, demon-bashing, miracle-performing preachers that do these things in the name of Jesus can be among the wicked! No wonder for many Christians, verse 19 - path growing darker - is the case - things seem to be getting worse. Fear and anxiety seem to be mounting. In churches, there is a never-ending cycle of deliverance sessions (for believers!!!), with little or temporary victories in-between, despite their doing all they can to be good, serve the Lord and live a holy life. There is no “free indeed” that Jesus spoke of in the equation. Life seems to be growing darker and not brighter.

What to do!!!

Believers, in our Lord God’s eyes, HOW we become righteous determines who is truly righteous and who is wicked. Romans 3:10 (Amplified Version) tells us “There is none righteous (none that meets God’s standards), not even one.”

Of ourselves, we cannot do anything to “earn points” on some leaderboard of righteousness. With God, there is no leaderboard of righteousness based on man's works. If you break just one law, you are guilty of all (James 2:10).

Isaiah 64:6 says “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.”

Even the “good” things we do (not sinning, helping others, evangelising) are considered filthy rags (used tampons in original Hebrew version) in God’s sight when they are done in order to “get right with God” or receive from Him. Notice that it is our righteousnesses (the good things we do and the bad we avoid doing) that are filthy rags, and not our sins.

God’s standard of righteousness is the law (which no man can keep), and the bible tells us clearly that no one is justified by the law in God’s sight in Galatians 3:11 - “11 Now it is clear that no one is justified [that is, declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty, and placed in right standing] before God by the Law, for “THE RIGHTEOUS (the just, the upright) SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

I put some words in caps for emphasis.

Verse 10 of the same chapter says that all who depend on what they do or do not do (law keeping) for their righteousness and salvation are under the curse. Doing your best to stop sinning or keeping the Ten Commandments or doing good (dead works) cannot make you righteous. But thanks to the preaching of a different gospel, many believers think this is how they can “maintain their salvation” or “get right with God” or “receive from God.”

No wonder the path of some Christians grow darker. They are under a curse (under the law) because they believe that it is their efforts at not sinning and their good works that makes them righteous before God! Anyone, (believer or not) who depends on these things for their righteousness (and not that which is freely given in Christ) is counted among the wicked in God’s sight!

Beloved of God, as His children under the New Covenant cut with our Heavenly Father on our behalf by our Saviour Jesus, we are no longer under law but under grace – God’s underserved, unmerited favour. Here, we have righteousness as a gift (Romans 5:17); not because of what we do or don’t do, but because Jesus took our place on the cross, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21- “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

This is the only way to be righteous in God’s sight. And according to Romans 5:17, we reign in life when we receive of this gift - “…much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)"

Believers, let’s not be like the Galatians who were bewitched into thinking they could be made perfect by obeying the law – Galatians 3: 1 – 4. They received the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith but were deceived by false preachers into thinking that they still had to keep the law in order to be made perfect. But righteousness in God's sight cannot attained by what we do or do not do. It is God’s gift to us, purchased for us with the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It is not obtained by keeping the Ten Commandments. It is not obtained by doing righteous works, teaching Sunday School, cleaning the church toilet, praying long hours, sowing seeds and fasting or doing anything at all with the aim of getting salvation, getting right with God or getting Him to bless us. Trying to get right with God by doing these things point to law keeping and according to Galatians 5:4, make Christ become of no effect in the lives of believers! – “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

But many preachers today still go about saying “Yes, Jesus Christ died for your sins BUT you still have to obey the law/stop sinning in order for you to be right with God, be truly saved and overcome the devil.” What then is the role of our Saviour Jesus in saving you when you have all it takes to stop sin and be righteous? Do you see that these agents of the devil are telling you that it is up to you to save yourself, just like the ‘bewitchers” that Paul spoke of in Galatians 3?

Joseph did not have the Ten Commandments but he instinctively knew that it was wrong to sleep with Potiphar’s wife. He even referred to doing this as a great wickedness and a sin against God. All of this without the Ten Commandments! How was he able to do this? The same way he interpreted Pharoah’s dream, forgave his brothers that sold him into slavery and helped a whole country to prosper during a famine - the Lord was with Him, as He is with us today (His Spirit dwells in us), transforming us to the image of His glory.

In Christ, we don't HAVE to try to do God's will in order to be righteous (law keeping); we GET to do God's will BECAUSE we are made righteous in Christ! This is Grace - undeserved, unmerited favour. We get to live a holy and godly without even knowing it. We get to pray more, read the bible more, love more, give more and glorify our Lord and Saviour Jesus more, and we don't even realise it until other people tell us so. Our paths get brighter because "it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

God hates sin. He wants us to live a sin-free life. But what law keeping and “self” righteousness (no pun intended) do is produce more sin. The strength of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56). Like Peter did, when a believer thinks that he can overcome sin and be righteous by his own efforts, Christ becomes of no effect in his life; he falls from grace… and fails. But when we receive God’s gift of righteousness, the devil has no grounds to accuse us: Romans 8:33 “Who will bring any charge against God’s elect (His chosen ones)? It is God who justifies us [declaring us blameless and putting us in a right relationship with Himself].”

Again, Proverbs 4:18 says – “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” But “The path of the wicked grows darker” (Proverbs 4:19)

In the eyes of our Heavenly Father, the difference between the righteous and wicked is not what they do or do not do (by their efforts). It is how they believe that they are made righteous – either by faith (a free gift given by our Heavenly Father through our Saviour Jesus Christ) or through works/righteousness of self (human effort).

In Christ, we don't work to be righteous. We have righteousness as a gift. We are no longer condemned. And it is this gift of no condemnation that makes us go and sin no more; not more laws and threats of judgment from wicked preachers.

Like Joseph, who was under Grace and not under the Law, depend on our Lord for your righteousness and watch your path shine brighter unto the perfect day!

Believe Right and you will Live Right!