ADAM sinned against God, and fell from the estate in which he was created, and all his posterity sinned in him and fell in him, in his first transgression. And so none of the Adamic race are righteous by nature, for all have sinned and have done wickedly and come short of the glory of God. And yet we read of the righteous and the wicked throughout the Holy Scriptures; the righteous being a loved, redeemed and regenerated people from among the mass of corrupt and wicked humanity. The righteous are sinners saved by grace, through faith in the Son of God. And the wicked are those who continue to do wickedly in the world, irrespective of the divine revelation in Creation, Providence, the Moral Law, and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who may the wicked be in the light of Scripture and before the eyes of God? Violent sinners in the days of Noah, the ungodly people of Sodom, out of which Lot was taken before the fire came down from heaven; Pharoah who oppressed Israel in Egypt; Korah, Dathan and Abiram, in the camp of Israel, in the days of Moses, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron; Balaam who sought to curse Israel; and the sons of Eli who did wickedly in the priesthood when Samuel was a boy in the Temple; and many like persons of whom we read in the Old Testament. And conspicuous cases of those who were wicked, are revealed in the pages of the New Testament, such as Herod who slew the many children in an effort to slay the Child Jesus; the praying and “pious” Pharisees who were but wicked hypocrites and full of all ungodliness, at heart and in secret; those of Gadara who prayed the Lord Jesus to depart out of their coasts, after the loss of their swine; those who called the Lord Jesus a wine-bibber, etc.; the chief priests and rulers in the Church in the days of our Lord and who condemned Him as a blasphemer; and then there was Judas, the traitor; and Pilate. Then later we read of such as Elymas, the sorcerer, who sought to turn Sergius Paulus from the faith, and was described as a “child of the devil”; and Hymenaeus and Alexander whom Paul delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme; and we have the case of Simon, the sorcerer, who professed to believe the Gospel and was baptised, and afterwards was told by Peter that his heart was not right in the sight of God, and was called to repent of his wickedness. Of course, these cases are a selection, but an exceedingly varied selection, revealing all kinds and classes of men who are properly to be classed as wicked. These all have their counterpart down through the generations, to this present time. As for to-day, the wicked are in the general view, every unconverted man or woman, boy or girl. But in the consideration of the matter in more detail, we have atheists, materialists, those who mind earthly things, violaters of the divine law openly and unashamedly, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, those who believe in and practise religious cults opposed to the mind and honour of God, and idolaters in professed Christian worship. Then in the professed Christian churches, there are members who partake of the Lord’s Supper, who are ignorant of Christ as their Redeemer; there are deacons, elders, professed ministers of the Gospel, and professors of theology, who are unconverted, worldly and carnal men; and there are so-called bishops and cardinals, etc., who know not God, nor His Son Jesus Christ in a spiritual and saving manner. All such persons, whatever their social, or religious status may be, as devoid of the saving grace of God, and still in a state of nature, are to be classed among the wicked. Even the person who makes a profession of godliness, has a form of godliness, and a reputation among men for godliness, and is yet unregenerate and ignorant of the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, is still outside the family and true spiritual fellowship of God’s people—the righteous.
Now, what of the end of the wicked? The wicked, who ere they be, and come to the end of life’s journey as such, have a dark and deplorable end indeed according to the Word of God. The easy-going and charitable views of man’s end and eternity, prevalent to-day, will not alter divinely declared truths and facts on this question. “The wicked shall be turned into hell” (Psalm ix. 17). This is the Old and New Testament teaching, this is God’s declaration, and this will stand and be fulfilled in indescribable reality, in the case and experience of every impenitent and unbelieving sinner, from king to peasant. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev. xxi. 8). And there is no “second chance” at the resurrection for the wicked, as taught by false and dangerous prophets; and there is no purgatory with refining fires, to fit Pope, Cardinal, priest or people, later on for heaven. There is but a hell and a heaven in the eternal world. The rich man of whom Jesus speaks died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, not in any middle state called purgatory. And Lazarus the beggar died also, and was carried directly into the fellowship of such as Abraham, in heaven. No purgatory for him; for there is no such place for those who are washed in the blood of Christ here. Probably most of the religious leaders to-day do not believe in the reality of the hell revealed in the Bible; and thus masses of men and women, young and old, are not hearing one word by way of separating the clean from the unclean, that is, the righteous from the wicked; and are not being warned that the wicked are heading for hell.
Where do we stand in the light of God’s Word? What is our true character in the eyes of the Most High? Where are we going as to Eternity?
Well, the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost; and He is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by Him; and may the Holy Spirit of truth and power work mightily, according to the mercy of God, in the souls of many, in our families, congregations, Churches and throughout all the land, and other lands, so that many who are now among the wicked would be turned to Jesus, who is mighty to save. “That as sin hath resigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans v. 21).