Live Out What You Believe

If you've ever read Psalm 139, there is a sudden transition in thoughts for David in the next four verses. He goes from the mind of God to the wicked. 

O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against you wickedly, and Your enemies take Your name in vain. Psalm 139:19-20

One commentator thinks it is because David was thinking that God is everywhere. He searches the heart of people, He knows all their conduct, and he was suddenly struck with the idea of the condition of the wicked in the presence, and under the eye, of the Lord. 

As David points out, there is no fellowship between light and darkness, between the wicked and God-fearing. The Lord has seen all the sins of the wicked, which have been done in His presence. He will punish the crimes committed before His face unless the sinner repents. 

Those who delight in wickedness are not fit companions for those who walk with God. As we delight to have the Lord always near us, we should eagerly desire to have wicked men removed from us or not engage in what they do. 

David wasn’t in danger when he tells us about the men who shed blood. He wanted nothing to do with them, he didn’t want to partake in their conduct or share their fate.

The sinners that reject God will be called into account the words they have said against the Lord. They are His enemies and declare their enmity when they take His name in vain. They speak against His perfections, His purpose, His providence, His doctrines, His wisdom, His faithfulness, His Word, His ministers, and His people.

Some think this is a description of hypocrites. They speak and talk of God, but their hearts are far from Him. They pretend to love and obey Him, but a cloak of maliciousness covers their souls. Pretending to be His friend, they take His name in vain. They carry themselves with arrogant and false pride and utter poisonous words against the Lord.

If it is the ignorant sinner or the hypocrite, they will have to give an account to the Lord for rejecting Him and choosing to follow their own path.

It is clear that there isn’t fellowship between dark and light. And some even say shun those who reject the Lord. However, we were once the wicked. We once spoke against the Lord and rejected His Son. We once wanted self to rule in our hearts and not the Saviour. It is clear the Lord hates sin and will punish those who don’t repent. As those who fear God, we should mourn over our sin and the sin of unbelievers too. We should be different from the world.

In reality, we can’t flee the wicked and live in a bubble. There are women and men that are married to unbelievers. Some have parents or siblings that don’t know the Lord. We have people we work with that are not saved. So shunning them won’t help. We need to live out what we believe. We need to pray and be a living example to the lost. They don’t know any better and neither did we.

This quote by R.C Sproul is a great reminder of why we need to evangelize the lost. “This should be our witness. We should say, ‘I am here to show that you need a Saviour and to point you to the One you should worship.’”

We don’t have to have eloquent words but point them to Christ and let them see something different in us. Let them see Christ. May our lives, may my life be a living testimony to the world. May we never ruin our testimony by gossiping or lying. May we never ruin it by out bursts of anger or bitterness. May we never ruin it by  our lack of compassion or selfishness. My friend said it well about her mom when she was a child. "She got upset with us but the one thing she always did was ask for forgiveness and that was what I have always remembered."

That is a great testimony. We will fail but we need humility to cover our hearts not our pride. 

And remember with the Lord conversion and salvation is possible even for the darkest heart.