The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. (Psalms 58:3)

I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. (Psalms 101:8)

The Scriptures distinguish between the righteous and the wicked in a manner suggesting that the righteous are of God and the wicked never were of God.

The term wicked, as used in the Book of Psalms, provides a revealing study for the devout student, especially when it is kept in mind that it is the Spirit of Christ who is speaking in David.

After reviewing what the Scriptures have to say about the righteous and the wicked, one could gain the impression that some people who are born into the world have been chosen of God to work righteousness. They are the righteous.

Note carefully:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Others are of Satan, who in some manner was their father. They are the wicked.

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. . . . (John 8:44)

This is not to say that any individual born on the earth cannot if he or she so chooses turn to Christ and be saved from wickedness.

The Gospel of the Kingdom is given to the righteous in order to forgive their sins and bring them to the perfection of righteous behavior required of God's children.

Let us ponder for a moment the parable of the wheat and the tares.

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; (Matthew 13:38)

Keeping in mind the scriptural truth concerning election, the present writer has come to the conclusion that all persons born into the world were tares, having none of the wheat of God in them. We were born in sin—every one of us—even though we may be of God's elect.

To our thinking, the "good seed" of the parable of the wheat and the tares represent those who have received Christ into their personality. Now they have in them both the tares of Satan and the wheat of God.

The day in which we are living is one of removing the tares from the wheat. Each of us Christians must cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He seeks to remove the tares from us. If we cooperate with the Spirit we will be saved into the Kingdom of God. But if we do not cooperate with the Spirit, choosing instead to justify our behavior or to hide our sinful thoughts and motives, we will be removed from the Kingdom of God in the last days.

No matter how we interpret the parable of the wheat and the tares, it is obvious that God is with the righteous and against those who practice wickedness, whether or not faith in Christ is professed.

This is not to say we can substitute good works for faith in the blood atonement made by Christ after we have heard the Gospel. But faith in Christ is not to be used as a substitute for righteous behavior. It remains true that God supports the righteous and is angry with the wicked

To be continued.