Focus: Lord, Save Us!

Text: 2Chron.7:14

"If MY PEOPLE, which are called by my name, shall…turn from their WICKED WAYS…"

God appears to Solomon in the newly completed temple as he was praying, and says, "If my people who are called by my name, shall… turn from their WICKED WAYS…" 

*Our wickedness

What in God's name are God's people, branded with His holy name, doing with wickedness? What business has God's people with wickedness? Why are we wicked? Church and wickedness are not good together. They are not worthy companions. Bring it home to yourself. In what ways are you wicked? The church's wickedness is caused by her individual members.

Our wickedness weakens us. Our impurity makes us unhealthy. Our lack of holiness is destroying our witness for Christ and happiness in Him. For being worldly we have lost our spine.

What's wickedness? Wickedness is everything good gone bad. It is love totally twisted, misused and abused. It is righteousness practiced in the energy of the flesh. It is grace taken for granted and turned into a license for loose living. Wickedness is a reversal or negation of the good. It is sweetness turned sour. In fact, the word 'wicked' in our text is 'ra'ah' in Hebrew. It basically means evil. It's also translated as 'iniquity.' Iniquity is an old English word that means 'no equity.' That's lack of balance or equilibrium. You just can't make out the head and tail of wickedness. It makes no sense being wicked. Wickedness is doing things that ruins the essence of life and our relationship with God.

*Lord, save us!

Peter prayed as he was sinking in his sea of doubt, "Lord, save me!" We need the same prayer for God to save us. And apart from praying, we also need to do all in our power to save ourselves. Paul tells Timothy to take certain measures to SAVE HIMSELF and his HEARERS. In Zech.2:7, God says to Judah, "DELIVER THYSELF, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon."

*How do we save ourselves? 

Paul charges us, "Let every one that NAMETH the NAME of Christ depart from INIQUITY" (2Tim.2:19). We save ourselves by departing from iniquity. The writer of Hebrews exhorts us, "Let us lay aside every WEIGHT, and the SIN which doth so easily beset us…" (Heb.12:1). We have to drop that weight and give up that sin that constantly trick and trap us.

The psalmist says about Christ, "Thou LOVEST righteousness, and HATEST wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (Ps.45:7). As Christ's people, we have to love righteousness and at the same time hate wickedness. Love and hate are inseparable opposites. You can't love good without hating evil. O Lord, save us to save others!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter