Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. Psalms 37:37-38.

The righteous man is the man who has come to terms with God’s gift of righteousness and has met with the demands of repentance from dead works, dead to sin, being renewed in the spirit of his mind to put off the old man, and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and in true holiness. Those who are not presently at peace with God through the atonement of the blood of Jesus cannot know nor have the overflowing inner assurance of joy unspeakable (I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer your Holy One to see corruption. Psalms 16:8-10) concerning the future hope which is laid up for the redeemed people of God in heaven.

Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. Psalms 25:8. But, how can those who have not known the King of peace in their lives know how to walk in the way of everlasting peace (Romans 3:17), that their eternal end might be peaceful? Rather, as they were born into darkness, so they will walk and live in darkness and spiritual blindness, searching for the answers and purposes of life without finding it until they pass onto the place of eternal sorrow, a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness (Job 10:22): there is no peace, not on earth, neither in heaven, for the wicked, says the Lord.

The biblical definition of wickedness is the failure, refusal and reluctance of anyone not to come under the terms of reconciling peace with God through the death of his Son Jesus Christ: as it written, the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts (Psalms 10:4): seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7.

Relating to the text before us, I will not to make any mention of the wickedness of the wicked men and women in the world, for we know what is awaiting them at death, because they are not born again, therefore, their names are not written in the book of life, but to dwell on the wickedness of God’s people in the church (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), whose end shall be destructive and destruction, just like the end of the unredeemed sinners in the world.

God loves righteousness and hated wickedness (Hebrews 1;9), but if wickedness is found in the place of righteousness, shall not the true and the righteous God, who is just and true in all his ways, not visit to recompense such evil, when the wicked man in the church oppress and devours the man that is more righteous than him? And, if in the place of judgment, iniquity is found, shall he that has purer eyes, which cannot behold iniquity, overlook such things? Habakkuk 1:13.  And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. Ecclesiastes 3:16.

The atonement death of Christ does not negate the law of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7) for any believer if they are not walking according to the truth that is in Christ Jesus. The present intercession of Christ in heaven for the believer does not liberate him from the law of divine balance and judgment (I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee. Isaiah 57:12), if after having received the favor of the Lord unto salvation, he will not keep the path of the just and upright, shinning more and more unto a perfect day (with my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Isaiah 26:9-10): is not the way of the just uprightness, and our God does weigh the path of the just?  (Isaiah 26: 7), for the Lord knows the ways of the righteous, that their inheritance shall be forever, but the ways and end of the ungodly, sinners and the wicked, will he not destroy according to his word? Psalms 1: 6.

Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Are there not the despisers of them that are good among us in the church?  Is this not wickedness, when Jerusalem, the city of truth, is filled with violence, lies and deceit? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Psalms 58:1-3. Do you hate him that rebukes in the gate, and abhor him that speaks uprightly? Amos 5:10. Do you walk uprightly? Is it not an open rebellion and wickedness against God when his children turned their ears away from the truth unto fables? Your heart is only as good and pure as your words and actions. Be strong in the grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, or keep receiving the grace in vain as you keep gambling with it to jeopardize your soul with the fleshly lusts which war against it. It is up to you. 1 Peter 2:11.

Forasmuch as Christ will no longer tolerate you for so long for neither cold nor hot, he will neither leave you for so long in your repeated doggy and piggy lifestyle (but God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his trespasses. Psalms 68:21) of wallowing in the vomit and mud of repentance from dead works (Hebrews 6:1) without preparedness and readiness to start the personal cleansing from the filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1.

He that walks in his uprightness fears the Lord: but he that is perverse in his ways despises him. Proverbs 14:2: those who refused to make good of the present favor by grace will not come into the eternal peace with God, nor will they enter into the land of the upright: hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. Isaiah 33:13-17.

The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off. Psalms 37:38. Who are these transgressors and the wicked? Undoubtedly, these are the sinful children of God, the sinners of his people: for, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. Amos 9:9-10.

Even though, grace is made available to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, but they chose to be unjust, filthy, worldly, unrighteous, unholy by it (he that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he who is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Revelation 22:10-11): thus they keep trodden underfoot the Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. Is there any other wickedness comparable to such as to be crucifying the Son of God repeatedly in the world and bringing him to an open shame by a false spiritual lifestyle against the crucified gospel lifestyle?

Those that act wickedly under the pretext of religion make themselves the worst enemies of the truth because their action harden the hearts of outsiders and onlookers from coming to Christ, worst, they lead many unto destruction if they are in the position of leadership or authority in the church: therefore thus says the Lord God; because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end. Ezekiel 21:24-25.

The wicked believer is driven away in his wickedness. Proverbs 14:32 a. Though the Lord has planted him as a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes, what do you expect him to do at the end? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: and I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry (Isaiah 5: 1-7): for among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? Says the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, says the Lord. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says the Lord. Jeremiah 5:26-31. Jeremiah 23:11-12.

The persistently and steadfast righteous believer has hope in his death (Proverbs 14:32 b), because he received the engrafted word with meekness to love justice and mercy as it is required by God (Micah 6:8): not to show partiality in judgment for whatever reason (Proverbs 24:23), but to open his mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9: to be straightforward, not to condemn the just, not to call bitter sweet, darkness light, evil good (Isaiah 5:20): it is not the believer who is wicked in nature and practice, but the upright in heart and ways that shall dwell forever in the presence of God to praise him (Psalms 140:13): I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A forward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me: he that walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that works deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that tells lies shall not tarry in my sight. 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.  

Do not follow that which is evil, but that which is good, both among yourselves and others in the world, he that do evil has not seen God, nor knows him (1 Thessaloninas 5:15. 3 John 1:11): but are you not evil and wicked, if after you see wickedness and unrighteousness in place to judge wrongly for favor, acceptation and praise of men? Woe unto the wicked in the church, family or society, it shall not be well with him, says the Lord, because he does not know to do justice and judgment, and to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:3.

Thus says the Lord, say unto the righteous, it shall be well unto him: did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? Says the Lord. Jeremiah 22:15-17.

If God slay the two sons of Judah for their selfish and inconsiderate acts wickedness before him, he will not spare anyone, though they have the Lion of the tribe of Judah for their defense, For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face. Psalms 11:6. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also. Genesis 38:7-10.

Like Boaz, we see the spirit of a just, righteous and true brotherly love in him. He will not subvert the right of his brother, to defraud his brother in what was rightly his from the Lord, but will give right to the man with priority before him. He will not take advantage of the poor and helpless Ruth in her plight, but will seek and fight for her peace and stability in life without any personal interest in his heart: this is the righteous and upright man, behold, the end of that man is peace.

That just and upright man – Boaz was blessed by God to be married to a virtuous woman in Ruth: he was equally blessed by all his people: he was historically blessed forever with the bloodline of Christ our Lord according to the flesh: therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, you are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: and let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. Ruth 4.

Finally, let us come back to the spiritual pursuit and stature of the righteous man, he is (perfect), and in his walk he is (uprightness) and his end is eternal peace: the righteous perishes, and no man thinks about it: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. Isaiah 57:1-2.

And again, see the end of the unstable walk and life of the sinner (his transgressions) and of the end of the wicked (destruction) in the church because (a) they will not awake to righteousness and to stop sinning, living blindly and ignorantly or by self willed against the righteousness of God. 1 Corinthians 15:34: (b) because they will keep themselves from their sins that they might walk uprightly before the Lord: I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Psalms 18:23.

They that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness shall reap the same. At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more. Job 4:8-9. In spite that God’s promise of eternal life is true (Titus 1:2), but if we are not steadfast and upright in our walk in his ways (O continues your loving-kindness unto them that know you and your righteousness to the upright in heart. Psalms 36: 10), how will he prove himself to be pure and upright to us?  Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Prudent and he shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein. Hosea 14:9.