We have here a terrible picture of, the wicked man.
I. HIS HEART IS THE SEAT OF EVIL. It is there as an "oracle.' It is enthroned. It speaks with authority. It gives forth its decrees for obedience. The true is opposed by the false. Righteousness gives place to unrighteousness. All counsels of reason and compunctions of conscience are hushed by the cry, "No God!" (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 2 Thessalonians 2:4).
II. HIS LIFE IS MARKED BY ABANDONMENT TO EVIL. The power that rules the heart rules the life. There is progress in depravity, as in goodness. Gradually the sway of sin extends, till at last it works without check, without remorse, without remedy. You know a servant by the livery he wears, so when you see a man who sins wilfully and habitually, whose words and actions and manner of life are manifestly regualted without any fear of God, you cannot but regard such a man as a servant of sin (Romans 6:16; John 8:34).
III. HIS CHARACTER IS FORMED UNDER THE POWER OF EVIL. Acts form habits, and habits character, The process is slow, but certain. What determines character is the power that worketh in us, be it good or be it evil (Galatians 5:17, Galatians 5:18). There is evil in all, but when the heart has been won back to God, the evil, though present, has lost its power. There is conflict, but the victory is Fare for good, and not for evil. On the other hand, where evil still rules supreme, the result is of necessity—greater and greater degradation and corruption.
IV. HIS FUTURE IS DARK WITH THE PROGNOSTICS OF EVIL. To those who are living without God, the prospect in this life is gloomy and painful, but there is still hope. The voice of mercy is ever sounding in their ears, "Why will ye die?" As time passes, things grow darker. Guilt increases, the heart is hardened, and reformation becomes more and more improbable (Jeremiah 13:23). Again and again signs and warnings are given—precursors of the end, foreshadowings of the doom that awaits the impenitent. But they are unheeded. There is a terrible retention of character, and the future has no star of hope to light the gloom. "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness."—W.F.