We're looking at Psalm 52. Psalm 52. The title of this psalm
is a psalm of David when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul
and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. Why
boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of
God endureth continually. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs
like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good,
and lying rather than to speak righteousness, say thou. Thou
lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise
destroy thee forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of the living, say, La. The righteous also shall see
and fear and shall laugh at him. Lo, this is the man that made
not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and strengthened himself in his wickedness. But I am like a green
olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever
and ever. I will praise thee forever, because
thou hast done it. And I will wait on thy name,
for it is good before thy saints. Now, hopefully you are familiar
with who Doeg the Edomite is. give you a little refresher course. When David fled from Saul, and
Saul had undertaken to slay David, and so David was fleeing from
Saul, and he went to Ahimelech the priest. His men were hungry,
and they hadn't had anything to eat, and they were famished. And so he went to the priest,
Ahimelech, and he asked him for some food, and
of course the only food they had was the show bread that was
in the temple. And Ahimelech gave David that
bread, and they ate it. And Doeg the Edomite, who the
scripture says was a servant of Saul, And it's kind of interesting
if you read the accounts that are in the Jewish commentary,
which I've not particularly read, but I'm just passing this on
to you. You can read it if you want to.
But the Jews have a book called the Midrash, that has, it's kind
of like a commentary on the history that is in the scripture and
of course it's not necessarily true because many, much of it
is just stuff that people speculate on and that sort of thing so
I wouldn't put it down as being true but in the Midrash they
say that Doeg was a very trusted servant of Saul and a very accomplished
scholar and that he, of course, he was the one that was basically
behind the scenes putting words into Saul's mind concerning David
and he was building up David in Saul's sight for the purpose
that Saul would get angry at David and have him slain. And so Doeg does not necessarily
come on the scene all of a sudden. In what we find out about him,
this is the thing that he is most notably recorded for in
the scripture, is that Doeg happened to be at the temple there where the
priests were at this same time. Now we know that nothing just
happens, does it? All things are according to the
good pleasure of the Lord. The scripture says that Doeg
was detained at the temple there. But we know why he was detained.
He was there to fulfill the purpose of God that the Lord might demonstrate
the wickedness of men. But anyway, Doeg went back to
Saul and told him, David's down there at Ahimelech's, and Ahimelech
is a traitor, and he's helped David out. Well, that was really
far from the truth, because Ahimelech actually did not want to really
do anything against Saul, but he had mercy upon David, and
as a merciful man, he fed them. and actually gave Saul a Goliath
sword which was wrapped up in a cloth and left there in the
temple. I thought that was kind of interesting
that that's recorded for us in the scripture. But in any event,
Doeg went back and carried this news back to Saul that David
had been there. And so Saul called Ahimelech,
And said, why'd you do this? And he said, well, you know,
he didn't have, because he didn't know that Saul was trying to
kill David. He didn't know anything about
this. He was just trying to help David out. He was not trying
to be, you know, against Saul. But Doeg made it appear that
Ahimelech was. And so Saul, in his rashness,
as you mentioned there a moment ago, a rash vow, he made the
rash statement that Ahimelech and all of his family was to
be killed. And he told his captains of the
guard to fall on the priest and kill them, and they wouldn't
do it. He said, we're not going to do that. They defied the king. But he turned to Doeg and guess
what? Old Doeg looked and he said,
you know, here's my chance. I'll be lifted up high in the
kingdom if I do this thing. And he fell on the priest and
he killed 85 of them. And their whole families and
their flocks and herds and everything else killed them all. And so
that's what Doeg's known for. a nice bedtime story for your
children. But you know, when we look at
Doeg, and as reprehensible a character as he was, and he was a reprehensible
character, we ought to be reminded that the only thing that makes
Doeg different, or makes us different from Doeg, is the mercy of God. The Lord had purpose in using
Doeg for his own ends. And he did that. And you know,
God's not to be accused because who could accuse God? You know,
people talk about, they get worried about accusing God. Well, let
me ask you a question. Who has any platform from which
they could accuse God? What could a man ever accuse
God of? I mean what, I mean rightfully
accuse him, now men accuse God all the time, but I mean what,
what, what can they point to God and say, well you did wrong,
I mean, what, what is their standard? Where do they get the standard
from? You know, how can they say God does something wrong? Shall the thing formed, this
is what Paul was getting at in the ninth chapter Romans, he
said, shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why
hast thou made me thus? What can a man say? I mean, there's
nothing we can say. All we can do is by the grace
of God, if He's given us a heart, is fall down and worship. But
Doeg, of course, is mentioned here, and David lamented the
death of Ahimelech because he said, I'm the one that caused
this. I mean, see David, this shows the difference between
a man of grace and a man in whom the Lord worked. David, even
though in reality he was not at fault in this, yet he felt
that he had caused this evil to come upon Himalaya. And we know that it was in keeping
with the Lord's purpose. But nonetheless, David was a
man of a tender heart that the Lord had given him. And he was
sorrowful over this. But he was not in any wise forgiving. in the consideration of that
thing which Doeg had done. And this is the Lord speaking
through David concerning the judgment that would fall upon
Doeg. He says, Why boastest thou thyself
in mischief, O mighty man? Now Doeg was a mighty man in
so far as men went. in the kingdom, and he considered
himself to be mighty, did he not? And you know, in Doeg, I
see a great parallel to Judas Iscariot. Same really scenario,
same purpose. The Lord raised him up to fulfill
his purpose, but the Lord said it would have been better if
this man had never been born, as far as he is concerned. I
mean, he may have raised him up to fulfill his purpose, but
he said it would have been better if he hadn't been born as far
as he was concerned. But now, let me ask you this. Was Judas guilty of what he did? Of course he did. See, men can't
in any wise minimize their guilt because of the purpose of God
in using their wickedness. That doesn't cause a man to be
able to say, Like Flip Wilson used to say on Laugh-In, the
devil made me do it. No, men sin, according to James,
when they consider sin and they carry it through. That's what
they do. And that's what Doeg did. And that's what Judas did. When they carried out those things
that were wicked acts. But yet, the Lord ordained according
to his purpose. Why boastest thou thyself in
mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth
continually. That's kind of interesting to
me that the Lord would set forth that, the goodness of God endureth
continually. Why are you boasting yourself
in your goodness, or in your power, in your ability? Because
it is the goodness of God that endureth continually. Your tongue,
by contrast, deviseth mischiefs. The Lord's loving kindness is
demonstrated day by day, but you have devised mischiefs like
a sharp razor working deceitfully. I mean, over and over again throughout
the Scriptures, deceit is in the very heart of all of the
wickedness of men, because deceit is at which the Scripture says
that the father of lies has brought unto men. Why do we call, who is the father
of lies? Satan, the scripture says, is
the father of lies. He told the first and biggest
lie that's ever been told to men in the garden when he told
Eve, you shall not surely die. He was lying. Because the Lord
had already told Adam, in the day that thou eatest, thereof
thou shalt surely die. But the deceitfulness of Satan,
and he's still at work today. People don't think they're going
to die. People think they're going to live on somewhere forever.
I mean, and what everybody says, when somebody dies, don't everybody
say, oh, he's in a better place now? Well, he may be. He may
be, but he may not be. I mean, that's just not, men
don't just live eternally because they're men. Men have eternal
life because it has been given to them by the grace of God. In Christ is life. Life is in
His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. I didn't make that up. I didn't
write it. I didn't come up with it. The
Lord said it. The Lord Jesus Christ testified
to it to His disciples. He said, I am The way, the truth,
and the life. In him was life. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. He is the life of his people. And so he says, of no egg, Thou
lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness."
Wicked men love wickedness. That's the way it is. Every man,
by nature, loves the way of wickedness. You don't have to teach a child
to be disobedient. You know, did you ever have to
tell your children, now, y'all need to kind of, when I tell
you to do something, y'all need to not do it sometime. Did you
ever have to tell them that? No, why not? Because it's in
the heart. It's the way of man to go contrary
to that which he's told to do. It's just human nature. And so
men will go. Thou lovest evil more than good,
and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Is this not, as we see, the dealings
of the Pharisees with the Lord Jesus Christ? They resorted to lying in order
that they might destroy him, did they not? They hired men
to come tell things that would accuse him before their own court. Now, here's men supposedly upholding
righteous court and they bring the Lord Jesus in there and they
paid men to come in there and tell lies against him. Unfortunately, that's kind of
the way sometimes our justice system works. But, you know,
when you were talking about that earlier, and I was thinking of
that very thing that, you know, it is often that the very court
that's designed to judge men rightly often doesn't because
sometimes prosecutors withhold information that they know would
exonerate somebody that they're trying, but because they want
to win the case, they just don't tell that. You know, they just
tell the stuff they know. Now, it's actually illegal for
them to do that, but it happens more often than you might imagine
that it does. They say, well, you know, we
just won't say anything about that because they want to present
their case. But the natural man, this is
the way of man, he loves evil more than good, lying rather
than speak righteousness. Thou lovest all devouring words,
thou deceitful tongue. Because you know that is, James
said that the tongue is set on the fires of hell. With our lips
and our tongue, we can destroy men. And men is the man that
has been destroyed. We saw it here not too long ago
in our, in these confirmation hearings and stuff like that.
And it seems like every time, you know, and I don't know, I
mean, I had to sit back and I had to say, well, you know, I don't
know what's the truth and what's not the truth, but I do know
this, that you can't trust men always to tell the truth. In
fact, you almost got to get them into a bind to get them to tell
the truth. I mean, you can't hardly get
them to tell the truth. O deceitful tongue, God shall
likewise destroy thee forever. Now he's speaking primarily of
Doeg here, but it is the soul that sinneth shall die. Satan
said, you shall not die. David and the Lord said, the
soul that sinneth shall die. There's only one thing that can
keep a man from that death and that is the mercy of God. visited upon him by his grace. It's the only thing that'll keep
him from reaching that fate, because the soul that sinned
shall die. Everybody, by that account, if
they didn't have someone who undertook their case before Almighty
God, they would surely die, and justly so. I mean, when brought
before the bar of God, what could you say in your defense? Now
righteous men, they'll have plenty to say. Well, Lord, we did all
these things. We cast out devils and we did
many wonderful works in thy name. You see, those that know themselves
to be sinners, they don't have any case to bring before the
Lord. Lord, if you kill me, Job said, if he slays me, he'll be
right. I mean, what could I say? I mean,
if the Lord just kills me tomorrow, what could I say? I mean, I deserve
that. God shall likewise destroy thee
forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place. Now again, in the Jewish tradition,
Doeg died when he was 34 years old, a young man by anybody's
standards. I don't know if that's true or
not, but nonetheless, I do believe this is true according to what
this Psalm says concerning Doeg, that the Lord did pluck him out
of the land of the living out of thy dwelling place, and
root thee out of the land of the living. You shall be destroyed,
in other words. Selah. The righteous also shall
see and fear. You know, when the wicked are
destroyed, it does bring fear into the lives and minds of God's
people. because we know that it could
be us, should be us, ought to be us. I remember reading Robert
Murray McShane's hymn and being struck by this thought when he
says, when I hear the wicked call, on the rocks and hills
to fall. When I see them start and shrink
on the fiery deluge brink, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not
till then, how much I owe." And how true that is, dear brethren.
You know, it is in the destruction of the wicked that the righteous,
made righteous by Christ, will have a great rejoicing. Because
they know it could have been them. They don't have any reason
to think God should have spared them. But He shall not spare
all according to what the Scripture tells us. The righteous shall
see and fear and shall laugh in Him. Now, the Scripture says that the Lord
shall have the wicked in derision. And you know, you hear people
talk about all the time the Lord has a sense of humor and all
that kind of stuff. I don't get into all that, but
the scripture does say that the Lord shall laugh. But it says
he shall laugh at the calamity of the wicked. He shall have
them in derision. And because the sons of God rejoice
in the justice of God, we shall have them in derision
as well. Not because we're looking at
them and thinking how great we are, but we're looking at them
and justifying the justice of God in their destruction, even
though we know it could have been us. And so they shall laugh
at him. Lo, this is the man that made
not God his strength. See, this is, As we look at Judas and we say,
here's a man that was a deceiver, here's the man that betrayed
our Lord. Here's a man that had no consideration
of the mercy of the one that walked with him and he betrayed
him for thirty pieces of silver. Turned his back on him. Why should
he have our pity? Indeed, as we consider that it
could have meant us in that same shape. In that respect, we do
have pity, as we think. I mean, you know, it's a terrible
thing. But at the same time, when we
see that the Lord brought swift justice and judgment upon him
for his sin, we do rejoice in God who is a God of justice.
Because you see, dear brethren, it's the same justice that destroyed
Doeg, that destroyed Judas, it's that same justice that causes
the sons of God to stand before Him in the final day. as they
stand there in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You see, we
have been justified before Almighty God through no work or effort
of our own, but through the effort of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
God is both just and the justifier of them which believe in Him. And so we do indeed rejoice in
the justice of God. because it is upon the basis
of justice. God will not demand twice the
payment for my sin, first at my bleeding surety's hand and
then again at mine. Oh, what a glorious thing is
the justice of God. Do we not rejoice in it? Lo,
this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted
in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his
wickedness. He went on when he had the opportunity. When he was faced with these
mighty men of war who would go to their death for King Saul,
yet when Saul told him to perform his wicked act, they said, we're
not going to do that. Now, Doeg, looking at that situation, Would you think he would say,
well, you know, maybe this ain't such a good idea. But no. He
persisted on. He transgressed the law of God. He actively and openly spat in
the face of God. He was as that one whom David
speaks of. He said, the fool has said in
his heart there is no God. Now everybody knows there's a
God. Even atheists know there's a
God. They won't admit it, but they
know that it is. The Scripture says they know
it. Scripture says that every man has been given this witness. Read the first chapter of Romans.
You can't escape it. It's right there. Every man knows
it. But what do they do? They say,
we will not have this man to rule over us. And so when the
fool has said in his heart, there is no God, what he means is,
there's no God for me. See, all men believe in predestination. They just believe they're the
predestinator. See, men don't balk against election,
long as they're the elector. Men don't balk against predestination
as long as they're the predestinator. What they hate is for God to
be the one. See, when the Scripture says
that God chose the people in Christ, they don't like that.
Now, if you tell me you can choose to be in Christ, they like that.
That sounds good. Well, I'll decide. Let me think
if I want to do that or not. Pat yourself on the back. Yeah,
I think I will. No. See, God is the one who's the
predestinator. He's the elector. He's the one
who's in charge of all things. And Doeg strengthened himself
in his wickedness. But David says, in contrast,
by the grace of God, I'm like a green olive tree in the house
of God. He says, I'm growing up by the
grace of God. I'm pruned and I'm tended because
I have one that does care for me. And I trust in the mercy
of God forever and ever. Now God's people can't help but
trust in His mercy. We don't have anything else to
trust in, do we? And again, going back to Job,
he said, though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Now, what's
he saying? He said, I'm casting myself on
the mercy of God and I'm not going anywhere else. Doesn't
matter what He does to me, I'm going to trust in His mercy.
That's the only thing I can do. But if I should die with mercy
sought, When I, the king, have tried this were to die, delightful
thought, as sinner never died. See, no man ever called upon
the Lord seeking mercy, and the Lord turned him away. Never happened. Never can happen. Why? Because
only men that ever seek the mercy of God are those whom the Lord
is pleased to cause, to cause them to cry out for mercy. I trust in the mercy of God forever
and ever because I can't do anything else. I will praise Thee forever
because Thou hast done it. Now you can fill in the blank.
It doesn't make any difference what it is. Thou hast done it.
Whatever brought me to this place, Thou hast done it. Whatever path,
Lord, that You brought me down, Thou hast done it according to
Thy good pleasure. And I will wait on thy name,
for it is good before thy saints." Oh, is there any name so sweet
to the children of God than the name of Jesus? That name which
is above every name, the Scripture says. There's not another name
that can be named among men that's greater than this. And is there
a sweeter name for the sons of God? than the name of him who
bled and died in our behalf. The one who calls his children
unto himself. The one who says to sinners deep
in debt and without any hope or help, come unto me all you
that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Oh,
what a glorious Savior he is. And we will rejoice with David.
We will praise thee forever because thou hast done it. And I will
wait on thy name, for it is good before thy saints. Oh, that the
Lord might give us a mind and heart to praise Him, to sing
forth that name which is above every name.