On to Psalm 140. While I'm reading this psalm, I hope
we always do that, but pay attention to what's actually being said
in this psalm. It's very strong language. Psalm 140, deliver me, O Lord,
from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent
man. Which imagine mischiefs in heart. Continually are they gathered
together for war. They've sharpened their tongues
like a serpent. Adder's poison. is under their
lips. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands
of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent
man who has purposed to overthrow my goings. The proud have hid
a snare for me and cords. They have spread a net by the
wayside. They have set gins for me, bait. I said unto the Lord, Thou art
my God, Hear the voice of my supplications, my entreaties
for your favor, O Lord. O God, the Lord, the strength
of my salvation, thou has covered my head in the day of battle. Grant not, O Lord, the desires
of the wicked. Further not his wicked device,
lest they exalt themselves. As for the head of those that
compass me about, let the mischief, the evil of their own lips cover
them. Let burning coals fall upon them. Let them be cast into the fire,
into deep pits that they rise not up again. Have you wished
that on someone lately? That's a desire for them to be
in hell. That's exactly what that means. Let not an evil speaker
be established in the earth. Evil shall hunt the violent man
to overthrow him. I know that the Lord will maintain
the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. Surely
the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name. The upright shall
dwell in thy presence. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are. How we thank you for all your
glorious attributes, how we thank you for the gospel that you've
given us, the gospel of our blessed son. How we thank you for the
complete, just, righteous, holy salvation there is for sinners
in him. Lord, we confess our sin. We
pray for forgiveness and cleansing for Christ's sake. We pray that
your gospel would be preached in the power of your spirit,
that you would bless us. Lord, we pray for our friends
that are ill. Lord, you know their needs. We
pray for your great blessing upon them for Christ's sake. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together in Christ's name we pray. Amen. You'll notice he did not say
evil men. He said the evil man. Now this is a psalm of great
conflict. You can see the conflict he's
feeling as he talks about this evil man, this violent man, the
mischief he brings. And he actually asked for the
Lord to bring coals of fire upon them and to send them to hell. Now, what is behind this? This is inspired by the Holy
Spirit. We can't just think people were different back then. What
is going on in this psalm? Is David speaking generically? Deliver me from this type of
person? Perhaps. Is he speaking of individuals
who have used violence against him and slandered him with their
evil tongues? I'm sure that he experienced
all of that. But who is the evil man he is
speaking of. You know, I read this Psalm probably
15 or 20 times trying to think, what is he saying? And when it
came to me, I understood. The evil man he's speaking of
is that man that's sitting in the same chair you are, right
with you. That is the evil man. This conflict that he's speaking
of is the same conflict Paul speaks of when he speaks in Galatians
5.17, the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth
against the flesh. And these two are contrary. They
are at odds to one another so that you cannot do the things
you would. This is the same evil man Paul spoke of when he said,
Oh, wretched man that I am. Who should deliver me from the
body of this death? And it takes a holy nature to
see this. If you see this with regard to
yourself, there's only one reason. You have a holy nature given
to you in the new birth. If you can't see this, it's because
you have no holy nature. This is what God does when he
saves somebody. He gives them a new nature, a
holy nature. Now, when a believer is born
again, he has still the nature he was born with. that old nature,
but he's also got a new nature, a nature that was not there before,
a new creation in Christ Jesus. And this word nature, listen
to this. Paul said in Ephesians 2, 4,
you are by nature, there's the word, you are by nature, children
of wrath, even as others. And Peter said in 2 Peter 1,
4, we're made partakers of the divine nature. That's a powerful
statement, isn't it? Partakers of the divine nature. Now these are scriptural terms.
Every believer has two separate natures. Now there are people
who have problems with this. I do not understand this. This
is what the new birth is. If you don't have two natures,
you weren't born again. This is the new birth, the new
nature. This is not being schizophrenic,
split personalities, it's nothing like that at all. Both of these
natures are in the one personality the believer has, the one consciousness
the believer has. You don't have two separate consciousnesses,
one holy and the other evil. You have this one personality,
this one consciousness that both of these natures go through,
it's what the Lord is speaking of when he says the spirit, the
new man, the spiritual man, is willing. Paul said the will is
present with me, I would never sin again. I would be perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. But the flesh, when it says it's
weak, the word is powerless. Powerless. The flesh lusts against
the spirit. That's not talking about the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's not having a battle with someone. We're going to see how it's going
to turn out. That's talking about the spiritual nature given to
the believer in the new birth. The flesh lusts against the spirit,
the spirit lusts against the flesh, these are contrary one
to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
John 6, verse 63, these are the words of the Lord, it's the spirit
that quickens, that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Now the conflict he is
speaking of is this conflict between the new man and the old
man. That is the man he's speaking
of. And somebody says, is this an issue? Does it really matter
what you believe about this? Of course it does. It's to this
extent, really, if you don't believe in two natures, you don't
really believe in the new birth. What is it you're believing?
that the old man has improved, that there's this getting better
and getting worse depending on how you Respond to things, you
become better, more holy, and the old man becomes less sinful.
While that is contrary to the scriptures, it's contrary to
our experience. Of course this matters. A denial of two natures, you're
left with progressive sanctification. That's all there can be. I'm
becoming progressively better, or I'm becoming progressively
worse. There's no in between. This is a critically important
issue. The new creation. Now let's look
at our text in light of this. Psalm 140 verse one. Deliver me, O Lord, from that
man sitting in my chair. The evil man. You know, when the Lord said
to his disciples, the 12, the apostles, if you then being evil,
present tense, right now, if you then being evil. I wonder if William said, why
is he talking to us like that? Should he be speaking with us?
I mean, we're saved, aren't we? Why would he speak to us that
way? Well, there are other places where we're called the righteous,
and that's true too. But this is true with regard
to every believer. I have no doubt that when David
is saying this, he's not saying, deliver me of these evil men
that are against me. Deliver me from the evil man. Do you pray to the Lord to save
you from yourself? to deliver you from yourself.
You are the problem. Not those people out there. You
are the problem. Deliver me from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent
man. Now what's a violent man do? He tries to do whatever he
wants to, without reference to how it's going to affect anybody
else. He's going to take what he wants. And he says, deliver
me from the violent man. And he's talking about himself.
He sees his wicked nature and what direction it could go. And
he says, Lord, deliver me from this. Keep me from this. And
here is the description of this man, which imagine mischiefs
in heart. Notice there is in italics. The
translator put it there, but do you imagine mischief, evil
is the word, in your heart? He said, deliver me from this
imagining, these imaginations of, look what he says, continually,
are they gathered together for war? This is nonstop. This was talking about Romans
chapter seven. When I would do good, evil is present with me.
The flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. These are contrary one to the other. You can't do the
things you would. You would be holy. You'd be without
sin. You still got the flesh. You
would be an absolute monster. God, the Holy Spirit, by the
spiritual nature He's given you, prevents you from doing the things
you would. And you find that true in your
experience. Verse three, they've sharpened
their tongues like a serpent. Adder's poison is under their
lips. Now, we know people like that, don't we? People who just,
their lips are poisonous, the things that are just vicious. But here's what he's talking
about, the things that come from himself. My heart says things like, how
could you possibly be saved if you do those things? If you think
those things, how could you be saved? Or it says, you must be
saved, look at the evidence you give. You give proper evidence,
and all this is is an attempt to keep us from looking only
to Christ. But one of the things I love
to think about, about this old man that he's speaking of, our
old man makes it to where we have nowhere to look but Christ,
doesn't he? In that sense, he's the slave of the new man. He
doesn't intend for this. but he causes us to have nowhere
to look. But Christ, the elder, the old
man, he's the older one, shall serve, shall be a slave to the
younger. That is the promise of scripture. But they've sharpened their tongues
like a serpent, adders poisons under their lips. Verse four. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands
of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent
man who hath purpose to overthrow my goings. Now he's trying to
knock me off the way, that old man with all the suggestions
he brings. He's trying to take me off the
way where Christ said, I am the way. You can't take that too
far. He is the way, the only way,
the sufficient way. Anything added or subtracted
from him is not the way. And the old man is seeking to
overthrow us, my goings in the way. Oh, keep me, oh Lord, from
the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from that violent
man who has purposed to overthrow my goings. Verse five, the proud. Do you have any pride? What about your pride? The proud,
oh, he's so ugly. He's so wicked. He's yet the
pride that's in my heart right now. The proud have hit a snare
for me and cords. They've spread a net by the wayside.
They've set gins for me. They've set bait for me. How
much gins and snares and bait There is an old man, and he recognizes
that, and he's asking the Lord for deliverance. Save me from
this man. Verse six, I said unto the Lord,
thou art my God. Hear the voice of my supplications,
O Lord. Now, whenever you read that word
supplications, it means an entreaty for grace. and in treaty for
favor. Lord, I need your favor. I need your grace in this great
battle that I'm dealing with nonstop with my old man. I need
your grace now. Hold your finger there and let's
turn just for a moment to Romans chapter 7. Because I want you to see that
this is so. True to the scriptures and really This struggle is the
struggle of a healthy believer. This is what a healthy believer
will feel. And if not, you're either not
a believer or you're in some kind of wrong state. Now look at Romans chapter seven,
verse 14, for we know That the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it's good. Problem's not with
the law, it's with me. Now then, it's no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now, is this sin, an unalive
thing that's just kind of dwelling? No, he's talking about a sinful
nature, his evil nature. He's not talking about sin in
an abstract form. He's talking about his sinful
nature. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, my sinful nature, the nature I was born with, dwelleth
no good thing. Now for to will is present with
me, that's the new man, he would be perfectly good, but how to
perform that which is good, I find not. I find not. Not for the good that I would,
I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if
I do that which I would not, it's no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. He's saying it wasn't me, it's
him. He's talking about his old nature. I find then a law. that when
I would do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. That's the new man, the inward
man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God. I thank God. Through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so then with my mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin. Now as he's saying, well,
my sinful flesh, it's just gonna sin and I can't restrain it,
I'm just gonna let it go and I'm the new man to, he's not
saying that. But he's speaking of the reality
of two natures. And he recognizes the one is
nothing but sin. Thank God for the one that is
truly holy, the one that does not sin, the new birth. Now back to Psalm 140. Verse six, he said, I said unto
the Lord, thou art my God. Hear the voice of my supplications,
O Lord, my entreaty for grace. God the Lord the strength of
my salvation now don't you know that he's the strength of your
salvation that you have no strength and that he himself is the strength
of your salvation and David realized that and He said thou has covered
my head in the day of battle That day is every day And the
Lord has covered my head, overshadowed my head, is what that means.
Even in my battle, I'm in the strong hand of the strong shepherd,
and no one is able to pluck me out of his hand. Grant not, verse eight, grant
not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Don't you want the Lord
to not grant the desires of that wicked man in you? You want him
put away? Now, we have prayed this prayer
with regard to other people. Don't let them have their way.
Maybe it's some kind of situation. I realize that. Don't let them
have their desire. Put a block. Keep that from happening. But
he's talking more than anything else about himself. Grant not,
what if the Lord took his hand off you and let you do the desires
of your wicked heart? You'd be in trouble, wouldn't
you? I'd be in trouble. And that's why we're asking the
Lord, don't even grant these desires. Further not his wicked
device, his wicked intention, lest they exalt themselves. Verse
nine. As for the head of those that
compass me about, and I think of this new man being encompassed
by this old man. And you know what that is when
I'm saying that. You have a new man that's encompassed
by this old man. As for the head of those that
compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them,
the evil of their own lips, let burning coals fall upon them,
and let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they
rise not again." Now, here's the only way I can understand
this. My worst enemy, I'm not hoping
to go to hell. People that I've seen degrade
the gospel. I'm not hoping to go to hell.
I'm not wanting coals of fire to come down upon them and for
them to burn eternally in hell. That's not what I'm wishing for
anybody. Now, there's a time coming when I'll be able to praise
God for his righteous judgment against those who end up going
to hell. But right now, I can't do that.
I can't do that. I know I can't. I don't want
anybody in here to go to hell. What he is talking about is the
judgment of his old man has suffered eternal hell when Christ suffered
the full equivalent of eternal hell on the cross and he can't
get back up and we're glad. We're glad. Sin shall not have
dominion over you for you're not under the law, but you're
under grace. What a place to be under. Let not, verse 11, let not an
evil speaker be established in the earth. That evil speaker that's in me,
don't let him be. Those things that come up. Yes, don't let a false preacher
be established. I believe that. I don't want
that either. But I think the whole thing in
this psalm is personal. And he's talking about how many
wrong thoughts do you have coming up speaking to you all the time? Don't let them be established. Let not an evil speaker be established
on the earth. Evil shall hunt the violent man
to overthrow him. Now he speaks with this confidence. He says, I know that the Lord
will maintain the cause, the judgment of the afflicted and
the right of the poor. Now that poor and afflicted is
usually translated Poor and needy. Poor, having absolutely nothing
that I can bring before God and say, have mercy because I'm this
way, I'm that way, I've done, no. Poor and needy. Great needs. I need his favor. I need his grace. I need the
righteousness of his son as my righteousness before God. I need
his intercession. Now, the believer is the poor
and the needy. As a matter of fact, David described
himself this way 10 times. I'm poor and I'm needy. Now he says, I know that the
Lord will maintain the judgment. The word cause is actually judgment
of the afflicted and the right of the poor. Now this is one
of the things that's so glorious, so much that's glorious about
the gospel. But my salvation is because of the
judgment he accomplished on the cross and he's going to maintain
that. At all times, Jesus Christ is all in my salvation. At all
times. And he's going to maintain that.
He's not going to let that go under. He'll maintain the cause of the
right and the right of the poor. You see, God's salvation is a
righteous salvation. It's not him just sweeping my
sin under the carpet and act like it never happened. No, it's
been judged and condemned and put away in Christ. And my salvation
is a righteous salvation. Verse 13, surely he's talking
about the same man and he's talking about every believer. Surely
the righteous. That describes every believer.
Surely the righteous. And you're the only way you have
an appreciation of that. If you know something about the
evil man. When you know something about the evil man, you have
such an appreciation of the righteous. There's only two kinds of people
in this world, the righteous and the wicked. And as I've said
before, all the righteous believe themselves to be wicked. And
all the wicked believe themselves to be righteous, or at least
have the potential to be righteous. Surely the righteous shall give
thanks unto thy name. You see, it's his name that saves
us. His name is his attributes. And we give thanks to his name.
Aren't you thankful for his just salvation, for his sovereign
salvation, for his Gracious salvation for his salvation of love, for
his immutable salvation, for his eternal salvation. We give
thanks to his name. Surely the righteous shall give
thanks to thy name, the upright. I think the righteous is his
work for us, the upright is his work in us. The upright shall
dwell in thy presence continually. David said, ask for me, I'll
behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness, where I will dwell continually. That is the hope of every believer. Amen.