Turn to Psalm 35. This is one of what is known
as the imprecatory Psalms. There are 21 of them, and it's
where David is cursing his enemies. And I'm sure that when you've
read these psalms before, you've thought, well, should I curse
people the way David is? I'm sure you've thought that.
I've thought it. Let's read this psalm together, Psalm 35. Plead my cause, O Lord, with
them that strive with me. Fight against them that fight
against me. Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear and stop
the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation. Let them be confounded and put
to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought
to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as the chaff before
the wind, and let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their
way be dark and slippery, and let the angel of the Lord persecute
them. For without cause have they hid
for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged
for my soul. Let destruction come upon him
at unawares, and let his net that he hath hid catch himself. Into that very destruction let
him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in
the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, Lord,
who is like unto thee which delivers the poor from him that's too
strong for him? Yea, the poor and the needy from
him that spoileth him. False witnesses did rise up. They laid to my charge things
that I knew not. They rewarded me evil for good,
for the spoiling of my soul. But as for me, when they were
sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting
and my prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as
though they had been my friend or brother. I bowed down heavily
as one that mourneth for his mother. But in mine adversity,
they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together, yea, the abjects gathered
themselves together against me. And I knew it not, they did tear
me, and I ceased not, and ceased not. With hypocritical mockers
and feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. Lord, how
long wilt thou look on? Rescue my soul from their destructions,
my darling from the lions. I will give thanks in a great
congregation. I will praise thee among much
people. Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice
over me. Neither let them wink with the
eye that hate me without a cause. And that's quoted in John chapter
15, they hated me without a cause. For they speak not peace, but
they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in
the land. Yea, they have opened their mouth wide against me and
said, aha, aha, our eye has seen it. This thou has seen, O Lord. Keep not silence, O Lord, be
not far from me. Stir up thyself and awake to
my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord. Judge me,
O Lord, my God, according to thy righteousness, and let them
not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their hearts,
ah, so would we have it. Let them not say, we swallowed
him up. Let them be ashamed and brought
to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt. Let them be clothed
with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me.
Let them shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous
cause. Yea, let them say continually,
let the Lord be magnified, which has pleasure in the prosperity
of his servant. And my tongue shall speak of
thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we would have your presence and your blessing and that you
would speak to our hearts from your word. Leave us not to the words of
a mere man. but enable us to hear from thee
through thy word. Lord, we're meeting together
for this purpose, to hear your voice. Let us not meet in vain. And Lord, you did promise where
two or three are gathered together in your name, there you are in
their midst, and we believe your promise. Lord, we pray that we
might be enabled to be poor and needy so that Christ will be
all to us and our need will be only of him. Forgive us of our
sins. Give us grace to love you more
and love one another more. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
Be with all your people wherever they meet together. We pray for
our number that are sick and sorrowing. We pray for your blessing
upon them. Meet with us for Christ's sake.
In his name we pray, amen. Now, as I said, this is what
is known as one of the imprecatory Psalms. Am I saying that right? But it's the Psalms, there's
21 of them, where David curses his enemies. And read, for instance,
Psalm 69. He goes way off into these curses. And they're actually quoted in
the New Testament. Turn with me for just a moment
to Romans chapter 9. This is a quotation from Psalm
69. Romans chapter 9. I'm sorry, chapter 11. Verse
8. According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David
saith, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling
block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that
they may not see and bow down their back always. Now that's
David speaking of his enemies. Now, is it right for us to pray
that way against any of what we would perceive to be our enemies? Well, turn to Matthew chapter
five and that will be answered. Matthew chapter five, verse 43. You have heard that it hath been
said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say
unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. And does that mean everybody?
Yeah. This is what the Lord says for each of us to do with regard
to our enemies. No room for question. It would
never be right for me to wish ill on my enemies. To wish bad things upon them. And the Lord makes that very
clear. Now, back to Psalm 35. Remember the Psalms are Christ
speaking. That always comes first, doesn't
it? And this is Christ praying against his enemies. As a matter of fact, every one
of those imprecatory Psalms are Christ praying against his enemies. When he said, Father, forgive
them, He wasn't praying for all men. He was praying for his elect. He said in John chapter 17 verse
9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me. Believing what the Bible
teaches about me, men, mankind, we realize that men hate God. And this is who Jesus Christ
is. praying against. People who, if it were in their
power, they'd wipe him out and make him not to be and kill him. People who were, if it were in
their power, they would make God to not be existent. Just
wish him plum out of existence. Romans 8, 7 says the carnal mind,
that's the mind you and I were born with, is enmity, is enmity. against God. It's not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So the natural man, what
we are by nature, are people who, if it were in our power,
we'd put God out of business. We'd make him not to be, and
we would take his place. Now that is the person that Christ
is praying against, he is praying against somebody like Esau, who
despised his birthright. He didn't think God was worth
a bowl of soup. That's how low he viewed God. Somebody says,
how could God hate Esau? I got no problem with that. I
don't have any problem with how God can hate me. I'm amazed at
him loving Jacob. Now, this is the prayer of Christ
against those people who want to kill him and want him put
out of business. Now, in Exodus 20, verses 4 and
5, the commandment against idolatry, making false images of God, It's
mentioned in those verses why men do that. It's because they
hate God as he is. And they want to make a different
God that they can get along with. And so they change the character
of God in their own thinking. I love what Moses said. He said,
rise, O Lord. Let thine enemies be scattered,
and let them that hate thee flee before thee." Now these are the
people that Christ is praying against. And to have Him praying
against you, oh, oh my, to have the Son of God praying against
you and praying for your disruption, well that's what's going on right
here in the Lord Pray for me for my mercy, for grace. Now let's look at this psalm
with this in mind. This is the Lord speaking. And
he says, plead my cause, oh Lord, with them that strive with me.
Fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield
and buckler and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the
spear and stop the way against them that persecute me. Say unto
my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put
to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought
to confusion that devised my herd. Now, this is the Lord Jesus
Christ praying against those who would kill him. Now, there's
another group he prayed for. Thank God. Father, forgive them. And everybody he prayed for was
forgiven. Father, forgive them. I love when he said to Peter,
Peter, I've prayed for you. Can you get hold, can I get hold
of the thought that when the Lord Jesus was on Calvary's tree,
he was praying for me? My name was in his heart. No generic prayer, my name. Now, look what he says in verse
five. Let them be as chaff in the wind
and let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be
dark and slippery. Put them in a place where they'll
slots in due time. They shall slide, set them in
slippery places is what he's saying. This is the Lord Jesus
praying against his enemies. Let the angel of the Lord persecute
them for without cause. Now here is our natural depravity
without cause. What has the Lord ever done to
anyone that would give them a reason to want his destruction? He's
altogether glorious. He's altogether lovely. He is
good to all. His tender mercies over all his
works. What maliciousness on men's part
that without a cause they would seek his destruction. Pure maliciousness. And like I said, the Lord quoted
this as being about him in John chapter 15, when he said, they
hated me without a cause. And that is man's hatred of the
Lord. I mean, that, that shows how wicked we are by nature.
We hate him without a cause. We do it because it's what we
want to do. That's the wickedness of men. For without cause, if
they hid from me their net in a pit, and which without cause
they have digged for my soul. They wanted me hurt. He says,
let destruction come upon him at unawares. Let it take him
by surprise and let his net that he had hid catch himself in the
very destruction. You know, he may let him fall.
You know, what goes around will come around with all of those
who are his enemies. I thought of Haman in the book
of Esther. He planned on hanging Mordecai,
and he made a gallows 50 cubits high. Guess who was hung on that
gallows? Amen. Verse nine, and my soul shall
be joyful in the Lord. And that's what he says with
regard to all this. My soul shall be joyful in the
Lord. and it shall rejoice in his salvation. And all my bones shall say, now
we know that the Lord is talking about his body. He's talking
about all the elect. Remember how not a bone of him
shall be broken? Well, here's his bones and here's
what they have to say. All my bones, without exception.
All my bones, the body of Christ shall say, Lord, who's like unto
thee? Well, there's nobody like the
Lord, is there? There's nobody we can compare
him with. He's altogether other. Who is like unto thee? This is
what all of his bones say. Who is like unto thee, which
deliver us the poor from him that's too strong for him, yea,
the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him. Now this is
one of 10 times in the Psalms, David calls himself poor and
needy. And that's the best description of me, poor, right now, not talking
about the way I used to be. I don't have anything to offer
God that he could accept. All I have is Christ. And I have
great needs. I need his mercy. I need his
grace. And I don't want to ever leave
being poor and being needy because that's who the Lord delivers.
I'm not poor. Well, you don't have any promise
of his deliverance then. I don't need anything. Everything's fine
with me. Okay. I'm going to have his help. Verse
11, he speaks of what took place around the cross. False witnesses
did rise up. They laid to my charge things
that I knew not. I didn't do those things that
they accused me of. They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling
of my soul. This is what they wanted, my
soul to be spoiled. Now look at the way the Lord
talks about his conduct toward them. And you and I can learn
something here. If I ever pray for the misfortune and ill on people
that I feel like have done me wrong, look how the Lord did
as a man. But as for me, when they were
sick, these very people who wished ill for me, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting
and my prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as
though they had been my friend or brother. And I bowed down
heavily as one that mourneth for his mother. Now this was
the Lord's action. As a man, you say, well, how
could he be praying this prayer if that's his action as a man?
Well, he's the God man. And whatever he does is right.
And I don't feel any need to say anything, but this is the
way you and I are to respond. If you've been treated illy,
this is the way the Lord responded as a man. Verse 15, but in mine adversity,
they rejoiced. You know, I think that scripture,
when they passed by, they were wagging their heads while the
Lord was on the cross, kind of in glee, happy to see him suffer,
thinking, oh, we've got him now, he's finished. They were wagging
their heads in joy and glee, making fun of him while he was
hanging from the tree. But in my adversity, they rejoiced
and gathered themselves together, yea, the abjects gathered themselves
together against me. And I knew it not, they did tear
me and cease not. With hypocritical mockers and
feasts." How many times does it say he was mocked from the
cross? They mocked him, they mocked him. With hypocritical
mockers and feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. Lord,
how long wilt thou look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction,
my darling from the lions. Now the Lord tells us what he's
going to do in the midst of the church. He says, I will give
thanks in the great congregation. Now he's talking about the church
and the church is the great congregation. Uh, their greatness is that they're
in him and it's a great congregation. This church is a church that
never grows and it never diminishes. You know, local churches grow
and diminish. As far as what we can see, but
not this church. Nobody's ever added to it. It's
all of God's elect and not one of them is lost. This is the
great congregation. I will give thanks in the great
congregation. I will praise thee among much
people. Isn't it glorious to think of
the son praising the father and us getting to look on? We get
to just watch. We get to be a spectator in this,
watching the son praise the father. He says in verse 19, let not
them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me. Neither let
them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause." Now, if
there is one scripture that describes human depravity, there it is. They hated me. They hated me. The one who's altogether glorious,
the creator, the Lord of glory. They hated me without a cause. They hated me freely. So bad
is the natural man that he hates Jesus Christ. And if it's in
his power, and this is what is in our heart when we were born
into this world. I mean, we were born this way. Little rattlesnake, it's cute,
just a little baby rattlesnake. No, that little rattlesnake was
born hating God. That's you and I by nature. They
hated me without a cause. Never question your own total
depravity by nature. They hated me without a cause. Verse 20. Do they speak not peace? Oh,
they talk about it, but it's not for peace with God. They
speak not peace, but they devise deceitful manners against them
that are quiet in the land. Somebody who's resting in Christ. Natural man has no love for them. They'll devise deceitful things
against them. Yea, they, verse 21, they opened
Their mouth wide against me and said, aha, ha ha. Our eyes have
seen it. We've got you now. Aha. You're
caught. You're caught. You're getting
what you have coming. Aha. That's what people say.
You're caught. You're exposed. That's what they
were saying. Verse 22, this thou has seen. You know, the Lord sees everything. And he was looking upon this,
this thou has seen. Their hatred of me, their treatment
of me. You know, the Lord sees everything.
His eyes try the children of men. He sees you right now. He sees me right now. He sees
all men right now, all together. All things are naked and opened
with the one with whom we have to do. And you know what? That doesn't frighten me for
this reason. I mean, I'm afraid of the Lord
all the time in the sense of the fear of God. But I know that
through because of Christ, God sees me as without sin. What do you got to fear? I'm
glad he sees me as I am, because in Christ I am without sin. There's nothing to fear. This
thou has seen, O Lord, Verse 22, keep not silence, O Lord,
be not far from me. Stir up thyself and awake to
my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord. Judge me,
O Lord, my God, according to thy righteousness. Now the Lord could say this,
couldn't he? Judge me according to thy righteousness. And every believer can say that
too. Judge me according to thy righteousness. You see, if you
believe that God is just and justifies the ungodly through
what Christ has done, you can say, Lord, judge me according
to thy righteousness. But that's what the Lord says
at this time. Judge me according to thy righteousness and let
them not rejoice over me, Let them not say in their heart,
ah, so would we have it. We're so pleased with what's
taking place. We're glad he's dying. We're
glad we're going to be rid of him. Oh, so would we have it? Let them not say we've swallowed
him up. Let them be ashamed and brought
to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt. Let them be clothed with shame
and dishonor that magnify themselves against me. But now he speaks of his people
once again in verse 27. Let them shout for joy and be
glad that favor my righteous cause. Now, my marginal reading
says my righteousness, my righteousness. I'm not sure why the translators
put righteous cause there because if I looked in the Hebrew, I
don't know Hebrew, you know that and I know that, but I can look
in the inner linear and the only word that's there is the word
righteousness, the Hebrew word righteousness. And I tell you
what, I favor being saved by his righteousness, don't you?
I shout for joy at being saved by His righteousness. I favor
His righteousness. And let me tell you this, if
you give me the choice between being saved by my righteousness
or His righteousness, that's a no-brainer. That's a no-brainer. I want to have His righteousness
only. And I do shout for joy at His
righteousness. Let them shout for joy and be
glad that favor, that delight in my righteousness. Jeremiah 23, six, this is the
name wherewith he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Jeremiah 33, verse 15 or 16. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called. The Lord, our righteousness. Oh, we favor his righteousness,
don't we? I don't want to be anywhere else. And let me say this. Anybody
who wants to be saved by his righteousness, I don't care who
they are, will be saved by his righteousness. And if you're
not saved by his righteousness, let me tell you why. It's because
you didn't want to be saved by his righteousness. Let them shout for joy and be
glad that favor my righteous cause. Yea, let them say continually,
let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity
of his servant. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Now here's something we're glad
in, the prosperity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, he's incapable
of failure. He's incapable of it. I mean,
everything he does, the Lord's gonna prosper. And the Lord made
the universe for him to come to the cross and prosper in that
which God gave him to do. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Don't you rejoice
in his prosperity? That's how we rejoice. Let the
Lord be magnified. Isn't the Lord magnified in his
prosperity? He gets all the glory. He deserves
all the glory, and we're glad he gets all the glory, because
that means he did it all. That means salvation is not by
works, it's by what he did. And we're glad that he gets all
the glory. And our heart's prayer is let
the Lord be magnified and glorified. Verse 28, and my tongue shall
speak of Thy righteousness. In Psalm 71, 16, David said,
I've made mention of thy righteousness, even thine only. Now, I wish we could get this
into our thick skulls and hard hearts. There's only one righteousness,
the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Lord. That's the only righteousness
there is. Do you believe that? David said, and the Lord said,
my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness. Hold your finger
there and turn to Psalm 40. Now we know this is Christ speaking
from verses seven and eight. Of course, we know it's always
Christ speaking when we're reading the Psalms, don't we? But this
is actually quoted in Hebrews chapter 10. Then said, I lo,
I come in the volume of the book it's written of me. I delight
to do thy will. Oh my God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. I have preached righteousness. Now there's the Lord's preaching.
I have preached righteousness. in the great congregation. Lo,
I've not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest, I've not hid, whose
righteousness? Thy righteousness. Within my
heart, I've declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I've not concealed
thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
Now there the Lord describes his preaching. And what was the
subject of his preaching? Thy righteousness. Now go back
to Psalm 35. My tongue shall speak of thy
righteousness and of thy praise all the day long. So we read these imprecatory,
I need to find out how to pronounce that. I don't know if I'm saying
it right. There's 21 of these, and every time it is just like
in every other psalm, they're Lord speaking. That made me think
of, I actually read where somebody said there are 22 messianic psalms,
prophecies of the Messiah. Wrong. There's 150 messianic
psalms. Okay.