Slay the Wicked, O God! (Psalm 139:19–22) with John Jeaitani

Well, it's a joy and a privilege to bring the preaching of the Word of God to you this evening.

If you would, turn in your Bibles uh to Psalm 139.

And our text uh for this evening, as was read, uh, is from verses 19 to 22.

Let's open in prayer.

Oh Lord our God, we thank you that your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

Lord, we pray you'd guide us into all truth this evening.

Help us to understand this text all right.

And Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you.

And Lord, may we be doers of the word and not hearers only.

We pray this for Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God.

Now I know what you're thinking.

Where does this verse come from?

It feels like it's come a little out of the blue, like a thunderbolt from nowhere.

Psalm 139 up to this point has seemed so comforting and so positive, as David has basked in the joy of God's knowledge for of him and his presence with him.

But now the tone seems to have dramatically changed.

We have talk of slaying the wicked, bloodthirsty men, hating God's enemies.

How does our passage this evening relate to what we've already heard from in the preceding weeks from Psalm 139?

David has just spent the first 18 verses of this wonderful Psalm contemplating how wonderful God is, how God knows all about him, verses 1 to 6.

How God is with him wherever he is, verses 7 to 12.

And then as an example of these two truths, he praises God for how he has made him and how he orders all his days.

Verses 13 to 16.

And then David reaches the summit of his adoration of God.

He cries out, How precious to me are your thoughts, O God, how vast is the sum of them?

If I could count them, they are more than the sand.

Verses 17 and 18.

David is at, as I said, uh the summit of his adoration of God.

He's basking in the wonderful joy and blessing of knowing this God, the one who knows him, the one who is with him, the one who loves him.

David adores God.

He loves his ways and his glory.

He has a great zeal for God.

He is loyal to God.

And it's out of the well of this love and zeal and loyalty for God that now David turns his gaze toward the wicked, who do not so adore this wonderful God, who have dared to set themselves against him.

He hates to see them rebelling against God.

And so he passionately requests, Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God.

Because he loves God so much, because he is so zealous for God and for his glory, he wants all that oppose God to be destroyed.

Nothing should stand in the way of God.

And he also knows that the God who knows all things, who is everywhere present, will surely bring the wicked to account.

And so the main theme for our text this evening is zeal for God.

We're gonna look at David's example of zeal for God.

And as we do, we're gonna ask ourselves the question: how should we be zealous for God?

To give you that answer up front, being zealous for God means loving God and hating his enemies.

It means loving what God loves and hating what he hates.

It means dedicating ourselves, consecrating ourselves to God and separating ourselves and being opposed to his enemies.

It means seeking God's glory above all things.

Now, what comes to mind when you think of someone who is zealous?

Do you think of zeal as a good thing or a bad thing?

Perhaps you think of someone who is passionate and devoted to a good cause.

Perhaps you think of someone who's passionate but may lack the knowledge to direct that passion to achieve something good.

Perhaps you might think of someone who's a bit full-on, like a bit over the top.

Perhaps you may think of someone that's operating from a position of bitterness or vengeance.

We'll also consider this evening what should govern our zeal for God.

And the short upfront answer is that our zeal for God should be informed by our knowledge of God and should be motivated by our love for God.

Informed by our knowledge of who God is, and motivated by our love for Him.

Because if it's not governed by those things, then it could be an ugly thing.

For it was the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3, verse 6, that was described as to zeal, a persecutor of the church.

Philippians 3:6

It was the children of Israel in Romans chapter 10, verses 2 to 3, who were described as having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

Romans 10:2–3

And so that led them to not submit to God's righteousness, but to establish their own righteousness.

And even zeal directed in the right cause, if it's not motivated rightly by love for God, and instead by personal bitterness and animosity and vindictiveness, is an ugly thing.

Many today claim that God is on their side.

But the question we must ask ourselves this evening is: are we on God's side?

Are we zealous for Him and His ways?

We're going to consider our text this evening from verses 19 to 22 under three main headings.

The first is David's request concerning the wicked.

We find that in verse 19, the first part.

The second is the reputation of the wicked.

We see that in the second part of verse 19 and verse 20.

And then we will see David's response to the wicked.

We'll see that in the second part of verse 19, as well as verses 21 and 22.

David's request concerning the wicked, the reputation of the wicked, and David's response to the wicked.

Firstly, our text begins with David's request or his prayer to God.

Oh, that you would slay the wicked.

This is an example of what theologians call an imprecatory prayer.

A prayer requesting that God would bring his judgment to bear on the wicked.

David is asking God to bring his curse, his calamity, his disaster upon the wicked.

And this is not the sort of prayer that we're used to hearing today as Christians.

Some of you may even recoil at such a prayer.

We need to ensure we have a proper understanding of what David is requesting.

Firstly, see that David is asking God to act.

Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God.

David is not taking judgment or vengeance against the wicked into his own hands.

He's not allowed to.

God says in Leviticus 19, 18, You shall not take vengeance against the sons of your own people.

And in Deuteronomy 32, 35, God says, Vengeance is mine and recompense.

And there are the Old Testament witnesses.

Then the New Testament in the Apostle Paul applies Deuteronomy 32, 35, and in Romans 12, 19, he says, Beloved, never revenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.

David here is bringing the issue of the wicked before God, and he trusts in him that he will act as he sees best.

He trusts in the judge of all the earth that he will do what is right.

Secondly, David, in asking for God to slay the wicked, is asking for God to do something consistent with his character.

Prayer must be according to God's name and according to his ways.

We've been reminded of many of the attributes of God in this Psalm 139: His omniscience, his omnipresence, him being the God who creates and who providentially orders all things.

But other attributes of God are his holiness and his righteousness.

And they mean he cannot abide with sin.

He will exercise his wrath in judgment against the wicked.

Habakkuk 113 says that God is of purer eyes than to see evil, and he cannot look at wrong.

David writes in Psalm 5, verses 4 to 5, that you are not a God who delights in wickedness.

Psalms 5:4–5

Evil may not dwell with you.

The boastful shall not stand before your eyes.

You hate all evildoers.

And thirdly, David is asking God to do something that He has already promised that He will do.

Prayer is according to God's will.

David would be aware that when God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 34:7, he said that he was a God who would by no means clear the guilty, but would visit the iniquity of the fathers to the children to the third and fourth generation.

Exodus 34:7

David wrote in Psalm 7 that God is a righteous judge who feels indignation every day.

If a man does not repent, he will wet his sword, he has bent and readied his bow.

David also knows that God has judged and poured out his judgment many times previously in biblical history.

He judged Adam and Eve.

He covered the world with a global flood.

He judged Sodom and Gomorrah, Pharaoh and Egypt, Israel as they rebelled in the wilderness, the nations of Canaan, Israel through the book of Judges, by placing over them hostile nations, and all those nations as well he judged, as he delivered his people from them.

He judged Saul for his disobedience, and even judged David in his own life also for his disobedience.

David knows that God is the one who promises and executes his judgment against sin, and so he prays accordingly.

David's zeal in this request is informed by his knowledge of God, of God's character, and his promises.

Fourthly, David is asking God to slay the wicked.

Now, this is not a request relating to David's personal enemies.

It's a general cry for judgment against the wicked.

David is not asking God to slay his rude next-door neighbor or his meddling mother-in-law.

And for the record, my mother-in-law is not meddling, she's wonderful.

But these are not personal enemies of David.

And furthermore, if David did have some personal enemies in mind, this is not relating to like minor one-off offenses.

These are relating to those who are at war with God and against his people.

He's asking God to bring his judgment to bear on those who blaspheme God, who those who rise up against God, those who are bloodthirsty men.

And we'll say more on this when we consider the reputation of the wicked.

Fifthly, this is not a one-off request in Scripture.

It's consistent with many other imprecatory prayers found in the Psalms, which are often Psalms of David, but not exclusively.

And as you read through many of the impregatory psalms of the Psalter, and just for your benefit, some notable ones are Psalm 5, Psalm 10, Psalm 35, 59, 69, 83, and 109.

There's some of the well-known ones.

If you read through those psalms, you'll find that the pattern that emerges is that these imprecatory prayers are typically related to those who are enemies of God, who arrogantly curse and defy him, not merely enemies of the psalmist.

They have a settled and habitual evil.

It's not a momentary failure that they've committed.

And they are those who shed blood against the innocent and God's people in particular.

And their speech is characterized by lies and slander and curses and blasphemy against God.

In short, there's a particular high-handedness of the evil of the wicked who are the subject of these impregatory prayers.

And these prayers are asking God to bring their evil back upon themselves, upon their own heads.

We must see this imprecatory prayer for what it is.

David is zealous for God to be glorified and his kingdom to come.

He wants to see every knee bow and every tongue swear allegiance to Yahweh.

He wants to see the earth filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

Or in the New Testament key, this is consistent with how our Lord taught us to pray.

Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God's kingdom expands as the gospel is preached, and souls are converted, no doubt.

But his kingdom also expands as God pours out his just judgment against sin, Satan, and the wicked.

God's kingdom is one where righteousness dwells.

He will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and lawlessness.

He does this temporally, and then he will do this completely at the final judgment.

We pray, do we not?

Come, Lord Jesus, to bring his final judgment.

And we know that nothing unclean will enter into his consummated kingdom.

Let me ask you this evening, are you zealous for God?

Do your prayers reflect your zeal for God?

Do you pray with the kind of concerns that David has for the advancement of God's glory and his kingdom?

Do your prayers normally begin with the first three petitions of the Lord's prayer, which more immediately relate to God and his honor, asking for his name to be hallowed and his kingdom to come?

Or instead, do we normally start with the last three petitions, which typically relate more to our own physical and spiritual needs?

Do we seek God's kingdom first and foremost and his righteousness, and then trust him to add to us what we need?

What about specifically praying for the judgment of the wicked?

Does that make you squeamish?

In some ways it should, because it is a dangerous prayer.

Our hearts are deceitful and wicked.

Are we praying condemnation upon ourselves?

This is why such a prayer should only be prayed by those who are in Christ, those whose sin is forgiven and covered by the blood of Christ, and those who are walking in obedience to his will.

For those of you who are in Christ, are you squeamish at praying such a prayer?

Why should we recoil at God's just judgment of the wicked?

I suspect it's because we do not esteem and love our holy God and his kingdom as much as we ought.

And we don't hate sin with the abhorrence it deserves.

We may be compromised and holding on to secret sins.

Our love for God's persecuted people may have grown cold.

God commands us in Romans 12.9 to love rightly.

Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, and hold fast to what is good.

Of course we love God's grace.

But we must also love his justice against the wicked.

For both of these come from the one God with whom we love.

Or do we consider ourselves more holy than God in only desiring his grace?

We must trust that the judge of all the earth will do what is right.

One day in heaven, we'll have renewed minds, fully renewed minds, and we will see the rightness of God in all of his judgments, even in the terrible condemnation of the wicked for all eternity.

You may ask, are such imprecatory prayers for today?

I believe the answer is yes.

God's character hasn't changed.

We are still living in a world that opposes the Lord and his Christ.

We see many examples of these imprecatory prayers in the New Testament also.

For example, Galatians 1 8-9, 1 Corinthians 16, 22, and Revelation 6.10, which says, They cried out with a loud voice, this is the saints in heaven, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

Now, of course, the focus of these prayers is to be on those who are at war with God and who threaten the lives of God's people.

They're not for personal feuds.

And furthermore, in the New Testament, arguably, the scope of these impregatory prayers expands.

Not only are they sub directed toward those who are threatening the lives of God's people physically, but they are directed often towards false teachers and heretics who threaten people's souls to eternal damnation, who threaten the spiritual lives of God's people.

Paul said of the Galatian Judaizers, who taught another gospel other than the true one, he prayed that they would be anathema, that they would be cut off.

Next, we come to the reputation of the wicked.

We see this in verses 19, second part, and also verse 20.

Who are these people?

Firstly, verse 20 tells us that they are God's enemies.

Your enemies take your name in vain.

These people have arrogantly set themselves against the Lord and his anointed.

There's a boldness to their evil.

They speak against God wickedly, we see in the first part of verse 20.

In the ESV, that says, uh, they speak against you maliciously, or have malicious intent.

They intend to bring harm and destruction to God and his kingdom.

Verse 21 tells us they hate God.

They don't stumble into this line of work.

There is raging, there is scheming, there is warring against the living God, often in cooperation with like-minded people.

Here David is referring to those whose rebellion has a particular high-handedness to it, those who have a settled opposition to God.

Secondly, their speech is wicked.

We're told they speak against God wickedly or with malicious intent.

They verbalize their hatred of God, and they desire to bring harm to him and his kingdom.

They also take God's name in vain, we read in verse 20.

Now, this could take many forms.

Perhaps it refers to a belittling or cursing of God's holy name and the way that they speak about God.

Or it could include a religious element, perhaps a hypocritical observance of the true religion, or perhaps the promulgation of false religion.

Psalm 10, one of the other imprecatory psalms, sets out some of the blasphemous boasts of the wicked.

Just listen to some of these.

Verse 4 in Psalm 10 says, There is no God.

Or I shall not be moved.

Throughout all generations, I shall not meet adversity.

God has forgotten.

He has hidden his face.

He will never see it.

Verse eleven.

God will not call to account.

Verse thirteen.

Their speech is wicked.

And thirdly, their actions are wicked.

We see the wicked described in the second half of verse 19 as bloodthirsty men.

They are men of blood, literally.

They don't just set themselves against God, they go after his people.

They shed blood and oppress the righteous.

They are violent men who are described as, in other places, as howling and prowling dogs in their bloodlust.

You can see that description in Psalm 59.

They're also described as lions who stealthily ambush the innocent by seizing them and dragging them into their dens.

You can see that in Psalm 10.

They love death and destruction.

In David's day, who might such enemies have been?

Perhaps Goliath and the Philistines, Saul, who hunted David's for his life, Doeg the Edomite, who ordered the priests of Nob be slaughtered, Absalom, who usurped David's throne, Ahithophel, who assisted Absalom, Joab, the commander of David's army, who is described as a man of blood.

The world will always contain such wicked enemies of God and his people.

Until God finally does slay the wicked at the end of the age.

But let's think together about who some of these enemies of God might be in our day.

Firstly, there are many wicked industries that come to mind that are propagated by wicked people in our world.

The first one that comes to mind is the bloodthirsty abortion industry.

As our brother said last week, 73 million pre-born children are slaughtered every year.

Did you know that represents just under one-third of all babies conceived in their womb, in the mum's womb that have been created by God?

A third.

The UK Christian Institute estimates that over a billion babies have been murdered across a hundred countries since abortion was legalized in the 1920s in the Soviet Union.

Which makes it the greatest deliberate slaughter of human beings in all of human history.

Now these children are slaughtered by so-called doxers and nurses, arranged often, or typically, by their mothers and fathers, in the pursuit of economic prosperity.

There is sometimes also coercion by families, communities, and governments who seek to control populations.

This is the modern-day worship of Moloch.

The wicked people that propagate this industry blaspheme God by saying that his word has nothing to say and ought to be rejected in this matter.

And then we mustn't forget, on top of the 73 million, the babies that are killed by abortifacient contraceptives.

Did you know that most forms of the pill remove the lining of the uterus so the newly conceived baby can't implant and grow?

There are many people who have used the pill as a long-term contraceptive and have no idea that they've killed a number of their children.

God have mercy on us.

And then we mustn't forget about IVF, which potentially kills even more babies than abortion.

Because and IVF is portrayed as pro-life.

It is anything but.

IVF has such a low success rate of producing a healthy baby that clinicians and parents often create many more human babies than they intend to bring to term.

And what happens is about eight, or some one brother told me more than that, eight babies are typically created for each mother, for each cycle, and about 70% of those babies are either discarded or killed, uh, is uh is the appropriate term, uh, or frozen to be later discarded or killed.

One article I read in the US estimated that in 2021, 20 to 30% more babies were killed or would one day be killed through IVF than was than were killed through abortion.

Oh, that you would slay the abortion industry, oh God.

And there are many other industries that come to mind.

We could think of the therapeutic psychology industry, the divorce industry, the LGBT industry, the pornography industry.

The therapeutic psychology industry is one to call out, it's often a gateway to some of the others.

It wickedly denies God's standard of righteousness and sin, and instead replacing that with what we feel is good and what makes us happy.

Our expressive individualism then becomes the standard of what is right and good.

It encourages people to be victims and blame others instead of confessing and repenting of the sin that we have commit contributed, and then leaves a trail of destruction, a trail of blood in their lives.

We have therapists who encourage unhappy women to divorce their husbands and devastate their families through no fault enabled by no fault divorce.

We have children who are feeling anxious and depressed, who are encouraged by school counselors to believe that they are of a different gender or need a new sexual identity.

We have many men addicted to pornography, enabled by big tech, thinking it'll make them feel happy and fulfilled.

These industries are wicked enemies of God.

Then there are many religious enemies of God.

Islam is one that comes to mind.

Encouraging people to worship a false God and make shipwreck of their souls, blasphemes the Lord Jesus Christ, saying he's merely a man rather than the eternal God made flesh, calling him a liar, saying his crucifixion to save sinners did not happen.

Some Muslims believe that Christians and Jews should be fought against with acts of violence.

And we know how that played out over history.

That led to the bloody expansion of Islam with the sword that conquered many historically Christian nations in Middle East, in North Africa, and in Europe.

And there are many Christians who still live as small minorities in those nations today, who are subjected to the bombing of their churches and ultimately to the ending and the and the killing, uh the ending of their lives.

And there are Muslims as well.

Not all Muslims, but some Muslims living in historically Christian nations like Australia, who have committed many acts of violence, especially over the last 20, 30 years.

Violent acts of terrorism, even as we've recently seen at Bondi Beach.

And thirdly, there are political enemies of God.

Some modern-day ones might be Hitler, Stalin, President Xi Jinping of China, the Kim family of North Korea.

These tyrants often claim to be God themselves.

And they have they hate, and they would have the people sorry, they claim to be God themselves, and they would have the people adore them and worship them instead of the Lord Jesus.

They hate Christ and they are fearful of a people who have allegiance to him.

They have persecuted Christians, denied them the ability to worship God freely, to evangelize, to even have access to the scriptures that we have.

My father-in-law was persecuted in uh communist Romania and had to flee for his life after being threatened for holding unauthorized church meetings in his home or distributing unauthorized Christian literature.

Before Charlescu, the pres uh the president of Romania was executed after the revolution, uh, he was apparently still singing that atheistic uh communist anthem which says, No one will grant us deliverance, not God, nor the Tsar, nor hero.

We will win our liberation with our very own hands.

Blasphemous words to the end.

Do we appreciate, brothers and sisters, the depth of the wickedness of God's enemies?

How much they hate God and how much they are men of blood?

Or are we as Christians in the West, in the comfortable West, I might add, a bit comfortable and a bit naive?

And what response should this rouse within us?

Thirdly, we come to David's response to the wicked.

There's two aspects of David's response to the wicked.

Firstly, David separates from the wicked.

And we read that in the second half of verse 19.

And then the next thing, uh next aspect of his response is his hatred of God's enemies.

And we see that in verses 21 and 22.

Firstly, David separates himself from the wicked.

O men of blood, or bloodthirsty men, depart from me.

David is motivated by God's coming judgment of the wicked.

He's requested it, and he knows it will surely come.

He doesn't want to be caught up in that judgment.

If there's a homing device that's directing a missile to a particular target, you want to be as far away from that target as possible.

David wants to have a clear conscience before the judgment seat of Christ.

David is also motivated by his love for God and his zeal for God.

As I said earlier, he's been spending much of this psalm adoring God and his wonderful thoughts.

And in separating from the wicked, he wants to show God that he's on his side and loyal to him.

He makes it his aim to please God and live for him.

As 2 Corinthians 5, verses 9 to 10 say, So, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what he the due of what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

2 Corinthians 5:9–10

David is also motivated by God's presence with him, as reflected on earlier in this psalm.

God is with him, and he lives his life before the face of God.

God will not dwell with the wicked, and so neither can he, if he wants to enjoy close fellowship with God.

For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?

What fellowship has light with darkness?

What accord has Christ with Belial?

Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing.

David wanted nothing to do with these enemies of God.

They were to be out of his court, out of his kingdom.

But this wasn't always easy for David to do, and sometimes he failed at this.

Sometimes the wicked are useful to you, or they have sway over you.

Consider Joab, the commander of David's army, who murdered two men more righteous than he.

And that could have threatened David's reign over all of Israel.

However, Joab was useful to David and got the dirty jobs done.

David never fully separates from him and brings the justice to bear upon him that should have come from his murder, murders that he committed, which was David's responsibility as king.

Instead, he leaves the task to Solomon, his son, when he ascends to the throne, to execute Joab once he becomes king.

Furthermore, not only are God's people to be separate from God's enemies, but we are to separate from all sin.

We are called, brothers and sisters, are we not, to live a holy life.

Consider that much of the Bible in commanding us to resist sin uses the language of separation.

Flee, turn away, avoid, abstain, be separate, drive out, put to death, lay aside, put off, cut off, tear out, throw away, make no provision for.

We're not called to negotiate with sin.

We're not called to play with sin.

We're not called to abide with sin.

Sweeping sin under the rug.

We're not called to do that.

We're called to radically separate from it.

And secondly, David's response is that he hates second response, the second part of his response is that he hates God's enemies.

We see that in verses 21 and 22.

And this is the part of Psalm 139 that I think is most controversial to our modern years.

In our culture, hating anything is considered bad.

As you have heard with regard to hate speech laws and things like that.

It's one thing to separate from the wicked, but it's another thing to hate them.

Let's consider David's hatred of the wicked in more detail.

Firstly, the definition of David's hatred.

Hatred of the wicked here is a strong detestation.

We could use the word loathing as it does in verse 21.

A strong detestation and an opposition to God's enemies.

So it's got affection and action.

Detestation and ac and and opposition to God's enemies.

It's not merely loving the wicked less than others, as sometimes hate is to be understood in other passages of Scripture.

Because we have a clear parallel in this text between David's hatred of the wicked and the wicked's hatred of God.

It wouldn't make sense to read, Do I not love less them, O Lord, who love you less?

No, it's do I not hate you, hate those who hate you.

Secondly, the object of David's hatred.

David hates the wicked.

And as we've said before, he's not hating his rude next door neighbor or his meddling mother-in-law.

It's those who rebel against God with a particular high-handedness.

And we also notice that he hates God's enemies, not just their sin.

This is not hate the sin, love the sinner.

These enemies of God are so associated with their sins that hatred is appropriately expressed toward them.

Just as an example, I hate Xi Jinping, the president of China, but it's not personal.

Like I don't know him from a bar of soap.

I've never got no personal relationship whatsoever.

But I hate what he does to God's people in China.

And obviously, I'm a bit strongly opposed to it.

And that's the balance we need to have when we're talking about hatred of God's enemies.

Thirdly, the reason for God for David's hatred.

He hates these enemies of God because they hate God.

In verse 21, do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you?

David is hating them because they rise up against God.

He is zealous for God in his ways.

He's loyal to God and loves him.

And therefore, anyone who dares to go to war against God, he will therefore hate and count as his enemy.

These aren't David's personal enemies.

Rather, he counts them as his enemies because they are God's enemies.

John Calvin once said, and I think this summarizes the spirit of what David's saying here.

This is a stance of covenantal faithfulness on David's part, rather than any personal vendetta.

Fourthly, the nature of David's hatred.

David says he hates them with a perfect hatred or a complete hatred.

This is not a half-hearted thing on David's part.

David is totally committed to God and then totally against his enemies.

David's hatred is a good hatred, it's a righteous hatred.

His rhetorical questions toward God, where he says, Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

They imply that this is the obligation of a loyal servant of God.

As with many of the human passions, there are righteous and unrighteous expressions of them.

We have righteous worry and concern, and we've got unrighteous anxiety.

We'll have righteous empathy and unrighteous empathy.

We have righteous anger and unrighteous anger.

And we have righteous hatred and unrighteous hatred.

Righteous hatred must be motivated by love for God and his people.

If I love my children, then I'll righteously hate and oppose anyone who would murder or abuse them.

And it must be controlled and non-violent.

Unrighteous hatred is instead motivated by rage, selfishness, bitterness, personal revenge, and is often uncontrolled and can spill into violence.

That is prohibited by God.

As sinful human beings, we need to be careful about crossing that line between righteous hatred into unrighteous hatred.

And I think that may be part of the reason why David says in Psalm 139, in the last two verses, verses 23 and 24, search me, O God, and know my heart.

And if there's any wicked way in me, show me that.

He doesn't want to be guilty of the same things that God's enemies are guilty of.

Fifthly, we see David's imitation of God's hatred.

The scriptures describe God's hatred of the evildoers, of evildoers.

We see this in Psalm 5.5, where it says that God hates all evildoers.

We see this in Psalm 11.5, his soul hates the wicked, speaking of God.

God is not sinning in hating his enemies, and neither is David when he is carefully imitating God's righteous hatred.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus says in chapter 2, verse 6, Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Sixthly, we see a pattern of righteous hatred in the Bible.

This verse is not the only one where hatred of evildoers is found.

In Psalm 26, verse 5 and Psalm 31, verse 6, we see the same expressions in other psalms.

Psalms 26:5 Psalms 31:6

Ecclesiastes 3.8 tells us there is a time to love and there is a time to hate.

Now I know what you're thinking.

How does hating God's enemies square with Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount?

It's the elephant in the room, I think, that needs to be addressed.

Jesus says in response to the unbiblical saying that developed, which was, love your enemy, sorry, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

Jesus responds and says, No, you should love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 5, 43 to 44.

Now the short answer is I think these two passages are dealing with different subjects.

Jesus is addressing in the Sermon on the Mount how you treat your personal enemies, those people you have a personal relationship with, and that you're against them for some reason or they're against you.

There's problems in the relationship.

Whereas David in Psalm 139 is dealing with hatred towards those who are God's enemies, which you then count as your enemies because you're faithful to God.

Jesus is talking about loving your enemy that treats you poorly.

For example, slaps your right cheek, sues you, takes your tunic, forces you to go one mile with them, or another mile with them.

David is instead talking about those who are at war with God and who seek to kill his people.

Those who sin in a high-handed way.

Jesus' focus is on prohibiting any personal retaliation or vengeance toward your personal enemies.

And we know from what we said earlier that that was outlawed also in the Old Testament, too.

David's focus is on our appropriate response to those who are at war with God.

But whilst they're talking about different things, one key takeaway that we should take from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is that while God's enemies are to be hated, that hatred needs to leave room for their potential to repent and believe.

Christopher Ash says, hatred isn't incompatible with praying for their conversion, but it is to acknowledge that while people are impenitent, they are God's enemies.

John Stott says, We should earnestly desire the sinner's salvation if he will repent, and equally earnestly, his destruction if he will not.

So we've now seen David's response to the God's enemies.

Brothers and sisters, are they your responses to God's enemies around us today?

Are you separating from God's enemies and their wickedness?

Are you hating and opposing God's enemies and seeking their destruction by righteous means?

Or instead, are you aiding and abetting them?

Even unwittingly so?

Or

Perhaps you're apathetic to their evil.

Or perhaps you're discouraged or fearful of the enemy.

For example, take the abortion industry we spoke of earlier.

Are you seeking its destruction?

Or if you're not called to be on the front lines of that battle, are you providing support to those who are?

Or do you feel like that those are on the front lines of that battle are perhaps a bit overzealous?

Maybe they could just dial it back a little bit.

Could it be that perhaps you are the one who is lukewarm and apathetic?

Or worse, are you compromised and conflicted?

Perhaps you've had or are close to those who've had an abortion, used abortifacient contraceptives, or have undergone IVF.

And you don't think that these are great evils.

God is merciful.

And there is an opportunity for repentance and forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Perhaps you are zealous for God and on the front lines of battles like these.

But your zeal is increasingly motivated, not out of love for God, but by bitterness and frustration with what you believe is the apathy of the church.

You must remember that the battle is the Lord's and He is sovereign.

Remember that once we've done what we've commanded, been commanded to do, we are yet unworthy servants.

We've only done our duty.

You must remember that God is providentially ordering all things, and you need to trust in Him to work into the hearts of His people.

How about false religions?

Are you hating and opposing these enemies of the gospel of Christ?

Are you providing and sharing the gospel so they may be freed from their slavery to these false religions?

Or are you instead providing them with excuses to remain in there?

Do you feel like that the those who go out evangelizing, say, on the streets and handing out gospel tracts, a bit over the top?

Maybe they could dial it back a bit.

Maybe you are called to evangelize in a different way, and that's fine.

But are you evangelizing?

Or are you apathetic to this enemy of God?

Perhaps ashamed of the gospel of Christ, perhaps fearful of losing friends.

We are called to love God, to trust Him, and to be on His side, even if that's tough.

Or what if the church in Australia one day experiences political tyranny?

We had a tiny taste of that during COVID.

But what if we had real tyranny?

What if we had political enemies that were over us?

Would we oppose them because they are God's enemies?

For example, in 1945, in the communist era, the Soviet Union occupied Romania.

And to pay tribute to the new state order, the Communists convened a Congress of about 4,000 Christian leaders, and they broadcasted it to the country.

Richard and Sabina Wormbrand were in attendance, and one after another, Christian leaders stood up and they hailed the atheistic state, and they promised church allegiance.

Sabina lead over to her husband.

Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ.

They're spitting in his face.

If I do, he replied, you lose your husband.

I don't wish to have a coward as a husband, came her reply.

Came her reply.

And so he did.

He later wrote, Afterwards I had to pay for this, but it was worthwhile.

What would be our response?

Would we shrink back in fear and apathy and sell out our brothers and sisters?

As many did in that time.

As John Stott says, We cannot easily aspire to hating God's enemies.

The fact that we cannot easily aspire to that is an indication not of our spirituality, but our lack of it, not of our superior love for men, but of our inferior love for God.

God help us.

So to conclude, brothers and sisters, let us examine our hearts to see whether we are zealous for God, for his ways, and for his glory.

And are we hating what he hates?

Or are we lukewarm?

Are we apathetic?

Perhaps we're fearful?

Are we compromised and conflicted in the face of God's enemies?

And brothers and sisters, if we are zealous for God, check our hearts.

Is it motivated by love for him and for his people?

Or instead are we increasingly motivated by bitterness, frustration, and vengeance?

Is our zeal informed by the knowledge of the God of Psalm 139, who is sovereign over all and who loves us?

Or is it a zeal without knowledge that's not achieving anything good?

May God help us.

May He forgive us of our failings through our dear Saviour Jesus Christ.

And as we conclude, let's think upon the zeal of our Lord Jesus Christ, who accomplished our salvation by being perfectly zealous for God and hating God's enemy, the devil.

Zeal for God's house consumed him, and the reproaches of God's enemies fell upon him instead of us.

David prayed that God would slay the wicked, yet it was Christ who was slain on the cross for us, for our wickedness, so that we might be forgiven.

And brothers and sisters, Jesus will come one day, again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead, where he will finally and fully slay the wicked.

Do you love him?

Do you trust him?

Are you on his side?

I pray that you are.

Let's close in prayer.

Father in heaven, we ask that you would apply this word to our hearts.

Lord, take away anything that I've said that is wrong.

And uh what is helpful and fruitful, Holy Spirit, apply to each and every one of us that we may have an overabundant love for you and zeal for you, your ways, and your glory.

We ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.