Psalm 58

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Psalm 58
• Sermon
• Prayer

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Sermon Title: The Challenge, Charge, Curse, and Celebration Against Tyrants

Scripture: Psalm 58

I. The Challenge to the Tyrants — Psalm 58:1–2

A. The "gods" addressed are best translated Mighty Lords — wicked governing rulers, not divine beings B. The primary concern is the heart: "in your hearts you devise wrongs" (Psalm 58:2) C. Psalm 58 fits the category of imprecatory Psalms — calling for God's destruction of the enemy

1. Christians have long wrestled with imprecatory Psalms in light of Jesus's command to love enemies
2. Love for enemies is expressed as prayer for their hearts to be changed — 1 Timothy 2:1–4: Paul urges prayer for kings and those in authority, that they might be saved
3. Scripture interpreting scripture: spiritual truths are only spiritually discerned; there is no contradiction between David and Paul D. The pattern for praying imprecatory Psalms:
4. First, pray for the salvation and heart-change of tyrannical rulers
5. Second, pray for God's swift destruction of those confirmed and hardened in wickedness, as Pharaoh was hardened and destroyed in the Red Sea
6. We do not possess God's hidden will to know who is who — so both prayers are appropriate

II. The Charge Against the Tyrants — Psalm 58:3–5

A. Wicked nature produces wicked action: "the wicked are estranged from the womb, they go astray from birth speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3)

1. Modern culture has eliminated nature from the conversation, attributing all behavior to social conditioning
2. Scripture contradicts this: corrupt nature gives way to actual transgressions
3. Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 18 — the sinfulness of the fallen estate includes the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of the whole nature (Original Sin), together with all actual transgressions proceeding from it B. The deafness of wicked rulers — Psalm 58:4: like the deaf adder that stops its ear, they cannot hear righteousness
4. John 8:47: Jesus tells the Pharisees, "Whoever is of God hears the words of God; the reason you do not hear them is that you are not of God"
5. Those not regenerated and redeemed have ears stopped up by their corrupt nature

III. The Curse Upon the Tyrants — Psalm 58:6–9

A. David has concluded these wicked rulers will not repent; the only way to stop their terror is for God to break their teeth B. David uses stark, strong language — snails dissolving into slime, the stillborn child who never sees the sun — expressing a longing for righteousness and justice to reign C. The intensity of righteous joy at the enemy's destruction correlates with the intensity of the enemy's wickedness

1. Illustration: the jubilant celebration at the end of World War II far exceeded that at the end of Desert Storm, because the weight of the defeated evil was far greater
2. Application: when Christ returns and all wickedness is cast into the lake of fire, the intensity of that joy will be immeasurable

IV. The Celebration When God Judges the Tyrants — Psalm 58:10–11

A. Bathing in the blood of the wicked (Psalm 58:10) is a poetic device conveying the grand reversal when God annihilates the wicked — God brings them down, not man B. "Surely there is a God who judges on earth" (Psalm 58:11) — the language of faith giving way to sight

1. 1 Corinthians 13:12: "Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face"
2. In the midst of wickedness having its day, we cling to Christ by faith; the day is coming when that faith gives way to full sight C. A closing warning — David himself is implicated by his own psalm
3. Psalm 51 uses the same language of being born in sin — written after David himself acted as a tyrannical king in the affair with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah
4. Psalm 51:7: David cries, "Purge me with hyssop" — he who is a sinner from birth and committed unrighteous judgment must first be bathed in righteous blood before he can celebrate on the day of the Lord
5. John 6:53–54: Jesus — "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" — the jolting language of Christ's blood parallels David's language in verse 10
6. Romans 3: "No one does good, no not even one" — outside of Christ, we ourselves are the objects of imprecation D. Imprecatory Psalms must be recited with care and wisdom
7. We approach them knowing we would be under imprecation were it not for Christ covering us in his blood
8. With renewed natures, we rightly see wickedness as heinous and can pray both for the tyrant's salvation and for God's swift destruction of those confirmed in hardness
9. The end is salvation and everlasting joy on the day of the Lord