David Speaking Out Against His Enemies Part 1 — Chuck Smith

Welcome to the Word for Today, the broadcast ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith, Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible.

And on today's edition of the Word for Today, we'll be following David as he speaks out against his enemies. So let's turn in our Bibles to the 109th Psalm. As Pastor Chuck begins today's lesson with verse 1.

The Messianic Meaning of Psalms 109 and 110

The 109th and 110th Psalms are messianic psalms. They are prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. Now you'll have no problem with the 110th Psalm in understanding and seeing how that is a prophecy of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 109 and the Tension Between Judgment and Forgiveness

Psalm 109 trips up a lot of people because it is known as one of the imprecatory psalms, that is, a psalm in which there is a prayer for judgment upon the enemies. And the prayer for judgment does not sound like the image of Jesus Christ that we so often have in our minds.

We think of Jesus on the cross saying, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. And we think of how Jesus taught us the importance of forgiveness. But yet, in this psalm, we find the prayer for judgment upon the enemies.

God is gracious. In fact, we read in Psalm 112 there that he is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. We know that God is gracious. We know that God is merciful. And in God's grace, he has provided for our salvation.

He has sent his only begotten Son, who suffered immensely in order that you might be saved. He suffered the shame and the ignominy of the cross. He suffered the cross itself, the abuse, all of this in order that you might be saved.

I do not believe that we fully appreciate the tremendous price that was paid for our salvation. We always talk about the gospel being free. That's free to us, but it cost God immensely. And God, having provided this salvation for us, has commanded that all men should repent and believe upon his Son.

And this is the only way by which a person can be saved. Now we read in the book of Hebrews that if a person despised Moses' law, all they had to do is just speak evil of the law of Moses. And if there were two or three persons that would bear witness and say, yes, I heard him say that about the law, then he would be stoned.

He'd be put to death. The author of the book of Hebrews said, of how much worse punishment do you suppose the person will be counted worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, who hath counted the blood of his covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and who has done despite to the Spirit of grace.

For we know him who has said, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God. God has provided a tremendous cost for your salvation. But if you reject that salvation that God has offered, then there only remains a certain fearful looking forward to the fiery wrath of his indignation that shall devour his adversaries.

So yes, there is forgiveness. Yes, he's full of compassion. Yes, he is gracious. But for those who reject his grace, those who reject his love, those who turn a deaf ear to his pleas, the judgments of God have already been established.

They are set. And Jesus said concerning those that would reject that offer of God's salvation that he has made to man, that they shall be cast into the lake that is burning with fire that was prepared for Satan and his angels.

But they will have their part in that judgment of God. So yes, God is full of grace. He is compassionate, but also he is righteous, and he is holy, and he is a God of justice and a God of truth. And the justice of God demands the penalty for the sinner and those who would reject God's offer of salvation.

Jesus’ Warnings to Those Who Reject His Grace

Though we are prone to think of Jesus only in the terms of sweetness, gentleness, kindness, loving, forgiving, compassionate, yet listen what he said to those who had sort of rejected this love, this forgiveness, and this compassion.

Therefore you will receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you encircle the sea and the land to make one proselyte, and when he is made you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Woe unto you, you blind guides, which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple it is nothing, but if you swear by the gold of the temple, you're a debtor. You fools and blind. What's greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

And you say, whosoever shall swear by the altar it is nothing, but if you swear by the gift that is on the altar, then you are guilty. You fools and blind. What's greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it and all the things that are on it, and whoso shall swear by the temple swears by it and those that dwell therein. And he that shall swear by heaven swears by the throne of God, and by him that is sitting thereon.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of your mint and anise, and come in, and you have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, faith. These you ought to have done, but you should not leave the others undone, you blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within you're full of extortion and excess, you blind Pharisee. Cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside may also be clean.

Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are likened to whited sepulchers. Indeed, you appear beautiful outward, but within you're full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and you garnish the sepulchers of the righteous. And you say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, but you're witnesses unto yourselves that you are the children of those that killed the prophets.

Fill up then the measure of your fathers, you serpents, you generation of vipers. How can you escape the damnation of hell? Oh, who's talking? Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon this little child.

No, you see, there's the other side. And don't be deceived. God, yes, is loving and kind and gracious and full of compassion and merciful. But if you reject God's offers, then there remains only that fearful certain looking forward to the fiery wrath of his indignation that shall devour his adversaries.

Psalm 109 as a Prophecy of Christ’s Rejection

So in this, we find a description of the treatment of Jesus. We find the response to those who have despised and rejected the grace of God, the things that shall befall them, and then further descriptions of what was done to Christ.

So it begins with the first five verses in which the psalmist is praying, Hold not thy peace, O God, of my praise. For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

They brought false witnesses against Jesus to try to drum up charges before the high priest. They opened their mouth against him. They spoke against him with lying tongues. They compassed me about also with words of hatred, and they fought against me without a cause.

For my love, they are adversaries. Here he came to pour out his heart in love, but they turned against him. And I give myself, his response to it, I give myself to prayer. They have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love.

And of course, as you look at Christ, this is exactly what happened. They rewarded him evil for good, hatred for his love. So the request set a wicked man over him. Let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin.

Sinful Prayer and the Prophecy Concerning Judas

You know, prayer can become sin. Prayer can be very deceitful because the psalmist said, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord doesn't hear me when I pray. And so sin, when you are regarding iniquity in your heart, sin when you are living a horrible life, prayer then becomes sort of a mockery.

When you lift up your hands, the attitude of prayer, it's an abomination to God because your heart is filled with sin. And so let their prayers become sin. Let his days be few and let another take his office.

This is a prophecy concerning Judas Iscariot. In the first chapter of the book of Acts, as the disciples were gathered together waiting for the promise of God there in Jerusalem, Peter stood up in the midst of them and said, Brethren, the scriptures must be fulfilled, which were spoken concerning Judas, who by transgression fell.

Let his house be desolate and let another take his office. Or Peter translates it bishopric. You are aware of the Septuagint, which is the translation of the Hebrew text into Greek done by 70 scholars about 200 years before Christ.

The Septuagint and the Interpretation of Psalm 109

The common Jew did not speak Hebrew, thus the common Jew could not read their own Bible. And so they felt that they should have a Bible that the Jews could read. And because Greek was the universal language at the time as the result of Alexander the Great, they thought that they would translate the Bible into Greek so that most of the Jews could read their own Bible.

This translation was done by 70 Hebrew scholars and it is known as the Septuagint. And being so close to the original text, it is our assumption that they would have a more clearer understanding of the Hebrew at that time.

So much of our understanding of the Old Testament comes from the Septuagint, because the Hebrew language was really lost except to the scholars. But from the Septuagint and from the Greek translation by these 70 scholars, we get an idea of what the original writers were really saying as they wrote the scriptures.

This word office here in the Septuagint is episkelkin, and it is the word from which we get episkopal, which is the Greek word for bishop, and episkopos, the bishop. And so Peter is using the Septuagint, let another take his bishopric, his office.

He was appointed as one of the twelve apostles, but his place became desolate. And so Peter said, the scripture must be fulfilled that another take his episkopos, and so thus the bishopric of Judas had to be taken by another.

So a direct prophecy concerning Judas, Peter gives us that commentary in the book of Acts chapter one. So the prayer concerning Judas, who betrayed the Lord with a kiss, let his days be few, let another take his bishopric, let his children be fatherless, of course that would happen when his days are few, let his wife be a widow, let his children be continually vagabonds and vague, let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places, let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let the strangers spoil his labor, let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children, let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

The Fearful Reality of Divine Judgment

Now this sounds pretty heavy duty, heavy-handed, which it is. But the judgment of God is going to be heavy duty. We need to realize that. It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God. And when God moves in judgment against those that have rejected Jesus Christ, it is going to be a fearful, awesome thing.

Now if I did not warn people of the judgment of God, I would be derelict to my calling. And it is true that God is loving, and God is compassionate, and in his love and compassion he has provided everything for you.

For your salvation, for your well-being, for your walk with him. And it's glorious. But if you reject God's plan, then it's awesome. And God will judge. And it's going to be an awesome judgment. So as he is praying, in reality these are the things that shall take place upon those whom God hath judged.

Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Because he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and the needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. They persecuted Christ. They killed him. And as he loved cursing, so let it come to him.

As he did not delight in blessings, so let it be far from him. Let it be as he established. Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. That's what the Bible teaches us. Because he loved to curse, then let him be cursed.

Because he wasn't interested in the blessing of God, then remove the blessing of God. Well that's righteous. That's just. You see, if you don't want to have anything to do with God, if you want to just live your own life separate and apart from God, and you want nothing to do with God, then it would be cruel for God to force you to spend eternity with him.

So he's saying, because they don't want anything to do with you, then let them depart. Let them be gone. They don't want your blessings, remove your blessings from them. They love to curse, then let them be cursed.

Psalm 109’s Final Imprecations and Appeal for Mercy

As he clothed himself with cursing, like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covers him. Cover him like a garment with curses, and for the girdle wherewith he is girded continually.

Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul. But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy.

Is good, deliver me. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse venture through the Bible in our next lesson, as Pastor Chuck Smith continues to guide us through the study of the Psalms. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us.

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That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. Now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith with today's closing comments.

I pray that the Lord will just make this a very special week for you, that you will be more aware and more conscious of His presence than normal. That in many different ways, God will just sort of reveal His love, and you'll be aware that God is showing me His love.

He loves me. And just that neat kind of warmth will fill your heart on the recognition that God is watching over you, He cares for you, and He loves you. And may the joy of the Lord be your portion and be your strength, in Jesus' name.

It is my great pleasure to present Pastor Chuck's commentary on the Book of Acts.

The Continuing Work of Jesus Through the Holy Spirit

The Acts of the Apostles is an open-ended book. Jesus continues, even to the present day, to work in the lives of people throughout the world through those who have been empowered.

By the Holy Spirit. This book also includes a special forward written by Pastor John Corson.

We studied the Book of Acts, but we never saw the Book of Acts. But we were seeing the moving of the Holy Spirit. Calvary Chapel family, may you always be known as a people who pray, in Jesus' name, that it would be Jesus Christ, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

May the Jesus movement continue on.

To order a copy of Pastor Chuck's book, The Acts Commentary, please call The Word For Today at 1 -800 -272 -9673. Or visit us online to read a sneak preview of the book by visiting.

Thewordfortoday .org. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.