Why Do The Wicked Prosper? - [Malachi 3:13-15]

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It is obvious that we live in a very wicked world, isn't it? It's obvious that the world is evil.
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Paul writes to Timothy and he said, difficult days are going to come. And how will you know the difficult days are here?
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Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self -control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
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And yet some of those very people that I just talked about prosper.
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Some of those very people are successful and they're rich and they have the tiger by the tail.
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Why do wicked people prosper? What is it about evil people they seem to succeed in life?
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Our unbelieving friends and co -workers, they seem to have it all, don't they? Not a care in the world.
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Is it vain to serve God therefore? We have struggles as Christians and they seem to just saunter through life.
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I wonder if it's profitable to serve God then. I wonder if it's vain or useless to serve
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God. Ecclesiastes 8 asks the question or states a statement, there's something else meaningless that occurs on earth.
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Righteous men who get what the wicked deserve and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve.
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This too I say is meaningless. How do you as a Christian deal with people and analyze evildoers who seem to get away with everything?
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What's the Christian response? Let's turn our Bibles to Malachi 3. This question is a very common question.
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Why do wicked people prosper? Why do sinful people tend to get everything we think positively?
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Jeremiah prayed, Righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you, yet let me talk with you about your judgments.
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Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?
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Jeremiah 12. Job asked the same question. Why do the wicked live and become old?
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Yes, become mighty in power. Psalm 94. Lord, how long will the wicked triumph?
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So this morning we're going to go through Malachi 3 .13 -16 and look at the question and the answer and then how do we biblically gird ourselves to think through this issue properly so when you see other people who tend to prosper and you know they're not born again, you know they're not redeemed, how should we analyze it?
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What should we say? Let me read verses 13 -15 and you can get a sense, both objective sense and subjective sense of what's going on in Malachi.
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If you can't find Malachi, find Matthew and just back up a book. Your words have been hard against me, says the
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Lord, Malachi 3 .13. But you say, how have we spoken against you? You have said, it is vain to serve
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God. What is the profit of our keeping His charge or walking as in mourning before the
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Lord of hosts? Now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put
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God to the test and they escape. The book of Malachi as we've been noticing, there's a lot of talk back.
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God, you say this, but we say that. I don't know if you enjoy it when your children talk back to you with that kind of snarky attitude or not, but that's what's going on here with Malachi.
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God, you said this, but what about that? You said this, God, but what about that? Matter of fact, let's just kind of see the pattern in the book of Malachi.
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Do you notice chapter 1, verse 2? God says to His people,
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I have loved you. What's their reply? What's their cynical reply? How have you loved us?
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Chapter 1, verse 6. It is you, O priest, who show contempt for My name. And here's the snarky kind of talk back.
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How have we shown contempt for your name? Chapter 1, verse 7. God says, you have defiled food on My altar.
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What do the priests say? How have we defiled you? Chapter 2, verse 17.
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You can see the kind of wicked refrain. You have wearied the Lord with your words. What do the people respond with?
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How have we worried Him? Chapter 3, verse 7. It continues. Return to Me, God says, and I will return to you.
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How are we to return? Chapter 3, verse 8. Will a man rob
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God? How do we rob you? I mean, talk about snippy.
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That's a good word for this. Talk about... It's almost like comments at the bottom of a newspaper article online.
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Or kind of Facebook comments. I mean, people sometimes, what they say on Twitter, social media, Facebook, and other things, are at the bottom of just articles and CNN.
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I just think, how could you say that? It's just something built into people. They just want to respond. You say this, but I say that.
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And now the talk is back to God. And now getting back to chapter 3, verse 13.
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It's the same kind of thing. God, does it matter if we worship you or not?
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God, does it matter? Because evil people are prospering. We want to prosper.
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Everything is wrong side up. This is not motivating us to worship you,
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God. This is creating complacency. It's just making us not want to go forward.
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I mean, isn't there any gain to worship you? If you kind of strung us along a little bit, throw us a bone once in a while, maybe we would continue to worship.
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So let's look at the passage, and then let's think about it critically from a Christian perspective as well.
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Let's dive in a little bit deeper. Chapter 3, verse 13. Your words have been hard against me, says
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Yahweh. This is the quotation formula. It's very prominent. God is speaking. Your words have been hard against me, says the
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Lord. You've talked back to me. But you say, how have we spoken against you?
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And the Hebrew is hard. It is insolent.
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It is belligerent. How do we talk back against you? It's almost a slander against God.
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It's blasphemy. Assyrian king Sennacherib spoke against the
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Lord. That's the kind of language that the people of God are talking back to God. They're like pagans.
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How do unbelievers talk to God? You know, have you ever met an unbeliever? I almost said, have you ever met a pagan?
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I guess they're the same in some regards. Every pagan is an unbeliever, but is every unbeliever a pagan? And you know, they start talking, and they're like, well, you know, the big guy upstairs.
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And when people start talking about the big guy upstairs, I just kind of want to shrink. How they talk about God.
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And how can God be good if you let this happen in Kosovo? How do pagans talk about God?
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Well, here, it's not the pagans. It's the followers of Yahweh.
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Ezekiel said, the Edomites boasted against me. Hosea condemned people for speaking lies against me.
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When Nebuchadnezzar finally saw who God was, he said, I'm not going to let anybody in my kingdom speak against you.
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And so what's happening in Malachi chapter 3? People are speaking against God. I want to see some prophet to serve you.
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P -R -O -F -I -T. You know, it's one thing when you don't punish the wicked.
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And it's another thing when you don't punish the wicked and don't give us good things as the godly.
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You're not doing either of those. Okay, so you don't punish the wicked, but we want something out of this deal. What about us?
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You're not rewarding the righteous. I mean, is this the right kind of attitude?
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Of course not. The attitude of these believers who, I mean, these followers of God who are very sinful should just be confession.
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It should be, I agree with you. What does confession mean? God, I agree with you. We haven't been following you with our hearts.
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We've been in it for us instead of your glory. Please forgive us. We repent. We want to think differently.
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Help turn our hearts. We repent of our bad repentance. Help us, oh God. Instead, it's just like some bratty kid.
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I've never watched it before in my life and in one sense I haven't watched it. I was working
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Friday night and family was looking through some different TV channels. Is that a pagan thing to do?
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And what's that show where they have like some kind of emergency 911 nanny thing?
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Where the kids are all disobedient. What's it called? 9911? Oh, that makes sense, that emergency 911.
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I just thought those kids are so disobedient. They talk back so much. I can't stand that.
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If there's anything that gets underneath my proverbial clergy collar, it's when kids talk back like that.
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You don't talk that way to your parents. I'm thinking in the Old Testament, you talk that way, you get stoned. And then all of a sudden, these people are talking to God that way.
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And when I see this bad example, I certainly don't want to do it. I know you don't want to do it. I want to run from that.
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Nothing seems to be going right, God, and I'm following you. And so where's the payday?
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I'm not thinking eternally. I want to see what's happening right now. And ultimately, this is evil pragmatism.
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And by the way, we all are guilty of this. God, I know what you say about disciplining children, but we've tried that, and it doesn't work.
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God, I know what you've said about loving my wife, but I've tried that, and it doesn't work.
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Lord, I know what you've said about submitting to my husband, but I've tried that, and it doesn't work.
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I've tried to submit to my boss and honor him at work, but it doesn't work. All this is the same kind of thinking against God.
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If it never worked, isn't it just enough that God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have saved you from all your sins, where you just say, even if it doesn't work,
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Lord, I will do it. I don't need to see it work. It's nice that you do show me that there's some benefits to following you, but I want to honor you for you, not honor you for me.
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Now, most people here at Bethlehem Bible Church, myself included, when you go to a worship service and it's all about you, and it's all seeker -sensitive and seeker -driven, we see that for the false advertising that it is, because it's just turned wrong side up.
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Worship is about God. But sometimes in our own lives, why do I keep doing this and trusting in God's Word?
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It doesn't seem to pragmatically work. You have to be careful, because with the wrong attitude like that, it's no different than these snippy kind of comments that the
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Israelites were giving against God. Verse 14 says, You have said, it's vain to serve
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God. Now, maybe we might have thought that, but I mean, they just say it. God, it's vain to serve you.
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What's the profit of our keeping His charge? The Bible, Scripture, your written requirements are walking as in mourning before the
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Lord of hosts. Instead of turn my heart to your Word, instead of I've hidden your
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Word in my heart that I might not sin against you, and I honor your Word, I give you reverence because of your
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Word, you've exalted your Word above your name, Psalm 138, and your Word is great.
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I'm just tired of keeping these Bible verses, trying to obey. And by the way,
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I'm walking around in mourning. What good does that do? So here's what they were doing. Their hearts were far from God, but they do the externals.
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So they'd give their sacrifices, chapter 2, their blemish sacrifices, and now they dress up.
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The word mourning comes from where we get kind of dark clothing. So when you go to a funeral today, you put on dark clothes, usually.
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That was pretty much based in this. Same thing back in the Old Testament.
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You're going to mourn, and you put on dark clothes. I mean, I dress up in goth all day long, and you haven't honored me,
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God. It's not for you. I'm just supposed to do what I do on the outside. I look gloomy.
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I smear some ashes on my head. Not once a year on Lent, but every day, and it doesn't do any good.
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And I see my little balance sheet here, God. Pros and cons are following you, and it's pretty much no pros and all cons.
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And if I flip it around, the unbelievers get the exact opposite. Oh, I bother. Pointless.
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I can't trust in what you do. I've dotted my I's. I've crossed my T's. I am diligent.
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I'm meticulous. I do everything, and it's like I walk over to an idol and put some incense there, and the incense goes up, and what good does that do me?
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Nothing. I just wasted my money. It's futile. I mean,
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I see in them flickers of myself and other people where you think, you know,
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God's my little genie God, and when I rub the God the right way, then
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I get what I want. And if I don't, well then, Ezekiel 33, they come to you as people come.
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They sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say, but they do not do it. For with lustful talk in their mouths they act, their heart is set on their gain.
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And to use the context of Malachi 3, we gave our 10 % tithe, we didn't rob you, and we're broke.
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It's useless. Why worship? I mean, we come to worship to get stuff. And I also just hear in my mind, and I just think,
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God, I so don't like this that I don't want to be like that. And yet we go, well, what did you get out of church today?
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Well, not too much. And I just think, that's the wrong question. That's the question that's here.
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What did you give today? What worth did you ascribe to God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? Yeah, you know what?
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These wicked people, they have concluded that the threats of God are like a paper tiger.
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And I agree. These wicked people just keep getting happier, richer. So underneath here is the motive to serve
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God for getting versus the Christian way of seeing things.
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Since God has given us everything in Christ Jesus, He has not spared His Son. He determined in eternity past to give us
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His best, His only begotten Son, the one He loved. And since He's given us
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His Son, we're to respond. Because of Calvary, we're to respond. We're not to say, you know, works righteousness mantra, some kind of karma gone crazy.
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If I do this, then I get that. It's all underlined as legalistic kind of works. Where is the payoff?
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I can hear Paul telling Timothy, have nothing to do with worldly fables.
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Fit only for women, old women. On the other hand, discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness.
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For bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things.
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Since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. Now, looking more in our verses here, still picking up with the same talk that these people, you have said.
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These people continue to say now in verse 15. And now, we call the arrogant blessed.
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Evil doers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape. Literally, these doers of wickedness.
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They just get away with everything. Why bother? God's forgotten. You can tempt
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God and He doesn't do anything. Now, in one sense, it's true that if you're going to serve
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God with a false heart, there is no profit. There is no benefit. I can hear
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Jesus say to the church in Revelation 3, Laodicea. That if you're lukewarm, that He just assumed would spit you out of His what?
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Mouth. In this passage, the question is, why do the wicked prosper?
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And is it vain to serve God? So next week, we're going to look at, is it vain to serve God? Is there a profit in it?
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Is it worth it? But in the time we have left, I want to ask and answer the question, what about the wicked?
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How should we consider wicked people? What's the way to view it biblically and analyze it from God's perspective?
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I don't want you to have any wicked thinking about the wicked. And I don't mean New England wicked. See, when
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I grew up, I was in Omaha, Nebraska, and we didn't say wicked. But we had another word that was just like wicked, but it was terrible.
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So my father would sit and he'd have his, what do we eat in Nebraska? Gravy bread and, I don't know, mashed potatoes or something.
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He'd say, this is terrible good. I guess if Charles Barkley, you say terrible good, but terrible good.
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Here in New England, you say wicked good. It's really good. But what
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I don't want you to do is I don't want you to have wicked thinking about the wicked. Let me give you a couple things that you should avoid when it comes to perceiving the wicked.
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Do you want the wicked to prosper? Do you want them to excel? If you don't want them to prosper,
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I think you've got wicked thinking. Should you want the wicked to prosper?
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And so for my teaching this morning, I want you to say, the wicked, I want them to prosper.
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So far, nobody's leaving. Well, one usher just got up. Do you want the wicked to prosper?
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That's the question of the hour. I think you should want the wicked to prosper spiritually.
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Don't you want the wicked to prosper spiritually? Were you once wicked? How do you consider the wicked?
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Let's turn our Bibles, please, to Matthew chapter 9. I don't want you to relish the fact that the wicked are going to go to hell and avoid them and to think, you know, us versus them.
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Oh, eventually, and we're going to get there later today, there is an end for the wicked. But I want you to think about the wicked through the lens of the first coming of Christ, not the second.
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For this point, through the first coming of Christ, that is to say, Jesus came into the world not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him,
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John 3 .17. I want you to think about the wicked in such a way that you have the heart of God for the wicked.
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Of course, we don't want them to ultimately prosper, that is, to go against the judgment of God. But we'll get there.
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As you're turning to Matthew, let me just read these words in Luke. When the days drew near for him to be taken up,
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Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of Samaritans to make preparations for him.
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But the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples,
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James and John, saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?
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And what did Jesus say? That's right. That's it. That's the way to think about the wicked people.
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Just fillet them. But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.
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How does Jesus deal with wicked people? Does he want any wicked people to prosper? Matthew 9 .10.
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I think you're going to see the heart of Jesus who sought sinners and wicked people just like you and just like me.
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And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, Matthew 9 .10, Behold, this is like, here's a picture for you to see, inviting with your mind's eye to take a look at this picture.
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Behold, many tax collectors, and Mark many is used a couple times, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.
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Luke says it's a great feast. It's a grand feast, and they're all together. And by the way, when you would eat back in those days, you didn't always recline at table.
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You didn't always kind of lay down on your left elbow and eat with your right hand and have your legs kind of out on the couch.
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That was for big feasts. So, you know, there's a certain way to eat, even in America, your regular meals, and that is when you're running out the door.
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And there are ways to eat Thanksgiving, and everybody sits at a certain place, and you have your routines and your rituals. Here, this is a big feast, and so you kind of lay down and you eat, and it's a big reception,
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Luke says, that Levi is giving. What's the occasion, Thanksgiving? Here's the occasion.
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Jesus is a friend of sinners. And I've got two functions for this big party.
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One, I want to tell all my sinful friends about Jesus. And number two, this is my last day of the job.
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I quit the old job, and I'm going to go follow Jesus. I'm going to honor you, Jesus. And so even the way they're sitting, laying down, is all to honor the
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Lord Jesus at Levi's retirement party. Kind of an evangelism party.
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I guess it's okay to step on toes. It's the new fall semester here at Bethlehem Bible Church. This was not,
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I'm going to invite everybody over for my Tupperware party because I want to make money for my friends.
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By the way, there's nothing wrong with Tupperware. There's nothing wrong with friends. Trying to make money off your church friends.
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Well, that might send you into Pre -Deep's office. I'm not sure. But the point was not getting.
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The point was giving. You can edit that out of the tape. Did you know one time, Wes Blackstone used to be in charge of the sound room, by the way, used to be.
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And on Sunday nights, and as you know, I make mistakes when I'm preaching. Just, you know, my words can't catch up to my mind and make a mistake.
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And I'd say, take that off the tape. And so Wesley, he accumulated not 10 minutes of those outtakes, not 30 minutes of those outtakes, but 45 minutes of those outtakes where I said, take that off the tape.
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And then he blackmailed me. It cost me $100 to get that tape. And as you know,
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Bethlehem Bible Church, after you laugh, then I try to get you. Right? So then you're like, Jesus is going to go into the house of the sinner, wicked.
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Now, I'll tell you, I don't like it when the wicked prosper. But is it more my flesh that says,
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God, kill them now. I can't take it anymore. Or is it more the heart of Jesus and the heart of God who, you know what,
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I'm glad I wasn't slain. I'm glad I wasn't killed. I'm glad someone told me about the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And he is right there with these awful, wicked, sinful people, tax gatherers.
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I mean, these are the traitors, sinners. These are outrageous people. They're wicked people.
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I mean, it's like the word sinner. We just think, oh, yes, I'm a sinner. But when the sinner word is used in the New Testament, it means basically your occupation is sin.
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You go against Mosaic law, against the law of God. What do you do for a living? Oh, I'm a farmer. What do you do?
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I'm a sinner. I'm defined by that. And these are the people Jesus was having intimate fellowship with.
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I wonder if the Pharisees were saying, you know what, it's like the prodigal son. And I love it that Jesus the
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Messiah saves sinners. I can hear the Pharisees because I am the
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Pharisee all too often. Just slay those people. Obliterate them.
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They're misfits. They're rejects. They're outcasts. They're wicked. These are the people that have prospered, and I want you to make them pay.
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Matthew 9, verse 11. Can't you hear it? I can see it.
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I can feel it. I am them. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to their disciples, his disciples, why does your teacher eat, have fellowship with tax collectors and sinners?
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Guilt by association. This is horrible.
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Luke 5 says that they began grumbling. This is the last straw. Sharing a feast with sinners and tax collectors.
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It's like having an abortion doctor over to your house for Thanksgiving. Wicked people.
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What's Jesus thinking? I know. As I analyze it as a Pharisee, birds of a feather.
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He's wicked too. Jesus is wicked too. Matthew 9, verse 12.
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But when he heard it, he said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are what?
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Sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
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For I have not, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. The Pharisees thought they were well.
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We don't need a doctor. You don't go to the doctor when you're well. The tax collectors and the sinners, they're not like us.
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We're well. They're not. And Jesus gives this charge, this rabbinic charge. Go and learn.
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It's a rebuke. It's a well -known proverb. It's meant to embarrass these people. Paul knew the mission statement of Jesus.
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It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save the good people.
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To save no sinners. What would you do if you went to the doctor, you were very sick, and the doctor said, the nurse said, sorry, the doctor can't see you.
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Is the doctor in? I had an appointment. Yes, the doctor is in, but he can't see you. Why? Because you're sick.
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What do you mean, because I'm sick? Don't doctors associate with the sick? Yes, he does, but he doesn't.
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Jesus, the great physician, obviously deals with sick, sinful people. Brooks said for Jesus to refuse to associate with sinners would have been as foolish as for a doctor not to associate with the sick.
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Jesus loves sinners. Wicked sinners. And he, in Matthew 9 .13,
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calls the Pharisees to go really understand what it means using Hosea.
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You should know better. You're the Pharisees. You understand Hosea. And what does the text say? I desire compassion and not sacrifice.
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It doesn't matter what you say in terms of sacrificing and saying you want to worship me, but if it's not this internal love and sacrifice, you're just as unfaithful as Gomer was to Hosea.
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Hunter said, quote, no statement of Jesus in this gospel is more profound than this one. A doctor ministers not to healthy persons but to the sick.
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So Jesus came not to call the righteous, i .e., self -righteous, but sinners. Jesus' call is to salvation, and in order to share it, there must be a recognition of need.
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The new thing in Christianity is not the doctrine that God saves sinners. No Jew would have denied that.
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It's the assertion that God loves and saves them as sinners.
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This, Hunter said, is the authentic and glorious doctrine of true Christianity in any age.
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Now, when you know wicked people, you see wicked people in the media. What's your first gut reaction?
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I'm telling you, in the flesh, my gut reaction is, God, get them. God, stamp them out.
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And I'm sure there's some kind of righteous judgment in there where I don't like wickedness and I want
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God's justice to be upheld. But I'm wondering if I think like Jesus.
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I'm wondering if I'm a witness of Jesus who, what's His mission statement in Matthew 20, verse 28?
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Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many, for many wicked people.
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Jesus could have let sinners die in their sins. He could have let wicked people just reap the fruit of their wickedness.
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And He, at His own cost, because He loved sinners, went and rescued them. And so when you see sinners on TV, when you...
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Maybe you're married to an unbeliever. Maybe you have neighbors who are unbelievers.
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Maybe you work for an unbeliever. I think it would be wicked for you to say,
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I can't wait for them to go to hell. The sooner, the better. That's not the heart of the
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Lord. That's not the heart of Christ Jesus. A certain money lender had two debtors.
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One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they were unable to pay, He graciously forgave them both.
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Jesus said, which one of them therefore will love him more? Simon answered and said,
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I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And Jesus said to him, you have judged correctly.
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And isn't it true, the more wicked the person is, when they get saved, the more glorious the praise becomes of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And I have to say to myself, and I hope you say to yourself, the rap sheet in my heart proves my wickedness.
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And Lord, I am so thankful. You could have just judged me, but you sent people to tell me about free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus, the risen
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Savior. And I am glad you deliberately associated with wicked people.
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C .T. Studd. Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.
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Don't you see how bad this would be if we say, things get so bad in Massachusetts, let's all move to Montana.
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Wouldn't that be good? We just all live together in a big commune in Montana. I just got back from Montana. I'm telling you, they're wicked there too.
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I had a hotel here, and outside my hotel was the casino. I'm like, okay, here we go.
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Lost my whole honorarium out there. I mean, it just drives it in me. Just kidding.
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Love wants what's best for the other, right? Jesus is saying, love your enemies.
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And you go, wait a second, something's wrong. Mike, there's a conundrum here because this loving enemies, loving wicked, yeah,
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I can kind of see that's what Jesus did. But turn if you would to Psalm 139. I'm quite convinced that we have trouble as evangelicals because we don't read the
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Psalms and the Old Testament correctly, and so we have this bifurcation. We're smart enough to say the
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God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. But some of the other things, we kind of get caught up in them, and we need to read the
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Psalms rightly. And so let me give you a glaring example of how to read a Psalm rightly and wrongly, and it's applicable for our topic today, and that is we want wicked people to prosper ultimately spiritually.
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We want them to get saved. Psalm 139. Now, before we read this
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Psalm, by the way, I love this Psalm. I've regularly read this
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Psalm. It's one of those Psalms that if you have to bury a child, you think about, sick child you think about, when you think about abortion, you think about this
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Psalm. There are so many different ways you think about this Psalm. It is a wonderful Psalm. Maybe one of my favorite
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Psalms. But if you read this narcissistically, if you read this
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Psalm like it's not David speaking, if you just come to the Bible and say, it's all about me, and it's all about who
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I am, and you forget the Davidic covenant, you're going to get it wrong. As Abner Chow says, it's like going to a wedding.
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You get invited to a wedding, and you can't believe the whole wedding is not about you, even though you're not getting married.
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And we just read the Bible like it's, this is all to me, versus who wrote it, to whom did he write, etc.
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Let's just read part of it. Remember, all capitals is Yahweh. Oh, Yahweh, you have searched me and known me.
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You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. I mean, that's certainly all true for us.
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You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold,
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Yahweh, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, lay your hand upon me.
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Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I can't attain it. Where shall
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I go from your Spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you're there.
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I mean, certainly, we believe in God's omnipresence. We believe in His omniscience. That's applicable, yes.
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If I make my bed in Sheol, you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me.
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And every time we see I and me, we're thinking us. And by application, so much of that is true.
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But this is a psalm written by David. This is
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David. What difference does that make? We'll see. Verse 9, If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me.
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Your right hand shall take hold of me. If I say, verse 11, surely darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night.
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Even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as day, for darkness is as light with you.
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For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
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Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. I mean, how devotional can you get?
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How for us does it seem like it is? My frame was not hidden from you. When I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed substance.
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In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
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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.
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I awake, I am still with you. I mean, this is as personal as you can get. This is for me, and then comes the turn.
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Verse 19, O that you would slay the wicked, O God! O man of blood, depart from me!
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They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those that hate you,
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O Lord? Do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with a complete hatred.
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I count them as my enemies. You say,
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OK. Now what do I do? Who wrote the psalm?
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David wrote the psalm. And as a Davidic king, and the promises that David had, 2
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Samuel chapter 7, it's right for him to say that, isn't it? Saul should have said that, but he didn't hack
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Agag to pieces and obliterate them all. The leader of the Davidic covenant, the king
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David, 2 Samuel chapter 7, should talk this very way. But that's
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David. And eventually the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the second coming will actually have this kind of attitude and he will obliterate the ungodly.
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Some people have said, what David said in verses 19 through 22 is sinful.
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And therefore he confesses that in verses 23 and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts.
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I mean, what I just said, that didn't really mean. And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
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Friends, of course we read some of the psalms and we think it is so true.
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And this applies to me, but this is David the king primarily. And we say,
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David the king is known by God and he is known thoroughly by God. And of course for us, God doesn't change and God knows us the same way.
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But when we come to this part, don't let verses 19, 20, 21, and 22 make you say when you say wicked people,
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I hate them with such a hatred, God, send them to hell today. Because you're not
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David and I'm not David. The heart of God the
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Father, the heart of God the Son, the heart of God the Spirit is to rescue wicked people.
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So what should we do about it? The next time you see someone who's over the top wicked, what would be a good response?
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I can think of several, can't you? Lord, thank you that you've saved me from such a lifestyle.
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Wouldn't that be a good response? I used to be that way, but I'm not anymore and it's not because I did something.
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You did it to me. You elected me in eternity past. You have your son die for me and he redeemed me.
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He was raised from the dead to confirm that transaction. I have the Spirit of God in me now. I'm a new person in Christ Jesus.
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I'm a new creation. I used to be condemned. I am now justified. I used to be going to hell. I was a son of wrath.
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I'm now a son of the kingdom. God, thank you that you've saved me. Secondly, and it goes with the first, shouldn't our response when we see wicked people,
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God, save them? Lord, you have the power to save people.
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Saul is on his way to Damascus and God saved
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Saul, the Christian killer. Shouldn't you say something like this, number three?
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God, if you do save that wicked person, you and your sovereign providential grace could use that wicked person to give testimony of your
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Son to lots of other wicked people. They know people they could have a big feast with and to say
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Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. By the way, I think it's a little exaggeration, but I'll say it for the sake of the sermon.
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If God didn't save Paul on the Damascus road, you wouldn't be here today. Why? Because unless you're
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Jewish, God so saved Paul and He sent them to the
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Gentiles to go rescue Gentiles. And it had to happen, of course.
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I know that theologically. But when you see wicked people, wicked people have wicked friends and we like to see the wicked saved.
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That's what we like. I'm just praying this morning. Lord, let us just see some people come to faith in Christ Jesus this year to encourage us so that they might stand up and they might be even in the waters of baptism.
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I once was lost and now I'm found. I used to be blind and now I see. I didn't do anything.
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I contributed wickedness to my wickedness and then God came along and He intercepted me. He judged
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His Son on my behalf and I am free. And it is feast time now.
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It is Thanksgiving time. And I guess it's almost fall because the pumpkin spice, pumpkin marshmallows are already at the store.
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I went shopping yesterday and I brought home some pumpkin marshmallows, pumpkin flavored marshmallows.
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And Kim said, what are these? Some special s'mores you know we'll make.
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Pumpkin flavored marshmallows. Maybe this would be a good time to start planning our
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Thanksgiving dinners and inviting both church people over and your wicked neighbors, your wicked friends.
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I want to do that. Let's pray. Father, I thank You for Your Word. Is it vain to serve
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You? Why do the evil people prosper? We know it's not vain. But we, as wicked people, have ultimately prospered because of Christ Jesus and His love for us.
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You loved us. He loved us. The Spirit of God, He loved us. And Father, we want to be like the
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Son in this regard. He is a wonderful example. We can't imitate Jesus in everything, but we sure could imitate His love for sinners.
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Father, protect us from being self -righteous. Protect us from thinking so poorly about sinful people that we want to run and hide.
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Father, help us to love them, to dine with them. We need lots of help in this regard, and we know
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You're able to give it, and we know You're powerful to do that. Father, of course, eventually, those that will not bow the knee, they deserve their judgment, and we won't question
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Your judgment on that awful day. But in the meantime, Father, could You increase our heart's desire for loving sinners?
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And Father, would You protect us for when sinners don't respond to our love and wicked people don't automatically get saved, or they treat us wrongly?
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Would You give us patience, and would You give us a resolve to honor
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You? And we want to learn that proverb well, that You do desire compassion and not sacrifice.