Transparent Worship – Part 4
Psalms 139 (19-24)
October 2, 2022
Tonight we come one last time to the 139th Psalm.
We have called it “Transparent Worship” because David has certainly come to worship the God who knows everything about him.
And the first 3 weeks the study of this Psalm we looked at
#1 THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE TRANSCENDENCE OF GOD
Psalms 139:1-18
And we broke that down into 3 areas.
1) GOD’S OMNISCIENCE (1-6)
• David recognized that God knows everything about him, even the seemingly insignificant details, God knew it all.
2) GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE (7-12)
• David realized that not only did God know everything about him, but there was also no where he could go to escape God’s presence.
3) GOD’S SOVEREIGN ORDINATION OF ALL THINGS (13-18)
• The reason God was so intimately acquainted with David is because David is God’s creation.
• God created David with a purpose and a plan in mind and it mattered to God how David lived and what David did.
And when David contemplated all of this
We saw the great submission of his soul before God.
(17-18) “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.”
David came to the conclusion that every human should come to
And that is that we prefer God’s wisdom over our own.
We do not wish to “lean on our own understanding”
Or follow our own wisdom, but we wish to seek the wisdom and knowledge of God and what He would have us know.
SO, WE’VE SEEN: God is transcendent, and we should respond to Him with appropriate wonder and awe and submission.
WE SHOULD KNOW IN OUR SIN
• That God knows all about it,
• That we cannot escape His judgment,
• And that our sin is a rebellion against His sovereign plan.
WE SHOULD KNOW IN OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
• That God also knows all about it,
• That He will never leave us or forsake us,
• And we should continue to seek Him.
WE SHOULD KNOW IN OUR PAIN
• That God knows,
• God sees,
• and God cares.
And the same is said for our times of worship.
God knows our hearts, God sees our thoughts, God is present,
And therefore, seeking to worship in hypocrisy or phoniness
Is a massive mistake.
Know that in our worship we worship a truly incomprehensible and transcendent God.
Well, if the Psalm ended there,
I think we could put a nice and neat little bow on it
And walk away with a warm feeling and a nice little practical application.
BUT THE PSALM DOESN’T END THERE.
Instead, David takes a sharp turn.
What we have thus far failed to realize is that
There was a secret emotion also rising up in David’s heard.
The emotion that WE SAW was his adoration and admiration for God.
We saw that.
We heard David say, (14) “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”
We listened as David admitted that, (6) “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too high, I cannot attain to it.”
We saw David’s adoration of God.
We could see his gratitude and his amazement at who God is.
What we DIDN’T SEE, until now,
Is that at the same time there was a growing FRUSTRATION
And even INDIGNATION also brewing in David’s heart.
For just as his love and amazement and God was growing,
So also was his disdain for those who fail to be equally amazed with God.
And in verse 19, David’s heart bursts open with a strong IMPRECATION.
AND THIS IS OUR SECOND POINT IN THE PSALM.
We saw: The Incomprehensible Transcendence of God
#2 THE INFURIATING REBELLION OF MAN
Psalms 139:19-22
Now the INITIAL RESPONSE is sort of to gasp and hiccup
While reading those verses.
It almost feels like these verses don’t belong.
In fact, I would venture to guess that you’ve heard Psalms 139 quoted many times in your Christian life, but I’d also bet you’ve never heard verses 19-22 quoted.
• People love to talk about the omniscience of God in those first 6 verses.
• People love to talk about the omnipresence of God
• People love that “fearfully and wonderfully made” part.
• And they love those last two verses asking God to search me.
But you’ve likely never heard quoted verses 19-22.
In fact, it may have come as a shock to you
The first time we read this Psalm through 3 weeks ago.
The way these verses are neglected would indicate that
They do not fit the mindset or agenda of man.
But let me give you a little Bible study 101 tip.
You CANNOT understand the overall message of this Psalm
If you neglect verses 19-22.
• If you omit those verses…
• If you ignore those verses…
• If you explain away those verses…
• You by default miss the point of the entire passage.
I’M NOT SAYING you can’t MAKE SOME GOOD POINTS from various truths found in this Psalm. In one sense we’ve done that the last 3 weeks as we talk about God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and sovereign ordination of all things.
You can make some good points that are true.
But if you omit these verses you cannot understand the Psalm as a whole
You will miss the whole point of the whole thing.
Certainly these verses are ESSENTIAL.
But I think we can go one further and tell you that these verses may be THE KEY TO THE ENTIRE PSALM.
• Do you realize that David doesn’t ever make a request of God in this Psalm until verse 19?
The first 18 verses are rich and beautiful as David outlines the transcendence of God, but aside from the reality of praise,
After 18 verses we still don’t know why David wrote the Psalm?
We still don’t know why David penned the Psalm.
That doesn’t become clear until verse 19
When David says, “O that You would slay the wicked, O God;”
And all of a sudden we realize that
Psalms 139 is an Imprecatory Psalm.
It is yet another one of those Psalms
That calls down the judgment of God upon the wicked.
And this one may be the most severe expression yet.
David is certainly blown away by the greatness of God.
But the message of the Psalm is
David’s fury directed at those who could blaspheme and hate and rise up against such an awesome God.
Psalms 139 is about David’s love for God
And his love is measured by his hatred for those who blaspheme God.
When David wants to give God evidence of his great love for Him,
David lays out his hatred for those who hate God.
David says, (21) “Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?”
• You know everything there is to know about me.
• You know when I sit and when I rise.
• You know my thoughts from afar.
• I never exit your presence.
• “Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?”
David’s love for God is expressed by his hatred for the wicked.
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO READ THESE 4 VERSES.
Look at them again:
(19-22) “O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.”
The message is clear, BUT it does cause us some head scratching.
So let’s deal with the elephant in the room.
• David gives a request that God would “slay the wicked”
• David says I “hate those who hate you”.
• In fact David says, “I hate them with the utmost hatred.”
• That’s David’s way of saying, “I didn’t stutter”
It’s clear what he says, and he even says, “You heard me right.”
SO…
What about?
Leviticus 19:17 “You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.”
What about?
Matthew 5:43-47 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”
If you lay Psalms 139 up against those two passages,
One from the Law, and one from Jesus,
Then you’d almost have to say that David has gone off the radar here.
You’d almost have to say that
David is in violation of the Law and the words of Christ.
1) And some, actually take that approach.
• They link verses 19-22 with David’s request in verses 23-24
• As if David first expresses his fleshly anger and then asks God to examine it to
see if it’s ok or not.
Sort of to read:
“I hate them, now God search me and see if I’m out of line in that.”
And I suppose that grants us a way out of the tension,
But there’s NOTHING HERE to indicate that David questions his hatred.
What David questions is his loyalty to God.
He wants to make sure there is nothing in him
That is as repulsive to God as these blasphemers are to David.
It is clear in these 4 verses that
David is convinced that his indignation is totally justified.
So we have a hard time passing this off as a reckless rant by David.
Beyond that we recognize that these 4 verses were INSPIRED by the Holy Spirit.
• It wasn’t Satan that made David say these things.
• It wasn’t his flesh that made David say these things.
• It was the Holy Spirit who made David say these things.
• (As He did with all those other imprecatory Psalms we’ve studied)
2) Others have preferred the King James Version and used the wording there to sort of soften the blow.
The KJV reads verses 21-22 as:
“Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.”
• And commentators have seized upon the word “grieved” and “perfect”
Instead of David saying I “loathe” they read it “grieved”
And say, it’s not a hatred like we think of hatred
It’s an intense sorrow and grief over the way they act.
Albert Barnes wrote:
“The expression here – “grieved” – explains the meaning of the word “hate” in the former member of the verse. It is not that hatred which is followed by malignity or ill-will; it is that which is accompanied with grief, pain of heart, pity, sorrow. So the Savior looked on men; Mark iii, 5; “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” The Hebrew word used here, however, contains also the idea of being disgusted with; of loathing; of nauseating. The feeling referred to is anger – conscious disgust – at such conduct; grief, pain, sorrow, that man should evince such feelings toward their Maker.”
(Spurgeon, Charles [The Treasury of David; Volume 3, Part 2; Hencrickson Publishers; Peabody, MA] pg. 285)
So the explanation here is that David didn’t wish any “ill will” toward these men he rather felt sorry for them and was grieved by their conduct.
But you’re going to have a tough time explaining why David said,
“O that You would slay the wicked, O God;” if he meant them no ill-will.
That Hebrew word can be translated “grieved”
But let me show you were else it is used.
Ezekiel 36:31 “Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.”
It speaks of a sinner under judgment
And the feelings they will then have about their sin.
I don’t think they’re just sad, I think “loathe” is the proper word.
Psalms 95:10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.”
And that was the same generation
• God refused to allow to enter the Promised Land.
• The same generation He killed in the wilderness.
• “loathed” fits.
Another explanation commonly given is that instead of David saying “utmost hatred” they read it “perfect hatred”
That David’s hatred here was perfect in the sense that
It was only expressed through his grief.
Augustine said:
“What is “with a perfect hatred”? I hated in them their iniquities, I loved thy creation. This is to hate with a perfect hatred, that neither on account of the vices thou hate the men, nor on account of the men love the vices…How then will he fulfill in them both his own saying, “Have not I hated those that hated thee, Lord,” and the Lord’s command, “Love your enemies”? How will he fulfill this, save with that perfect hatred, that he hate in them that they are wicked and love that they are men?”
(ibid. pg. 286)
So Augustine took that favorite approach that
David means that he hates the sin but loves the sinner.
But again, that’s NOT what David said.
And he said it twice!
“Do I not hate THOSE who hate You, O LORD?”
“I hate THEM with the utmost hatred.”
The word “uttermost” here.
• The word here means “complete”.
• It is like when John 13 said that Jesus “loved them to the end (i.e to the
max)”
That is what David is saying.
My hatred for them is complete, to the limit, maxed out.
We see how men like to try and explain away what David has said,
But the reality is he says what he means.
SO WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS?
Well again I remind you that
This is an imprecatory PRAYER not a marketplace confrontation.
• David has NOT taken up the sword and gone into the city and started slaying sinners.
• David is praying to God about it.
• We have often said that imprecatory prayers are a great way to release our righteous indignation to God.
• We never take our own revenge, but leave room for the wrath of the Lord.
• David is well within that guideline here.
But that still doesn’t explain
The clear sentiment of hatred in his heart
When the Bible also says not to hate, but to love.
Well could I also remind you that Jesus commanded us to hate?
WAIT! WHAT?
Luke 14:25-26 “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”
Did Jesus mean to literally hate your parents in every sense of the word?
No, He was making a comparison.
In comparison to your love for Him,
The affection you feel for even your parents
Would be considered hatred by comparison.
Steve Lawson referenced that text during his sermon on Psalms 139
And he said that HATRED here should be defined as “to reject and to oppose”
And that certainly fits what David has to say here.
“Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.”
David’s hatred here is expressed
In his unwillingness to associate or to even greet
Or fellowship with those who blaspheme God.
And might I simply say that this is a hatred
That is sorely lacking from the church in our day and age.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.”
At the same time we are reminded of his statement in 1 Corinthians about the sinning brother in which he said:
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.”
When you put both together we realize that
• There is to be no covenant or fellowship between believers and unbelievers
• And there is to be no association between believers and immoral believers.
And yet we live in a day when men don’t live by that rule at all.
We are more than happy to condone, fellowship, date, marry, celebrate, etc.
With men regardless of how they live before God.
We can’t imagine someone blaspheming our spouse
• And then sitting and cheering next to them at a football game as though we were friends,
• But we do it with those who blaspheme God all the time.
David says, NOT ME!
David instead asked that God would “slay the wicked”
In his sermon on this text Steve Lawson said:
“To kill others ruthlessly is what the reference is to these men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly. That means they blaspheme God’s name. They defame God’s name. They speak abominations and atrocities against God. David cannot sit by and just whistle ‘Just As I am’, David cannot sit by and let the name of God be drug through the mud. David is responding as the Lord Jesus did in the temple when He went in and with holy zeal cleansed the temple. It is the same holy zeal that in Galatians 1 verse 8 and 9 Paul said, ‘If any man preach another gospel than the gospel I have delivered to you, let him be damned and go to hell.’ Strong words, but it is with a holy zeal and passion for God.”
https://media-cloud.sermonaudio.com/audio/1124101551290.mp3 (28:10)
This is the explanation of these 4 verses.
• Is it hatred? YES
• Is it indignation? YES
• Is it directed at men and not just their sin? YES
• Does it intend judgment on them? YES
And it is justified and righteous indignation!
Now that DOESN’T MEAN that if they repented
That David would still want them judged, certainly he would not.
But you are seeing here the heart of a man who loves God
And he cannot stand those who claim to be God’s children
And yet blaspheme His name.
In fact, let’s go a little further.
(19) “O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.”
SO WHO ARE THE WICKED?
They are “men of bloodshed”
Is David justified in asking God to slay them?
Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”
That wasn’t man’s law, that is God’s Law.
• The Bible 100% supports capital punishment.
• There is nothing outside of the will of God here from David.
In verse 20 David says they “speak against You wickedly”
We call that blasphemy.
Leviticus 24:16 “Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.”
In verse 20 David also says they “take Your name in vain”
That is hypocrisy.
Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”
Verse 21 David says they “hate You, O LORD” And they “rise up against You”
Let me just give you a quick list of the types of things that God’s Law requires the death penalty for.
• Striking your father or mother (Ex. 21:15)
• Cursing your father or mother (Ex. 21:17)
• Kidnapping a man (Ex. 21:16)
• Someone whose ox is allowed to gore someone (Ex 21:29)
• Someone who sleeps with an animal (Ex. 22:19)
• Profaning the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14)
• Giving your offspring to Molech (Lev. 20:2)
• All kinds of adultery and sexual sin (Lev. 20)
• And that’s just a few.
THE POINT IS: David is not outside of the justice of God on this request.
He looks around and sees those who should be God’s people
And they are engaged in deeds which the Law prescribes death for
And David is filled with rage.
His prayer is that God would in fact rise up and avenge His name.
David is NOT ABOUT TO go and hang out with them.
David is NOT ABOUT TO high five them in the streets.
David is NOT ABOUT TO invite them over for supper or attend their party.
WHY?
Because David loves God!
David honors God!
AND THE THRUST OF THIS PSALM
Is that the God who knows everything there is to know about David
Can look inside of him and see that this is true.
So here’s an obvious question and application.
If you were forced to prove your love for God by your refusal to condone that which God hates could you do it?
Romans 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”
We have no doubt that there is
NOT A SHRED OF HYPOCRISY in David’s love for God.
His love for God is pure and sincere.
David WILL NOT congregate and fellowship with those who blaspheme God and take His name in vain and hate Him and rise up against Him.
From David’s perspective.
• Any enemy of God’s is an enemy of mine.
• If they are Your enemies they are my enemies.
• If they hate You, they hate me.
THAT IS WHAT DAVID IS SAYING.
He says it with a full understanding that God knows everything about him.
And with a full understanding that God knows his thoughts from afar.
Can you see why David was a man after God’s own heart?
THIS ISN’T THAT STRANGE:
• Go read Matthew 23 and listen to the way Jesus approaches those who take God’s name in vain.
• Go read Acts 7 and listen to how Stephen preached to those who blaspheme God.
• Go read Acts 8 and listen to how Peter addressed Simon who tried to purchase the Holy Spirit.
We cannot applaud that which is opposed to God
And say that we love God with a pure heart.
There must be a holy hatred for what is evil.
There must be a holy hatred for those who hate God.
If you want a great and recent example of this, after the sermon google John MacArthur’s open letter to Governor Newsom. You’ll see a good example of exactly what David is talking about.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/los-angeles-pastor-john-macarthur-publicly-rebukes-gavin-newsom-diabolical-policies-invoking-jesus
The Incomprehensible Transcendence of God
The Infuriating Rebellion of Man
#3 THE INEVITABLE RESPONSE OF HUMILITY
Psalms 139:23-24
I know we are short on time here, but these verses are clear.
David doesn’t end this Psalm
As though he is the sole authority on what is in his heart.
If you ask David,
• He genuinely believes that he loves God with all his heart.
• In fact, he even offered evidence of how great his love for God is.
But David knows he is not the final authority.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”
Proverbs 16:2 “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives.”
Proverbs 21:2 “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.”
David knows that he can have a blind spot.
Jesus actually told us
That there will be people in the judgment who are convinced that they are servants of Jesus Christ and will say, “Lord, Lord, did we not…”
And Jesus will say, “I never knew you…”
It is quite possible to be self-deceived.
There are “many” who are.
Jesus spoke to Jews in John 8
Who for a moment claimed to believe in Jesus, but Jesus revealed that they were actually children of the devil.
And while David is convinced that he is not hypocrite or blasphemer
He is not willing to take his own word for it.
So now he appeals to God to search him
And tell him the truth about himself.
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR YOU AND I TO DO CONTINUALLY!
We always appeal to God to show us the truth about ourselves.
David says:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart”
Addressed to the God who knows everything about me,
David prays that God would examine him thoroughly.
• Is there any hypocrisy?
• Is there any blasphemy?
• Is there sin I am not aware of?
“Try me and know my anxious thoughts;”
“Try” is “to test” or “sift” or “reveal”.
Put me in the furnace, run me through the purifier.
And look at my thoughts, my “anxious thoughts”;
My doubting thoughts; my unbelieving thoughts.
Don’t just examine the motives of my heart,
But examine the thoughts of my mind.
I need them all to be tested.
I need to be exposed where I am thinking wrongly.
“And see if there by any hurtful way in me”
“hurtful”
It is the Hebrew word O-TSEV
Which is adapted from the word EH-TSEV
• It is a word that speaks of “pain”.
• It is the word used for what the curse would bring to Eve. “pain”
• It can also speak of painful toil or labor.
It is actually the word used to speak of Jeconiah in Jeremiah 22:8 when he is called a “shattered jar” and an “undesirable vessel”
Which is to say he was wasted toilsome labor.
I worked and toiled for this jar,
But it’s corrupted and only good to be thrown out.
It is work which causes pain.
Interesting that this form of the word used here in Psalms 139 is also used in:
Isaiah 48:5 “Therefore I declared them to you long ago, Before they took place I proclaimed them to you, So that you would not say, ‘My idol has done them, And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’”
• There it is translated “idol”
• Which is a graven image made as a result of toilsome labor,
• But is useless and worthless.
You went to all that trouble for nothing.
Now listen as David says: “See if there is any hurtful way in me”
Is there anything in my life which I am doing
With the assumption that it is good,
But it is actually hurtful or useless?
You know, am I toiling for things which do not please You?
(or which grieves You or causes You pain?)
Such a good question.
And then David says:
“And lead me in the everlasting way.”
That would be the way of righteousness.
What a great prayer for any of God’s people.
The fact of the matter is that
• You may think you know your heart and motives but God really knows your heart and motives.
• You may think you really love God with all your heart, but God knows.
And so it is imperative, as we worship
The omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign God
That we also appeal to Him in humility
To make sure our worship is pleasing.
• Have you asked God if you are walking in a manner that pleases Him?
• Have you asked God to reveal your idols?
• Have you asked God to expose your blasphemy?
• Have you asked God to express those things that are hurtful?
• Have you asked God to show you your wrong thoughts?
He surely knows all those things.
And the response of humility is to ask Him.
After all, it is all transparent to Him.
Hebrews 4:13 “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
