If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to 109th Psalm, Psalm 109. And just curious, can anybody tell me what imprecatory means? Anybody want to risk it? What is an imprecatory psalm? Say that again now. She Googled it. Let me put it in a short term, okay? It means pronouncing a curse. So it's actually cursings upon certain ones. So the imprecatory psalms, there are quite a few in the book of Psalms. Psalm 109 is the last one that is an imprecatory psalm, and it's actually calling out curses upon those that are enemies of God, or the psalmist, and ultimately that would be toward God, because he's God's man. There are curses pronounced even in the New Testament. The Bible tells us, let me look up one real quick over in Galatians chapter one and verse nine, the Apostle Paul says, but though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, then that which we have preached unto you, let him be what? Accursed. There's a curse there pronounced upon certain ones. So when we read the imprecatory Psalms, the Psalms that are pronouncing cursings upon certain people, especially when you get to Psalm 109. Psalm 109 is probably the roughest one as far as pronouncing cursings upon certain ones. It's the harshest sounding, that is for sure. But it's the last one. Now the cursings in this psalm go from verses 6 all the way through verse 20. And let me lay some groundwork concerning this. Generally what you see with most people, they pull for the underdog. They pull for the one that is needing more help. Most people desire justice. Not saying all do, some are very unjust. We, as God's people, we have sympathy toward those that are innocent. Such as, that's why we took up a love offering for Samaritan's Purse, to help those that were hit by the storm. Now not all those that benefit from what we sent are God-loving people. But, you know, we should still have concern for each and every one. We know that if people suffer innocently, we have sympathy toward them. So when you pray for justice, ultimately, the ultimate justice is gonna happen when Jesus returns. And when Jesus returns, and we often say, even so come Lord Jesus, and we as God's people, we look for his coming, but do you know the opposite side of that? When he comes, there's gonna be judgment. So in a way, when we ask the Lord to come, we look for his coming, we're also looking at God's judgment coming upon the wicked. This passage is gonna seem kinda contradictory to something we've read recently over in the book of Matthew. Look over in Matthew chapter five. In Matthew chapter five and down in verse 43. and listen to what the word of the Lord says. Matthew chapter five and verse 43. You have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies and bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That you may be the children of your father which is in heaven, for he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans or lost people do that? Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect. So here Jesus is teaching that we are to love not only our neighbor, but we're to love our enemies. And here we have in the Psalms, The psalmist, which this particular psalm is attributed to David, it seems like he's cursing his enemies. Now how do we reconcile that? Let me give you a few thoughts to feed on, imprecations. They are inspired. These curses that are called down, it is the Spirit of God that moved David to record these words. So you can't just write them off. Some people just don't wanna read it. But we don't do that because all scripture is inspired by God. The curses, that are called down, they are not for minor infractions. In other words, these people are very wicked and they are very evil. Another thing you need to remember, look over in Deuteronomy. I don't even know if I could read all that. In Deuteronomy chapter 27 and 28, I would just kind of summarize that. It's talking about how, God will curse those that are not obedient unto him. Another implication that you need to think about, we need to love righteousness and we need to hate evil. We need to love righteousness and hate evil. We hear political parties say and emphasize, love your neighbor. And they emphasize, you gotta love your neighbor, and therefore we got open borders because everybody's our neighbor. Well, there's a principle before that, and don't ever forget it. The number one principle is love the Lord your God. They often leave that out, you know that? They leave God out of anything, but they emphasize love your neighbor. The Word of God emphasizes we need to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. And therefore, we need to follow His Word and His authority. We need to bow before it if we are gonna do our neighbor any good. There are times in Scripture, some of the things we read are what is called in the English language hyperbole. In other words, hyperbole means it's really overemphasizing. Like, I'm so tired I could die. Well, that's not really what I'm saying. You understand what I'm saying? That's hyperbole. It's overemphasizing something. In this psalm, as well as the other psalms that are imprecatory, they don't contain personal vengeance. In other words, what the psalmist is saying in each one of the Psalms, and this one compares closely to Psalm 69, it's not the psalmist desiring God to take vengeance because of his sake, but it's ultimately that God would take vengeance for his own namesake. It's a concern for God's name and God's character. Even so, we pray God's will be done, God's kingdom come, even on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, what we desire, we desire to see all evil put down and all wickedness dealt with and all injustice stopped. and that justice would reign, the righteousness of God would reign. That is our heart's desire. As the psalmist calls down curses upon these, it's because there is no repentance with the wicked. And because there is no repentance with the wicked, wickedness continues to get worse. Can you not see that in our society? There are some things I've seen recently up in New York where these substations where people actually push people on the tracks to try to laugh at them as they're killed. There was a stabbing in New York yesterday, just a random stabbing. Little kids get stabbed, randomly. Do we pray for God's justice to be done? Let's look at the song, the first five verses. The first five verses is a prayer. He opens in prayer, and the prayer opens with praise, and he ends with prayer, and it also closes with praise. And I want you to notice how he phrases this in verse one. He says, hold not your peace, or don't be silent, O God. of my praise. I love the way the psalmist expresses who God is. He's the God of my praise. He is the one I am praising. He is the one I sing praises to. Lord, you are the one who is worthy of all praise. Don't hold your peace. Don't be silent. And he gives the reason why, and he says, because of the mouth of the wicked, and also because of the mouth of the deceitful. He describes these people. These wicked men's mouths are open against the psalmist. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. In other words, they are slandering, they're undermining, they're trying to ruin the character of David. Now we do not know exactly when this took place and actually who he's talking about. The word of God does not reveal that. But these men are character assassins. David says they compass me about, also with words of hatred. I remember in public school many years ago how often guys would get in big groups and they kind of bully other people around. I remember some situations where you could just see the hatred within young people, and it's all built because of others gathering around. What you see now is videos of fights, and then the crowds gather around and irking on, you know, build it up and everything else. Here David is saying he is the focus of their hatred. They encompass me about, they're all around me, and they're speaking words of hate. And they fought against him without a cause. There was no purpose, no reason, no real reason at all for them to hate David or to be deceitful or to be wicked toward him. Notice how David says he acted and how they responded. He says, for my love, they are my adversaries. In other words, David loved them. They hated him in return. There were different men in David's lives that hated him. You remember Saul, that was one real quick one. Ahithophel, there are others in David's lifetime that showed hatred toward him and desired to see him killed. How did David respond to Saul? You know what, he responded in kindness. He had opportunities to kill him, and what did he do? He spared his life on more than one occasion. He showed love toward him. How should we respond? If somebody's speaking evil about you, or if you suspect someone's speaking evil about you, what if somebody is trying to, be your character assassin? And they're trying to ruin your reputation. Are they making fun of you, calling you names, talking down at you? How should you respond? And notice what the Word of God says in the latter part of that verse in verse four. But I, prayer, Here's the italicized words that gives the sentence more sensible meaning in English. But I give myself unto prayer. But I, prayer, is literally what the Hebrew says. David's saying, though they're fighting against me, I'm praying. I'm gonna keep on praying. They have shown hateful language. shown their wicked talk behind my back, plotting against me, but David is praying. And the principle, I don't doubt, is in the Old Testament that's in the New Testament. God says that vengeance is mine, I will repay, thus saith the Lord. Therefore, David prays. If someone is speaking evil or negative about you to cut you down, here's your response. You need to be praying and committing it to the Lord. David goes on to say, he says, they've rewarded me evil for good. I've done good. How many times did David do Saul good? Saul turned and gave him evil. and they returned hatred for my love. You ever love someone and they turned on you and hated you? Here's the predicament that David finds himself in. He goes from the plural, they, to verse six he starts talking in the singular. In other words, probably the head spokesman of those that are wicked and evil and mean and showing hatred, there's one particular instigator. David loved them, but they spurned his love. If someone is talking evil about you, talk to God first. You hear that? Don't go straight to them, talk to the Lord first. That's what we find in this psalm. And I pray that we can learn from this imprecatory psalm how we can put some of that into practice very practically in our time. What we have in verses six through 19, we've got the curses pronounced. And I want you to notice these curses. In verse six he says, you set a wicked man over him. Here's David's desire. Put a wicked man over him and let Satan, that's an adversary, stand at his right hand. That's one curse he's pronouncing upon this person. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin. Wow, that's unusual, isn't it? Praying that his prayer The man who is against him, may his prayer become sin. Let his days be few and let another take his office. In other words, this is somebody that is a leader in Israel. David's saying, cut short his life, literally is what he's saying, let his days be few. Then let somebody else take the place of where he is in a leadership position. Boy, that's a curse too, ain't it? Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. In other words, cut his life short. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg. Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. This is harsh. The one who is speaking out against David, David's saying, Let that man's children be wanderers. Let them go about as beggars. Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate or empty places. Let the extortioner catch all that he has. Let the stranger spoil his labor. That's a pretty harsh curse. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children." Wow! Children are often innocent ones in many situations. Here David is calling down curses upon his posterity. Let his posterity be cut off. And in the generation following, let their name be blotted out. 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 before the earth, from the earth." What David is saying here is that wickedness needs to cease. Verses 16 through 20, you have that final curse there, and it says, because that he remembered not to show mercy, he actually persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. In other words, he had murder in his heart to kill those that were brokenhearted. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him. As he delighted not in blessing, so let that blessing be far from him. as he clothed himself with cursing, like as with his 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, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul. In other words, because he cursed others so much, may he be clothed in his own cursing. It's kind of like the picture of, you remember, in the book of Esther, Haman built the gallows, and he wanted to kill Mordecai, and how he was eating up with Mordecai. And he ended up being hung on the gallows he built. What David is saying here is basically the same principle. The cursings that he's cursing upon others, may he be filled with those cursings. In other words, the wickedness that he is spreading, may that wickedness come back upon him. Now, hopefully I'm painting a picture where you can better understand why David is praying these imprecatory curses upon the wicked. There was a story I read, and it was like a day ago, a day or two ago, and I could not remember the exact details. I often read the headlines of news. I don't oftentimes read the full story. But there was a story about a little girl, 10 years old, and all I remember is that she was tied or burnt with metal, a metal pipe. Her back was broken. and she was killed, 10 years old. I got her looking for that story today and I typed in different words to try to Google the story. And some of the things that came up that kids have dealt with, some held captive, some raped over periods of time, some beaten, some killed. starved to death. I found this story of the little girl, and it happened over in England. She was 10 years old, burned with iron, probably tied to a heating pipe, bitten. She had 11 spinal fractures, bruises, punctures, and it was by her dad. Muslim. The mom is being charged also with the dad and an uncle who lived in the place. After the dad realized he killed his daughter, they booked a flight to one of the Muslim countries, I can't remember which one, and the mom was talking like everything was normal, it didn't even phase her, and they escaped. He called back to England to report the child was dead, and he started feeling grief, and he said he was going to go back and face the charges. He said he meant to punish her for being naughty. This had gone on for weeks. They went back and they're all three in custody, facing charges of murder. When you hear stories like that, you can't help but think, may justice be done. We look and we hear stories of sex trafficking coming across the border. There are children, hundreds of children, showing up at the border by themselves. They've got an address they're going to. They don't know nothing about the address where they're going to. They just got an address. They turn into the authorities. The authorities record it and they send them on to that address. How much of that is trafficking? In reading some of the stories recently, some of y'all read about old, the rapper P. Diddy, who's vile, vulgar, and I'm not gonna even mention the things he's done, but from my understanding from what I've read, that type of lifestyle is throughout Hollywood. In other words, there is wickedness. I mean, wickedness that would probably make you want to throw up if you read the depths of it. You can understand a little bit better why David's praying the way he's praying. Because if wickedness is not dealt with, whoo, woke me up. If wickedness is not dealt with, it continues to accumulate and get worse and worse. Is it righteous to pray for justice? I say absolutely. And how we ought to be praying for justice. In verse 21, what we have through verse 25, David starts praying again. And he says, but do thou for me, O God, the Lord, for your namesake, because your mercy is good, and deliver thou me. What David is reflecting upon now, he's crying out for help to God, he's focusing upon God's character and God's name. And he wants God to act for his namesake. Because God's mercy is good, he wants to be delivered. In other words, if wickedness triumphs, God's name is at stake. David tells his condition, he's poor, he's needy. His heart's wounded with inside him. He says, I'm gone like the shadow when it declines. I'm tossed up and down as a locust. My knees are weak through fasting and my flesh fails of fatness. I became also a reproach unto them." In other words, they mocked me. When they looked upon me, they shaked their heads. So what David does, he cries out for deliverance. And he says, help me, O Lord my God, O save me according to your mercy. that they may know that this is your hand, that you, Lord, have done it." In other words, he wanted God to work in such a way that God would receive the glory. And when people saw what happened, they could not attribute it to man, but that had to be the hand of God. that they may know that this is your hand, that you, Lord, have done it. Let them curse, but bless thou. When they arise, let them be ashamed, but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame. Let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle. In other words, what David is saying, deliver me in such a way that you will be glorified. Ultimately, that's how we need to pray. That whatever we're praying for, God would be glorified through it. Not so much that you would benefit from it, but that God would be glorified in it. So he ends in praise, just like he started in praise, and verses 30 and 31, he says in verse 30, I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. Yes, I will praise him among the multitude. I'm gonna get into the congregation, and I'm gonna praise God. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul, because God is at my right hand. because God is standing with me. I'm gonna praise Him. Boy, you look at all that He's going through and what does He want to do? He wants to praise the Lord. How can He praise God going through all this character slander from the wicked? Because He knows God is His source of strength and His help. He has a sure foundation no matter what might come his way. Therefore, he's gonna praise God in the midst of all that's going on. That is Psalm 109, the imprecatory psalm. It's a rough psalm when you talk about God's judgment being poured out upon even the children because often the sins of the fathers is passed down to the children. That's why he prays that way. He wants wickedness ultimately to be cut off. And that's the purpose of the imprecatory Psalms. We're gonna have a word of prayer, and then we're gonna sing two choruses. So let's stand. Father, we thank you for your word, and we pray you give us insight Even when things seem in your word to rub wrong or even contradict other parts of your word, Lord, we know the contradiction is between our two ears. So we pray you give us understanding and insight, eyes to see that we might worship you. We'll be careful to give you the praise, the honor, the glory for all done for Christ's sake. Amen.