Taking our Bibles to Psalm chapter 10. Psalm chapter 10. We're going to be looking at the ways of the wicked. The ways of the wicked from Psalm chapter 10. When a lazy housemaid, whether she worked for Molly Maid or some organization like that, a lazy housemaid was scolded by the householder for the untidiness of the windows that she was cleaning. And the lady responded and said, I'm sure the room and the windows would be clean enough if it wasn't for that old nasty sun that always seems to be shining on those sliding glass doors. Have you ever had a fun spring cleaning when you do the windows? Or maybe you have little Rollo do the windows with newspaper and vinegar and water or Windex or something of that nature. And he's just rubbing, giving it all that elbow grease on both sides of the window. Then the sun comes up and you can see all the streaks. You know, that's very similar to the ways of the wicked. In their own eyes and in their own attempts, it seems like they're doing oh so well. But then when it's held up to the light of the sun, the S-O-N, and the light of the Word of God, They flee from the light. Oh, they'll call it the nasty old sun, like the lazy housemaid. And a lot of times, those who hold up the light, believers in Christ, they're often going to be looked at as the enemies of the office, or the enemies of the factory, or the enemies of society. And we will be viewed, even as Ahab viewed the prophet, are you who's troubling Israel? And we're looked at as the troublemakers. Well, Psalm chapter 10 delineates for us the ways of the wicked. And we're going to be seeing the relationship of the wicked to God's people. Now, the circumstances behind Psalm 10 are uncertain. You'll not find any inscriptions on Psalm 10. There's some conjecture that it possibly might be referring to 1 Samuel 27 when David was fleeing from the presence of Saul into Philistine country. We know certainly that his enemies were out to get him. And this psalm not only presents the ways of the wicked, but also the perils of the pilgrim. Because those who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. And we need to be prepared to take a stand for the Lord. And in this chapter, we're confronted with the conflict, the unceasing conflict between good and evil. And honestly, on the surface, sometimes we will admit that it seems that evil is prevailing over righteousness. It seems like error is not always corrected according to our timetable, doesn't it? Well, chapter 10 begins with the psalmist's inquiry. He's asking a question in verse 1. And he presents two whys. He says in Psalm 10, Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? God seemed distant to him. Have you ever felt that way in your life when trials and testings were buffeting you? Perhaps you were confronted with a long-term illness or a long-term financial calamity? Or it seemed that there was a need and you would pray and the heavens seemed to be as brass? Well, I guess that every once in a while it's good to read about the prophets. And hear the experience of the psalmist, because you're not alone. As a matter of fact, I don't believe that any honest Christian would fail to admit that at one time or another, it seemed like the heavens were silent and they were discouraged about it. Don't let anyone cause you to think that, oh, well, if I was a strong Christian, I never ever would grow discouraged at one time or another. It's the experience of all, and we're cut out of the same bolt of cloth. Sooner or later, we'll be where David is. And his first why speaks of the apparent distance of the Lord. And then you'll notice the second why that forms the inquiry. Why hidest thouself? In other words, David is saying here, Lord, it not only seems like you're distant, but Lord, it seems like you're actually eluding me. You're hiding from me. One thing is for sure, David is honest in his prayers. And why shouldn't we be honest with how we feel? God is omniscient and He knows our hearts, we might as well speak openly with the Lord as to how we feel. Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? And that's exactly where David found himself. In the body of the psalm that we're going to be looking at, we're going to be noticing the fourfold way of the wicked. Beginning with verses 2-6, we're going to notice that the first way of the wicked is infidelity. Infidelity. Notice, the infidelity of the wicked unsaved person is found first of all in verse 2, they persecute the poor. They persecute the poor. The wicked, in his pride, doth persecute the poor. I mean, it's not like the poor don't have enough to worry about already, but they're shooting them while they're down. They persecute the poor. Characteristic in history, this has been the case, has it not? Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. They persecute the poor. But notice in verses 3-6, they're also proud. They're proud. And all of this demonstrates their infidelity. They're proud. Look at verse 3. The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesses the covetous whom the Lord of horrors. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, it's even seen in their faces, the pride, they will not seek after God. That's a willfulness about their pride and their infidelity. God is not in all his thoughts. You know, we have a good parallel passage we're going to be looking at in a few moments Romans chapter 3 and it just is a beautiful Parallel to the pride of the wicked notice verse 5 his ways are always grievous Thy judgments are far above out of his sight They can't even grasp spiritual truths, because the natural man receiveth not the things of his spirit. And notice, as for all of his enemies, and guess who the enemies are? We are. We who follow biblical absolutes, well for him all truth is relative. And anyone who would espouse truth as absolute is viewed as narrow-minded, and someone who is to be persecuted and hated. And notice, in David's eyes, these unsaved people just blow the righteous away. And it seems like they're successful, David says. These unsaved people just puff, and they blow. God's people away. And that was David's thought. And the unsaved person, notice in verse 6, he has said in his heart, I shall not be moved. I mean, he has not only a predisposition towards evil, but he is entrenched in the fact that I will not change, I am right. Don't confuse me with any of the facts. I shall never be in adversity. Nothing is going to happen. You can try to warn them about the wrath to come, biblically, and they say, oh, that's just campfire folklore. I shall not be moved. The first way of the wicked is infidelity, in verses 2 through 6. Complete unbelief. They persecute the poor, verse 2, and they're proud, verses 3 through 6. Now, I want you to notice in verse 7, we have the second way of the wicked, the second characteristic of the wicked. Not only infidelity, but indignation. I mean, flat-out hatred for God's people. Notice verse 7, the indignation that characterizes nonbelievers, the wicked. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud. Under his tongue is mischief and vanity. I call this spiritual halitosis. Here is a man that is full of cursing. Do you know of any? In your office or where you work, where every other sentence or perhaps every phrase is spiced up and littered with profanity. And this is the picture of the indignation and the verbal diatribe of the unsaved person. Now, put your bulletin or your paper or a pen in the Psalm chapter 10 and let's look at Romans chapter 3 and let's take a look at the parallel passage here Romans chapter 3 verse 13 notice how Paul describes the wicked man without Christ verse 13 their throat is an open sepulcher well there you got spiritual halitosis too An open grave. In other words, it's rotting filth that comes out because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, does it not? With their tongues they have used deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Now that's the mouth. Now look at the feet in verse 15. I call this hoof and mouth disease. You ever hear of that? You've got not only the mouth disease, but you've got the hoof disease, because it talks about their feet, and what they go into, and what they get into. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Any evil that they can do against righteousness, any evil, any way that they can, and if this is not true of the Hollywood and the media today, any way that they can make Christians, or Christianity, or any type of biblical, world-like view, any way that they can cast it in ridicule. And the sitcoms, and the talk shows, and the movies, and the Hollywood cesspool, it's all right here, folks. Hoof and mouth disease. Destruction, misery are in their ways. The way of peace they have not known. There's no fear of God before their eyes. And this is what God's Word is reiterating, and it's exactly what Paul is demonstrating here on this second point of the ways of the wicked. Not only infidelity, but indignation. Verse 7. Now, let's take a look at verses 8-10 of Psalm 10. The third characteristic of the wicked, not only infidelity and indignation, but flat out inhumanity. Inhumanity. Look at verse 8. The wicked, they sit in the lurking places of the villages. Here we have three word pictures. Three word pictures are given to demonstrate the inhumanity of the wicked. society the inhumanity of the devil and the inhumanity of the devil's crown the first word picture is found in verse 8 and you have the word picture of a lawless bandit a lawless bandit here in verse 8 you could just picture a bandit in verse 8 he sits in the lurking places of the villages you know just waiting for someone to come, some person lying in wait to kill. It says here, he hides, he sits in the lurking places of the villages, in the secret places does he murder the innocent. His eyes are privately set against the poor. So you have the word picture of a lawless bandit. Now in verse 9, you have the word picture of a lurking lion. Look at verse 9. He lies in wait secretly as a lion. Have you ever seen some of the National Geographic and how lions will lurk secretly, eyeing their prey? And boy, they're just sprung, ready to jump. You know, I believe that if we as Christians realized the propensity of the wicked to attack Christianity and Christians and the Lord, we would behave a lot better in the workplace and watch our testimony better. But you know, when you see what's going on in many churches in America today, testimonies that are going down the drain, Christian leaders, they're just causing the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme and giving fodder to those that are seeking to destroy the work of the Lord. But here you have the picture of a lurking lion waiting in secret to catch the unsuspecting game. It says in verse 9, he lies in wait to catch the poor. He does catch the poor when he draws him into his net. And here you have a picture going for the juggler and then dragging him off. back into his little section, his place where he will be able to eat and devour the rest of the carcass and maybe he'll leave it there for the next meal and finish it off. You see, that's the picture of the wicked and their lurking lions, lawless bandits. But I want you to notice the third word picture in verse 10, a luring hunter. We have some hunters in our church. And you know, when you are going to go hunting, what's your modus operandi? Do you go out in the middle of the field and yell and scream and crack jokes with your friend, your hunting buddy, and let all of the wildlife know, we're here! We all have our 30-odd sixes and our .243s and our 12-gauge shotguns. We're here! We're going to get you! Come on out and fight it out! That's not the way it works. Somebody gets the tree stand, And they'll get up there, high up there, and my, the patience. You know, it's amazing, some of the most impatient men at home with their kids, oh, they'll spend hours looking as a luring hunter, laying a trap for vulnerable game. Well, here, look at verse 10. This is the wicked. He crouches. I mean, here he's really getting down low. Maybe, you know, camouflages his face, smears it all up so that he looks like the surrounding. That's a picture of the unsaved, isn't it? Humbles himself. not biblically now certainly all he crouches and lays low that the poor may fall by his strong ones he's a lawless bandit he's a lurking lion and he's a luring hunter the inhumanity of the unsaved now we're going to look now at the fourth characteristic of the unsaved look at verse eleven his insolence. I'll tell you what, he thinks that he can get away from God. I'll tell you what, that is the epitome, the epitome of con job and insolence and pride. Notice verse 11. He hath said in his heart, God has forgotten. Can you imagine thinking that God is going to forget? Oh, well, some of you might say, well, the Lord says in Psalm 103, I will remember their iniquity no more. Well, we need to understand that that is not referring to the fact that somehow, and please, I'm not being sacrilegious, but some people think that God somehow gets a cerebral lobotomy and he forgets history. I remind you that one of the characteristics of God is omniscience. When the Bible speaks of your sins I'll remember no more." It isn't that God forgets as a human being would, for that would imply imperfection. In case we last checked, you know, lack of memory is an imperfection on our part, and there's nothing like that with God. What it means, it's an anthropomorphism. It's a man-like way of expressing a fact. that God will not bring it up against us again. That's what forgetting means. He will not bring it up against us, but it's under the blood of the blood of His Son. It's under the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just as if the Word of God says, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. Well, John 4.24 tells us God is Spirit, But yet it's using man-like terms, anthropomorphisms, to describe a characteristic or a quality of God that he's able to be aware of all things, you see. Well here, but God doesn't forget, but here's the wicked person. Maybe he heard this from an old sermon that he went to in some liberal church, who knows. Maybe he learned that in some liberal Sunday school, that God can forget things. And therefore, well, God's not going to bring this up against me. He says here, God's forgotten. He hides His face. He will never see it. It's interesting. You have two people believing that God's hiding Himself. Verse 1, David, and then you've got the wicked guy in verse 11, and they have two different concerns, two different motives, but they both are wrong, aren't they? They're both wrong. It's probably sadder when Christians are wrong, because you expect non-Christians who don't have God's word, they're certainly going to be wrong. But notice this unbelief here. God has forgotten the insolence of it. You know, he thinks that he can get away with his wickedness. And you know, deep down, David is whispering to himself, and it seems like he is. It seems like he is. You know, the unsaved person relies on the philosophy, out of sight, out of mind. I don't think about God. I put him out of my mind. Therefore, he is not. Kind of like the ostrich that buries its head in the sand and forgets the lion that's coming to attack. The wicked person knows nothing of the truth of Galatians 6, 7. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. But you know what? Whether or not he's aware of it, it's going to come. God is not nearsighted. If you'll permit the analogy, he's not Mr. Magoo. He sees clearly. He has night telescopic vision and he can see clearly. The day and the night are alike unto him. God does not have a poor memory. These are the four characteristics of the wicked. Now David closes his thoughts in this psalm in verses 12 through 18. And he issues a three-fold cry of intercession. In verses 12 through 14, he gives a cry of remembrance. Lord, remember! He says in verse 12, that old military cry keeps on coming up, doesn't it? Arise, O Lord, O God! Lift up your hands! He cries out to remembrance, Forget not the humble. Now you need to realize that this is how David is feeling. God is not going to forget. But notice, he cries to remembrance, Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. I'm not going to have to give account, the wicked man says. But notice, David says, Thou hast seen it. Lord, You've seen it. You know what's going on. Thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it, to pay it back with Thy hand. The poor committed himself unto Thee. Are you there, by the way? Yes, you are. You're one of those. You're saying, Lord, the wicked men, they seem to be having their way, and all of these four characteristics in their life are there, but Lord, I am placing myself in Your hand. I'm committing myself unto Thee. You're a helper of the fatherless. And you know what? There's nobody probably more helpless than someone that's fatherless. That's sad. But the Lord is a helper of those that are most vulnerable. And He issues a cry, Lord, You remember. You know what's going on. You know that I'm Your child. And Lord, I'm asking You to remember the righteous. Remember Your children. Then He gives a second cry, not only to remembrance, But he gives out a cry in verses 15 and 16 to retribution. And you know, there is a time when that's necessary. He says, Break thou the arm of the wicked. Show them, Lord. Show them. Lord, all of these people that are wickedly taking a stand against our beloved country, who are seeking to wreak havoc and false doctrines and to destroy the best, America's best, our soldiers and our people that are involved in service and in ministry to our country. All of that. Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man. Seek out his wickedness till thou find none. Lord, you be on the reconnaissance mission, Lord. We need your help. Lord, we can't do it without you. Lord, find them in the crevices. Find them in the nooks and the crannies. And Lord, deal with it according to your righteousness, because they're taking a stand against you, Lord, and your truth. You see. Then it says in verse 16, this cry of retribution, the Lord is king forever and ever. And by the way, that's whom we're praying to. The heathen are perished out of his land. And you know, they'll never enter into his heavenly kingdom. But then he gives a third cry in verses 17 and 18. all in his cry of intercession. In verses 17 and 18, he gives a cry to rest that he can lean on. He finds his heart ends, in the midst of all of this, his heart ends, rested and resting on God. Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble. You know, when we present our requests tonight, We can leave here and say, Lord, you've heard. Lord, you've heard the desire of the humble. Thou wilt prepare their heart. Thou wilt cause thine ear to hear. Lord, you're going to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress. May God challenge us to Remember that the ways of the wicked are always before us But we ought not to fret ourselves of evildoers But you know the worst part about it. Is that when you see Christians? compromising with the wicked Joining the wicked playing footsie with the wicked Chasing the philosophy of the wicked. Churches following the ways of the wicked. God tells us, come out and be separate. You know, I don't want to be in Sodom when the fire comes down. I don't want to be in the midst of the judgment. I want to be on the Lord's side as we've sung this evening. Abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. So therefore, as we go to prayer tonight, Let's ask the Lord to search out any of this wickedness that may be in our hearts. Maybe subliminally, somehow, we're telling ourselves, well, I can keep on playing with that secret sin. The Lord doesn't notice. The Lord doesn't know what's going on. And as long as I can play church, and the beacons and the elders and the pastors and other people don't know, I can cherish my little desires. You know what? We're playing right into the devil's camp. And we ought not to have anything to do with the ways and the methods of the wicked. Let's put that away from us and say, Lord, cleanse thou my heart. I cry unto you, Lord, guide me and bless me. Hear the prayer of the humble. Let's bow our heads together. Father, we thank you for your word and what it has to say to us. And Lord, Some might say, Lord, why do we even need to read about the wicked? We know what they're like. We rub shoulders with them every day. But Lord, we need to see how you view it and the fact that you're going to handle it. And we ought not to covet and secretly, Father, chafe under the bitterness and seething of anger. And deep down, we can even be, Lord, bitter towards you, because you're not doing what we feel you should do. David wrestled with that. And Lord, I believe every one of us has. I know I have. But Lord, my ways are not your ways, and I thank you that that's true. Because Lord, half the time I'd be dead wrong, and Lord, it would never go anywhere without your divine wisdom. So Lord, help us to have an exchange of wills tonight. Help us, Lord, to drop our will and to put on your will in our lives. Your priorities, your perspective. And Father, may we truly receive that peace and rest that David was finally able to land on after he vented his feelings. And Lord, may we leave this auditorium resting on what God has said he will do in his time, which is always the best. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.