Psalm 35 - Chinese Ministry

Introduction

We’ve come this morning to a difficult Psalm. This is a Psalm that calls down curses on our enemies.

Psalms like this one are mostly written by David. And David doesn’t hold back. In Psalm 58, David asks God to “break the teeth” in his enemies’ mouths. In Psalm 69, he asks God to “blot out his enemies from the book of the living.” – Just wipe them from the earth.

Now words like these make us probably ucomfortable because that’s not what we’re familiar with in God’s Word.

What’s going on here with David in these Psalms? Is he having a bad day? Is he reacting sinfully?

The question before us this morning is how do we handle these psalms? Do we pray curses on our enemies?

Especially knowing that as Christians, we were once enemies of God.

Colossians 1:21, And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds.

However, through Jesus we are no longer his enemies.

We have been called to love our neighbors, to pray for those who seek to persecute us, to do good to those who do evil toward us.

And so, let’s understand what David was doing. What’s the right way of reading David’s prayer and the wrong way?

1. This wasn’t a character flaw in David.

David wasn’t bitter. We don’t look at these Psalms and think if David would have just been a better man then he wouldn’t have prayed these prayers.

God himself calls him a man after his own heart.

Now, David wasn’t perfect of course, but his character and reputation was one that showed grace, humility, and love.

2. We can’t separate Old Testament language and New Testament language.

We can’t fall into the trap that causes us to think that the Old Testament language is filled with God’s justice, vengeance, and anger and that’s all it is and then in the New Testament God calms down and focuses more on grace, forgiveness, and love.

Both the OT and NT are the inspired word of God from beginning to end and our God does not change.

When Jesus taught us to love our neighbor he wasn’t teaching anything new. He was quoting from the OT.

Leviticus 19:18, You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

We see God’s mercy and love all throughout the Old Testament. Just as we see God’s desire for justice and judgment toward sin throughout the pages of the New Testament.

What do we make of Psalms like the one before us today?

1. David was the anointed king over an entire nation.

Here’s why that matters. David represented the safety, stability, and peace of the entire nation.

David was anointed by God to lead his people. Any attack against him was an attack against a nation, it was ultimately an attack against God. David can’t remain quiet in the face of attack and persecution against God’s people.

We see in verse 10 that these evil doers were harming and robbing the poor. They were taking advantage of the marginalized and weak.

It’s one thing for me to be taken advantage of or even attacked. I can seek to offer forgiveness and mercy. But for a king, he can’t turn his eye away from his people being abused.

2. David was a prophet and his life pointed to Christ.

David’s rejection ultimately points to Christ’s rejection.

David and Jesus are very closely linked together. Notice at the end of verse 19 what David says, “Let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause.”

Listen to what Jesus says in John 15.

John 15:23-25, Whoever hates me hates my Father also…But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: “They hated me without a cause.”

Jesus here is quoting Psalm 35 and saying that the rejection of David, God’s anointed earthly king was pointing forward to Jesus, God’s anointed heavenly King. And the judgment that David calls upon his enemies will be the same final judgment that will come upon anyone who rejects Jesus.

So, let’s break down this Psalm and then see how it points us to the rest we have in Christ because of his rejection for us.

I’ve broken this Psalm down into three different cries of David.

Cry number one:

A cry for help.

Psalm 35:1-3, Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!”

1. David wants God to contend for him. It’s a word that means to “defend.” To “plead my case.”

He’s asking God to lawyer up and defend him against false accusations.

Is that not exactly what our God does against our great enemy, the Devil? How often are you feeling the assault of the enemy against your soul? How often do you hear in your head, “You’re not good enough?” “You’re a failure.” “God could never love you.” “Look at what you’ve done, how could anyone love you?”

And what do we hear from our great God? “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1).

Jesus stands before God the Father defending us against the assaults of the enemy. Every accusation hurled against us hears the final word from Jesus when he says, “paid in full.” “Forgiven.”

2. David also asks his God to fight for him.

The shield and buckler (large shield) were tools of defense. The spear and javelin were tools of offense.

God enters the battle and fights for us. This is what Christ did as he walked that hill to Calvary. He took the cross and fought on our behalf. He slayed the giant of sin and death.

Cry number two:

A cry of the soul.

In verses 11-18, David’s heart has been wounded.

In verse 11, Malicious, or violent witnesses have risen up against him.

In verses 13-14, we begin to get a better picture of who they are.

Psalm 35:13-14, But I, when they were sick-I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.

These were friends that he went through the fire with, wept with, lived life with. And they abandoned him, betrayed him, revolted against him.

And so, we can understand the heartache that David is feeling in this moment. He’s crying out for God to rescue his broken heart, he’s needing rescue of his soul.

Cry number three:

A cry for justice.

In verses 19-21 he’s pleading with God to not let the wicked prevail. But instead, like what we see in verses 22-24, “Let justice reign.” Or like we read in verses 27-28, “Let hope abound!”

Psalm 35:27, Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”

Thank God, that because of Christ we have hope. Because of Jesus the enemy has been defeated.

Can we pray for justice? Yes. Though the final judgment of God is still to come as these Psalms foreshadow, God still does intervene in his creation as he upholds it.

Our prayers for justice then should be with the hope of Christ’s victory on the cross in view and the desire for God’s Kingdom to expand on earth today.

We should desire to see evil stopped but ultimately God’s Kingdom expands, and evil is stopped as the church goes forth shining the light of the gospel and the hope of Christ.

Jesus is our defender. Jesus is our hope. Jesus is our righteousness.

On those dark nights of the soul when fear is all around us we look to him, our hope and peace. Because he was forsaken, we never will be.

Our future is certain, eternal life belongs to those who hope in Christ and so look to him to not grow weary.

Look to Jesus and be transformed.