[0:00] Psalm 139 awe-inspiring truths that present to us a wonderful God who knows all things, is ever-present, who knows us, created us, who loves us, who cares for us.
[0:46] And then the psalmist goes and messes it all up with verses 19 to 22 of Psalm 139. If only you would slay the wicked, O God, away from me, you bloodthirsty men.
[1:03] They speak of you with evil intent. Your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor them who rise up against you?
[1:13] I have nothing but hatred for them. I count them my enemies. From the mountaintop to the gutter, from the gates of heaven to the depths of hell, an ugly descent from the noble to the venomous, or so it would seem.
[1:34] Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? I have nothing but hatred for them. How do we respond to these words of the psalm?
[1:48] We can enjoy, and it is not a bad thing at all, quite the contrary, to enjoy considering the great truths of Scripture as we have been doing so as we consider this psalm.
[2:01] But how do we deal with these words found in the same psalm, written by the same psalmist, inspired by the same Holy Spirit? What do we make of these words?
[2:13] Is it okay to hate? Are there occasions when as Christians we can, or indeed should, hate others? What of God? Does He hate His enemies?
[2:26] Let's leave these questions unanswered for the moment and take a step back to make an observation before returning to our study of this psalm where we will find, I hope, answers to these questions and as we draw in also other parts of the Scriptures.
[2:46] But as we take a step back, I simply want to make an observation that I think is opposite and helpful. One very common form of idolatry, modern day idolatry, indeed idolatry that we can be guilty of within the Christian church, is to create a God according to our tastes and predilections.
[3:08] I'm not talking about fashioning an idol, or even of us sitting down and inventing from scratch a God we like to look of. But rather, I'm talking of how we can embrace certain truths concerning God as revealed in the Scriptures that we like and are drawn to.
[3:29] His love and His mercy, His willingness to forgive freely as we would come to Him. And we embrace these truths as we are. But then, we can be guilty of ignoring and by ignoring, effectively rejecting truths that we are uncomfortable with concerning God as they are revealed to us in these same self-scriptures.
[3:55] We may be uncomfortable with the emphasis that we have in the Word on His justice and on His wrath and on His punishment of evildoers and of the wicked. And so, we prefer to leave those things to one side.
[4:09] And effectively, what we do is we are guilty of a form of idolatry. We create a God who is agreeable to us and we bow down before that God, but not the God of the Scriptures as He is revealed to us.
[4:25] And we cannot do that. God is God. And He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures and we must accept the totality of His revelation.
[4:36] Certainly, we must seek to understand what is being said concerning Him. We recognize that there are things that we may find difficult to understand and we ought not to be unduly dogmatic concerning areas where we could be wrong in our understanding, but there are certain things that are crystal clear as they are presented to us in Scripture concerning God that we cannot do other than recognize and accept and we would worship that God, the God, the only God, the God who is revealed in Scripture.
[5:09] That simply is an observation to form a backdrop, as it were, to what we want to now go on to say. In verses 19 to 22 that we've already read, we find truths concerning God that are difficult for us.
[5:26] we are presented with a God who judges and punishes. In fairness, some of these things aren't stated explicitly in these verses, but they are implicitly and as we consider them I think we will substantiate what we're saying.
[5:41] We are presented with a God then who judges and punishes, a God who has enemies, and a God who hates His enemies and punishes His enemies. And there are three questions that we want to pose and hopefully answer with regard to these matters.
[6:00] The first question is who are God's enemies? As we find them described in this particular passage. Who are God's enemies? And then secondly, ask what attitude does God have towards His enemies?
[6:15] Again, as we find light shed on that in this passage, particularly, but also perhaps with the help of other passages as we refer to them just in passing.
[6:27] And then thirdly, what attitude should we have towards God's enemies? So who are God's enemies? What attitude does God have towards His enemies? And what attitude should we have towards God's enemies?
[6:42] Firstly then, who are God's enemies? Well, the psalmist and even in this he reveals something important, the psalmist takes as a given that God has enemies.
[6:55] He doesn't consider it something that he needs to substantiate. He doesn't need to convince people that God has enemies. For him, it is so abundantly clear that God has enemies. The suggestion that God may not have enemies for him would be quite bizarre.
[7:09] He takes it as a given. Of course, God has enemies. That presupposition in and of itself is revealing. But who are they?
[7:20] And what are they like? Well, we have them described at least in a measure in these verses that we have read in Psalm 139 from verse 19 through to verse 22.
[7:33] And let's just notice the words that are used to describe them there in verse 19. If only you would slay the wicked. The enemies of God are the wicked. And who are the wicked?
[7:43] Well, the wicked are those who actively and deliberately do that which is wrong. Wicked is a word, of course, that is either considered very old-fashioned or is used in a devalued sense.
[7:56] We know that now that the word wicked is actually used to describe something that's really great. That's wicked. And of course, that's all part of a linguistic process really that seeks to devalue words of their meaning.
[8:09] Whether it be consciously or unconsciously, I don't consider myself in a position to comment but that is the reality. Wicked may seem a very old-fashioned word but it describes a very contemporary reality.
[8:21] There are many who deliberately and who consciously and who flagrantly seek to do that which is wrong. The wicked at heart are those who oppose God.
[8:37] We've already read in Psalm 10 a very vivid description of the wicked and what they're like. And it's not my intention to repeat that reading but we can maybe just notice one thing that is said concerning them there in Psalm 10 and verse 4.
[8:52] In his pride, the wicked does not seek him, does not seek God. And then very revealingly in all his thoughts there is no room for God. The wicked is the one who opposes God.
[9:05] The wicked is the one who seeks to marginalize God. The wicked is the one who would seek to say that there is no God. They are the wicked. They have no respect for God. And consequently and not surprisingly no time for God's law.
[9:20] In fact, they have profound distaste for God's law. Partly simply because it is God's law they find it distasteful. But also because it is cumbersome and it is inconvenient for the lives that they want to live.
[9:34] The wicked, those who oppose God, those who actively and deliberately do that which is wrong. But what else is said of those who are enemies of God here in this passage?
[9:46] Again in verse 19. If only you would slay the wicked, O God, away from me, you bloodthirsty men. The enemies of God are bloodthirsty. They are men of violence.
[9:59] They are those who shed innocent blood, who oppress the weak, who exploit the poor. And under this category or under this description certainly are included those we might describe as iconic tyrants.
[10:16] Just Hitler and Stalin, Idi Amin and Slobodan Milosevic, Osama bin Laden and Robert Mugabe and no doubt the list could go on and on and no doubt it could cover just about every nationality of the nations of the world.
[10:31] We all have our tyrants within our own borders. Men who are bloodthirsty and violent. It includes those who torture whatever the flag on their uniform.
[10:45] It includes those who terrorize and oppress. It includes those who persecute believers in Jesus Christ in many lands, in Muslim countries from Sudan to Saudi Arabia, from Afghanistan to Algeria and many more besides.
[11:01] It includes the common criminal in our city streets who with a knife in hand rapes and steals and traumatizes. It includes abusive and violent husbands who beat up their wives and condemn their children to a life of fear and terror.
[11:20] Bloodthirsty men. It includes those who prowl our cities and parks and victimize and attack and even kill those whose only crime is to be different.
[11:32] To be black or Asian or gay simply because they're different. Yet they are the victims of violence. Bloodthirsty men. Enemies of God.
[11:44] What else is said of these enemies of God? Who are they? Well, the enemies of God are blasphemous. They speak of you in verse 20 we read, They speak of you with evil intent. Your adversaries misuse your name.
[11:58] They are opposed to God. They write books that proudly assert that God is not great. That He is a dangerous delusion. They pour out their venom against God's law.
[12:11] They ridicule God's word and pour scorn on His law. Their hatred towards a God that they do not believe in would be entertaining were it not so vitriolic.
[12:23] Now others who oppose God are more respectable and reasonable. And yet they also oppose God and seek to subvert His law.
[12:37] They can be genuinely pleasant people. I think of a David Steele and his invidious and wicked 1967 abortion act. He's a very nice man.
[12:49] And I mean that with no hint of irony. And yet in his opposing God's law he constitutes himself into an enemy of God because he seeks to subvert that which what God has established.
[13:03] The equally likable Margo McDonald. She is a by all impression a very nice person with very good intentions and I don't for a moment suggest that she's a horrible person.
[13:16] And yet in her attempts to legalize physician assisted suicide to subvert God's law that states quite clearly and unequivocally thou shalt not kill including yourself.
[13:27] She is opposing God's law and so she constitutes herself into an enemy of God. And so I repeat God's enemies can be tyrants.
[13:38] They can be people that we maybe find it easy to hate because of what they're like but they can be very nice people. And again I repeat there is not even a hint of irony intended when I say that they can indeed be very pleasant and nice people and yet by their actions by what they do by the opinions that they hold and that they seek to impose on others they constitute themselves into enemies of God.
[14:03] They are blasphemous. They take God's name in vain. They ignore God's law. They ridicule it. Seek to marginalize it. They say it is of not importance.
[14:14] They say that we've grown up out of these things. We've gone past these primitive notions. But what attitude does God have towards His enemies?
[14:28] That is the second question we want to consider this evening. What attitude does God have towards His enemies? Does He hate the sin but love the sinner? It must say that in the Bible somewhere.
[14:40] Surely. Well I'll give ten pounds to somebody who can find the verse where it says that. But it must say that. Now I have to say I think there is a measure of truth in that statement.
[14:52] But it is worth making the point that it doesn't actually say that anywhere in the Bible. Though it is often quoted as if it were a verse. What does the Bible say?
[15:04] Now I am going to be focusing because of the theme of this message on certain truths that the Bible says concerning God's attitude towards His enemies. I am not pretending that what we are now going to quote and read is the full picture.
[15:20] But it is part of the picture and it is our concern this evening. Well let's just consider what the Bible says of God's attitude towards His enemies. Again we can limit ourselves almost exclusively to the Psalter though we could go elsewhere.
[15:33] Psalm 5 verses 4 to 6 We are going to read one or two verses without great commentary more for reasons of time. But simply to respond to this question.
[15:44] What attitude does God have towards His enemies? Psalm 5 verses 4 to 6 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil. Well so far so good. With you the wicked cannot dwell.
[15:58] The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. And then what do we read? You hate all who do wrong. It doesn't say you hate the wrong they do. It says you hate all who do wrong.
[16:09] The people who do wrong you hate. You destroy those who tell lies. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men and these men are not a concept. They're not a principle. They're people with names and addresses who have done violence to actual victims with names and with husbands and with children.
[16:25] These men, these bloodthirsty and deceitful men says the psalmist the Lord abhors. He hates them. Psalm 11 and verse 5, what does it say? We've already read through the whole of Psalm 10, but Psalm 11 and verse 5, the Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence.
[16:47] His soul hates. His soul hates. It's on me that says it. If you have complaints with this, don't direct them to me, direct them upstairs. His soul hates these men.
[17:00] Proverbs chapter 6 and verses 6 to 19. Proverbs chapter 6. This is the last quote that we're, the last reference that we're going to read before moving on to consider what all this means, or at least in a measure what it means.
[17:16] Proverbs chapter 6 and verses 16 to 19. There are six things which, or there are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him. haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood.
[17:32] These hands are not disembodied hands, they belong to somebody. The heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
[17:46] These things, what are they? They are people. They are people like you and me who do these wicked things. And we are told that the Lord abhors them. that God hates His enemies.
[18:00] And I repeat, it's not the whole picture of God's attitude towards them, but that it is part of the picture seems to me the clear and irrefutable teaching of the Scriptures.
[18:13] And what goes together with this truth, a necessary consequence of this truth, is that God judges and punishes His enemies. This is precisely what the psalmist is crying out for in this psalm, and he does so on numerous occasions, but he does so also in the psalm that we are considering this evening.
[18:32] He cries out that God would indeed judge, that God would indeed punish His enemies. There in verse 19, if only you would slay the wicked, O God. This is an expression of desire, but it constitutes a petition on the part of the psalmist.
[18:50] Slay the wicked, O God. Do justice. Judge those who do evil. And rest assured, His petition will be granted. Many are uncomfortable with this truth, but it remains the truth regardless.
[19:06] Yet I say many are uncomfortable, but I wonder if for many these are not so uncomfortable truths. When you think of those who see face-to-face evil and violence and wickedness and are victims face-to-face in their own family circle of the schemes and the evil of wicked and bloodthirsty men, are these uncomfortable truths?
[19:28] Are they not rather comforting truths to know that there is a God who is seated in heaven who rules and who will judge and who will punish and that the evil will not get away scot-free? As we read Psalm 10 and it spoke of evil men who hide outside of villages and wait for the wheat to assault them and to do them violence, the image came through my mind, a very real and vivid image of poor farmers in Moabamba in Peru who spend the year sweating from daybreak to dusk to grow their coffee and to grow their crops, that their children would be able to have a bite to eat every day, that they would be educated, that they would be able to buy a medicine for them when they are sick.
[20:15] And after a year of hard labor, they take their coffee crop to the market and they sell what is basically the bulk of their income for the whole year and they have this little wad of money that is the product of all that sweat and work and dedication to their family.
[20:35] And as they head home to the village with that money in their pocket and somebody comes with a gun and puts it to their head and says, give me your money or I'll blow your brains out. And they have to hand over that money and they're subjected and left into abject poverty because of that bloodthirsty and violent man.
[20:54] Is it not a comfort for them to know that God is a God who will do justice? And God is a God who does see that bloodthirsty act and that wicked behavior.
[21:05] And he is not indifferent and he is not insensitive. So maybe for us in the comfort of our protected homes we are uncomfortable with it but I wonder if for many these are not such uncomfortable truths.
[21:21] God judges and punishes his enemies. And some will say, ah, but David, you're grounded there in the Old Testament.
[21:34] Let's move on. Let's see Jesus. Let's think about Jesus. Tell me about Jesus. Talk to me about Jesus. Well, Jesus gives echo to these sentiments when he speaks of judgment and punishment.
[21:50] We want to speak about real judgment. If we want to speak about heavy duty punishment, then listen to what Jesus says about hell. For those who reject God, for those who are God's enemies, for those who do not respond to his gracious invitation that they might repent and be forgiven.
[22:07] And so we do not find a different story. We do not find a different account or a different view, a different perspective as we come into the New Testament and as we listen to the words of Jesus.
[22:22] So God abhors, God hates his enemies, God judges and punishes his enemies. And though these things I think, I consider in the light of what we find before us to be true, I do recognize that they create difficulties, genuine difficulties.
[22:40] How do we reconcile these truths with the biblical teaching that God does love sinners and that we are to love our enemies? Does God command that which he himself does not do?
[22:53] I think the difficult, and I recognize it is difficult, but I think the difficult but inescapable conclusion is that God both hates and loves his enemies.
[23:04] Or to put it another way, he loves those whom he hates. He hates them in their condition of enemies, for their wickedness and their rebellion and for the suffering they produce in those whom he loves, those whom he has created in his image and likeness.
[23:20] For their wickedness and rebellion, he hates them and he opposes them vigorously and energetically. And yet, he loves them as he extends his hand to rescue them from their vain and bloodthirsty way of life.
[23:36] There is an opportunity given to them that they would abandon their violence, that they would abandon their wickedness, that they would repent of it, and that they would know forgiveness. He loves his enemies so much.
[23:50] That he sent his Son, Jesus, to die for them. To die for his enemies. This is the teaching of the Scriptures, that Jesus died for his enemies.
[24:02] If we read in the New Testament, Colossians chapter 1 and verses 21 and 22, what do we find? Colossians chapter 1 and verses 21 and 22.
[24:13] And there we read as follows, Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
[24:27] He's speaking to those who now are part of God's family, and yet he says you were enemies. Your behavior was evil. But then we read, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation.
[24:46] And if time allowed, we could make reference to other passages that speak very clearly of those for whom Jesus died as being his enemies, the enemies of God.
[24:57] And so God opposes his enemies. He abhors them for their rebellion and their wickedness. And yet he is able at the same time to extend a loving invitation to them. And not only an invitation, but in concrete ways, he was prepared to send his own son to die for such.
[25:17] And finally, what attitude should we have towards God's enemies? Well, essentially, we are obliged. We are duty-bound as those in covenant with God, as his covenant people, to have the same attitude as God has.
[25:36] We must think as he thinks. Our thoughts must be in harmony with his thoughts. Our attitudes must reflect his attitudes. This is what is reflected in the psalmist's words in verses 21 and 22 of our passage.
[25:51] Let's just notice some of what the psalmist says and what that can teach us concerning our attitude towards God's enemies. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?
[26:05] I have nothing but hatred for them. I count them my enemies. Now, before we consider the actual words that we have read there, it's worth just to notice the context in which he is speaking these words.
[26:20] And it's necessary to have this in mind. His words can only be understood fully in the context of his discovery of the all-knowing, ever-present, all-created, all-loving God that he has been describing in what has gone so far of the psalm.
[26:37] And what is going on here is that the psalmist is saying and is recognizing that such a God as he has described and as he has experienced and as he has discovered, such a God is worthy of the recognition, loyalty, and worship of all.
[26:55] He is worthy that all would bow down before him. And so the psalmist cannot look on with indifference when such a God is attacked and blasphemed as he is witnessing round about him.
[27:11] He cannot be indifferent to such attitudes. He cannot simply pass them by. It is his vision of God that produces in him such opposition to those who attack God.
[27:27] It is because he knows God that he is opposed to those who are enemies of God. It is because he knows God that he hates God's enemies.
[27:40] Now another thing that we can notice almost by way of introduction to what he says, almost something that the psalmist takes as a given but that brings lessons to us as we read these words, is that the words that the psalmist uses here demonstrate how the psalmist clearly identified those who were God's enemies and exposes them as such.
[28:05] Again, that's a given for the psalmist. But it's worth making the point. The psalmist identifies those. He is surrounded by men and women and he is able to identify those who are enemies of God by their behavior, by their conduct, by their attitudes.
[28:20] He identifies them and he exposes them. He unequivocally takes sides. He is for God. And so, necessarily, he is against God's enemies.
[28:34] And there's a lesson there for us too. We too must take sides in this world in which we live. We can't sit on the fence. We can't be friends of everybody.
[28:46] We can't agree with everybody, pleasant as that would be. That is not an option for us. With the psalmist, we have to recognize that there will be occasions and there will be issues when we must take sides.
[29:01] And we must say, here I stand because I am for God. And as I am for God, then I must be against you and what you are trying to impose upon our land, what you are trying to argue for, I am against you.
[29:13] Why? Because I am for God. We live in an age, we are told of great tolerance. But as Christians, we cannot tolerate God's enemies who would seek to oppose God and who would seek to subvert His law and who would seek to exalt as good that which is evil.
[29:37] We must oppose them. As we read these words of the psalmist, Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? It is also important to stress that the issue here does not concern the personal enemies of the psalmist, nor his personal or capricious sentiments towards those who oppose and threaten Him.
[30:01] They are God's enemies. And He explicitly makes that clear. Do I not hate those who hate you? He doesn't say, Do I not hate those who hate me, O Lord?
[30:12] No. He says, Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? They are your enemies. And as they are your enemies, so I also count them my enemies.
[30:22] We can only fully understand the psalmist's stance on this matter when we appreciate the covenant context in which David relates to God.
[30:38] David is a man in covenant with God. He is part of a covenant people. And as such, he recognizes his covenant responsibility to count as his enemies the enemies of his God.
[30:49] That is something he is duty-bound to do. Regardless of his own personal sentiments on the matter, he is obliged to view as enemies those who are enemies of his God.
[31:03] And that remains true for us. We too are a covenant people. We too have covenant obligations. For us too, God's enemies must be our enemies. It's true that David presents his opposition in seemingly very extreme terms there in verse 22.
[31:20] I have nothing but hatred for them. And we are uncomfortable. We wriggle about with these sentiments. I have nothing but hatred for them. How can he speak in this way?
[31:36] Perhaps a more helpful way of rendering that phrase, I have nothing but hatred for them, could be the way in which it's rendered in the English Standard Version. I hate them with complete hatred.
[31:46] And really what David is saying, or as I understand what David is saying, and recognizing it, that in these matters there are no half measures. When we consider those who are enemies of God and who oppose God, we must be wholehearted in our opposition to them and their ideas and their schemes.
[32:07] In our society, there are those who seek to sweep away Christian values, truths that are grounded in the Scriptures, laws that are grounded in the Scriptures.
[32:20] There are those who are actively and deliberately seeking to sweep away such things and put in their place their own ideas and their own ways of seeing the world. And they are single-minded and focused in seeking to achieve their objectives.
[32:39] What of us as Christians so afraid we might offend with our views? Well, I have news for you and I don't think this is something that is a surprise for you.
[32:52] Our views as Christians on a whole host of subjects are offensive. We've got to wake up and smell the coffee. That is the reality. Our views on sex are offensive to our society.
[33:06] Our views on marriage are offensive to our society. Our views on the sanctity of life are offensive to our society. That's the way it is. And so in defending God wholeheartedly, we will offend.
[33:22] We will not seek to gratuitously offend. We will not go out of our way to offend. In the measure that it's possible not to offend. Well, we will go down that road. But there will be occasions and there must be occasions that when we take sides with God, we will be offensive and people will be offended.
[33:40] So be it. Our duty and obligation to God is such that we can do no other. And so the seemingly extreme language rather reflects David's wholehearted commitment to God and consequently his wholehearted opposition to those who oppose God.
[34:04] Notice as well that David is not seeking to attack or harm those he speaks of in such disturbing terms. Rather, what David does is hand them into God's hands.
[34:15] If only you would slay the wicked, O God. He himself is not considering himself. He is not God's self-appointed avenger.
[34:27] No, he hands them over to God. You do what is right with them, he says. It reminds us of the words of God recorded in Paul's letter to the Romans in chapter 12 and verse 19.
[34:40] It is mine to avenge. I will repay, says the Lord. This is the sentiment of David. He says, they are God's enemies and so I hand them over to God that God would do with them as he sees fit. This is no bloodthirsty general in God's army who wants to take the sword in his hand and do justice by his own means.
[35:02] And yet, as we come to a conclusion, yet, though ultimate judgment is in God's hands, that does not mean that David or we will remain passive vis-a-vis the enemies of God.
[35:15] We must oppose them. In David's case, that may on occasion have involved violence, sanctioned by God as he would defend the people of God against their enemies.
[35:27] For us, it will involve other weapons. It may be lobbying before our parliament and our MPs. It may be writing to them as we raise our concerns and express our objections to those things we consider to be against God's law.
[35:43] It may be raising an often unpopular and offensive prophetic voice in our society. And we will be mocked and we will be scoffed and we will be belittled.
[35:54] But there will be occasions and there must be occasions when we stand up and raise that voice for God. And if it is for God, then it will necessarily be against God's enemies.
[36:07] And as we draw things to a close, conscious that there is so much perhaps that has been left unsaid, let it be stated ever so clearly that David, in feeling what he felt, in thinking what he thought, in expressing himself in the manner in which he expressed himself, David did not sin.
[36:31] So many read these words and are quick to rush to judgment and say, oh, David, such sub-Christian sentiments. Oh, of course, they're recorded in Scripture because he thought them, but he was way off beam here.
[36:45] Oh, so disappointing that he would express himself in that way and we stand in judgment over him. And yet, what does the psalm say? And it is indeed an integrated whole because as it began, so it ends with this crying out to God that he would search him.
[37:00] And so it closes with these words, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. David is saying, if there's anything that I have said that is not right, that is not pure, that is not justified, let me know.
[37:15] And yet, he is able to lay himself open before God and say, Search me. Others may accuse me. He wouldn't have known that a few thousand years down the road his Christian brethren would accuse him, but he says, Search me, O God.
[37:29] You be my judge and see if what I say is right or wrong, if it's justified or not. If we want to criticize David, then we must first direct our complaints to God because God searched David's heart and we have no indication that he found anything to point the finger at in this matter.
[37:50] But as we speak of our attitudes reflecting God's attitudes, so that energetic opposition, that abhorrence and even hatred towards God's enemies must be accompanied by love.
[38:04] Loving our enemies is a command we must obey. How do we do that? How do we balance these things that seem so difficult to drink together? How do we love our enemies?
[38:15] By seeking their good. Love really isn't about feeling gushy thoughts about people. You can not like somebody and love them because to love them is to seek their good.
[38:27] So there may be people out there who are God's enemies and you don't like them. That's okay. But you have to love them. You have to seek their good. How do you seek their good? One way of seeking their good is to oppose them.
[38:39] Bizarre as that may sound because as you oppose them and as you bring God's truth to bear on their wickedness and folly, then maybe, just maybe, they will recognize the root, the root of death, upon which they are embarked.
[38:55] In what other ways can you love them? You can forgive them when you yourself are victims of their mocking and their scoffing and their opposition. Forgive them. You can help them when opportunity so arises.
[39:07] You can share the good news of the gospel of a God who loves them and is willing to forgive them despite their rebellion against Him. You can warn them of the terrible judgment that awaits them if they maintain their enmity towards God.
[39:22] in all these ways you show love to them because you are seeking their good. And in all of these things, as we would seek this difficult task of thinking as God thinks and of sharing the attitudes that God has in this difficult task, in all of this, it is so necessary for us to pray in fear and trembling with the psalmist.
[39:50] And as we close, let us read these words as a prayer to God of us gathered here this evening. Search me, O God. Search us, O God. Know my heart.
[40:02] Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is in me any offensive way and lead me in the way everlasting. Let us pray. here it is.
[40:13] Half the moon is the real and only for us to have an infinitive 이렇게 to end into the process of myself. They took a moment and started there.