"PRAYER TO GOD BASED ON THE HATRED OF GOD"

Psalm 5.5b

1. For those of you who are visiting with us today, some comments are in order so that you will clearly understand the context from which I bring this morning's exposition and sermon to the lost.

2. I generally advocate the dispensational approach to understanding the Bible. That is, I believe it's important to recognize that God has dealt with different people in different ways at different times in history. 

3. Israel and the Jewish people are dealt with one way and at one time by God, and Gentiles and Church Age Christians are dealt with another way and at another time by God. Recognition of this truth is important when studying the Bible, so as not to confuse God's plan for Israel with His plan for Christians of this era.

4. As a result of a consistent understanding of God's dealings with Jews and the Christians in this way, the most natural conclusions that can be drawn from a study of God's Word results in what is called the pretribu- lational and pre millennial view of Bible prophecy. That is, Jesus is coming again, and He will come after the Rapture and seven years of tribulation, for the purpose of establishing and reigning over His millennial kingdom here on earth.

5. But a problem that surfaces among some dispensationalists is the tendency to compartmentalize their thinking about the nature and personality of God. It is felt by some dispensationalists, whether they consciously recognize it or not, that God's attitude toward sin and sinners is not the same now as it was in times past. 

6. They have allowed themselves to slide into believing that as God's economies have changed (lambs aren't sacrificed morning and evening anymore), so have His attitudes and postures altered. Friends, the tendency to fall into that error has to be resisted.

7. God, when His nature is rightly understood, is recognized from His Word to be immutable. That is, He is unchangeable. Indeed, in Malachi 3.6 He declares, "I am the LORD, I change not." So, while God's dealings with Israel and with Church Age Christians are different, owing to different economies, God never changes.

8. But what does that mean, "God never changes"? Among other things, it means that what God feels about sin He has always felt about sin. It means that what God's attitude toward the wicked is it has always been, and it will always be.

9. These things said, and with the hope that you folks recognize the unchangeable nature of God, even though His dealings with people though the ages has changed, I ask that you turn to Psalm 5. When you locate the 5th Psalm please stand for the reading of God's Word. We read beginning with verse 1.

10. "1Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. 2Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. 3My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. 4For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. 5The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 6Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. 7But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple."

11. Unless we have a Jewish friend visiting with us today, you and I are not Jewish people, and it has not been given to us by God to live under the authority of and within the confines of the Law of Moses, as did David and the people of His day. But that does not mean that Scripture given by God to David during that era does not have compelling truth we are responsible to know and abide by today.

12. So, as we look at these seven verses we will seek to recognize what specifically applies to Jewish people living under the Law of Moses, and what has universal application to God's people of all ages, and to people living in the year 2000.

13. This psalm of David has two parts. We have read the first part, and I'll confine my remarks to the first part of the psalm. The first part of the psalm, in which David pleads with God to answer his prayer, is itself naturally divided into five parts:

1A. FIRST, THERE IS DAVID'S DESCRIPTION OF PRAYING

Verse 1: "Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation."

1B. David Addresses His Plea To The LORD, The God Of Israel, The One True And Living God. But Notice That David's Plea Is Actually Two Requests, Which Shows Us That He Was Actually Praying To God In Two Different Ways.

2B. First, He Writes "Give ear to my words." This Is David's Appeal To God To Listen To The Words He Utters Heavenward In Prayer. He Wants God To Listen To Him.

3B. But He Also Writes "consider my meditation." Folks, Mediations Are Not Vocalized. Meditations Are Thoughts That Are Not Expressed. David Recognized That When Praying To God There Are Times When That Which Is On Your Heart Is Not Always Expressed By Words. Sometimes Language Fails.

4B. Thank God Paul Has Told Us That When Words Fail Us In Prayer The Spirit Of God Intercedes For Us With Groanings Which Cannot Be Uttered, Romans 8.26. 

5B. So, If You Are Not A Particularly Verbose Prayer Warrior, If You Think Yourself To Be Inarticulate, Not To Worry. Even The Sweet Psalmist Of Israel Resorted To Bypassing His Mouth And Praying Directly To God From His Heart And Mind From Time To Time.

2A. NEXT, THERE IS DAVID'S DIRECTION IN PRAYING

Verse 2: "Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray." 

1B. There Are Times, Beloved, When You Cannot Pray By Speaking To God Or By Meditating, But Only By Crying Out. Can A Dad Pray All Of His Prayers To God For The Salvation Of His Child With Well Formed Words And Well Structured Thoughts? Can He Always Sit Still To Meditate? I Think Not. Methinks There Are Times When Only The Brokenhearted Cries Of A Father For His Son Or Daughter Will Do. And What Kind Of Father Would Not So Cry Out To God For His Child?

2B. But That's Not All. Notice The Direction Of David's Prayers. He's Not Content To Offer Up Some Imprecise Prayer To Some Abstract Being In Outer Space. Not At All. David Knows Exactly Who He Is Praying To, And He Will Pray To No Other. He Is Praying To His King! He Is Praying To His God! Not The King Or The God, But "my King, and my God . . . unto thee will I pray."

3A. THIRD, THERE IS DAVID'S DETERMINATION IN PRAYING

Verse 3: "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up."

1B. Spurgeon Rightly Observed That David Here Is Not So Much Praying With This Statement, Asking, As He Is Making A Resolution. He Is Going To Pray. He Has Decided That He Will Be A Prayer Warrior, In The Morning. He will Meet With God And Then Take On The Day.

2B. But Notice Something Very Important About David's Determination In Praying. I Call Your Attention To The Word "direct." This Word "direct" Is The Same Hebrew Word That's Used To Describe The Proper Arranging Of The Wood Of A Sacrifice, And The Proper Arranging Of The Offering On Top Of The Wood, To Be Consumed By Sacrificial Fire. So, David Is Declaring That Prayer Will Not Be An Afterthought With Him. Instead, His Prayers Will Be Thought Out, Planned, Will Be Structured, And Then Appropriately Offered Up To God Before He Faces The World.

3B. And Then He Will Look Up. Why Look Up? That's From Where The Answers Come. And I Wonder, Sometimes, If More Prayers Would Be Answered If Two Things Were Done: First, If Prayers Were Properly "directed," Arranged And Then Offered Up To God. Second, If The Person Who Prays Actually Begins To Look For God's Answer When He's Finished Praying.

4A. FOURTH, THERE IS DAVID'S RECOGNITION IN PRAYING

Verses 4-6: "For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man."  If you will accept my assertion that David's prayer is laid out on the sure foundation of God's holiness, a look at each of his arguments here will be more clearly understood. Here is how Divine holiness behaves.

1B. First, "For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness." No Matter How Sophisticated Or Charming Wickedness May Present Itself, God Takes No Pleasure In It. Regardless Of How Popular It May Be In Current Society, Or How Gorgeously Attired It May Be, Or How Much Fun It Is, God Takes No Pleasure In It, Not In David's Day And Not Now.

2B. Next, "neither shall evil dwell with thee." Why Will God Not Allow Evil To Dwell With Him? Because He Hates Evil. And If You Loved God You'd Hate Evil, Too. Psalm 97.10 Commands, "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil." And Evil Is What God's Word Defines It To Be. Amen? Laziness Is Evil. Lying Is Evil. Rejecting Jesus Is Evil. Grieving The Holy Spirit Is Evil.

3B. Third, "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight." This Word "foolish" Translates A Word Meaning Boastful. There Is A Certain Kind Of Fool Who Boasts And Brags. But Not In God's Sight. Not Before God's Eyes. There Will Come A Day When Such A Fool Will Be Dragged Out Of Death And Hell And Will Be Made To Stand Before God. And On That Great Judgment Day Such A One As This Will Not Stand, But Will Fall Down Before God Trembling. Where Will Be The Bravado Then? Where Will Be The Boasting Then? 

4B. Fourth, "thou hatest all workers of iniquity." Not Only Does God Hate Evil, He Hates Those Who Do Evil. And This Is Not A Little Dislike. It's A Thorough Hatred God Has For Those Who Work Iniquity, Who Choose To Ignore God In Their Dealings And In Their Decisions. No Wonder Jesus Said About Such People, In Matthew 7.21-23, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

5B. Next, "Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing." "Leasing" Is An Old Word For Lying. David Understood That God Will Destroy Those Who Lie. And What Is Lying, Ultimately? First John 2.22 Gives Us Some Insight: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" A Liar Is A Sinner Who Doesn't Get Saved. But Jesus Told Us In John 8.44 That Satan Is A Liar. No Wonder The Fate That Awaits The Liar Is The Fate That Awaits The Devil, Revelation 21.8: "all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

6B. Finally, David Recognizes, "the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." What A Strong Word Is This Word "Abhor." How Hot Is God's Wrath Against The Bloody Man And The Deceitful Man. I Think Of The One Who Deceives Others Into Thinking He's A Christian When He's Not Saved. And What About The Person Who Deceives Himself Into Thinking He Doesn't Need Christ, Or Doesn't Need Him Now? God Abhors Such A Person. Are You Deceitful? Do You Mislead Others? You Deceive Yourself If You Think You'll Not Suffer Endless Torment For Your Sins.

7B. Verses 4-6, Then, Express, In Practical Terms, What The Holiness Of God Actually Means. These Expressions Reveal How God's Holiness Is Demonstrated Toward Sin, And Toward Sinners. Do Not Think, Then, That You Can Approach God In Prayer Without Being Willing, As David Was Willing, To Side With God And Against Wrongdoers, To Acknowledge The Rightness And The Propriety Of God's Holy Hatred, God's Abhorrence, And God's Wrath Poured Out On Such As These. For While God's Economy Has Indeed Changed Since David's Time, God's Nature, God's Holiness, Remains The Same.

5A. FINALLY, THERE IS DAVID'S APPRECIATION IN PRAYING

Verse 7: "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I
worship toward thy holy temple."

1B. But For God's Mercy David Would Be Described In Verses 4-6, Instead Of Describing Others. But For God's Mercy He Would Be A Recipient Of God's Wrath Instead Of A Beneficiary Of God's Grace.

2B. As Well, It Is Owing To God's Mercy That David Fears Him, Since The Fear Of The Lord Is Something God Graciously Bestows On Not All Men, But Only On Some.

3B. And Worship Toward Thy Holy Temple? This Is The Portion Of Our Passage That Does Not Directly Speak To Us Today, But Which We Apply To Our Situation. David Apparently Refers To The Tabernacle Here, Since The Temple Was Built By His Son Solomon. 

CONCLUSION:

1. Let me conclude this exposition by pointing out that David's entire prayer is based upon one great reality, the reality that God is a God of hatred. Holy hatred to be sure, but hatred still.

2. Does this horrify you? Do not be so simple-minded as to think that I deny that God is love, for He most certainly is love. But One Who is holy must hate with a holy hatred just as surely as He loves with a holy love, and David's psalm certainly shows this to be true.

3. The issue before you, then, as you contemplate David's prayer, is not whether or not God hates, for He certainly hates, as well as abhors, but whether what He hates is what you do, and whether the kind of person He hates is the kind of person you are.

4. Ask yourself, as brother Isenberger comes to lead us in song, "Does God hate what I do? Does God hate me?" He does hate some, you know.

INTRODUCTION:

1. My text for this morning is but a portion of David's prayer of Psalm 5: "thou hatest all workers of iniquity."

2. Allow me to draw from these few words a brief message for those of you who are unsaved.

3. Please make a special effort to look at me and attend to my words as I preach. Parents? Help you kids.

1A. FIRST, GOD IS

1B. Play With Metaphysical Conjecturing All You Want. Quibble About Proofs And Reasonings Until The Day You Die. Distract Yourself With Bitterness And Contention To Your Wicked Heart's Content. Fool Yourself Into Believing That All There Is Is What You Can See And What You Can Understand. Do Whatever Your Twisted Imagination Can Conjure Up To Convince Yourself And To Trick Yourself And To Deceive Yourself. Just Understand This, First: God Is.

2B. You Who Would Demand Proof Need To Understand Something. You're In No Position To Demand Anything Of The One True And Living God. He's The One Who Does The Demanding. He Is Not Accountable In Your Court, But You Are Accountable In His.

3B. Never Has He And Never Will He Accede To Anyone's Demand That He Prove His Existence. In His Word, The Bible, He Offers No Proof Of Himself. Rather, It Simply Declares, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." A Statement Of Fact Upon Which All Else Depends.

4B. And When Moses Was Dispatched By God To Deliver The Jewish People From Bondage, And He Asked God What He Should Say When He Was Asked Who Sent Him, He Was Told, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." To Paraphrase, "If anyone asks who sent you, Moses, you just tell them that the One Who Is sent you."

5B. Listen To The Biologists All You Want. Play Mind Games All You Want. Comfort Yourself With The Speculations Of Philosophers As Much As You Can. Just Understand This: God Is. Whether You Like It Or Not, God Is. Whether You Will Acknowledge Him Or Not, God Is. And As Hebrews 4.13 Points Out, He Is The One With Whom You Have To Do.

2A. SECOND, GOD HATES 

1B. What A Pitiful Thing It Is That Contemporary Christianity Denies This Aspect Of God's Nature. I Well Remember When I Was In Bible College, Teachers Declaring To Me That God Does Not Hate Anyone. "He hates sin, but loves the sinner," They Told Me Again And Again And Again.

2B. But God Most Certainly Does Hate. We Are Told In Malachi And Romans That God Hated Esau. "Yes, But That Was After Esau Died." But In The Same Passages It Says "Jacob Have I Loved." Did God Wait Until Jacob Died To Love Him? Absurd. Hebrews 12.16-17 Tells Us What God Found So Offensive About Esau. He Was A Profane Person, Who For One Morsel Of Meat Sold His Birthright. And Afterward, When He Would Have Inherited The Blessing He Was Rejected Because He Found No Place Of Repentance, Though He Sought It Carefully With Tears. God Hated Esau Because Of What Esau Did. He Refused To Turn From His Sins And Only Pretended To Tearfully Repent So He Could Inherit The Blessing Of His Father.

3B. But Esau Isn't The Only One God Hates. You Say, "My God Doesn't Hate." I Say, "Your God Isn't The True God, The God Of The Bible, If He Doesn't Hate." Consider Proverbs 6.16-19, Where Solomon Declares That God Hates The One Who Sows "discord among brethren." There You Have It. God Hates Men. As David Prayed, "thou hatest."

3A. GOD IS. GOD HATES. BUT DOES GOD HATE YOU?

1B. He Doesn't Hate You If You Are Converted. If You've Come To Christ For The Forgiveness Of Your Sins And You've Been Born Again By The Spirit Of God, Then You're God's Child And He Loves You With A Father's Love. If You Are Truly Converted, Then You Stand Holy And Without Blame Before God In Love, Ephesians 1.4.

2B. But If You're Not Converted, If You Are Not Saved, You May Be One Of Those Who God Hates. You May Be One Of Those Workers Of Iniquity That David Said God Hated. So, How Are You To Know Whether God Hates You Or Not? By Examining Those We Know God Does Hate To Find Out If You Are Like Them.

3B. First, There Is Esau. Two Things About Esau Stick Out In My Mind: First, He Was A Profane
Person, Hebrews 12.6, Who Sold His Birthright For A Bite Of Food. Imagine That! Selling His Right To Inherit Blessings From The Man God Made A Promise To For One Lousy Meal. That
Shows His Profanity, Since Being A Profane Person Is When You Are Someone Who Places No Value On Spiritual Blessings. Do You Value Spiritual Things, Or Do You Go To Magic Mountain Instead Of Going To Church? Do You Value Spiritual Things? Perhaps You'd Rather Work Than Worship God On Sundays? Maybe You're Becoming More Profane, Like Esau, Than You'd Like To Admit.

4B. The Next Thing About Esau, In Hebrews 12.17, Was When He Pretended To Repent Of His Sins, Hiding Behind A Pretense Of Sincerity With Tears. I Wonder How Many Here In This Auditorium Have Shed Tears Over Sins And Have Convinced Yourself That You Are Heartbroken Over Your Lost Condition, When The Truth Is You're An Esau And The Tears Are Self-Pity And A Ploy To Convince The Pastor You Want To Get Saved. Be Careful! You're Starting To Behave More And More Like Esau, The Man God Hated.

5B. Then There's The Person Who Sows Discord Among Brethren. Proverbs 6.19 Is A Verse That's Applied Most Frequently By Preachers To Trouble Makers In Church. And It Is Certainly True That God Does Hate Church Trouble Makers Who Sow Discord And Disrupt Harmony And Tranquility In A Congregation. But This Verse Actually Speaks Of Sowing Discord Among Brethren. That's Stirring Up Trouble In A Family, Or A Clan, Or Perhaps A School. Do You Sow Discord? Do You Enjoy Causing Problems? Do You Like To Stir The Pot By Telling People Things They Really Shouldn't Hear? If You Do, God Hates You. Do You Hear Me? He Hates You, Proverbs 6.19.

6B. We Conclude Back At Our Text, Psalm 5.5: "thou hatest all workers of iniquity." What Is A Worker Of Iniquity? Are You A Worker Of Iniquity? This Word "Iniquity" Refers To That Which Is Vain, Which Has No Eternal Value. This Is A Person Who Gives Himself Over To The Pursuit Of That Which Is Here And Now, And Who Ignores The Spiritual And The Eternal. Are You A Worker Of Iniquity? You Are If You Are More Concerned With Playing Sports Than Getting Saved, If You Are More Concerned With Getting Ahead At Work Than Getting Saved, If You Are More Concerned With Flirting With The Boys Than Getting Saved, If You Are More Concerned With Your Appearance Than Getting Saved. In Other Words, If You Have Decided To Focus Your Life On Yourself, Or On The Things Of This Earth Rather Than God, You May Already Be One Of Those People God Hates.

CONCLUSION:

1. My friend, I am not quite sure I have impressed upon you the urgency of your situation. If you are a worker of iniquity God hates you. Psalm 5.5 makes that statement clearly. David's prayer was based, in part, on this aspect of God's holiness. God hates people, individuals, who work iniquity. He may hate you.

2. Jesus declared something else about those who work iniquity. In Luke 13.27-28 Jesus tells us that those who work iniquity will suffer eternal damnation in the lake of fire. So, what does God to do those He hates? He casts them into Hell.

3. You're here this morning and you think that a worker of iniquity is someone who commits sins that you think are terrible. And you just can't imagine that God might very well hate you. But I'm telling you that God certainly does hate some of you who are here today.

4. If you turn your back on the Gospel and despise it as something unimportant, how are you different than Esau, the man God hated? If you pretend to be sorry for your sins just to get something that you want from God, how are you different from Esau, the man God hated?

5. If you make sure gossip gets spread around, or you make sure this person hears what that person said about him, because you like to see the pot stirred, because you like to see people fussing with each other, how are you not one who sows discord among brethren? How can you not be one hated by God?

6. Finally, those of you who value skateboards and bicycles more than Jesus Christ, who pay more attention to the Los Angeles Lakers than you do to the Lord Jesus Christ, who'd rather sit at home on Sunday night in a recliner than gather with the saints and worship God, who are too self-centered to get yourself out of bed on Sunday morning to be taught God's Word; how are you not a worker of iniquity? How are you not a person devoted to that which is vain, that which is not eternal, that which is not spiritual?

7. Oh, I greatly fear that some of you have been lulled into a lethargy by not knowing that God may hate you.