Michael Crosswhite // Psalm 58 // David prays for God’s vengeance on wicked rulers.
Emmanuel Tuscaloosa
Break Their Teeth: A Psalm for God's Judgement on Wicked Rulers
The following audio is brought to you by Immanuel Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. More information about our church can be found at ImmanuelTuscaloosa.org. Psalm 58 To the choir master, according to Do Not Destroy, a victim of David. Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly? No. In your hearts, you devise wrongs. Your hands deal out violence on earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray from birth, speaking lies. They have venom, like the venom of a serpent, like the death adder that stops its ear, so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter. O God, break the teeth in their mouths, tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord. Let them vanish like water that runs away. When he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. Government is good. And it's created by God for a good purpose. Now that I got that out of the way, I'm just kidding. My fellow Texans are looking to come take my passport away saying something like that. If I was still in Texas, I had to be dodging rocks here at the front, no. Government is good. It's created by God for a good purpose. Government wasn't a product of the fall, either. We can even see this in the creation of Adam and Eve. God establishes them, and he says in the beginning of Genesis that he creates them for the purpose that they would have dominion over the earth and to steward everything that is within it. There was at least a kind of governing authority that he had given to Adam and Eve to be over the earth, over humanity from the moment that he created them. It's also clear from the scriptures that the heavenly angels even are organized into governmental structures of some kind with angels and archangels and cherubim and seraphim among others. They have different functions and different privileges. We even see an eternity to come. We're not only under a government, but under a monarchy with Christ as king. Government isn't a product of the fall. Bad government is a product of the fall. Once Adam and Eve sinned, the human race fell into a state of depravity. What that means is that we are totally depraved. No, it doesn't mean we're as bad as we possibly could be, thank the Lord, but that every portion of us is touched by the fall. Everything from our minds to our wills, everything about us is depraved from head to toe, even, yes, our governmental structures. So what the Bible is careful to do, it's careful to tell us what good government in a fallen world should actually look like. In Romans 13 verses 3 to 7, Paul says this, "For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval? For he is God's servant for your good, but if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience, for because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Or 1 Peter 2, 13 to 14, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Both of these passages agree on essentially two pivotal things about government. First, its purpose is to reward those who do good and punish those who do bad. It's a fundamental job. Reward those who do good and punish those who do bad. And second, both of them commend to us our submission to the government, whether it's with our tax money or with our deference or with our respect, whatever it may be, whatever is owed, that is what we give as Christians. But you understand also that in telling us what function government actually serves in our lives, the Bible is also drawing a box around its boundary. It's defining why God gave to us government and how good government actually functions. Now both of those individuals who wrote both of those passages were killed by the government bearing the sword in vain. So it's not as though persecution by government escapes their notice altogether. But they're drawing a box around its boundaries. This is how good government functions in these boundaries are actually reflected throughout the Bible, from beginning to end, even reaching back into the Old Testament law, where the Israel actor told specifically in Deuteronomy 1, 16 to 17, and I charge your judges, I charge your judges at the time. This is Moses speaking. Hear the cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, or the alien who is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone for the judgment is God's. So the judges, the elders, the rulers in Israel that Moses appointed over each tribe, not only had some kind of governmental presence and authority over their lives, some kind of command, but he was to hear their cases. He was to adjudicate their cases. He was to rule in their cases and he wasn't to be swayed. He wasn't to be persuaded by money. He was to be influenced by social pressure, or by any of those kinds of things. He was to be impartial regardless of his personal connection to the ones in his courtroom. Even if the people in the courtroom might be Jo and Gentile, an alien, he says, a foreigner. Godly justice, in other words, was to be blind with respect to the persons in the courtroom. This is where the fundamental principles of our own justice system in this country come from. He's on the bedrock foundation of the Bible itself. So you can see, even with just a very brief glimpse at the scriptures, that government has an important role given by God. And to be honest with you, the stakes are really high, aren't they? Because on the one hand, you are told in no uncertain terms to submit to such government, the government that God has put in place. And Paul and Peter leave uncomfortably so little wiggle room in those statements to be subject to governing authority. So little wiggle room that any time those scriptures are read, there's always a question of, yeah, but what about? Isn't there? So on the one hand, the stakes are really high because you're called to submit to these governing authorities. On the other hand, the stakes are also high because they have boundaries that are set by God and God judges those who are in positions of authority, as we're going to see in this passage. These are things that they must adhere to. So what happens then to us? What do we do when governing authorities overstep their boundaries that God has given to them? In our passage this morning, David has a very pointed prayer regarding governmental authorities who are stepping outside the carefully drawn box God has given to them. First look at verses one and two, to see the problem that he raises here. Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly? No. In your hearts you devise wrongs. Your hands deal out violence on the earth. First he calls them gods. They're in verse one. If you're reading the ESV, the word has a lot of meanings. I think if you're reading the KJV it has the word congregation there. It's probably something like mighty lords. It's people who have some kind of governing authority. They're people who are in charge in one sense or another. They clearly have some kind of governmental presence. They're governmental figures of all sorts in that they in the text are said to judge. He even says that they make decrees. Do they decree what is right? They have power to deal out things all over the world that everyone else it seems has to live with including all the righteous people who are at the end of the passage who are suffering because of the judgments that they make and because of the violence that their hands deal out. So they are people that I think the text is meaning to convey have some kind of power and authority in a governmental kind of sense. They're lords. They're maybe even gods used in a in a pejorative way or kind of a sarcastic way if you will. So if the box that God has drawn around government is to bear the sword against those who do wrong and to reward those who do good what do we see here demonstrated in this passage even in just the first couple of verses here except that these governmental figures they don't they're not sticking to the boundaries of the box. They're not doing what is agreed upon in the terms and conditions. Instead they devise wrongs in their hearts and they deal out violence on the earth. He asks a kind of a rhetorical question that the answer is obviously no they are not judging the children of man uprightly. They're not decreeing what is right but they're crafting laws that are morally wrong and they have moral repercussions on the people that they craft laws for. I know that you're searching your minds for real world examples and you're having a hard time coming up with some. I'm sure but bear with me. The first thing that we need to understand about government in a fallen world is the first point here that wicked men make for wicked governors. Wicked men make for wicked governors. So the Psalm opens with David asking these questions these sort of rhetorical questions to these rulers and authorities themselves and then answering it in verses one and two but then in verses three and following he turns to the audience if you will and he begins this monologue about the nature of the wicked. About what it's like to be governed by wicked people and first he says in verse three the wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray from birth speaking lies they have venom like the venom of serpents. David exposes the problem that he's already alluded to back in verse two and it's not just that their policies are terrible they are it's not just that it's not just that their policies are terrible it's not just that their vision for the people is rotten it is but it's not just that it's that all of the decisions that they're making all of the laws all the decrees that they hand out all of the things that they devise that are wrong come from hearts that are crooked from the womb it's the same heart in verse two that devises wrong and what is the result that we see coming from these hearts that are bent from the womb is that their mouths can only speak lies to people it seems as though they're immune to the truth again i know your hard press to find examples of this in the real world bear with me their lies are poisonous he says they're destructive they tear down the people and they lead to nothing but violence and they create chaos in the streets but in addition to their hard-hearted wickedness from the womb that produces these lying tongues he goes on to say in verse the second half of verse four like the death adder that stops its ear so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter to their hard-heartedness doesn't just affect their tongues and the lies that they speak it also affects their ears they cannot hear i think what day that has in mind here is that they can't listen to the voice of a reason in any way first of all not from any of the righteous people who might bring their case into their courts they can't listen to them even if their case reflects something of sound judgment even if it seems perfectly reasonable even if you and i were sitting there going yes this guy has a grievance it's very clear he has a grievance they are incapable of hearing it they're incapable of seeing his side and instead they rule in the direction that accords with their hearts which is bent from the womb so you will bake the cake you will make the bouquet you will celebrate that wedding because it only makes sense to us second of all they won't listen even to god himself now god has made himself evident to them throughout all the world that he has created but you see they can't look objectively at the world with sound judgment their ears are plugged even to god's own voice as it ripples through creation even though they look at the same stars you look at they breathe the same oxygen you breathe their lungs exchange oxygen at the same the same way you do their heart beats the same way your heart beats their cells split and reproduce the same way your cells do their human eyes work the exact same way yours do and in spite of all of these miraculous wonderings that point to a creator their ears are plugged and they're incapable of seeing and hearing the truth they're blind these people reflect very well the person paul describes in roman's one versus 18 and following for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about god is plain to them because god has shown it to them for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse for although they knew god they did not honor him as god or give him thanks but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal god for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things therefore god gave them up to the lusts of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about god for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever amen that feel like you could just be reading today's newspaper perhaps now why we could probably talk all day long about countless policies and politicians maybe over the years that we feel may embody exactly what david is talking about here and specifically the kind of people that are at the center of this song i think it's best to stick to for right now all intents and our intent and purpose to the straight line issues in 1973 seven out of nine seemingly dignified justices dressed in black robes firmly pressed voted together that the due process clause of the 14th amendment to the united states constitution provided a fundamental right to privacy which protects a pregnant woman's right to an abortion seven out of nine justices this ruling effectively made abortion the law of the land in these 50 united states for nearly 50 years and since that date more than 63 million babies were murdered in the womb in this country in 2015 five justices in very similar neatly pressed black robes descended from on high to rule again that the due process clause and equal protection clause validated so-called same-sex mirage making it the law of the land on march 22nd 2022 during a confirmation hearing of now justice brown jackson the then judge was asked if she could give a definition for the word woman and instead of replying an adult human female she said no i can't i'm not a biologist now that's just three examples certainly i could give many more examples but you see all of those are related to the supreme court and we could certainly give examples from every branch of government where something seemingly equally as bad or worse has happened but i use these three to illustrate a point that i think is as close to the heart of the text as i could possibly get in each of these cases a straight line can be drawn from what was stated by a judge or a group of justices to a prohibition in god's word in the case of abortion it could be as simple as the sixth commandment you shall not murder now if i was pressed and was forced to give an argument from other places in scripture i could get there a lot quicker than they can with the due process clause i'll tell you that much in the case of same-sex mirage we must first say that marriage was invented by god paul tells us it's a picture of christ and the church and that's the reason he gave it to us to begin it's between one man and one woman for a lifetime but since god has given government also an invention by god basically a strict responsibility it has no right to attempt to redefine marriage outside the parameters that he has given it it was his invention how can you come along later and co-opt it for your own purposes but in addition to that there are many scriptures that outlaw the kind of practice that was then put into law by the supreme court Romans 1 18 to 32 1 Corinthians 6 9 to 10 1 Timothy 1 8 to 11 Leviticus 18 22 and 20 verse 13 to name a few in the case of defining a woman you actually don't need to be a biologist it turns out you just need to read the first pages of scripture to see that god created them male and female he created them different yes with different abilities different strengths different weaknesses and different skills but complementary to one another but what do we do we yell at the tv don't we we see these things we get so frustrated we think what a preposterous thing that is a biologist by eight-year-old could easily define it for her ironically she's claiming to be a woman taking a position on the supreme court how can those two things possibly be at the same time we yell at the tv my own children who are just slowly now coming to understand some of the issues that are going on in our culture have heard about abortion as we've talked about elections and things like that and as they come to hear about it and understand it as it's explained their jaw just falls open and they look at me with this puzzled look on their face absolutely blown away that this kind of thing happens but worse than that that there would be a law that it can happen if there wouldn't be a prohibition against it all of these people who make these laws they go to id league schools they have the highest IQs in the nation they live in the tonya suburbs of washington dc they eat nothing but egg white omelets an organic free-range chicken i mean vegan organic free-range chicken is that a thing that something people do made a tofu or something i don't know they drive to work in their brand new mercedes-vins with the cooling seats and all the things everything about them screams sophistication intelligence wisdom even and then no sooner do they pull into the parking spot at work then they go in and make the dumbest decisions you've ever seen in your entire life leave so many dumbfounded but you don't have to look to the person and analyze them to know how unwise the decisions they make are you only need to look at the aftermath of the decision just look at the effects whatever judgment you made that resulted in the killing of 63 million babies legally there's no way to describe that but venom absolute venom like the venom of a serpent there's no way to describe that but devising in your heart what was wrong and dealing out violence all over the earth changing the definition of marriage is only a microcosm of the sexual degradation of this country for the last nine years up to this point where it's virtually at this point unrecognizable from the country at once was as roman's says of these hard-hearted rulers they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them and it's not moral cowardice either it's not that they sat there and they lacked the the guts the intestinal fortitude to do what was right that doesn't explain it make no mistake these are precisely in the category of this song their ears are stopped to truth they can't hear wisdom they're blind guides they're given over to depravity they claim to be wise but they're as foolhardy as they come they have idly brains but their heart is bound in gloomy darkness these are the people David describes so what comfort do we have about these things I think that might be as bleak a picture as I possibly could paint and I think probably if we were sitting down at a coffee table you would probably say yeah that's true so what do we think about this the second point is this god will put an end to wicked governors god will put an end to wicked governors david turns to make his request to god if you've got the stomach to read it and this is what he prays in verse six oh god break the teeth in their mouths tear out the fangs of the young lions allure let them vanish like water that runs away when he aims his arrows let them be blunted let them be like the snail that devolve dissolves into slime like the stillborn child who never sees his son sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns whether green or ablaze may he sweep them away the righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked mankind will say surely there is a reward for the righteous surely there is a god who judges on the earth so maybe at the end of the first half of the psalm you're left thinking that's bleak and yeah i look around at the world around me and i think to myself why should i be righteous see that is the poison that is produced by leaders who are venomous who are vile and corrupt that's the poison is it leaves the righteous on this end going why should i be righteous everyone around me is doing what is wrong and they seem to be driving lexises they have air conditioned seats and firmly pressed robes and they look dignified and and and prestigious and they have six figure salaries and everybody looks up to them and thinks that they're great why on earth should i be righteous why should i be the subject of their scorn why shouldn't i just go along to get along why shouldn't i jump on their team it seems to be every advantage for it and nothing against it have you noticed it in our culture there seems to be a tidal wave of people claiming some sort of letter that they represent or that represents them you notice this yes this means yes guys right here you notice this why is that why does it seem to be breaking out like a contagion because there's every advantage to being on that side there's no reason you should be righteous at least on the surface it seems but this is precisely what david gets to this is why he prays what he prays break their teeth notice the psalm begins and ends in similar ways but with a dramatic reversal at the beginning of the psalm it's the rulers who judge the children of man but they do it with malice in their hearts their hands deal out violence they're actively participating in wrongdoing and their their hands are actively working to promote it but by the end what do we find it's god who judges the earth not them they're not the ones who judge the earth it's god who judges the earth and instead of the hands of the wicked governor's working it's the feet of the righteous that are bathing in their blood now i know that sounds gory but it's poetic imagery and it's designed to illustrate a reversal of the wicked hands that are working unrighteousness to the righteous feet that are being bathed they're actively working evil the righteous are being the beneficiaries of god's righteousness that is coming down their feet are being bathed as the lord is working in judgment and how does he do that well he says by breaking teeth by tearing out things by causing them to evaporate from the earth by blunting their arrows by pouring a little salt on their snail-like souls they bring about evils like abortion they will be aborted talk about a reversal verse nine seems a little confusing on the surface because it's kind of this old little image not a lot of people are quite sure to know what to make of it because it seems like old Hebrew proverb of some kind or adage or something like that saying but you see the thorns in a field are gathered up and they're burned and they make kindling for fire it's small little things you can put like a like a little ball of hay or something like that you can light on fire and it catches quickly and so what he's saying whether the thorns are green meaning they're filled with moisture and it takes longer to catch fire or they're dry they're ablaze the thorns of the wicked god will burn up and sweep them away quickly they'll be like kindling for his fire on the pot when we come to a passage like this I think the first temptation that we might have on the surface I think is that we read it and we see how gory and grotesque some of the imagery it and parents shield the ears of their kids don't listen to this mark no it's pretty grotesque bathing in blood dissolving snails and slime passages like that always end up being my boy's favorites those are the ones they want to hear at bedtime they want to they love first and second kings yeah tell us one of those stories out of first second second kings and their mother rolls their rolls rise when we read the first section there's broad agreement yeah I know people like that I might have accidentally voted for people like that but perhaps if we're looking through this with biblical eyes then it would be flipped for us perhaps the first half the actions of the wicked governors would be appalling and grotesque and stomach turning and the second half the actions of god on behalf of the righteous would be something to agree about something that we would say listen to this kids listen to how much better it gets listen to what the outcome is going to be yes amen come lord jesus do just that please the reality that david is giving to you the congregation is that you serve a god who breaks teeth all the while the world celebrates the wickedness within her streets and they say to themselves how could a loving god ever send someone to hell but every person that says that has someone in their minds that they think of that if god visited with a little teeth breaking he should surely visit that person oh really how could a loving god we want to do with hitler you want him standing next to you at the pearly gate all of them are going to say never no you want him to break teeth don't you of course you do we cry out for justice you just want to set the terms because they reason how could a loving and just god allow me to suffer at their hands like how can you allow the jews and the holocaust to suffer at the hands of hitler like that i want him to break teeth that's just the point isn't it bodies being grotesque with these rulers just for his own enjoyment no it's vindication it's vengeance god isn't opposed to vengeance he's opposed to you having vengeance he says vengeance is mine i will repay their actions have consequences and the higher the responsibility that one is given in society the more lasting the consequences of their wicked governance god is repaying them for the evil that has been suffered at their hands and while this is a good thing passages like this make the good news of the gospel all the more see the only thing that separates the wicked from the righteous is not having his feet dipped in the blood of the enemy but having his soul washed in the blood of the eternally righteous son of god to the sin that's rampant in this world that we're very quick to point out as evil we've all taken part in at some point every single one of us you might never have run a country but you've lusted after things that are served up to you by the sinful system that the world has created you've gotten drunk on its riches a time or two maybe even in your younger days perhaps there are people who say i was one of those that had an abortion that was legal at the time see whether it's been behind closed doors privacy of a doctor's office or maybe in the secrecy and privacy of your own heart or perhaps it was open and in front of others we have all pursued things that should leave us with our teeth broken by god on judgment day you understand if you have committed sins David's not saying i want your teeth to be broken he's saying god breaks teeth you must repent the son of god came it turns out to inaugurate a new government one in which he will be king now i'm going to say it again no elections when he comes amen somebody he won't run for king there won't be buttons or pins or yard signs there won't be any of that you're just going to deal with it for the rest of your life and you're going to do so happily see his death on the cross atoned for the sins of his citizens of all who are in his kingdom his righteousness paid for their righteous standing in his court so the only reason i'm not going down with the sinking ship of babylon that is here described who's going to have its teeth broken is only because of the grace of god through the death of jesus christ on my behalf so really the way to read this psalm is to say there before the grace of god go i have you right there with him be rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic as it goes down where it not for his grace to me and during this time period while you still have breath in your lungs he's granting citizenship to emigrants like you and me but there's only one way to come by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ that's it as john bunion says in pilgrims progress you can't sneak over the wall you can't come to salvation some other way it must be straight through christ you can only come through repentance you can only come through faith but then you say well what's left for us now here is a wicked government they do evil things what is it that we are to do what is left for us what i want you to see is the nature of what we just read it's a prayer david's not organizing campaign he's not great saying grab your torches and your pitchforks let's go after them he's not organizing a militia in any way he is praying to god that god would visit them in his vengeance and break their teeth so let me ask you do you see evil in the world around you when you watch the tv or you see the news or you read the articles or things like that do you see evil it's happening there at the hands of powerful people pray if your prayer life was as robust as you're griping about the government life how robust would your prayer life be what do you have laying in front of you but a model something that is okay for you christian to pray lord here is evil all around me break their teeth come judge see in such a case where we are washed in the blood of the lamb we can safely pray for god's judgment where our sins are covered where we have been justified where we are citizens of his kingdom we can safely pray for god's judgment because we know that for all those who are covered by the blood of the lamb his judgment is going to be for our good as well as for his glory so as john says at the end of revelation even so come lord jesus let's pray heavenly father what a psalm heavy powerful difficult challenge for us something that is so pertinent to our day as i'm sure every christian throughout history that has come across psalm 58 has also said i'm sure every preacher who has ever preached psalm 58 has also said lord we are reminded that you are a god who is slow to hanger who is abounding instead fast love who works all things in accordance to your will who works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose we know that about you but we also know that you are just that you are holy and that you will not let injustice go unpunished that you will break the teeth of the wicked and here we stand grateful grateful that you have numbered us among your citizens so i pray for conviction sin that we might bring it to the cross and confess it i pray for anything that we read in here in this text that might bring to mind things we've done that instead of harboring bitterness and saying we'll find that instead we'll turn loose of it and say it's sin a confess it's sin i want it to be washed in the blood of the lamb i want it to be thrown as far as the east is from the west i want it gone for me would you give us that we pray in jesus today amen thanks for listening if you live in the tuskalusa area and are looking for a church we'd love for you to visit our service times our sunday mornings at 10 30 and wednesday nights at 6 15 [BLANK_AUDIO]