WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.759 Psalm 36, Psalm 36, to the choir master of David, the servant of the Lord. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:11.820 Psalm 36, verses 1 to 12. 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:23.740 Let me pray for us. 00:00:23.739 --> 00:00:37.960 God, as we open your word, we incline our hearts toward you, wanting to hear your voice, 00:00:39.239 --> 00:00:47.679 wanting to conform our ways, our thoughts to your will. 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:53.780 So we pray that you would help us to do that, that you would meet with us through your spirit, 00:00:54.539 --> 00:01:01.579 that you would speak to us clearly, and that you would challenge us specifically and personally. 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:06.539 In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:01:06.540 --> 00:01:06.640 Amen. 00:01:36.540 --> 00:01:42.200 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. 00:01:42.880 --> 00:01:45.560 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:48.420 Your judgments are like the great deep. 00:01:49.020 --> 00:01:51.000 Man and beast you save, O Lord. 00:01:51.880 --> 00:01:54.460 How precious is your steadfast love, O God. 00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:58.300 The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 00:01:58.300 --> 00:02:03.860 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delight. 00:02:03.859 --> 00:02:06.840 For with you is the fountain of life. 00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:09.199 In your light do we see light. 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:13.400 O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, 00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:15.759 and your righteousness to the upright in heart. 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:21.460 Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. 00:02:22.060 --> 00:02:23.840 There the evildoers lie fallen. 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:27.039 They are thrust down, unable to rise. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:35.379 The first four verses of this psalm are a portrait of the wicked. 00:02:36.199 --> 00:02:38.979 And then verses 5 to 9 is a praise to the Lord. 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:41.799 And then verses 10 to 12 is a prayer for the righteous. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:43.840 So it's a portrait of praise and a prayer. 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:48.399 And it answers the question, what is at the heart of wickedness? 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:50.060 What is at the heart of sin? 00:02:50.799 --> 00:02:51.819 What causes it? 00:02:51.899 --> 00:02:53.379 What's ultimately responsible for it? 00:02:53.379 --> 00:03:01.780 And B.F. Skinner was widely considered the most influential U.S. psychologist in the 20th century. 00:03:01.900 --> 00:03:02.979 He was a Harvard psychologist. 00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:08.340 He argued for a deterministic world. 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:13.060 He said that everything is predetermined by our previous choices or by our environment, 00:03:13.359 --> 00:03:15.859 that we don't really have free will. 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:17.599 Free will is really an illusion, he said. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:24.960 And in this kind of world view, we can't really hold anyone ultimately responsible for their wrongdoing. 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:28.379 What's at the heart of wickedness is the environment. 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:30.900 It's not the person's responsibility. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:34.979 So then when someone is racist, we say, oh, it's because of his upbringing. 00:03:35.359 --> 00:03:38.079 When someone steals, oh, it's because of his poor upbringing. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:42.240 Or when someone is selfish, it's because, oh, it's because he didn't have love from his parents. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:46.920 So everything becomes attributed to something other than the person in this kind of view. 00:03:47.480 --> 00:03:53.180 There was another influential psychologist in the 20th century, another Harvard psychologist named Carl Menninger. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.240 And he took a more biblical approach to that issue. 00:03:56.360 --> 00:04:00.400 And he wrote a book entitled Whatever Became of Sin in 1973. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:08.820 And in it, he pleads for the revival of the idea of sin and awareness of it and taking responsibility for it. 00:04:08.819 --> 00:04:19.659 Because he writes this, he says, a sense of sin would bring hope because it implies both a possibility and an obligation for intervention. 00:04:20.459 --> 00:04:26.240 Because if there is no such thing as sin and no one's responsible for wickedness and wrongdoing, then there's no hope for change. 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:27.420 There's no hope for intervention. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:29.779 There's no right to intervene in any way, right? 00:04:29.779 --> 00:04:36.059 And so, and this is really confirmed by Psalm 36 because it begins right in verse 1. 00:04:36.219 --> 00:04:40.479 Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.000 That's where sin springs from. 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:45.739 It springs from the depth of the human heart. 00:04:46.159 --> 00:04:50.219 And that means that we are ultimately responsible for our sins. 00:04:50.459 --> 00:04:54.099 But that means there's also hope for restoration and reparation, right? 00:04:54.100 --> 00:05:04.260 And so, this is teaching us to distinguish the context for sins, the environment in which sin happens, and the cause for sin, which is the cause which lies in the human heart, deep in our hearts. 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:08.360 And then another fundamental characteristic of the wicked is in the rest of verse 1. 00:05:08.460 --> 00:05:12.560 It says, there is no fear of God before his eyes, right? 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:18.140 The wicked people, what characterizes them is that they live as if they are not accountable to God, right? 00:05:18.460 --> 00:05:20.900 Their outlook on life is summarized by verse 2. 00:05:20.899 --> 00:05:25.919 For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found and hated. 00:05:26.419 --> 00:05:32.779 So, instead of living with the fear of God before their eyes, as it says in verse 1, they flatter themselves in their own eyes. 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:33.839 There's a contrast there. 00:05:34.239 --> 00:05:37.279 And what they're saying is basically, well, they're above accountability. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:41.299 They're saying no one's, God's not going to ultimately hold us accountable so they can do what they want. 00:05:41.379 --> 00:05:42.959 Their iniquity is not going to be founded. 00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:47.620 This would be basically a functional atheism, right? 00:05:47.620 --> 00:05:55.040 And something, even Christians who are immature or nominal Christians can live in this way, right? 00:05:55.060 --> 00:05:59.360 Even though they say they believe in God, but they live as if their actions are not accountable to God. 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:01.860 As if what they do is not seen by God, right? 00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:06.360 And so that's the heart of wickedness. 00:06:06.420 --> 00:06:09.199 That's a portrait of the wicked in verses 1 to 4. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:16.420 And normally at this point, in a typical psalm, the psalmist will go from kind of describing the wicked to describing the righteous. 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:23.319 But this one is unusual in the fact that it goes from the description of the wicked, portrait of the wicked, to praise of the Lord, right? 00:06:23.599 --> 00:06:24.560 Verses 5 to 9. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:30.800 And it begins with this, you know, several metaphors, like nature metaphors, 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:38.199 that basically extol the limitlessness and the vastness of God's love, His faithfulness, righteousness, judgment. 00:06:38.379 --> 00:06:40.319 So in verses 5 to 6, it says, 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:43.000 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens. 00:06:43.819 --> 00:06:45.460 Your faithfulness to the clouds. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:48.500 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. 00:06:48.780 --> 00:06:51.019 Your judgments are like the great deep. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:53.580 Man and beast you save, O Lord. 00:06:53.579 --> 00:06:59.259 And this is, this doesn't mean that the animals are going to be saved and be in heaven, 00:06:59.359 --> 00:07:04.039 because this here is referring not to salvation, spiritual sense, 00:07:04.099 --> 00:07:07.839 but it's referring to God's provision for all creation, all of His creation. 00:07:08.599 --> 00:07:11.659 So that's why it's a man and beast you save. 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:14.479 And His steadfast love, faithfulness to righteousness and judgment, 00:07:14.599 --> 00:07:16.439 referred to what He does for all of mankind. 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:18.000 That's why in verse 7, it says, 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:21.060 The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of His wings. 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:23.480 And in fact, verse 9, it says, 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:25.180 He is the fountain of life. 00:07:25.280 --> 00:07:27.980 So that means God is the source of all that is good in this world. 00:07:28.060 --> 00:07:29.480 He's the source of all life. 00:07:29.819 --> 00:07:33.160 So in reality, every single human being, including all of the wicked, 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:35.220 owe everything that they have to Him. 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:40.120 And so this contrast makes their wickedness all the more heinous and unthinkable, right? 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:44.740 The fact that they live as if they're above accountability to God. 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:48.360 And they live without reference to God, even though they owe Him everything. 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:54.259 And so after that portrait, it turns to the final portion to the prayer for the righteous in verses 10 to 12. 00:07:56.199 --> 00:08:03.600 And because David turns to this because he recognizes that though God is loving and He provides for all of creation, 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:13.560 no one enjoys that for eternity unless they are part of His people, unless they're saved by Him, redeemed by Him. 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:15.360 And so he prays in verse 10, 00:08:15.459 --> 00:08:21.079 Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you and your righteousness to the upright in heart. 00:08:21.899 --> 00:08:22.540 And then he says, 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:24.459 The ultimate fate of wicked is in verse 12. 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:28.319 There do the evildoers lie fallen, they are thrust down, unable to rise. 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:33.539 So there's a contrast here between the upright, which literally means straight, 00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:34.860 some language straight, 00:08:34.860 --> 00:08:38.740 and how did he describe the wicked in verse 1, 00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:44.539 that they commit transgressions, which is to really stray from God's boundaries. 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:47.180 So they're not going straight, they're going astray, rather. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:47.820 It's transgression. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:51.740 It's a word that typically refers to kind of transgressing someone's property. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:53.840 So there's a contrast being drawn there, 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:58.759 that those who are upright in heart will in perpetuity enjoy God's love, 00:08:58.920 --> 00:09:03.580 but those who have transgression will ultimately perish, as it says in verse 12. 00:09:03.580 --> 00:09:08.940 So this then leads us back to the first question we begin with. 00:09:09.020 --> 00:09:11.720 What's the heart of sin and how do we deal with that? 00:09:12.560 --> 00:09:18.180 And that answer Paul gives us from Romans 3, 00:09:18.379 --> 00:09:20.440 where he quotes this psalm. 00:09:21.060 --> 00:09:27.080 He quotes verse 2 of this psalm in verse 18 of chapter 3 of Romans. 00:09:27.580 --> 00:09:31.420 He says that all of humanity, there is no fear of God before their eyes. 00:09:31.419 --> 00:09:35.860 So for all of us, we live with no fear of God before our eyes. 00:09:35.979 --> 00:09:38.860 So then left to our devices, there's no hope for salvation. 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:41.699 But then Paul says that there came another righteousness 00:09:41.699 --> 00:09:46.399 that's different from the righteousness that was expected in the Old Testament. 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:50.139 And it's not a righteousness that comes through the law, 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:52.899 but the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:55.699 Because all have fallen short of the glory of God, 00:09:55.719 --> 00:09:58.039 but he says in the rest of chapter 3 of Romans, 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:00.839 but are justified, those who believe in him in faith, 00:10:00.959 --> 00:10:05.519 are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:11.779 This is helpful because as we talk about the righteousness is like the mountains of God. 00:10:11.839 --> 00:10:13.399 It says in verse 6, right? 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:19.199 But this mountain of righteousness is not a beautiful vista for the sinner, right? 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:24.640 But rather it's a daunting, insurmountable obstacle for us 00:10:24.640 --> 00:10:28.000 when we look at that mountain of righteousness from the perspective of a sinner. 00:10:28.540 --> 00:10:31.340 But because we have been clothed with Christ's righteousness, 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:33.759 now that righteousness becomes ours, 00:10:33.920 --> 00:10:35.300 and it becomes something we can enjoy, 00:10:35.620 --> 00:10:39.480 and we become eternal recipients of God's steadfast love. 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:43.060 So that's really the psalm, very simple, 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:45.700 the gospel presented in this psalm. 00:10:45.700 --> 00:10:48.420 So with that in mind, let's turn to prayer.