This week
starts a new study of Psalm 36. This Psalm is entitled ‘To The
Chief Musician, A Psalm Of David, The Servant Of The Lord’.
This same title is used of Psalm 18 when David flees from Saul but
here it seems he has been crowned King. The Chief Musician is the
one who conducts public worship. David, the King of the people,
sees himself as a servant of the Lord. I feel there will be no
great strides of victory of the spiritual man over the natural man
unless we become His servants and He becomes our King of Kings. I
have entitled the chapter, “The Great Contrasts”. David
contrasts the ‘natural man’ (Vs. 1-4) with the ‘spiritual
man’. (Vs. 5-12)
Let us look at
David’s description of the natural man in verses 1-4 which says,
“The transgression of the wicked
saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be
found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit:
he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He deviseth mischief
upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he
abhorreth not evil.”
In verse 1 we see ‘The
Voice Of The Natural Man’. David, in verse 1, looks at the
wickedness of his enemies. But while looking within his own heart
he sees within himself the same wickedness that they are living
out. The wicked heart speaks out in a clear voice and it lies
within David as well as all others. The natural heart that lives in
us all is deceitful above all and desperately wicked, who can know
it? They act in such a way that it tells all we have no ‘fear of
God’. “If God be everywhere, and I fear Him, how can I dare
to break His laws in His very presence.” (Spurgeon) Save by the
grace of God controlling the voice of my natural man, go I, among
the wicked of this world.
In verse 2 let us be
confronted with ‘The Vanity Of The Natural Man’. David said
as the wicked enemy of God his natural man would ‘flatter’
him in his own eyes. The word means to smooth over what is truly
there. “To smooth over ones own conduct to ones conscience is to
smooth ones own path to hell.” (Spurgeon) He can flatter
himself until his sin is surfaced to the outward. That which is
rotten cannot be concealed forever, it will soon be a smell clear to
all. As in the story of Lazarus, Martha said to the Lord, about
moving the stone, please don’t move it for he stinketh. The only
way to get the stink of sin off of a sinner is by getting them to
the Saviour.
In verses 3-4 we
have laid out for us ‘The Vice Of The Natural Man’. One
always acts and reacts according the their nature. A pig loves slop
because he has a hog’s nature. He wouldn’t be drawn towards bubble
baths and pink bows.
In verse 3a we see
‘The Practice Of Vice’. Everything that comes from his mouth
is sin and deception. Our Lord said that from out of the heart the
mouth speaks. The mouth is the ornament or place of display for the
natural heart of man. In verse 3b we see ‘The Performance Of
Vice’. The natural heart lived out will leave off being ‘wise’
and ‘good’. These both speak of being like God. Even those,
who do wise and good, if it comes from a natural heart, are
self-righteous and stinks worse to God.
In verse 4a we
see ‘The Premeditation Of Vice’. For the Godly man as he lay
upon his bed, he meditates upon God and how he can serve Him. The
wicked devise wicked plans upon the bed. In verse 4b we see ‘The
Path Of Vice’. He is on a path that is not good and he has no
hatred for that which is evil. This is certainly a road that heads
for Hell. Lord, we have such a wicked heart within us. O deliver
us from showing the colors of sin that we once served before we were
saved and made into a new creation.
