PSALM 50:16-23

In our text of Psalm 50:16-22 I find that Asaph is giving ‘A Warning Of Declaration’ Asaph is one of three, either a singer, seer, or a secretary. Here God has assembled all together to give a declaration. The declaration takes on the mood of a warning.

            In verse 16 the warning is addressed to the ‘wicked’. The word wicked is not a word for the profane sinner but one who has a profession of religion. The text seems to tell us it is not just a professor of religion in the pew but the one who stands behind the pulpit. God’s declaration says of this one, ‘you declare my statutes and profess my covenant but your life style denies it all.’ We need more today than ever, men who simply declare the doctrines of Grace. We need ones who have experienced the life changing work of the grace of these doctrines.

            In verses 17-22 God sets out to show how they are but professors and not possessors of Grace. In verse 17 you find of them that they are not teachable, they hate instruction. One of the qualifications given to Timothy for an elder is that he must be teachable. God says you have cast my Word behind you. Oh, how men twist God’s Word today. They do not study it line upon line. They are not filling themselves daily with the Word. They stand and much of their preaching is what they think and feel and nothing of what ‘thus saith the Lord’. Let me not just be a speaker of the Word but also let me be a hearer and doer of His Word.

            In verse 18 God says they have sided with the thief. ‘Moral honesty cannot be absent where true grace is present.’ (Spurgeon) The Lord says they have no moral compass but are partakers of the act of adultery. My, how men can stand in the pulpit, preach, and lay in unholy acts with women. My, how their consciences are seared. What a word of warning to us who stand behind the sacred desk.  It may be done here in private but when this assembly is called together it will be known by all. There is a warning in verses 19-20 about the use of the tongue to work evil and speak slander against others. Those who have told tales behind the backs of others will be uncovered at this great assembly.

            In verse 21 He warns that He has been long suffering and has kept silent. He has now come to reprove and set things in order right before our eyes. The time of examination will not be a Sunday School picnic but a grave time for all. In verse 22 there is a final word of warning not to forget Him, especially His ability to wreak havoc on us with none to deliver us from Him.

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