Peter Barnes | Psalm 139:17-24
SERMON NOTES
Responding to the Holy Judge
Psalm 139:17-24
1. We ought to wonder at God’s thoughts.
– vv.17-18; ‘lost in wonder, love and praise’ (Charles Wesley)
2. We ought to join in God’s hatred of the wicked.
– vv.19-22; startling words. Charles Spurgeon: ‘To hate a man for his own sake, or for any evil done to us, would be wrong; but to hate a man because he is the foe of all goodness and the enemy of all righteousness, is nothing more nor less than an obligation. The more we love God the more indignant shall we grow with those who refuse him their affection.’
– Rom.12:19 and 1 Cor.16:22; note Rev.18:20
– Psalm 96, 98, 99.
– Jer.15:17; 4:19; 9:1; also John 2:13-17 and Luke 19:41-44; John Stott: ‘we know little of a truly righteous indignation’.
3. We ought to humbly examine ourselves.
– vv.23-24; could I imitate Jonah in fleeing, Peter in denying Christ, and David in adultery and murder?
– Heb.4:13 and Prov.28:13