Abundant Love, Abundant Sin

Psalm 5 Abundant Love, Abundant Sin

I knew I had a problem. Even though I was barely a teenager, my parents had spotted the characteristics. At first my parents thought it was funny, then they started to get annoyed. No, it wasn’t a sin. No one got hurt. I just liked to buy lots of groceries. I was an over-stocker. When I was a teenager, I lived in South America. My mom would ask me to go down to the local shop and buy a few things: sugar, flour, crackers, etc. From the generosity of my heart, I thought- why buy 5 pounds of flour when I could buy 10? Why buy 2 pounds of sugar when I could get 5 pounds. Why buy 1 bottle of soap when I could get 3? Even though my mom sent me out for a few things, I would come back from the store balancing 20 pounds of groceries on the handlebars of my bike.

Soon my mom gave me more specific directions on what to buy and what NOT to buy. When I got to college, I met a person who can overstock better than I can. And I married her. You can probably guess that our pantry is well-stocked.

Sometimes Christians forget that God loves to overstock. God is infinite…so he always has an abundance for his children. When we live in God’s house, we don’t come into the kitchen and find meager provisions in the cupboard. No, the cabinets in God’s kitchen are overstocked with more than enough grace for his children. Christ’s cupboards are never bare.

Often we forget how amazing it is to belong to Christ and how incredible our inheritance in heaven is. We forget how awful the terrors of hell and the fate of the ungodly are. As we look at Psalm 5 this evening, I want us to see the abundance of God’s love for us. I want our eyes to be opened to the delight he has in his children. I want us to see the awfulness of sin and the fate of the wicked.

Read Psalm 5

The title of this Psalm, like Psalm 4, notes that this Psalm was penned by David. There are also some terms that suggest a way it was to be sung or played. Psalm 3 is a morning Psalm, Psalm 4 is an evening Psalm, and again Psalm 5 is a morning Psalm. As you probably know, we are now waist deep in a section of lament psalms stretching from Psalm 3-7. We need these lament Psalms because we live in a broken and evil world.

The first 3 verses of Psalm 5 are David’s prayer in the morning. After he prays, he watches. As he watches, he sees 4 truths.

1. God’s hatred of the wicked
2. God’s abundant love
3. The wicked’s abundant sin
4. God’s love for the righteous
We will also see how these 4 truths are connected. So, first, the prayer. Then we will follow David’s gaze to see what he sees.
1. What David Prays (1-3)
We know this is a lament Psalm because it begins with a cry for help. Lament psalms begin with this disorientation. There are 3 kinds of prayer mentioned in the first 3 verses.

A. Groaning or meditation (1)
In verse 3, we see that David prays in the morning. I can imagine him getting out of bed and groaning inwardly to himself. This meditation or groaning is silent. It is the heart pleading to God.

B. Crying (2)
The second type of prayer is a cry. A sound of desperation: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
The kind of cry you let lose if you were stuck in rubble after an earthquake.

C. Voice (3)
The third kind of prayer is our words to God. These are specific requests given to God using our voice.

There are times when we can’t voice words to God. All we got is a groan from our heart or a whimper or a cry. That’s fine- God hears that.

As David gets up in the morning and lays his prayers before God, he waits for God to answer. He looks up…better…he watches. Morning is a time of expectation and new beginnings. Maybe for a morning person that’s had coffee and very sweet cereal and a walk around the block. Really, David is looking for God to do something, to answer his prayers. He is watching, like a person in a tower, watching with binoculars. God- do something! Show me something! For a lament Psalm, there is not much disorientation. Much of this Psalm is David reminding himself of God’s truth. There is a lot of reorientation going on.

This is a good way to start our day. Whether we feel excited and offer praise to God or we feel like garbage and all we can offer to God is a groan. We should pray then watch what God does. As David watches, he sees 4 truths. I want you to see them to.

2. What David Sees (4-12)

A. God’s Hatred of the Wicked (4-6)
God’s hatred of evil is put in very stark terms. 3 negatives and 3 positives. Look with me.

Negative:
-Does not delight in wickedness
-Evil does not dwell with him
-The boastful/foolish will not stand before him

Positive:
-Hates all evildoers
-Destroys those who speak lies
-Abhors the bloody and deceitful person

When I was a child, we weren’t allowed to use the D-word or the G-word at the table. Yes, we could use them when we weren’t at the table. “What kind of family were you?” The words we couldn’t use were disgusting and gross. I think one of us children had used those words to describe something my mom made. That didn’t go over so well.

We sometimes forget that God is disgusted by sin. He hates it. The word “abhor” in verse 6 is related to the word for abomination. “God abhors the bloody and deceitful man.” Abomination is the strongest term of God’s displeasure in the OT. Those who do evil are also hated by God. Because God delights in righteousness, truth, and purity, he must abhor what is opposed to them. Including wicked people.

B. God’s Abundant Love (7-8)
The second truth that David sees is God’s abundant live or his mercy. The word is khesed: God’s covenant faithfulness to his children. “Faithful love” is a good way to translate it. David doesn’t just see God’s love but the abundance of God’s love. He was able to see how amazing God’s love was for him. By this love, David would be able to worship God. Not just any worship, but reverent worship where God’s presence dwelled.

There is a prayer attached to what David sees. Verse 8. Lead me! Lead me in your righteous ways. Protect me from my enemies and help me follow in your ways.

C. The Wicked’s Abundant Sin (9-10)
Verses 7-8 speak of God’s abundant love for David with a prayer for David to guide him. In contrast to that, verses 9-10 describe the abundant sin of the wicked with a prayer for their judgment. Verse 7- multitude of mercy. Verse 10- multitude of transgressions. Same word in Hebrew, which pulls these two sections together.

God’s love is something given to us by God. Sin is something done by us against God. God’s love allows us to worship him. Sin keeps us from worshiping God…for eternity.

David clearly sees how evil the wicked are. There inner being is destruction. Their throat is an open grave. Every part of them oozes evil. The prayer attached to this section is David’s prayer for the judgment of the wicked. Not because they are his enemies- we see that in other psalms. No, because they have rebelled against God. Yes, evil people will hurt us. Yes, evil should disgust us. But, first, the wicked are in rebellion against their creator. And that is primary reason they should be judged.

D. God’s Love for the Righteous (11-12)
Verses 7-8 contrast verses 9-10- abundant love verses abundant sin. Verses 4-6 contrast verses 11-12. God’s hatred of the wicked is contrasted with God’s love for the righteous. David’s eyes have been open to see how amazing it is to belong to God. God’s love for the righteous is shown 3 ways.

1. Protection
David finds refuge in God. God spreads his protection over them. God’s children are safe. Period.

2. Joy
God’s his love and blessing on his children by giving them joy “Rejoice, shout for joy. Exult or be joyful in God.” Joy makes sense because we have God’s amazing love.

3. Favor
God’s children have God’s blessing, favor. God delights in them. God does not delight in evil, but he does delight in his children. Blessing, favor, protection, joy- all ours in Jesus Christ.

Application

As we step back from this Psalm, I want us to see the abundant love of our God and the abundant judgment of the wicked. God is not mildly annoyed by the wicked. Like being irritated by a fly buzzing around the room. God hates the wicked, because they despise his beauty and holiness.

God is not indifferent to his children, like a grumpy father reading the newspaper in his lazy boy. His response to his children is not like if we were to meet an acquaintance from college 20 years later. “Hey…what’s your name?” God loves his children. He delights in them. Even though does love the world, he still hates the wicked. He has a special love for his children that is different from his love for the world.

I want you to see how glorious it is to be a Christian. I want you to see how gloomy it is not to be a Christian.

Christians don’t just have salvation. We have a great salvation: foretold by prophets…investigated by angels…purchased by the death of God’s Son…validated by the victorious resurrection…and sealed in us by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” When we are saved we get Jesus and with him everything!

Eternal life is more than sitting around in a boring hotel lobby for eternity. We have an inheritance that is indescribable and will blow our minds. It is not just life improved a little. It is eternal life. Perfect…uninterrupted bliss…forever.

We need to pray and watch so we can see the abundance of grace and love that God has given us. That’s why Paul prays in Ephesians 3:18-19 that we “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Not just God’s love…but how vast God’s love is for us. Even though it surpasses knowledge.

I want you to see how terrifying hell is. Eternal judgment faces the wicked. God will cast them out and banish them forever to a lake of fire. Where there is an abundance of sin, there will be an abundance of judgment. Infinite punishment faces sinners because the rebelled against an infinitely holy God. Hell is not just waiting in line at the DMV for eternity. It is not just eternity in the blazing heat of a forsaken desert. It is an eternal inferno. It is terrible beyond imagination.

Pray that God would blaze the horrors of hell hotter in our minds. Pray that he would beam the glories of heaven brighter in our hearts. Point the wicked to Jesus. Rejoice in your inheritance in heaven. Rejoice at the abundant love of Jesus; tremble at the terrors of hell.

When you get up tomorrow morning. Pray. Even if it is a groan from your heart. Pray. Wait Watch. Look for God’s abundant love.