The Wicked

Psalm 10 THE WICKED I. The Problem of Wickedness THE PROBLEM - vs.1-11 (a) The Wicked Seem To Doubt God - v.1,2 The Seeming Detachment of God - vs.1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? The Seeming Delay of Deliverance - v.2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: The Seeming Denial of Judgment - v.2 let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. (b) The Wicked Seem To Deny God - v.3,4 In His Pleasure He Reviles God - v.3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. In His Pride He Rejects God - v.4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. (c) The Wicked Seem To Dare God - v.5,6 They Seem To Acquire Prosperity - v.5 His ways are always grievous; They Seem To Avoid Judgment - v.5 thy judgments are far above out of his sight: They Seem To Abound In Arrogance - v.5 as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. They Seem To Abstain From Adversity - v.6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. (d) The Wicked Seem To Defy God - v.7-11 The wicked man is poisonous in what he says (10:7), the wicked man is treacherous in what he does (10:8–0), and the wicked man is blasphemous in what he thinks (10:11). The Description of Endless Profanity - v.7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. The Details of Evil Predators - v.8-10 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor. 9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. The Denial of Eventual Punishment - v.11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.

2. The Punishment of Wickedness THE PROPOSAL - v.12-15 Here are verses which reveal the fact that God “requireth that which is past”(Eccles. 3:15); and that He “will by no means clear the guilty”(Exod. 34:7). In other words, the punishment of wickedness is a moral necessity. God Must Hear the Prayer of His Saints (a) The Call For Awakening - v.12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. (b) The Call For Accountability - v.13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. (c) The Call For Assessment - v.14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand: (d) The Call For Affinity - v.14 the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. (e) The Call For Action - v.15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

3. The Purging of Wickedness THE PROVIDENCE - v.16-18 God Must Honour the Power of His Son God “hath committed all judgment unto the Son”(John 5:22). Because He is King of kings, (a) The Lord Reigns In Our Cities - v.16 His Reign Is Eternal - v.16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: His Rights Are Everlasting - v.16 the heathen are perished out of his land. (b) The Lord Responds To Our Cries - v.17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: (c) The Lord Resolves All Our Complaints - v.18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress. He Vindicates the Oppressed He Vanquishs the Oppressors