PSALM 58 - Sic Semper Tyrannis!
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The title of this morning’s sermon, Sic semper tyrannis, is a Latin phrase that means “Thus always to tyrants”. In 1776 it was proposed as the motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia; the official state seal depicts the Lady Virtue standing with her foot on the neck of Tyranny, who is illustrated as a king lying on the ground with his crown fallen off.
The motto dates back to the time of the Roman Republic, with some historians attributing it to Marcus Brutus, who may have said it after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. But in our history, the most famous usage of sic semper tyrannis is probably from April 14th 1865, when John Wilkes Booth is said to have shouted it to the crowd at Ford’s Theater the night he shot Abraham Lincoln. Booth was an embittered Confederate sympathizer who had borne a longstanding hatred for President Lincoln and wanted to try to prevent the South from losing the Civil War (five days earlier Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox.)
So why do we want to be talking about a Latin motto that calls for the downfall of tyrants? Why do we want to bring up Civil War illustrations—especially in these days when our nation is so deeply divided (in many ways, more deeply divided than in the days leading up to the Civil War)? Whatever we’re wanting to study today, we know that it is wrong to advocate for violence and assassinations and bloodshed—Jesus Himself told us that His Kingdom would not advance that way:
John 18:36 (ESV)
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
And so the question remains—how are we supposed to fight? What are we supposed to do when we see wickedness and godlessness in the highest places of our governing bodies? We are watching our government officials openly and explicitly denying that God’s will has anything to do with their deliberations. We are seeing governmental attacks on churches—from Grace Community Church in Los Angeles to pastors in Canada publicly handcuffed and jailed for holding worship services. We are seeing so-called “health emergencies” being used as pretexts for massive power grabs and evaporation of individual liberty and autonomy in this country. You see Christian businesses, ministries and schools threatened with legal action over their refusal to go along with the lies of gender confusion and other sexual rebellion.
The ruling elites over us are quickly abandoning any pretext of justice or righteousness—and are becoming increasingly boastful and brazen in their moves to try to remove liberties that they have no business tampering with—because they are liberties given to you by God and not by them. (But since they flatter themselves that they are in the position of God over you, they try anyway.) The first two verses of Psalm 58 frame a question from David’s day that we could very well ask in exactly the same way:
Psalm 58:1–2 (ESV)
1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly? 2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
The word “gods” there in verse 1 can also be translated “lords” or “mighty rulers”, which is the sense in which I believe David wrote this psalm. He looks at the corrupt and wicked rulers around him (possibly while he was in King Saul’s court before he was driven out), and he laments over their rejection of upright judgment and righteous decrees: Instead of”decreeing what is right”, they “devise wrongs”. And instead of judging rightly, they deal out violence.
As we study this psalm this morning, I think we will come to see that Psalm 58 is David’s Sic Semper Tyrannis—this psalm is his song of “thus always to tyrants”. So as you and I move through the coming days when the rulers over us are exhibiting more and more tyrannical behavior, as they continue to devise wrongs and deal out violence on the earth, I want us to be able to come back to this psalm to show us what to pray for during these days.
This psalm is called an imprecatory psalm—a psalm that calls for a curse or destruction or punishment of the enemies of God or His people. And far too often in the past Christians have been hesitant to read or study or sing these psalms—it just doesn’t seem very Christian to call on God to “break their teeth in their mouths” (v. 6), does it?
But as others have pointed out, Christians pray imprecatory prayers every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer! When we pray “Thy Kingdom Come”, or “Come quickly, Lord Jesus”, we have to remember what we are praying for! Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1 that Jesus’ Second Coming will be
2 Thessalonians 1:7–9 (ESV)
7 ... when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
God’s Word in all its fulness is perfectly suited to every situation we face on this earth—including showing us how to pray for the downfall of wicked rulers over us. And that is what I want us to take away from this psalm this morning. This is what I want to show you today, that
Faithful BELIEVERS must pray for the FALL of faithless USURPERS
Faithful BELIEVERS must pray for the FALL of faithless USURPERS
This psalm gives us two instructions for how to pray for the fall of the faithless tyrants and usurpers over us, and one great promise for us when we pray this way. The first instruction for us as we are praying for the fall of faithless usurpers is that
I. We must REJECT their REBELLION (vv. 1-5)
I. We must REJECT their REBELLION (vv. 1-5)
When David uses the word for “gods” in verse 1 to describe these wicked rulers (the word is “elem”, which is the same root as elohim, one of the names for God in the Old Testament, I think he is making an important point about the nature of their wickedness. He is saying that these rulers are beginning to think that they have godlike authority in people’s lives. And so the first thing that we must do as we reject their rebellion is to
Refuse them God’s PLACE in the world (vv. 1-2; cp. Romans 13:1)
Refuse them God’s PLACE in the world (vv. 1-2; cp. Romans 13:1)
The Scriptures tell us that God is the one who gives the authority to rulers and kings and presidents and congresses. Paul says in Romans 13:1
Romans 13:1 (ESV)
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Some people read that verse as if it were a blanket statement that Christians always owe every ruler their total obedience, since God has put them there. But I think rather we ought to consider the fact that God has given them their authority to mean that they are therefore obligated to use that authority the way He has commanded!
That is why David asks his question the way he has at the beginning of the psalm: In light of the fact that you have been given authority over men by God, are you therefore using that authority in a godly way?
Psalm 58:1 (ESV)
1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
But, in fact, they have not used their God-given authority in submission to Him, have they? Instead of the authorities using their power to reflect God’s righteousness and justice, they are usurping that authority to put themselves in the place of God! Instead of reflecting the nature and attributes of God's uprightness in their judgments, these leaders have contemplated and carefully planned out a wide-awake rebellion against God - cp. Rom 1: 21) and are dealing out violence - letting cities burn down and not stopping it. Arranging for as many children to be ripped apart in their mothers' wombs as possible. Instead of dealing with uprightness and justice, they are dealing out as much violence as they possibly can.
When any government official tries to make you believe that they are the ultimate authority in your life, that they are the one that holds the power of life and death over you, that they are the one to be honored and obeyed above anyone else, that their word cancels out God’s Word—they are acting as usurpers. And obeying a prince who usurps the King’s authority is not obedience to the King, it is treason! And so you have not only the possibility that you must not obey an authority who is usurping God’s place in the world—you have a moral obligation to refuse to give them that place!
In verse 3, David describes another characteristic of these usurping tyrants who would put themselves in the place of God over you. We must refuse to give them God’s place in the world, and we must
Refute their LIES about the world (v. 3, cp. John 8:44)
Refute their LIES about the world (v. 3, cp. John 8:44)
Psalm 58:3 (ESV)
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
Remember the old joke about how you can tell if a politician is lying? Their lips are moving. Somehow it feels like that used to be funnier—back when the lies were smaller and less consequential: “Read my lips: No New Taxes...” “I did not have sexual relations with that woman...” “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor...”
But like any other liars, the lies get bolder over time—since we sat still for the little ones, now they are bringing out the real howlers: “Gender is fluid; there is no such thing as a difference between ‘boy’ and ‘girl’.” “If you are white, you are racist by nature and there is nothing you can do about it.” “You don’t have to wear masks anymore once you get the vaccine.” “There is absolutely no evidence of irregularities in the election.” “The vaccine is safe and effective and anything you hear different is false.”
Jesus said about the religious leaders of his day,
John 8:44 (ESV)
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
These people are lying to you. They are lying to you because they believe that they have ultimate authority over your life, and they are lying to you because it is their native language, because they belong to their father, the Devil. And you must not allow their lies to stand. To accept their lies and act in line with their lies is to participate in their treason against Almighty God.
David goes on in verses 4-5 to say that these rulers
Psalm 58:4–5 (ESV)
4 ...have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear, 5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
You must reject the rebellion of these wicked usurpers—refuse them God’s place in this world, refute their lies about this world, and
Recognize their WILLFUL IGNORANCE of God’s Law (vv. 4-5)
Recognize their WILLFUL IGNORANCE of God’s Law (vv. 4-5)
The defining characteristic of these rulers is that they are unrepentant—the image of a snake stopping its own ears so that it cannot hear the flute of the charmer is applied to wicked usurping rulers who refuse to hear reason.
And it is important for us to realize that there are a certain percentage of people in positions of authority (a larger percentage than perhaps we realize) that are not wicked, but merely stupid. They are what the Bible calls fools who have no sense of their own, and are merely going with the flow, or carrying out orders, or just have no interest or impulse to think for themselves. For such people we must pray that they come to repentance and a knowledge of the truth, the way Paul exhorts us to do in 1 Timothy 2, so that “we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:2).
But the rulers depicted here in Psalm 58 are not merely foolish or incompetent or lazy or stupid—there are those in positions of authority or influence in our nation today who know exactly what they are doing. They are deliberately warring against God’s people, they are actively seeking to cast off the rule of God from this world.
These are the ones that David describes as “vipers” here—ones who have hardened their hearts, they have cut off all possibility of recognizing God and His will at all. They ignore the reasoning or pleas of anyone who asks them to reconsider; they are reprobate and have already chosen what they think will be to “reign in Hell rather than serve in Heaven”.
Beloved, make no mistake about what David is teaching us here in Psalm 58. When it comes to these self-described gods, these vipers of wickedness and poison lies who throw out violence hand over fist and speak shocking and bold lies from the pit of Hell with every waking breath, our command from God in the Scriptures is clear:
II. We must PRAY for their DESTRUCTION (Psalm 58:6-9)
II. We must PRAY for their DESTRUCTION (Psalm 58:6-9)
Psalm 58:6–9 (ESV)
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord! 7 Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. 8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun. 9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
There are three elements to this prayer—first, David prays that
God will PREVENT their FUTURE plans (v. 6)
God will PREVENT their FUTURE plans (v. 6)
When he says in verse 6 to “break their teeth” and “tear out their fangs”, he is praying that God will prevent these monsters from doing further damage. That God will stop their ability to carry out their wickedness, that they will have their power broken. We are to pray that the wheels would come off of their plans, that they would be broken and smashed beyond the ability to deliver further wickedness.
Not only so, but we are to pray that
God will CANCEL their CURRENT plans (v. 7)
God will CANCEL their CURRENT plans (v. 7)
The image is of a rush of water that sweeps down the desert wadis in Israel—the water is raging and rushing down those channels in the desert, but the thirsty ground sucks it all up as it flows towards you so that it is gone by the time it reaches you. The image of arrows without arrowheads has the same feel—here come those plans, flying at you aiming at your heart, but then when they hit you they just bounce off because their power has been broken. We are to pray that all of the wickedness that these monsters have set in motion would fall apart on their way to us, would drain away into the ground like rushing water in the desert.
The image in verses 8-9 show us that in our prayers against these wicked usurpers that we must be praying that
God will SWEEP them away SOON (vv. 8-9)
God will SWEEP them away SOON (vv. 8-9)
Psalm 58:8 (ESV)
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
Pray that these treasonous princes waste away like a garden slug in the sun, that they will consume themselves in the midst of their schemes. Pray that they will be as powerless as a child who has never been born—pray, in fact, that God would make them as helpless and powerless as the babies that they murder by the millions.
Verse 9 adds another picture to this prayer—as we’ve noted in our study of Ecclesiastes, thorns make for very poor fuel—they can burn quickly, but aren’t dependable for a long-burning source of fire. David is saying here, “Lord, sweep them away before a crackling thorn fire can even burn enough to warm up a pot! Measure their time in seconds, not hours!!!” We pray that God would sweep them away now—not years from now, not “someday” down the line, but right here and right now!
Christian, this is what faithful prayers look like in these days—you pray for the fall of faithless usurpers. Reject their rebellion, pray for their destruction. And when we pray this way, the Scriptures give us hope that
III. We will WITNESS God’s JUSTICE (Psalm 58:10-11)
III. We will WITNESS God’s JUSTICE (Psalm 58:10-11)
There are two promises here in this psalm—promises that I think should ground our feet and give us strength and stamina and joy for the war of prayer that we are commanded to carry out—the first promise that we have here is that when we pray this way
We will REJOICE in light of God’s VENGEANCE (v. 10)
We will REJOICE in light of God’s VENGEANCE (v. 10)
Psalm 58:10 (ESV)
10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Allow me to speak freely here for a moment—if your heart quails at reading this verse (or singing this verse as a part of worship), then your heart has been more conditioned by our effeminate and cowardly age and not by the Word of God. Have you not read in the Scriptures that there is a time for war and a time for peace? A time to kill and a time to heal?
One of the reasons that the evangelical Church is in this fix is because we always want to be so damned nice all the time. (And before you get all vapor-locked over that adjective, that wasn’t for shock-value; I sincerely believe that the diseased and pathetic “niceness” of evangelical Christianity stinks of the brimstone of Hell rather than the virtue of Heaven.)
Yes, there is a time to be winsome and kind, yes, there is a time to turn the other cheek, yes there is a time for warmth and compassion. But if you think that watching pastors in Canada get thrown to the ground on the freeway and cuffed and dragged away to prison is a time for niceness, if you think that the San Francisco Gay Men’s Choir singing a song called “We’re Coming for Your Children” is a time for a nuanced and irenic response, if you believe that there is nothing wrong with the government requiring you to show proof of being injected with an experimental mRNA therapy gene treatment before you can buy or sell, if you think that repenting of your “white privilege” is being a “good witness”—then you need to step aside, sit down, shut up and let somebody else give a Christian response to this wickedness!
Because God’s inspired, infallible and unbreakable Word says that a Christian will pray that God will bathe their feet in the blood of those wicked usurpers. God’s Word tells you to pray in such a way that you will dance on their blood-soaked bodies, that Sic Semper Tyrannis will be your cry as you see them dissolve into the slime they came from, that their treason against the Most High God will end with their terrified screams as they see the Day of His wrath and vengeance sweeping down on them and blowing them away like ashes under a pot! The sight of their downfall will cause you to sing for joy—whether on the Day of Judgment at the Last Day, or whether it takes place here and now. Wherever you see it, sing over it.
We will witness God’s justice—we will rejoice in light of His vengeance, and
People will REPENT in light of God’s JUSTICE (v. 11)
People will REPENT in light of God’s JUSTICE (v. 11)
Psalm 58:11 (ESV)
11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”
Pray that God’s vengeance against those wicked usurpers will come soon—so that His people may rejoice, and so that the world will see that there is a God in Heaven who rules justly! And this is one of the reasons I say this psalm gives us hope that we will see this vengeance in our lifetimes—that this isn’t just a “won’t-it-be-nice-when-we-get-to-Heaven” idea, but that this is a promise we should be looking for now. Because this isn’t about justice meted out on the Last Day before the Throne of God in Heaven—this is about “a God who judges on the earth.”
Let this be the cry of your heart that completes and colors all of the rest of this psalm—that God would bring vengeance on the wicked usurpers who are bent on destroying you and bent on the hopeless goal of stealing God’s place for themselves so that the world will see that there is a God in Heaven who judges justly! That the day will come, when these wicked tyrants and usurpers over us have been smashed and broken, when they have withered away like a garden slug and are swallowed up in darkness, that the response of those who look on will be to say, “If this is what God does to those who try to steal His authority, we repent!”
You hear it every day, that we need to “pray for our country”. We need to pray that we can lead those peaceable and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way. We need to pray for those few “Daniels” who still serve in our government, those true servants of the LORD who seek His glory and His will, who understand that the authority that they have been given by God means that they will answer for how they used that authority someday. We need to pray for the fools in our government as well—that they will repent of saying in their heart “There is no God”, for the stupid and lazy and incompetent who are just “following orders”. Pray that they will repent, that they will lay those sins of laziness and incompetence at the foot of the Cross to be washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ.
But for those who are setting themselves up as gods, for those who have determined that they hold your life in their hands, that they are sovereign over you and have the ultimate right to decide what you do with your life—the ones who believe that they have the power to re-define the world and veto God’s design, the ones who threaten to take away your ability to buy or sell unless you bear the seal of their approval, the ones who openly and boldly lie to you because they are the satanic spawn of the Devil, the Father of Lies—you pray that they be destroyed. You pray that their teeth be smashed out of their mouth, you pray that they have the life ripped out of them like an aborted baby, you pray that the day comes when you can dance in pools of their blood while singing Sic Semper Tyrannis—thus always to tyrants who dare to oppose the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, our only Savior, Jesus Christ!
BENEDICTION
Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
What is an “imprecatory psalm”? Why should Christians include these kinds of psalms in their worship? Read 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. How do these verses help us understand what we are praying when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come”?
What is an “imprecatory psalm”? Why should Christians include these kinds of psalms in their worship? Read 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. How do these verses help us understand what we are praying when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come”?
Romans 13:1 tells us that every authority over us has been instituted by God. Does this mean that we are bound by God to obey everything an authority tells us to do? Why or why not?
Romans 13:1 tells us that every authority over us has been instituted by God. Does this mean that we are bound by God to obey everything an authority tells us to do? Why or why not?
What are some ways that wicked rulers over us are trying to usurp God’s place in the world? If they are committing treason against Him through their wicked misuse of the authority He has given them, what are we doing if we obey them?
What are some ways that wicked rulers over us are trying to usurp God’s place in the world? If they are committing treason against Him through their wicked misuse of the authority He has given them, what are we doing if we obey them?
Read through Psalm 58 again. Does David ever say he will take up any form of violence against them? How does this help you understand the way you are called to fight the treasonous rulers over you?
Read through Psalm 58 again. Does David ever say he will take up any form of violence against them? How does this help you understand the way you are called to fight the treasonous rulers over you?