Psalm 36 – The unfailing love of God
1 I have a
message from God in my heart
concerning the sinfulness of
the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
2 In their own
eyes they flatter themselves
too much to detect or hate
their sin.
3 The words of their mouths are wicked
and deceitful;
they fail to act wisely or do
good.
4 Even on their beds they plot evil;
they commit themselves to a
sinful course
and do not reject what is
wrong.
5 Your
love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the
skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the
highest mountains,
your justice like the great
deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and
animals.
7 How priceless is your unfailing love,
O God!
People take refuge in the
shadow of your wings.
8 They feast in the abundance of your
house;
you give them drink from your
river of delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
10 Continue
your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the
upright in heart.
11 May the foot of the proud not come
against me,
nor the hand of the wicked
drive me away.
12 See how the evildoers lie
fallen –
thrown down, not able to rise!
I want to take you on a tour this morning, not just of the Book of Psalms but the whole of Scripture, all so that we might read Psalm 36 with greater profit and wonder.
Let's begin with the Psalm 1 which kicks off the Book of Psalms by describing the contrast between the godly and the wicked. The godly meditate on the law of the Lord and prosper like a tree planted by streams of water. The wicked are like the chaff which the wind blows away; they will not stand in the day of judgment. In the language of this psalm, people fall into one of two categories, the godly or the wicked. We are left having to consider which of these categories we fall into. And we are left trying to discern which of the two categories others around us may fall into.
A misreading of this psalm – and I do emphasise that this is a misreading – can easily lead to arrogance and judgmentalism.
Psalm 36 is rather different. Here the contrast is between the character of the wicked (vv. 1-4), and the character of God (vv. 5-9). The wicked are described as being exceedingly sinful: there is no fear of God before their eyes; they flatter themselves rather than hating their sin; they are deceitful in their words and do not act wisely or do good; they even plot evil upon their beds.
In stark contrast, the Lord's love is as measureless as his faithfulness, righteousness and justice. His unfailing love embraces all that he has created. He offers refuge to all who run to him and a feast of good things for all who come to him. He is a fountain of life and the source of light.
I want you to come with me now to consider the life and views of Saul the Pharisee. He would have been thoroughly familiar with Psalm 1. He would have seen himself as the godly man described in Psalm 1. He had made the law his continual study and he considered that when it came to righteousness based on the law, he was faultless (Philippians 3:6). He was not like other men, not like the wicked who would be blown away like chaff.
But Saul's whole view of himself changed through his encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to recognise that his law-righteousness was as worthless as excrement. The only righteousness of any vale is "that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith" (Philippians 3:9). His whole confidence now rests in the crucified and risen Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Saul the Pharisee, now Paul the Apostle, is a changed man. And that change has not only affected the way he viewed himself, it affected the way he viewed others.
I want to take you now to the opening chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans. Bear with me because this is relevant to our reading of Psalm 36.
The church to which Paul was writing in Rome was a deeply divided church. I won't go into the background to that division but suffice to say that it was a church made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers, each of which groups viewed the other with suspicion. The Jewish Christians argued that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and that Gentiles were second-class Christians. The Gentile Christians viewed the Jewish Christians as still enslaved by Jewish law and traditions.
In writing to this church, Paul emphasises that yes, Jesus is the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, heir to the promises made to King David. But, by virtue of his resurrection he is Lord over all. The risen Christ calls Gentiles as well as Jews to the 'obedience of faith', that is for them to bow the knee to the Jesus Christ and own him as Lord. The good news which Paul preaches is "the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." This good news, or gospel, displays the righteousness of God and calls upon all to discover in Christ the righteousness that comes from faith.
So much for Paul's introduction to his letter, an introduction in which he sets out its key themes. But then, in what we know as the latter part of Romans 1, Paul declares that, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness…" (Romans 2:18). He then goes on to describe in awful detail the behaviour of these godless people, and in doing so, describes the worst excesses of behaviour of ancient Rome. One can begin to imagine his Jewish listeners (the letter would have been read to the gathered church), rubbing their hands in glee and muttering to one another, "Yes, that's just what those Gentiles are like."
But then in chapter 2, Paul switches his attention. The pronouns change from third person plural – "they", "them", "their" – to second person plural – "you", "your". He is now addressing his Jewish audience and tells them that they "who pass judgment on someone else" are without excuse, "for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things" (Romans 2:1).
I wish I could take you through more of the detail of Paul's argument, but we have no time here. Suffice it to say that as the Jewish Christians in Rome listened to Romans 2, the smile must have been wiped off their faces and the Gentile Christians began to gloat because they probably felt that they were never as bad as the caricature Paul had painted at the close of chapter 1.
But Paul ends his lengthy argument in chapter 3 in a section labelled in the NIV, "No One is Righteous." Here in Romans 3:10-18 he introduces a chain of quotes from the Old Testament to prove that "There is no one righteous, not even one" (3:10). And he concludes this list by saying, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God" (3:19). In other words, these words, written in the Old Testament, were written first to you Jews. His well known conclusion to all this is that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (3:23).
Paul will not allow his Jewish brothers and sisters to feel superior because they are not "Gentile sinners." Neither will he allow Gentile Christians to feel superior because they have not been held captive by Jewish tradition. All are brought down to the same level; "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (3:23-24). There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile.
Now why have I taken this lengthy excursion through the conversion of Saul the Pharisee to become Paul the apostle and his argument to a divided church in Rome in a message which is supposed to be on Psalm 36?
The reason is this, in the chain of proof texts that Paul cites in Romans 3:10-18, the last of them is taken from Psalm 36. In his demonstration that "There is no one righteous, not even one" and that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" he quotes the latter part of Psalm 36:1, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Paul is implying that these opening verses of Psalm 36 do not describe a special class of people who might be contrasted with those who are of a better sort. These verses describe the natural condition of each one of us.
Let me read to you again Psalm 36:1-4 and ask you, "Who do you think these verses are describing?"
1 I have a
message from God in my heart
concerning
the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before
their eyes.
2 In their own
eyes they flatter themselves
too
much to detect or hate their sin.
3 The words of their mouths are wicked
and deceitful;
they
fail to act wisely or do good.
4 Even on their beds they plot evil;
they
commit themselves to a sinful course
and
do not reject what is wrong.
The danger for us is that, like the Jewish Christians whom Paul addresses in Romans 1, we may read these verses as describing "them", a group other than ourselves. But Paul won't let us do that. This is what we are like left to ourselves. This is the character of the fallen human heart. This is what I am like apart from God's common grace and, more especially, the transforming work of God's Spirit.
The Anglican orders of Service for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer both include what is known as The General Confession. The words of this prayer begin as follows:
Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us…
Imagine using such words twice a day to confess your sin before Almighty God. Could you say such words and really mean what you say? This is the picture portrayed in verses 1-4 of this Psalm. Do you see yourself here? It is only as we see ourselves here that we are in a position to hear verses 5-9 in a spirit of wonder, thanksgiving and praise. Only now are we in a position to discover something of the immensity of the love of our God.
So now let's look at verses 5-9 together:
5 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast in the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
The immensity of the love, faithfulness and righteousness of God are revealed supremely in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is here that "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). This is love that defies our comprehension, that "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16), it is "love that surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).
If the Apostle Paul can heap up texts from the Old Testament to show that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God I am sure he would applaud my heaping up of texts from the New Testament to show the immensity of God's love towards us in the Lord Jesus. He loved this world with a love that would not abandon it to its rebellion and destruction. His love is a love that lays hold of us, redeems us and will never let us go. It is love beyond all of our deserving, love which draws us to love him and serve him who first loved us and gave himself for us.
And it is only as we read the opening verses of Psalm 36 as descriptive of ourselves that we understand the scale of God's faithfulness. God remains faithful to his purpose to redeem his wayward and broken world. And Jesus demonstrates his unshakable faithfulness to the purpose and call of his heavenly Father in that he did not turn back from the horror of the cross but suffered the full penalty of our sin that we might be brought back to God.
And here also God displays his righteousness and justice when he "presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement … to demonstrate his righteousness … so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:25-26).
We stand amazed at the love, faithfulness, righteousness and justice of God. It is only because of the precious sacrifice of the Lord Jesus that we can rejoice in the appreciation of all these wonderful attributes of our God. We who have come to take refuge in the shadow of God's wings in the Lord Jesus rejoice with the psalmist in the priceless, unfailing love of our God. We sing in the shadow of his wings (Psalm 63:7).
And it is in Christ that we feast on the treasures of God's house. Don't you love Isaiah 55 with its picture of the feast which God lays out freely for all who will come to him?
Come, all
you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not
bread,
and your labour on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat
what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare. (Isaiah 55:1-2)
There is a feast of good things which God lavishes on us freely in the Lord Jesus Christ: forgiveness; freedom from guilt and fear; adoption into the family of God's people; peace with God; joy in the Holy Spirit… and so much more. And it is all of grace, freely lavished on the undeserving. We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Let us feast on him day by day and drink from that river of delights, that living water that flows to us from him. He is to us the fountain of life and the light of the world. He is the one in whom we have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God displayed in the face of Christ.
My friends, do these things not excite you, that we who deserved only that God should turn his back on us have been loved, redeemed at great cost and have become the recipients of the riches of God's grace in the Lord Jesus? And the best is yet to come!
How
priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast in the abundance of
your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of
life;
in your light we see light.
Psalm 36 concludes with this prayer:
10 Continue
your love to those who know you,
your righteousness
to the upright in heart.
11 May the foot of the proud not come
against me,
nor the hand
of the wicked drive me away.
12 See how the evildoers lie
fallen –
thrown down,
not able to rise!
In the light of the way I have encouraged you to read verses 1-4, I believe that we must read verse 11 not as referring to a different class of people from ourselves. In ourselves we are proud, self-willed and rebellious. Apart from God's grace we would be evildoers and wicked. So this prayer is a plea for God to keep us in his love and to preserve us from slipping back into the old way of life from which we have redeemed. It is prayer that the Lord would strengthen us against every temptation and deliver us form the enticements of the evil one.
But I believe that we need to be even more bold in prayer. Our Saviour has taught us to pray "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We are to pray not only that God's love might continue towards those who know him but that his love would embrace those who do not yet know him. Our prayer is that others also may come to see the wonder of God's love in the Lord Jesus; that they might taste and see that the Lord is good and come to feast on the delights of his house. We want evildoers to fall down before the living God and own that Jesus Christ is Lord.
O that the world might taste and see
the riches of His grace!
The arms of love that compass me
would all the world embrace.
And if that is our desire we are then to give legs to our prayers by telling others of the feast of good things that is to be enjoyed freely by all who come to God through Christ.
May God help us to feast on Christ, be kept in God's love and to draw others to him.
Peter Misselbrook: Pendennis Good News Church, 18/8/2024.