My favorite part is when he challenges us with, “How you wondered whether the Psalmist’s prayers, “May all my enemies be ashamed and dismayed, … may they perish in disgrace” (6:10, 83:17) are an expression of sinful revenge, as some writers say? Too many sincere Christians rush past such expressions as if shielding their faces from the heat of hatred, quickly moving on to other sections where they find more comfortable language. But is this a proper response to any part of God’s Word? Or is it merely a cop-out?”

You have got to love that chastising logic!

Anyways, here’s Adams’ full explanation of what he means…

“My special interest in the Psalms was sparked by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the summer of 1969. In his last message at a pastor’s conference in PA he said to us:

“Look at the Psalmist. Look at some of those imprecatory Psalms. What are they? There is nothing wrong with them. It’s just the zeal of the Psalmist. He’s grieved and troubled because these people are not honoring God as they should be. That’s his supreme concern.”

Lloyd-Jones’s words prompted me to look at the imprecatory Psalms again. As I read them, I was awed by these dramatic prayers for the annihilation of enemies. I gained a deeper appreciation for the Psalms in general, but I remained at a loss about how certain Psalms should be prayed and preached. How could I pray and preach Psalms of vengeance?

In the summer of 1983 I began my formal study of them at seminary. I found that many theological disputes spring from the Psalms. One of the most important of them concerns who is speaking the Psalms of imprecation. The title and historical settings of various Psalms help determine the human author, but are these *merely* human words? This is a crucial issue. If David alone is the speaker, what do we do with the “self-righteous” words of the Psalms?

Have you ever been puzzled by the Psalms? How are you to understand a prayer from Scripture that says, “Break the teeth of their mouths, O God” (Psalm 58:6) or “Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the grave” (Psalm 55:15)? That’s strong language!

How you wondered whether the Psalmist’s prayers, “May all my enemies be ashamed and dismayed, … may they perish in disgrace” (6:10,83:17) are an expression of sinful revenge, as some writers say? Too many sincere Christians rush past such expressions as if shielding their faces from the heat of hatred, quickly moving on to other sections where they find more comfortable language. But is this a proper response to any part of God’s Word? Or is it merely a cop-out?

The problem is bigger than many realize! The more carefully we look at the Psalms, the more we see that the prayers for vengeance are not a handful of side comments. They are not found in just a few isolated places so that we can overlook them and decide that it may not be worth our time to try to understand them. They pervade the book!

The question “Who is praying for God to destroy His enemies?” is really the critical issue with the imprecatory Psalms. If *you*  were to ask God to destroy your personal enemy, that would be in essence cursing that enemy, and, therefore, sinful. But if the King of Peace asks God to destroy *His* enemies, this is another matter! (Read through Psalms 101 and 18.)

So, are the Psalms merely a record of the emotionally charged prayers of individuals who lived thousands of years ago? All Scripture is against such a view. Certainly they are of far greater grandeur and worth than that. But whose prayers are they, really?

**Not our own personal prayers.**

Have you ever been praying in the words of a Psalm and suddenly found yourself unable to continue? Sometimes the words stop us short! How can I cry before God that “the Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness”? The Psalmist goes on to say,

“according to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me. For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me, and I did not turn away His statutes from me.. For I was upright with Him and kept myself from my guilt. And Jehovah has returned to me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands before His eyes.” (Psalm 18:20-24)

These words *cannot* be my words personally or those of anyone I know. We feel uneasy even reading these words aloud, much less making them our prayer to the Lord who knows the sinfulness of our hearts.

Or take the words of the passion and crucifixion of Christ found in Psalm 22:

“Dogs have encircled Me; a band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercing My hands and My feet. I count all My bones; they look, they stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and they made fall a lot for My clothing.” (verses 16-18).

Have you ever asked yourself how David wrote this? We are never told that he experienced any of these things, although he did have *other* difficulties. We know from the New Testament that the Lord Jesus made these words His very own during His suffering on earth. But in what sense could David write them? And how much less do these prayers fit *me*!

In the same way, when our minds function well and our hearts feel the weight of our sin, to call God to destroy the wicked enemies with the Psalmist causes us to falter. We think, “I am wicked too! How can I use such language as my own?” Can we ask God that our personal enemies would have their “eyes darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever”? (Psalm 69:23). What fearful words! Should *we* take it upon ourselves to ask God, “Pour out your wrath on them, let your fierce anger overtake them” (Psalm 69:24)?

We must come to understand the Psalms as Christ and His apostles understood them. And we do not approach the Psalms without light of help. The Psalter occupied an enormous place in the life of our Lord. He used it as His prayer book in the Jewish synagogue during his whole life. It was His songbook in all the temple festivals. He sang from it after the last supper.

Did Jesus simply use the book of Psalms as other Jews of His day did? Have you observed the Lord’s personal relationship to the Psalms? He quoted the Psalter nor merely as prophecy. He actually spoke the Psalms as His own words!

We especially notice this close identification with the Psalms when we give careful attention to His awesome cries from the cross (Psalms 31:5 and 22:1). His words of anguish, “I am thirsty,” echo Psalms 69:21 and 22:15, and His cry of triumph, “It is finished!” reminds us of Psalm 22:31, “He has done it”; (the Septuagint of Psalm 22 uses the same verb that Jesus does.) In His death Jesus quoted the Psalms not as some ancient authority that He adapted for His own use, but as His very own words — the words of the Lord’s Anointed which, as David’s Son, He truly was.

When we look diligently, we find that the Lord Christ’s use of the Psalms as His own words was not peculiar to His time of suffering on the cross. Throughout His ministry He made the words of the Psalms His own. Jesus foretells what *He* will say as the Judge in the final day when He quotes the words of Psalm 6:8, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers’” (Matt 7:23). He speaks the words of Psalm 35:19 and 69:4 as referring directly to Himself: “They hated me without reason” (John 15:25). (For further instances, compare Matt. 7:23 with Ps. 6:8, Matt. 21:13 with Ps. 118:26, John 13:18 with Ps. 41:9, Matt. 16:27 with Ps. 62.12.)

**The Apostles’ Witness**

How Jesus’ apostles regarded His connection to the Psalms is decisive. They were constantly in His company during His ministry, being taught by Him, and afterwards being given special illumination and inspiration for recording His deeds and words (e.g. John 14:26, 15:26, 16:23.) They give clear witness in the gospels to His repeatedly speaking the words of the Psalms as His very own.

The apostles and New Testament writers give us further enlightenment in their epistles. Hebrews 10:5-9 is a fascinating case in point:

“For this reason, coming into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You prepared a body for Me. You did not delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices concerning sins.” “Then I said, Lo, I come, in the heading of the Book it was written concerning Me, to do Your will, O God.” Above, saying, “You did not desire nor were pleased with sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and sacrifices concerning sins,” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.”

(This is a direct quote from the Septuagint version of Ps. 40:6-8)

How can we know that Jesus said this? It is nowhere recorded in the gospels as a statement of Jesus’. This exciting passage provides the key to the apostles’ understanding of the Psalms. Three times it refers these words to Jesus (verses 5,8,9). It tells us in essence that Christ came into the world speaking the words of the Psalms as His own.

Notice a similar instance in Hebrews 2:11-12…

“For both the One sanctifying and the ones being sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will announce Your name to My brothers; I will hymn to You in the midst of the assembly.”

Here again we have words from a Psalm (22:2) attributed to Jesus, though there is never a mention in the gospels of His having spoken these words while on earth. These two passages reflect clearly that the apostles believed Christ is speaking in the Psalms.

**The “I” in the Psalms Is Identified**

Even in our brief look at the New Testament teaching we see a clear pattern. Further intense investigation bears out that the “I,” the author of the Psalms, is Christ Himself. His is the great voice we hear in the Psalms crying out to God the Father. The Spirit of Christ was in the Psalmists, speaking through them centuries before He came to earth as the long-awaited Messiah. There are varying ways in which the Psalms speak of the Christ. In some we hear the Father talking to the Son, such as in Psalm 2:7, “You are my son, today I have become your Father.” In others Christ is presented as the Good Shepherd (compare Ps. 23 with John 10). He is the King (Ps. 24), the Second Adam (perfect man – Ps. 1) and the Head of His church (compare Ps. 8 with Heb 2). Christ is Lord of all the Psalms!

**The Converse Issue**

As we begin to hear the Psalms coming from the lips and heart of the Lord Jesus, a question unfailingly arises concerning the other face of the coin in our experience: not perfection, but guilt! Such a struggle is apparently a common progression in learning. In the seminars where I’ve had the privilege of assisting others to recognize and preach Christ in the Psalms, it has not been uncommon to hear someone ask reflectively, “What about the Psalms of repentance, then? How are we to understand those?”

To answer this objection, allow me to quote one writer. “The lamb under the law was offered for sin and took away the name “guilt” because the guilt of the offerer was transferred to the innocent creature and typically expiated by its blood. Was not this exactly the case, in truth and reality, with the Lamb of God? If from his circumcision to his crucifixion he “bore our sins in his own body,” why should it be thought strange, that he should confess them, on our behalf, with his own mouth?”

And another writer says, “I am particularly impressed with Psalm 69:5, where the Lord said, “O God, you know my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from you.” For two thousand years no man who has had any respect for his intellect has dared charge our Lord Jesus with sin. But some might ask, “What do you mean when you say our Lord is the speaker in this verse?” Just this – the fact of Calvary is not a sham or mirage. It is an actual fact. Christ making atonement for sin was a reality. The New Testament declares that He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. As Christ restored that which He took not away – that is, restored to us a righteousness which we never had – so Christ had to take your sins and mine, your foolishness and mine. These sins became such an integral part of Him that He called them “my sins, and my foolishness.” Our Lord was the substitute for the sinner. He had to take the sinner’s place and had to take upon Himself all of the sinner’s sin. In Isaiah 53 it is written, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows … and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The iniquity of us all was laid upon Christ. He bore our sins “in his body on the tree.” Can you understand that? When you do you will understand the mystery of the Gospel.”

So, how can the sinless Lord Christ pray these prayers for forgiveness? When our Lord Christ “was made sin,” it was his taking upon himself the guilt and sin of His people. He intercedes before the Father for our sins. He suffered “the just for the unjust,” bearing the wrath of God as if He were the sinner. In the words of the apostle Paul, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). And surely the prophecy of Isaiah speaks profound truth when it tells us the suffering servant “was numbered with the transgressors”!

Before we leave this point let me encourage those of you who are teachers by sharing with you some of the exciting results I’ve seen from preaching these truths. In the flock to which I minister many of God’s people have given thanks for this New Testament view of the Psalms. Apprehending the Psalms as the prayers of the Lord Jesus has broken their hearts in a fresh way over their own sin. One lady said, “Nothing has ever humbled me so much as hearing the voice of my blessed Lord Jesus, the Creator and Sustainer of heaven and earth, cry out in prayer to his Father in the Psalms for deliverance from the agonies that *my* sins brought upon His holy soul.” May many more in churches across our land be moved to bow low before our great God and turn in repentance from their sins as we perceive the Psalms in this way!

We believe that Jesus, the Second Adam and true man, unceasingly and acceptably mediates for us, the fallen Adams. We believe that the Mouth of the body speaks, and though the body is sinful, Christ Himself never transgressed. His perfect righteousness is the guarantee that He is heard in our defense. The Head performs His loving ministry of pleading unceasingly for the forgiveness of the sins of the body of which we are part.

**Christ is praying these Psalms**

Hearing Christ speak in the Psalms gives us the key to these strongly worded curses, and we as people of the Book need this understanding in order to correctly handle the word of truth. From our pulpits we who are pastors must firmly maintain that it is only right for the righteous King of Peace to ask God to destroy His enemies. In doing so He affirms the supremacy of God who puts “all enemies under his feet.” What a difference it makes in our preaching when we know that these Psalms are not emotional prayers of angry men, but the very war cries of our Prince of Peace!

All the enemies of the Lord need to hear these prayers of Christ proclaimed today. They are not the prayers of a careless and compassionless tyrant, but the effectual prayers of the Lamb of God who bore the curse of God for the sins of His people. The wrath of the Psalms must be preached as the wrath of the Lamb of God. God’s kingdom is at war!

“And I saw Heaven being opened. And, behold! A white horse, and He sitting on it having been called Faithful and True. And He judges and wars in righteousness. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head many diadems, having a name that had been written, which no one knows except Himself; and having been clothed in a garment which had been dipped in blood. And His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in Heaven followed Him on white horses, being dressed in fine linen, white and pure. And out of His mouth goes forth a sharp sword, that with it He might smite the nations. And He will shepherd them with an iron rod. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the anger and of the wrath of God Almighty.” (Rev 19:11-15)

The answer to the question, “Who is praying for God to destroy His enemies”? is that Jesus Christ is praying. Jesus is the Messiah — the Anointed King — whose throne and dominion are forever (2 Sam 7:16, Psa 89:3,4).

Our preaching of the Psalms should reflect that David’s Lord and greater Son is Jesus Christ. When we understand that it is this merciful and holy Savior of sinners who is praying, we will no longer be ashamed of these prayers, but rather glory in them. Christ’s prayers lead us to give God the honor and trust now because we know that God answers His prayers. Therefore, we are assured that the powers of evil will fall and God alone will reign forever!

**Questions for Thought and Discussion**

How are the Psalms to be understood as God’s very own words? (See Romans 3:2.)

Does the Father speak to the Son in the Psalms? Where? (See Hebrews 1:5.)

How does Christ use the Psalms in the New Testament?

How do the apostles use them in preaching?

How can the Psalms that confess guilt be spoken by Christ?

In what sense can all the Psalms be seen as Messianic? (See 1 Peter 1:11.)

Just a quick question.

I’m curious.

You guys agree with Piper that unbelievers deep down have truth implanted in them.

But will you go as far as Piper? For example, will you tell unbelievers to listen to and follow their hearts?

How far will you go? Will you be consistent?

If unbeliever have truth deep down in their hearts…

… Shouldn’t you tell them TO LISTEN TO THEIR OWN HEARTS? (because if unbelievers have truth in their hearts they SHOULD listen to their hearts, right? a heart with truth in it is a voice of truth worth listening to, isn’t it?).

… Shouldn’t you tell them to “listen to the voice screaming inside them saying “I need a Savior” (as Piper says) ?

Admit it guys. If unbelievers have truth embedded in their hearts LOGICALLY YOU SHOULD TELL UNBELIEVERS TO LISTEN TO AND FOLLOW THEIR HEARTS. This is what Piper tells them to do!!

Caleb Prince (SHSU) writes…

=== “There are plenty of passages in scripture that tell us that faith will have an effect that produces love and desire for God, which in turn should overpour into love for fellow believers (1 John). We should REFLECT ON OURSELVES to see if faith is having this effect. ” ===

“Reflect on ourselves”? So you want to withdraw the mind from the simple truth and introduce legality? Since all our righteousness are filthy rags, if a man tries “reflecting on himself” in order to gain assurance, he will gain none whatsoever. Instead, it will unsettle his Christian confidence and destroy his comfort. “Reflecting on ourselves” places the peace upon on an unstable and shifting foundation of sand (i.e. filthy rags).

Tim Vassy (UGA) admits this, and wrote…

=== A man is forced to examine himself to see whether he is living the life of faith that he claims he should. He must examine himself inwardly to see if he has truly been changed by the Holy Spirit. It is only natural to human experience that perhaps some DOUBT might be ASSOCIATED with this. ===

Clearly, if assurance is based on our fluctuating sincerity/humility believers cannot have infallible assurance of salvation. I mean, seriously, you guys say to “reflect on ourselves”? You may as well forget about the Infallible Testimony of God in the conscience as providing infallible assurance. Who cares about the Rock of ages in the heart? God’s testimony alone can’t fully assure a man, can it? No, no. We must “reflect on ourselves” to gain assurance!

And then you turn around and say you believe salvation is unconditional.

This dishonest and misleading. It’s downright deceptive when you say you believe salvation is unconditional but then list conditions we must meet in order to be assured of salvation.

OK. I’ll admit something. You may gain SOME peace from “reflecting on yourself”. But will it be the “perfect peace” (Isa 26:3)? And will you have your “conscience purged” (Heb 9:14) after you reflect on yourself? C’mon guys, it’s obvious that those “reflecting on themselves” are the same group of people of whom it can be said, “the way of peace they have not known”. They’ll never be sure if they’re humble enough or sincere enough. “Cursed is the man that trusts in himself” because such a man can never be sure if he’s humble enough to be assured.

I know, I know. You’ll say you’re not trusting in your own works. Jaci Dake (C. Oklahoma) writes,

===”Love, like you listed earlier, is in fact meant to be a proof of salvation, not only to the believer, but to the unbeliever. This is not something we have to do, because it is not something we can do on our own. The FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT ARE NOT OUR FRUITS, they are God’s attribute manifested in us. ===

OK. Jaci’s right when she says that the Spirit *causes* the believer to love and be humble and sincere. However, is she correct when she says that “the fruits of the Spirit are *not* our fruits”? I want to show that if you look at the love in your heart, you are building assurance upon YOUR love, YOUR sincerity and YOUR humility. You are NOT basing your assurance on the infallible testimony of God in the conscience. You are grounding your confidence on your affections. So how assured you are, will be determined by how obedient you are

On the other hand, Jaci says that if she looks at the humility in her heart, she is not basing her assurance on her *own* humility. She says she is basing her assurance on the fruits of the Spirit, not her *own* fruit.

Something fishy is going on here. I can see she is trying to justify people who look at their love as ground for their assurance. She’s saying that the love in them is not actually *their* love, but the *Spirit’s*. And this way she doesn’t sound like she’s saying, “we should look at how loving *we* are, to be assured we are saved”. Apparently, it’s the Spirit’s fruit that assures the believer he is saved, not his own fruit.

Now, is the love in a believer’s heart, is not their own love? Well, is the humility in the believer’s heart, not their own humility? Is their sincerity not their own sincerity? Then whose is it? I agree that the Spirit causes the sincerity to exist in the believer’s heart.

However, when we talk about a believer’s sincerity we are certainly NOT talking about how sincere the Spirit is. And we’re *not* talking about how humble the Holy Spirit is, when we talk about the humility in a believer. So there is no way we are talking about the Spirit’s love, when we talk about the love a believer has in their heart. We are talking about the believer’s own love, when we talk about the fruit of love in the believer’s heart.

Sure, the Spirit causes the believer to love. But it’s actually the *believer’s* sin-stained love in the believer’s heart. So if you look at the love in your heart, you are building assurance upon YOUR love, YOUR sincerity and YOUR humility. You are NOT basing your assurance on the infallible testimony of God in the conscience. You are grounding your confidence on your affections. So how assured you are, will be determined by how obedient you are.
 
It’s dishonest and misleading. It’s downright deceptive when you say you believe salvation is unconditional but then list conditions we must meet in order to be assured of salvation. And then you also say that its not *your* own love which assures you of your salvation. It’s the Spirit’s, apparently. Caleb Prince also wrote…

=== “‘If the spirit puts within us a humble heart of love, how can you say in your story that the author implies that it’s “their own love and humility” in the next sentence. If the someone gives me something (a humble heart of love) it COULD NOT BE MY OWN LOVE.” ===

Caleb, you should be a lawyer or a politician! I can even imagine you in court saying, “Your Honor, I was under the influence of alcohol when I crashed the car. And since I was under the influence, I wasn’t the one that crashed the car!”

My response: Seriously, don’t we all agree that just because the influence of something (e.g. alcohol) *causes* a man to act, the act is still his act? He can’t disown the act, just because something else caused him to do it. (Those who enjoy thinking can mull over the question – Is there anything we do that is not caused by something outside our control?)

So when the Spirit causes a believer to be sincere, it’s now the believer’s OWN sincerity. And the fruits of love and humility in a believer’s heart are the believer’s OWN love and humility. Duh! This is what the Scripture says….

“But even as you abound in everything, in faith, and in word, and in knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in YOUR LOVE in us, that you also should abound in this grace. I do not speak according to command, but through the earnestness of others and testing the trueness of YOUR LOVE.” (2 Cor 8:7-8)

“And this I pray, that YOUR LOVE may yet abound more and more in full knowledge and all perception.” (Phil 1:9)

“Ephraim shall say, What is it to me any more with idols? I answered him, and I regarded him. I am as a green cypress tree; YOUR FRUIT is found from Me.” (Hosea 14:8)

I say again … Sure, the Spirit causes the believer to love. But it’s actually the *believer’s* sin-stained love. So if you look at the love in your heart, you are building assurance upon YOUR love, YOUR sincerity and YOUR humility. You are NOT basing your assurance on the infallible testimony of God in the conscience. You are grounding your confidence on your affections. So how assured you are, will be determined by how obedient you are.

The believer, on the other hand, has the light of the Gospel in their heart… “God who said, “Out of darkness Light shall shine,” who shone in our hearts to give the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 4:6). In other words, they have the truth manifested in their conscience. “The one believing in the Son of God has the witness in himself.” (1 John 5:10).

Salvation is indeed unconditional. That means there is absolutely nothing a believer must do, to be assured of his salvation. He has to put no effort into gaining assurance. Just like a person standing in the light of the sun doesn’t need to do anything to become confident they are in the light of the sun, so it is with the believer.

However, if you make lists of things a man needs to do to be assured, you believe salvation is conditional. You think there is SOMETHING between the Righteousness of Christ and a believer enjoying it. It could be love, sincerity or humility. But if you think any of these are necessary for a believer to be assured, then you believe assurance of salvation is CONDITIONED on something the believer does.

So stop going around and saying you believe in unconditional salvation when you are actually basing your confidence on your own obedience (your sincerity, humility etc).

OK. Lastly, Chadd Sheffield asks, “Do you agree that those people who sometimes doubt their salvation are not genuine believer?”

My response: Allow me to pass the buck. I’ll let one of your favorite theologians answer your question. You may not like the answer, but if your own beloved teacher condemns you, I’m sorry.

=== “The popish school-divines dream that faith is a quality cleaving in the heart, without Christ. This is a devilish error. But Christ should be set forth, that you should see nothing beside him, and should think that nothing can be more near to you, or more present within your heart than he is. For he sits not idly in heaven, but is present with us, working and living in us. As he Paul says before, in the second chapter, “I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” And here likewise, “You have put on Christ.” Faith, therefore, is a certain, steadfast, beholding, which looks upon nothing else but Christ… This was notably and lively represented by the brazen serpent, and not turn away their eyes. They that did so, were healed on by that steadfast and constant beholding of the serpent. Numb 21:6-8. But contrawise, THEY DIED they died which obeyed not the commandment of Moses, but LOOKED UPON THEIR WOUNDS AND NOT UPON THE SERPEANT. So, if I would find comfort when my conscience is afflicted, or when I am at the point of death, I must do nothing but apprehend Christ by faith.” (Luther)===

Those who base their assurance on their own sincerity are dead! If they had the truth in them, they wouldn’t be looking at their sin-stained sincerity for their confidence. Basing your assurance on your works is one of the primary proofs of unbelief. Remember the Pharisee?

The infallible testimony in the conscience always gives a believer an infallible assurance. Indeed for believers, “Jesus Christ, and our God and Father, [is] the One having loved us and having given EVERLASTING COMFORT and good hope by grace”. And can someone with an “everlasting comfort” ever lose their assurance?

God says, “Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you, never!” (Heb 13:5). And if a believer is never forsaken, doesn’t that mean God infallibly assures them at all times by His infallible testimony?