Gospel of Matthew chapter two. We want to read the entire chapter. So give your attention to the reading of God's Holy Word and we'll go back to the hundred and ninth song. The first Matthew chapter two, let's stand together for the reading of God's Holy Word. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea and the days of Herod became. He holds Magi from the east, arrived in Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born King of the Jews? Who we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard it, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him in Bethlehem of Judea, so it has been written by the prophet and you, Bethlehem, land, Bethlehem, land of Judea, are by no means least among the leaders of Judea. For out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. And Herod secretly called the Magi and ascertaining from them the time the star appeared. And he sent him to Bethlehem and said, go and make careful search for the child. When you have found him report to me that I too may come and worship him. Nothing heard the king. They went their way and lo, the star which they had seen in the east went on before them until it came and stood over where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and they came into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. And opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold and frankincense and dmer. It hadn't been warned by God in the dream not to return to Herod. They departed for their own country by another way. Now when they had departed behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, arise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him. The arose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. It was there until the death of Herod that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled saying, out of Egypt did I call my son. Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the Magi, he became in very enraged and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and been all its environs from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the Magi. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled saying, a voice was heard in Rama weeping and great morning, Rachel weeping for children and she refused to be comforted because they were no more. When Herod was dead behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, arise and take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel for those who sought the child's life or dead. The arose and took the child and his mother and came into the land of Israel when he heard that Arkelouse was reigning over Judea and the place of his father Herod. He was afraid to go there and being warned by God on the dream he departed for the regions of Galilee and came and resided in a city called Nazareth that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled. He shall be called a Nazarene. And now Psalm 109, we want to read beginning with verse 1 through 5 and then a few verses a little bit later also. Psalm 109 verse 1, oh God of my praise do not be silent but they have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me and they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without cause. We turn from my love they act as my accusers but I am in prayer thus they have repaid me. Evil for good and hatred for my love and now down to verse 14, but the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off their memory from the earth because he did not remember to show loving kindness but persecuted the afflicted and needy man and the despondent in heart to put them to death. He also loved cursing so it came to him and he did not delight in blessing so it was far from him. He clothed himself with cursing as with his garment and it entered into his body like water and like oil into his bones and God blessed to our understanding the reading and the hearing of his holy word. Please be seated. We came to this 109th Psalm by way of Ephesians chapter 6 and the warfare that is to be in which believers are to be engaged which is a spiritual warfare not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers spiritual wickedness in higher places. We found that in that passage in Ephesians that we are to put on the armor which God has provided for us for the purpose that we might be able to resist to stand firm never to be moved but to continue to stand firm in opposing Satan and his kingdom and promoting the work of Christ we found out that as we put on this armor we shall indeed be enabled to fulfill all that God has commanded us to do. One of the things that we are told to do is that we are to pray at all times for all the saints in all circumstances with all faith. One of the things that we found was we were to pray certainly for the proclamation of the gospel and the promotion of the kingdom. We came to 109th Psalm 109 to point out to you also as we pray for the saints and the success of the gospel. We are also to pray for the defeat of God's enemies and so we began to look at this Psalm which is one of the imprecatory Psalms. We found there that indeed the imprecatory Psalms are given to us to pray. They are prayed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They are prayed by the apostles. They are prayed by saints of every age. They are even prayed by those who are glorified in their souls and under the altar before the throne of God crying out for God's dedication. We pointed out last week that in order to be able to pray this prayer that you need to be qualified to do so. You must first of all be one who is qualified by your relationship to God that you've been justified by grace through faith, that you are one who is united to Christ, one who does not have these curses upon you because your sins have been forgiven because the curse of God has been placed upon Christ for you. We found out also that you are to be qualified by your character as well. If you are to be one who is humbled, you are to be one who is concerned for the kingdom of God, you are to be one who is innocent, you are to be one indeed who is benevolent to other people. The imprecatory prayers are not for cranky people who haven't been dead against every single person who comes down the pike. They are for those who have a heart for God and who love people. But our Lord does require us to judge righteous judgments. We are to make judgments upon the infallible and the authoritative word of God. In order to do so, we must first judge ourselves rightly. Before praying the imprecatory Psalms, we examine our own hearts first. Do you have a right position in Christ? Do you have Christian character? Do you pray from a Christian motive? Do you pray with contentment with from God's answer? In other words, are you willing to leave it in God's hands when you pray these prayers? It's very important that you do so. And only when we have examined ourselves, can we then see clearly to pray these prayers. But having examined yourself then, you must determine who are the legitimate subjects of imprecatory prayers. We can see here that the Psalms does indeed pray against individuals. We can see indeed that there are those who are to have this prayer prayed of them because a solemn thing, it ought to be a frightening thing. But that will want to look at today. And I want you to be very careful in this because, indeed, we don't want to be speaking out of hatred or anger, which is unjust. But we do need to understand that when these Psalms are given to us, they are given for our direction, for our instruction and for our use. So let me deal with a couple of things. We'll be dealing with the more general, to the more specific. And that's the way we will approach it. So first of all, for whom are we to pray these imprecatory prayers? Well, first of all, pray the imprecatory Psalms against those who are the sworn enemies of God. We've used that throughout this series. But you must understand these Psalms are to be prayed against those who are the sworn and self-conscious enemies of God. A couple of warnings then. We've already touched on this once before in passing, but I want to emphasize it again here. Do not pray this prayer against your personal enemies. Those who offend you in one way or another, those with whom you are temporarily displeased, whatever the case may be, these are not prayers that are taken lightly to be used in any and every circumstance where you feel yourself to be offended. There are going to be many cases and many occasions when you are going to be offended where this prayer is certainly not an appropriate thing to be prayed. There are going to be believers who sin against you, and this prayer is certainly not appropriate. For those who are in Christ, who are your brothers in Christ, who have had the blood of Christ applied to them, and his work applied to them, this is not a prayer for those. We may sin against one another by way of weakness or even by way of rebellion. But we are to seek to win our airing brother. We are not to seek to have God's ultimate curses come upon him. So it's not appropriate certainly for believers. Neither is it to be prayed for the unbeliever who offends you in some way, maybe even grievously, because there are those who are going to do so. There are going to be those who steal from you. There are going to be those who do terrible things, who speak evil against you, who do all kinds of things. But just because they do so does not necessarily qualify them to be the object or the subject of an impregnatory prayer. Don't pray this prayer against your personal enemies. And do not pray this prayer against those who are deceived by Satan's lie. You see there are those who simply have their hearts darkened and their minds are not enlightened. They are yet in their sins and there are masses of people like that. There are many people who live in godless nations that do not have the hatred of God that their leaders do. There's a difference between the troops and the leadership of a hostile army. You must understand that. There are those who are simply soldiers who are doing what they are commanded. They don't understand the big picture. Many of them don't understand why they're doing what they're doing. They're simply doing it because they are part of that culture. They are part of that army. They are part of that nation. And though that nation and their leadership may be utterly wicked and given over to hatred and to hostility against God, yet the masses of people are simply deceived and don't understand everything that is going on. If you'll notice here, as you go down, there is an interest. There's an interesting thing that takes place. As you read the first five verses, as the psalmist is praying, he speaks in the plural. They have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred. In return, my love, they act as my accusers. Verse five, thus they have repaid me for good. But notice in verse six, what happens? A point of wicked man over him and let an accuser stand at his right hand. It goes from the plural to the singular, from the general to the more specific. And I think that's what we have to keep in mind here. There are many who are enemies of the gospel. But there are certain ones among those who are self-consciously the sworn enemies of God. And so that is how we are to pray. We are to pray this prayer against the hardened leadership of this world kingdom. If you will, the Pharaohs of this world. Those who have the direct revelation of God coming to them and those who self-consciously deceive and harden their hearts and who do everything they can to destroy God and his kingdom, those self-consciously hostile leaders of this world. And they are those who are self-conscious in their hatred of God and his kingdom and who are focused in removing the name of the Lord from the face of the earth. There are those who are so devoted to that, that that is the very focus of their lives. Now, having said that, I want to say Raj and I were talking as we went down to with Greenville last week, that the theory is certainly, I think, also a caution here that these ought not simply to be private judgments. Indeed, these judgments probably ought to be made by those who are lawfully called to apply the word of God. And then the people of God may pray them as well. But this ought not to be just private decisions. There need to be those safeguards whereby there is a clear identification of them by those who are lawfully called to apply the word of God. So, pray the impregnatory Psalms against those who are the sworn enemies of God. Secondly, pray the impregnatory Psalms against those who invite God's curse. And as you look at verses 15 and following in particular, I think you will see some of the particulars of this. Who are the sworn enemies of God? They are those who by their actions and who by their words and by everything else are those who virtually stand before God and shake his hand, their hands in his face and dare him to smite them and to curse them. I mean, I think there are many people around like that and they're aren't a whole lot. And that's why these prayers are to be prayed rather specifically. Notice verse 15, pardon me, verse 16, because he did not remember to show loving kindness, but persecuted the afflicted and needy man and the despondent in heart to put them to death. He also loved cursing, so it came to him. And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment and it entered into his body like water and like oil into his bones. What is it speaking about then? You may pray this prayer against those who are ruthless and without mercy. Now remember that mercy must always be evaluated, must always be defined in terms of the covenant and righteousness. It's not what your idea of mercy is. True mercy is always in terms of God's mercy and how He defines it, and it's in terms of His covenant and in terms, therefore, of Christ. It is not to say that such a person does not be so favors is not merciful to some people, but rather that this individual who deserves to have these prayer prayed about Him bestows favor on the wrong people. That is the idea. Every corrupt tyrant that this world has ever seen, every enemy of God has bestowed favors and showed mercy on some. The problem is that mercy was not bestowed upon those who are to receive that mercy. In fact, the Bible teaches us that it is unlawful to show mercy to some. Let's look at a few passages in the scripture here. It will go, I'll be in the book of Deuteronomy and we'll just go from the earliest, the earlier occasions to the later so you can be prepared to turn toward the back of your Bible as you go. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 16. And this has to do with the curses of the covenant that come upon a people. And he says here, let's pick up the reading with verse 14. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall be no male or female bearing among you or among your cattle. The Lord will remove from you all sickness and he will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known. He will lay them on all who hate you and you shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you. Your eyes shall not pity them. Neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you. There were those who were the goes which fulfilled the cup of wickedness to such an extent that when God brought these people into the land of Palestine, God said whatever you do, you don't show them mercy. They are bereft of that. They have gone beyond that. They are devoted to wickedness. It is not lawful for you to show them mercy and yet they show mercy to one another. Chapter 13 and verse 8. This has to do with those who would lead people into idolatry, lead the covenant people away from the Lord God. It says here in verse 8, you shall not yield to him or listen to him and your eye shall not pity him nor shall you spare or conceal him. Those who are so wicked as to undermine the very Godly culture and the devotion to God that will destroy a nation, those people who try to turn you aside, even if they arise in your own families, you don't have mercy on them because they're going to destroy the family, the nation, and the culture. We'll bring God's judgment. You don't have mercy upon what we could go on. There are others. I think we will go on because it'll come up a little bit later. Chapter 19, in verse 13. This has to do with a man who rises up and murders someone intentionally with malicious intent. Even if he flees to the city of refuge, verse 13 tells us, you shall not pity him but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel that it may go well with you. All right, but I'm saying here and what we're seeing is that there are those who are ruthless and without mercy, who may show mercy in this case. You have a situation in our own day where there is more mercy extended to the perpetrators of murder than there are to the victims of murder. And that is an ungodly mercy. Do you understand that? So we are not saying these people who are ruthless and without mercy are done so in the general sense, but in the covenantal sense. And I'm saying this in order to show you something that when we talk about this, when we talk about praying this prayer against those who are ruthless and without mercy, we are talking in particular about those who refuse to use their influence, influence to show mercy to the Godly. You look here in verse 16, notice it says here, verse 16, because he did not remember to show loving kindness but persecuted, be afflicted and needy man and the despondent in heart and put them to death.
It is the obligation of leaders in particular to protect the innocent, to protect the Godly. We read in Romans chapter 13 that civil leaders, for instance, are the ministers of God to punish the wicked but to protect the righteous. Now when we talk about this, the Godly are defined in terms of those who are humble. They are those who are vulnerable and they are also those who are stricken in heart. And what he's saying about those who do not show mercy, they refuse to use their influence to show mercy to the Godly. What it's saying here is that those who ought to have mercy and ought to have the protection are those who are the very ones who are persecuted. But notice who are those? They are Godly people. So we are talking about those who carry out their wickedness in seeking to persecute and to oppress the people of God. If you want to be able to pray this prayer against the oppressors of the church, then you must be those who are humble. The idea here is afflicted. That means that we are not arrogant and demanding in affliction, but humbly waiting on the Lord. There is no virtue contrary to our culture today. There is no particular virtue with economic poverty. Now poverty indeed, economic poverty can indeed be something which Christians endure and which is an affliction to them. But just the matter of being, of having a low income does not necessarily mean that you are a righteous or a Godly person. It's how you respond in those cases. You see a poor individual who in the midst of his poverty is arrogant and demanding and insists on stealing from his neighbors for himself. That is not godliness. That's wickedness. But the poor individual who humbly waits upon the Lord and sees that affliction as being something that comes from the hand of God and looks to the Lord for his provision and waits upon him. That is what determines whether a person is godly, not whether he is rich or poor. So what is being spoken of here is that the one who oppresses those who have that poverty of spirit, the one who oppresses those who are poor in spirit is the one who is worthy of this. Those who are vulnerable, those who are without strength, those who are without a voice, and they are those who are stricken in heart like righteous law who is afflicted because of the wickedness of his surroundings. But you see the oppressor of men does not show mercy to that kind of person, rather he shows mercy to those who are indeed the wicked.
So those who refuse to use their influence to show mercy to the godly and who pervert their influence for the oppression of the needy, to whom much is given, our Lord said much is required. And therefore, because they have influence, because they have the potential, or indeed being instruments of god's hand for protecting the innocent and for punishing the wicked and standing on its head, god says those are the kind of people for whom you can pray these prayers. They have the power to protect and they pervert that power to oppress the people of god. Secondly, pray this prayer against those who are devoted to evil, devoted to that evil. Notice verse 17, he also loved cursing, so it came to him, and he could not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. What does this mean? Well, those who were devoted to evil loved to bring harm to god's people. Love is the same term here, when it says they loved cursing, he loved cursing, it's the same term describing god's devotion to and delight in his people. They have a devoted commitment to cursing, and god says this is one who ought to have this prayer, pray to him. They reject all godly obedience, says that here that they did not delight in blessing, and what is the means of blessing according to covenant? Well, certainly it is faith, but it is an obedient faith. God says that he curses disobedience and he blesses obedience, so these people who hate blessing do not delight in blessing, delight themselves rather in cursing, or those who are devoted disobedience, they reject that godly obedience, and therefore they forfeit all blessing. And that is why the writer of the proverb, Solomon, says, when the righteous rule, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people mourn, because there is no blessing, it's been rejected, it's been forfeited, so we pray against those who are devoted to evil. Thirdly, we pray this prayer against those who adorn themselves with cursed activities. A couple of passages from Isaiah give you an idea of what is in view here. Isaiah chapter 4, and they pretty much deal with a similar theme. Isaiah chapter 4, in verse 9, that's going to be a real hard to do, very hard to do. The one that I'm thinking of here is, I can remember the, I can remember the, wait a second, verse 3, in verse 9. The expression of their faces bears witness against them and they display their sin like sawdum, they do not even conceal it, woe to them, for they have brought evil on themselves. They display their sin like sawdum, they do not even conceal it. You see, what is being spoken of here is that their wickedness and their sin, it's such a part of them, they just blatantly expose, they don't care who sees and who knows, it's a badge of honor to them. They're proud of their rebellion and their wickedness. Chapter 5, 18, woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood and sin as if with cart ropes, who say, let him make speed, let him incase in his work that we may see it, and let the purpose of the holy one draw near and come to pass, who may know it, woe to those who call good, evil, good and good, evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight, woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant man in mixing strong drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right. You see how they stand everything on their head? Everything is stood on its head, good as evil, evil is good, justify the wicked and condemn the righteous. That's what the idea is here. Another passage, Micah, one of the minor prophets, Josea Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Neum, Habakkuk, Micah chapter 2, verse 1. Woe to those who scheme iniquity who work out evil on their beds when morning comes, they do it for it is in the power of their hands, they covet fields and then seize them and houses and take them away. They rob a man in his house, a man in his inheritance. Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am planning against this family, a calamity from which you cannot move your next and you will not walk hardly for it would be an evil time. 10 verse 6. Do not speak out, so they speak out, but if they do not speak a gout against, speak out concerning these things, reproaches will not be turned back. Is it being said, O'House of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? Are these His doings? Do not my words do good to the one walking uprightly? Recently, my people have arisen as an enemy. You strip the robe off the garment from unsuspecting passers-by, from those returned from war. The women of my people, you evict each one from her pleasant house, from her children, you take my splendor forever. Verse 11, if a man walking after wind and falsehood had told lies and said, I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor, he would be a spokesman to this people. Chapter 3 verse 1. Here now heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel. Is it not for you to know justice, you who hate good and love you, who tear off their skin from them and they are fleshed from their bones, and who eat the flesh of my people, strip off their skin from them, break their bones and chop them up as for the pop, and as meat and a kettle, then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time because they have practiced evil deeds. Many goes on in verse 5 and talks about the false prophets who lead my people astray when they have something to bite with their teeth. They cry at peace, but against Him who puts nothing in their mouths, they declare holy war.
You see how these people just adorned themselves with those cursed activities. Well, let's bring it home now for a moment then if you will, for whom then are we to pray?
We said we are going to come from the more general to the more specific. You are to pray this prayer against modern antichrists who fit the description. Now again, I have to be very, I have to be very careful here and we will speak of this later on when we talk about the particular petitions that are to be prayed for these, but in every age there are going to be those who are the oppressors of God's people who fit the description, who in general are self-conscious enemies of God. They are those indeed who invite God's curse, but who are they? Well, I want you to consider some and remember that as we pray this, we are praying for the victory of God's kingdom. And if we pray for the victory of God's kingdom, we also pray for the defeat of God's enemies. We must do so. And particularly we pray for those who self-consciously seek to remove the name of Christ and to eradicate the gospel from the world. Are there those in our day who fit the description? I'm going to consider, too, one comes readily to mind and one may not, but I want you to consider some of the civil rulers of our day and ask if they do not fit the description. For instance,
I will say this of all, but I will particularly speak it of those who are rather notorious. Let us speak of federal court justices who defend abortion, youth in Asia, and sodomy, and at the same time who oppose the freedom of speech for those who preach the gospel and who stand up to proclaim the Lord reigns. Now let me ask you the question, do they fit the description or do they not? We just had a decision this last week. It shouldn't surprise you knowing from where it came, it came from one of the district courts from San Francisco. In the need to three decision, they said that any law that prohibits a physician from helping someone to commit suicide is unconstitutional. In other words, what they're going to do is they are going to protect the rights of a man who helps people kill themselves, in other words, a man who kills people, it says that's protected. It's constitutional. Now you tell me what they love good and hate evil or what they love evil and hate good. You tell me if they are not totally opposed when they have the opportunity to protect those who are weak and vulnerable and innocent, are they using their authority to do so or are they using it to pervert that justice and that authority? You know, I believe that if our nation is going once again to return to the Lord in humility and to once again to receive the blessedness, the blessing of God upon us, that we must have such men taken from office and out of public life forever. And I believe that God is pleased when God's people go to their knees and pray, Lord, take these people from office, either change them or remove them or put them to death because they are hostile to you. They are hostile to your people. And as long as the force of civil government is being brought about to prohibit the preaching of the gospel and to promote ungodliness and immorality, then we will not see revival and reformation. And I pray God will give us hearts to have such a heart for the preservation of life and the preservation of the gospel that we will have the heart to join with our blessed Savior to raise up these prayers against the modern civil rulers of our day. Or how about those politicians who for the sake of their own gain, impoverish innocent people? Do you know why it's so hard to earn a living these days? And there are a lot of things, but one of the reasons is just oppressive taxation. You know what the Old Testament, what the Bible says is oppressive taxation? You know, want to know how you know how you can find out whether you are living in a land where the tax load is oppressive. The Bible says when it gets the point where 10 percent of your income is taxed, that's an oppressive Q&A. You know how much you're being taxed? About 40 percent. It's oppressive. What is happening is we are having an enforced poverty on innocent people. Or you can talk about the fourth of your law. I read something today, the other day that made my blood boy. There's a little known obscure federal banking law and the account the anecdote was given that a man had rather large holdings in several different banks. A new bank opened up, he went to those several banks and withdrew all of his holdings and put them in one bank. And because he did not file a federal form which you have to fill out if you transfer over so much amount of money, all of his money was confiscated because he was considered to be a drug laundering money for drugs and it just assumed to do so and it was confiscated because he didn't file a form. Now you don't think that's oppressive? Do you think we ought not to pray for men who allow such things to happen and promote such things to happen? They ought to remain where they are? Where are you going to go for justice? It is the justice department that is enforcing these things. So where are you going to go for justice? When there is no justice in the land and I say you go for justice to the God of justice who rules and who reigns and you wait can't depend him to bring it about. I've been talking about our land but how about foreign dictators or persecuted church? How about those in China and Korea who wiped out the Christian population while they tried to? They can't. But should we not pray that God relieved his people of that despotism that the gospel might shine forth to a people who dwell in great darkness? I think we should. So we consider the civil rulers are a day who bear the power of the sword, who have the power for protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty and who turn it on its head. But the other thing that I want you to do is I want you to consider the false prophets who use the mantle of the church to spread the kingdom of Satan. They too are worthy of these prayers.
Those who stand in pulpits and deny the deity of Lord Jesus Christ, who deny the teaching that he has atoned the sins of his people, who say there's only salvation in man and what you do for yourself and who promote a social gospel while denying the truth of God's word. Do you not think those who are condemning literally thousands of people to an eternity in hell should go on without being challenged? Do you think God is not concerned about those who sit under that kind of ministry? And can we not be concerned about it? And there are many who fall into that category as well. Let's stop and think about those who under the mantle of Christ, who stand behind the sacred discs of the church of Jesus Christ and teach of people that they are their own saviors and there's no need of salvation. There is no such thing as sin and hell and death. May God vanish from the face of the earth such men. May God remove every one of them and replace them with those who will stand up and preach and proclaim the doctrines of God's Almighty Satan grace. May God be pleased to give us a heart to pray as God would have us to pray carefully, certainly, fervently, however. But I would also say this woe to those concerning whom God says, Amen when you pray this prayer. And if you're among them, woe to you. When we pray these prayers, God Himself takes an oath for a violation of His covenant. God says that if I violate my covenant, then may I be cut into and spread to the four corners of the universe. Christ suffered the torment of hell because of the violation of the covenant. So do you think that if you are rebellious, that you will escape or if others are rebellious, that they will escape? When God Himself says, I will not brook, I will not tolerate any violation of my covenant. And God's oath means that He will bless His people and He will curse those who hate Him, woe to those concerning whom God says, Amen to these prayers.
Will you pray for the deliverance who are those who oppress by such wicked men? Will you pray for? Will you pray for yourselves and your children in succeeding generations? May God arise, may He visit us with salvation. And as we look next week, we'll look at what it is that we pray for in particular, but may God be pleased to remove wickedness from the land. But holy to the Lord might be written upon the poths and upon the blightles of the horses, and may God be pleased to bring it about. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we have dealt with a subject that is not pleasant. We have dealt with those who are devoted to evil and such we know. The apostle John wrote to the people of his day and talked about Antichrist, and he said, even now there are many Antichrists who is the Antichrist who denies that Jesus is coming, flesh. It's all Lord, we pray that in every sphere, whether it be in the civil sphere, in the business sphere, in the family, in the church, that you would indeed remove those who hate you and who would lead many to everlasting perdition, that you would raise up a people of your own choosing to sing your praises and to make you know. The Lord, God, we pray, you would indeed vindicate your people. You would cause the gospel to go forth to the ends of the earth, to save us, Lord, that we might indeed be a people for your own possession, to the praise and glory of Christ and whose name we pray. Amen. Let's conclude that this portion will go ahead and have the Lord's supper. Salter Selection 36A. Salter Selection 36A. Transgression to the wicked speaks deep in the heart at lies. There surely is no fear of God of all before his eyes. What a sing to the glory of God, Salm 36 verses 1 through 4. Let's stand as we sing. Transgression to the wicked speaks deep in the heart at lies.