WAY OF THE WICKED

Psalm 37: 12-24

A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe

More than once in the last few weeks I have read or heard about a growing concern that as secular humanism is succeeding in being successful in removing every theological and social restraint to behavior even the pagans amongst us are beginning to wonder if we ought to have a moral compass. At school, the educational fad for this year may even be to open up the area of ethics for serious consideration. Several of us Christians have even discussed planning a primer on the six moral commandments which apply to all humans. Even if these discussions in the midst of paganism do not prove productive, they can at the very least be an opportunity to address the conditions of the moral swamp which surrounds so very many of our public institutions.

Of course, the conditions of society in which we find ourselves is nothing new. Our whole psalm portion this morning is concerned with this issue of a failed moral compass even as the psalmist compares the way of the wicked with the way of the righteous. To a certain extent we have here a commentary on the law of the jungle as defined by the humanistic evolutionists. That law may be summarized in the idea that only the fit survive natural competition. To the casual observer, the law of the jungle seems most appropriate in describing the natural order of this planet. In fact Charles Darwin unwittingly provided the major tenant of modern humanistic thought with the publication of his The Origin of Species in 1859.

J.D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie were both impressed and were more than comfortable with the business application of this principle in the growth of their financial empires. J.D. Rockefeller was able to personally destroy almost twenty thousand independent family operations in his lifetime. He reaction to this fact was summarized in this statement: "If they can't compete they don't deserve to survive!" At least Carnegie was not that joyous in applying the new found financial faith as that. He at least was charitable in his old age with his millions. However, one needs only to look at the emphasis of the givings of the Carnegie Foundation today to see that some agencies and organizational functions were subsidized in certain directions to ensure their survival.

In the field of politics Karl Marx was so mightily influenced by Darwin's ideas that he unsuccessfully sought to dedicate his own life's work Das Kapital to the man who pointed out the path of evolution which could be applied socially as well as biologically. To this day the Socialists certainly believe that they will politically triumph on this planet as capitalism automatically goes the way of the dinosaur. However, the hope of their success is focused in America now rather than the former Russian Soviet. Even as communism has been discredited, socialism is still very much alive and is prospering both here and abroad. Slowly the socialists work to evolve our society in their direction. Time, they believe is on their side.

However, there is a problem. The evolutionary law of the jungle does not so much explain the appearance of new forms as it describes the disappearance of old forms of life. To that end one researcher has wondered if Cro-Magnon Man was indeed a genetic aberration of common man. The principle he describes is not that we have evidence of the rise of modern man but instead the decline of a specific group diseased and affected by isolation and inbreeding. Thus we must read the scientific speculations of our time with great care. One thing that comes through clearly in a century of studying early fossils is that certain individuals are very dedicated to presenting scientific evidence either for their own personal recognition or in the service of promoting a higher evolutionary development in the ideas common to mankind.

We have only to look at the competition of the worldly humanists with the intellectuals of the Church in the last hundred years to appreciate the fact that they approve Mr Kruchev's speech to the United Nations years ago when he promised with shoe pounding to bury us. In this sense I believe we are ready to consider the teachings of our psalm portion today. We begin with verse twelve which aptly describes the confrontation of the worldly with our evangelical faith in our century: "The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;"

This is certainly true in ongoing cultural conflicts in our time. Court cases involving the Civil Liberties Union are carefully chosen and created to advance the cause of humanism. In the great "Monkey Trial" of Dayton, Tennessee, we now know that the whole issue was fabricated by the willing participation of the teacher in question to challenge a Tennessee law that was poorly written. In much the same sense several pieces of legislation have been challenged in the legal conflict to preserve the lives of the unborn. When the truth behind Roe v Wade was finally learned I was surprised that our whole court system was taken in by the fraudulent claims of the case in question.

Of course we are frustrated with these ongoing problems. And we need to be reminded of our God's reaction to these wicked plots. Look in verse thirteen. He laughs at their pathetic explanations of His absence from history and morality. He knows, as we ought to remember that their day is indeed coming. Our next image in the decline of the wicked is noted in verses fourteen and fifteen. The military sense of verse fourteen is like my experience in Basic Training. "Lock and Load" we were instructed. That meant we could place a bullet in the chamber, turn of the safety and prepare to fire. There have been several times when I have gone to the barn in the middle of the night to see what the animals were upset about. On those occasions I have had my little twenty-two locked and loaded as I prowled around the property looking for varmints, or stray dogs who might be interested in our animals. I have always been careful to keep the safety on until the last second so that I don't inadvertently shoot a friendly animal.

The wicked in this scene however are preying on the poor and needy and upon those who are honest in their endeavors. The Lord promises us that the wicked will fall on their own weapons. We are also comforted in verses sixteen and seventeen with the assurance that what little we have in the face of corporate competition in our times is far better than the amassed wealth of the Rockefellers or any other Robber Barons.

We may be dismayed at our lack of influence individually and cooperatively in our time, but should realize that God can still act and in His own time he will break the powers of the wicked. Should we not learn this lesson from the complete collapse of Communist power in Eastern Europe? For five years, the Russians have been frantically retrieving their nuclear swords from unreliable areas to the security of their home provinces to keep them from being captured by any rebels and then being used against them!

We should also note the fall in influence of one the world's most powerful men. Have you not heard of the decline of Donald Trump who was once a prime mover and shaker in monetary affairs? We should not consume ourselves with envying the worldly wealth and power which shall see corruption. After all we see where God shares His protection in verses eighteen and nineteen. He knows us and cares for us.

But the wicked will not prosper, as we see in verse twenty. The very seeds of their prosperity will be their undoing. Remember when the Doctor whose machinery was used by a patient for suicide argued publicly that his cause was the same as that of the abortionists. That suggestion was extremely distressful to the abortion lobby. And well should they fear the public exposure of their purposes. We may be getting to a point where pictures of these ungodly procedures may be used publicly. And that exposure, just like the news exposure of the Viet Nam war casualties could have a profound impact on the discussion of murdering unborn humans. In a New Testament sense it is well that their sins be announced from the house tops so that all mankind will know the reality of their sin.

In the next strophe in verses twenty-one and twenty-two we see the way of the wicked contrasted again with the way of the righteous. As we consider the themes laid before us by our psalmist, it is almost as if he were aware of the struggles of our own time. The Lord does indeed bless His own. Five years ago when I first preached from this text I believed that we might be twenty years getting our culture recivilized. But just as I read in 1979 that the Soviet Empire was at the brink of destruction, so have I begun to read lately, even in the liberal media that the increasing liberalization of the Democratic Party may cause its final destruction.

Certainly there is much work to be done on our part as we proclaim the whole counsel of God as we apply it to science, finance and political parties of all three kinds. It has been a hundred years since the Church spoke to these areas of man's activities. And as we begin to consider our proper witness that we must make let us look to the promise of verses twenty-three and twenty-four. "If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand."

I am reminded of a controversy in the evangelical community in Great Britain. It seems that the younger generation is impatient with the social achievements of the older generation. To be fair we need to appreciate that it has taken a whole generation for those older evangelicals to win the right to be heard again in their land. They in fact have opened the door for the younger members to even have a stage and an audience. Here in this country we are still struggling to gain the privilege of being heard. Evangelicals are taking steps, but we are also stumbling.

The work of public witness is indeed slow. If we are to regain public access to the mind of the Republic it must within the context of God's providence. I know that this summer I had hoped to begin publishing material for a larger public audience. Three months later, I am beginning to realize that this will take some time as I wait for the Lord to open the necessary doors. The more I look at my manuscripts and consider the huge amount of work to be done, the more I appreciate the heavy responsibility. As a group we also had high hopes for an easy access to fellowship and meeting space to call our own. That dream that we would like to accomplish quickly must also be set in the context of when and what the Lord will allow.

If we will all count on Him, even as we stumble towards His calling, He will hold our hand and allow us to speak boldly for our Christ and our King. Certainly the world will laugh at us, but we must always remember that he who laughs last will be in a better situation. And that situation should be one in which we are found in the service of our very own God who is indeed Lord of the entire universe. May it be Him who guides us and who holds our hand. And may we be found in His service when He returns. Amen.

	Resources Used:
Koltz, John W.	Studies in Creation.
Spurgeon, C.H.	The Treasury of David.
IBS: The Holy Bible, New International Version (1984)
Psm 037g	01 July 90 & 08 October 95

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