2. The Wicked, Hurt by God’s Truth! Psalm 58:3-5

Text: The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.  Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”

Psalm 58:3-5.

Good morning, once ‘wicked’ Christian!  Exactly like unto the ‘wicked’ clearly defined here in Psalm 58, you and I were once as ‘wicked’ as can be; born sinners, lost and going astray by choice and carnal desire; headed for the pit that contains no drop of water; and a Hell that is hot indeed to receive all such sinners. 

Let any hint of self-righteousness take a knock this morning, dear brother and sister in Christ – you and I were once just as ‘wicked’ as the most ‘wicked’ described in revealed Scriptures.  We have God’s own Word on this vital issue: 

“...For (a conclusion) there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (the absolute Holiness of the Living Lord Jesus Christ IS God’s glory!).”  (Romans 3:22-23)

But here comes a glorious, most gracious, ‘however’!  However.  The Spirit of God found you and I in such a state; revealed to our most profound essence (hearts) the fact that we were such gross sinners, on our way to a Christ-rejecter’s Hell; quickened us (made us alive); granted us His free gift of faith to believe (trust) in the Saviour, Jesus Christ – and re-created us to be ‘...new creatures in Christ...’.  Believing in Christ’s full Atonement at Calvary’s Cross, we were saved from our ‘wickedness’ and re-created sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty, Jehovah.  Praise and all glory to His Holy and gracious Name!

“Therefore (a conclusion) if any man (woman) be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed (passing continually) away; behold (look and fully understand), all things are become (or are continually becoming) NEW.  And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation (the Gospel message of Salvation); to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world (the  elect from all corners of the world) unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them (our ‘wickedness’); and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation.  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)

Take note, dear Reader: Born in man/woman’s sinful image (Adam/Eve), all true Spiritually regenerated Christians were then re-created by Christ to be children of God.  Check it out for yourself, God’s Word will never lie:

“For (a conclusion) by grace are ye saved through faith; and that (faith) not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.  For (a conclusion) we are His workmanship, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS unto good works, which God hath before (before the very foundation of the world) ordained that we should walk in them.”  (Ephesians 2:8-10)

We, who were once as ‘wicked’ as can be, lost, are, by God’s Divine grace, His created Christians – Spiritually regenerated from dead spirits, to truly believe and receive Salvation in Christ alone, and for His greater glory alone, we give Him all the praise!  Amen?

Let us look for a moment at those defined in Psalm 58 as ‘the wicked’:

Verse 3. “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.  So-called scientific professionals, even the most confirmed atheists, all agree on this one point - we don’t have to teach babies to be disobedient, to tell lies; to be contrary and disobedient to what we, as parents and teachers, are seeking to teach them.   No!  They do these things naturally.  The do so naturally because they are natural born sinners, born in the fallen likeness of Adam and Eve, and alienated from God in His Holiness and wrath against all sin.

Verse 3. “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.  It is small wonder that some men/women persecute the righteous seed of the woman (Gen.3:15), since all of them are of the serpent’s brood, and enmity is set between them.  No sooner born than alienated from God – what a condition to be found in!  He who starts early in the morning will go far before night.  To be untruthful is one of the surest proofs of a fallen state, and since falsehood is universal, so also is human depravity.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 259)

“How early men do sin!  How late they do repent!   As soon as they are born ‘they go astray,’ but if left to themselves they will not return till they die; they will never return.”  (Joseph Caryl 1602-1673)

Verse 4. “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear.  Sin is poison.  Original depravity is called corruption; actual poison.  The violence and virulence of this venomous quality comes not at first.  No man becomes worst at the first dash.  We are born corrupt, we have made ourselves poisonous.  There be three degrees, as it were so many ages, in sin.  First, secret sin; an ulcer lying in the bones, but skinned over with hypocrisy.  Secondly, open sin, bursting forth into manifest villainy.  The former is corruption, the second is eruption.  Thirdly, frequented and confirmed sin, and that is rank poison, envenoming soul and body.”  (Thomas Adams 1614)

There are no ‘small sins’ and ‘big sins’ – all sin is gross sin against God’s Holiness, and each of us born of woman, in Adam’s fallen image (Gen.5:3), are guilty of his sin and our own.  Only Christ Jesus can save us from our sin, and present us sinless before His Father.

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law (Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1-17), and yet offend in one point, he/she is guilty of ALL.”           (James 2:10)

‘The wicked’ defined in Psalm 58: will not listen to such teachings, nor turn from their sin.  They will listen to anything other than the Gospel of forgiveness in Christ Jesus.

Verse 5. “Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers (Gospel preachers), charming never so wisely. Ungodly men are not to be won to right by arguments the most logical or appeals the most pathetic.  Try all your arts, ye preachers of the Word!  Lay yourselves out to meet the prejudices and tastes of sinners, and ye shall yet have to cry, ‘Who hath believed our report?’  It is not in your music but in the sinner’s ear that the cause of failure lies, and it is only the power of God that can remove it.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 260)

Stephen, on the day of his cruel martyrdom, experienced such ‘wicked’ people.  “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord.” (Acts 7:51-60)

Thought: Only a Sovereign and gracious Lord God can open the ears of such ‘wicked’.  "Salvation is of the Lord!"  (Jonah 2:9)