A Profile of the Wicked, Pt. 1

the psalm before us this evening profiles the wicked, describing their wicked actions in detail. The psalm describes the wicked with special reference to their victims, the poor and needy. Such a description is utterly relevant to us. The poor we have always with us — but the wicked we have always with us too! When the wicked rise, as they are rising now in American society, it is imperative that our response to that rise be a godly one rather than an ungodly one. Our king describes and models for us in this psalm a godly approach to the wicked. Psalm 4 showed us how to evangelize the wicked, Psalm 5 how to pray against them. This psalm shows us more of the devastation they wreak on the poor and needy, while also encouraging us that God hears and sees and will respond by putting an end to evil. We are in a mini-series of psalms on evil men, one that begins with Ps 9 and runs through Ps 14. As we saw, Ps 8 introduces this series by describing man's greatness in reference to his Creator. But though God's name is excellent, man's name is mud; on every side the wicked prowl. The answer to the problem of human wickedness is the righteous work of God, as these psalms make clear — especially in the one that finishes this sequence, Ps 15, with its declaration about the man who is fit to ascend the hill of the LORD. The message of these in-between psalms on the wicked is clear: God loves and saves the human race despite our wickedness. Man is vile, no question. But God remembers and visits us, rescuing the poor and needy from the depredations of the wicked. This happens through our prayers and especially the prayers of our king, through whom we are delivered from evil.