Psalms 10:13

Wherefore do the wicked contemn God?

On the unprincipled contempt of religion

How astonishing that any should be guilty of this. Excellence and station and authority shield men from contempt. But yet the wicked contemn God. Notwithstanding He is unspeakably glorious and great, the blessed and only Potentate possessing vast dominions, sustaining His creatures and glorified in all His works. And all things depend upon Him. Some, allured by His grace, with cheerfulness adore Him; others, constrained by His power, reluctantly Submit; but others are wicked enough to contemn Him. Their conduct and temper--

I. Toward Him show this. They have no delight in Him, they put the world far before Him, they deliberately disobey Him.

II. Towards things relating to Him. His ordinances they count weariness, His word they disregard, His people they scorn, His ministers they despise, His day they neglect.

III. Why do they thus act? Not from superior wisdom, but from depravity of the will, and encouraged by inconsistent Christians and by the strifes amongst such. But what an awful sin it is. Amazing madness! (John Erskine, D. D.)

The wicked contemners of God

Let us examine our hearts, our lives, and the Scriptures of truth.

1. Look at your mind and you will be forced to acknowledge that you seldom think of God.

2. Pass to an examination of your words.

3. Consider your actions.

4. The manner in which you treat the threatenings of God.

5. The regard you pay to the promises of God.

6. Your contempt of God is manifested in your disobedience to His commandments.

7. The declarations of One who perfectly knows you place this matter beyond a doubt. (H. Rollock, D. D.)

Expostulation with contemners of God

I. A question propounded.

1. Somewhat is here implied, something is laid as a charge. The wicked does contemn God. Take the word “wicked” collectively. Three ways wherein wicked men may be said to contemn God: In His ordinances, in His providences, in His servants. Whence does this proceed from them? Partly from pride, partly from ignorance.

2. Somewhat is expressed. The absurdity of such a temper is seen in this, that no good account can be given of it. See the inequality of it in reference to God. He does not deserve it. See the danger of it. Those that contemn Him, He will contemn them again. And His contemning is followed by His condemning; those whom He despises, He destroys.

II. The ground or occasion of this question. “He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.” According to the absolute sense, this is a declaration of the temper of wicked men. According to the relative sense of them, they seem to he either a proof or an account of what was said before concerning such persons, as to their contemning of God. This is a proof that they do so, and this is a reason also why they do so. “They say in their heart, God will not require it.” (T. Horton, D. D.)

Retribution--the world’s old age in sin

It has been a puzzle to some good men, and a pretext for unbelief to many wicked men, that the sinner, a moral and responsible being, could rest unconcerned in his sins. Why do not wicked men repent? This can only be resolved on the ground suggested in the text, the practical infidelity of wicked men. They do not believe in God as a just and inflexible moral governor. They do not accept the ideal of an exact and certain retribution. A carelessness of retribution. Moral law is held as an abstraction, and the reality, the extent, the terribleness of its sanctions are actually forgotten. Till this general sense of security be assailed, till this general indifference be shown to be causeless, the instances of awakening and conversion among sinners will be few.

I. Explain and illustrate the carelessness of retribution prevalent in the world.

1. The world’s old age in sin. Sin has been producing its appropriate results, modified mainly, and almost alone, by the fact that men exist in successive generations, and not in an uninterrupted, individual life. But as the generations of men all overlap each other, so that everyone includes some members both of preceding and succeeding ones, it follows that each new generation is not cast entirely back to the starting point of its predecessor, but gains a little upon it. It will be found that whatever has characterised one age morally, intellectually, or socially, also has characterised in a less or greater degree the following one. Sin is not an institution peculiar to any age or country. The same corrupt principle is more corrupt in the sons than it was in the fathers. Is not the world wicked now as it never has been before?

II. The world’s prosperity in sin. Existence is in itself a blessing, and an element of prosperity. Man’s existence at every period has had much to make it pleasant and desirable. God, as Sovereign and Judge, has benefited the subject and sinner. In this age the world still sins and prospers. Everybody, almost everybody, boasts of a prosperous world. But the world sins as well as prospers. Is not the world, with all its pomp and pride, a wicked world? Individualise the sinner. He has, in these days, so high an idea of personal dignity and independence and irresponsibility to any power that is not a reflection of his own will, as to have become very thoughtless of the Divine law, and very careless of its sanctions. We may examine the growth of this idea, and illustrate its prevalence. When the sinner is thus individualised and made to think so much of his own happiness and rights, is he not apt to forget God? Consider now the judicial hardening of the world. The powers of darkness and the powers of holiness are at enmity with each other by Divine appointment. There is such a thing as a judicial permission and even encouragement to wickedness, whereby God asserts His sovereignty over free moral agents, and makes them ready, and makes all things ready, for the final manifestation of His glory at the coming of the Lord. One great reason why the world is so careless of approaching retribution is, that it is judicially hardened, rendered insensible to the proofs of its coming, and the fear that ought thereby to be awakened. (John H. Lord.)

The day of no judgment dreaded

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Pitt said, ‘“I have no fear for England; she will stand till the day of judgment.” Burke answered, “It is the day of no judgment that I dread.” (The Quiver.)

The reckoning will come to the sinner

The wicked contemn God. Why? “Because they say He will not require it.” Ah! They forget that it is as true of God’s threatenings as of His promises,, that although He delays He does not deny them. A reprieve is not a pardon. It defers the execution, but does not necessarily cancel the sentence. And how many men in business, hard pressed for money and tottering on the edge of bankruptcy, have known too well that the bill which they had got the money lender to renew was not thereby paid; that, however often renewed, it has still to be paid, and that the oftener, indeed, it is renewed with interest added to the capital the debt but grows the larger, the payment the heavier. Just so will it be with you if you persist in rejecting the Saviour. Every day of mercy here will but aggravate the misery of hereafter, and the reckoning, by being long of coming, will be the more terrible when it comes--as that storm roars with the loudest thunder which has been the longest gathering. (T. Guthrie.)