1. Psalm 50 is the first psalm of Asaph, a musician and one of the three great song leaders, Heman and Ethan being the other two.
2. In I Chronicles 16:5, Asaph is described as the chief of the sacred music, in the tent where the arc was placed.
3. In II Chron.29:30, he is called "Asaph the seer."
4. Nehemiah refers to David and Asaph as the "chief of the singers" (Neh.12:46).
5. If you read carefully Psalm 50 you will notice that the setting is a courtroom with God Himself the Judge (Ps.50:6).
6. Heaven and earth are God’s witnesses (Ps.50:4-6).
7. The trial has not yet taken place (Ps.50:3). Now, if God is the judge, and heaven and earth are witnesses, who is on trial?
8. Actually, it appears that there are two trials in view here. The first deals with "God’s people" (50:4), i.e. the nation Israel (50:7).
9. But later on (50:16), God is warning the wicked, and there is nothing here to suggest that it is only wicked Israelites that He is warning.
10. This is God’s warning to all the wicked. And before I go any further, please allow me to explain what the Bible means by the word "wicked."
11. According to the Bible, there are only two groups of people – those who do right and those who do wrong. According to the Bible, those who do right love God, and obey His Word; and those who do wrong ignore God and do not obey His Word.
12. In other words, according to the Bible there are two groups of people – (1) those that are saved, referred to as the righteous, and (2) the unsaved, referred to as lost sinners or the ungodly or wicked (cf. Ps.1).
13. Doing wicked deeds does not make a man wicked. He acts wickedly because he is already a wicked man. Committing sins does not make one a sinner. He sins because he is already a sinner.
14. And most importantly, committing sins and acting wickedly and rejecting Christ does not mean that sinners will be condemned some day. According to the Bible, those without Christ are already condemned.
15. A word to the lost: This coming judgment described so vividly for us in the Bible is as certain as night follows day (cf. Ps.50:22). And the only way for you to escape is to repent and get right with God.
16. Today we will see 4 reasons why the wicked shall be judged.

I. THE WICKED SHALL BE JUDGED BECAUSE THEY HATE INSTRUCTION (50:16-18).

1. It is a fact that many people consider themselves above correction. Instead of welcoming God’s instructions (as clearly laid out for us in the Bible), they resent it.
2. They hate God’s Word and bitterly attack those who believe it.
3. A certain infidel used to stand on a box on a busy street corner, and rail against the Bible. He would ridicule the Bible day after day for hours, till his throat got sore and then he would stop. A sales clerk from a nearby store walked over to him and said: "Sir, if you do not believe the Bible, that is your business, but why do you rail against it so much? Why don’t you just leave it alone?" He replied: "Because the Bible will not leave me alone!"
4. The wicked hate instruction (50:17) and the Bible warns that if they continue on this path, it will lead to their destruction (cf. Pro.1:24-31).
5. The wicked hate God’s Word so much that they even cast it away like it was worthless (50:17b). I remember reading years ago that the Communist government of Romania had confiscated a large shipment of Bibles and the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had ordered that the Bibles be recycled into toilet paper. The Bible says: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal.6:7). In December of 1989, Ceausescu ordered his army to shoot at a group of protesters, and instead they turned on him and had he and his wife (who was also a ruthless communist) arrested. They tried to escape but were caught, tried, and found guilty of murder. They were executed by a firing squad on Christmas Day, 1989.
6. Do not be discouraged when people reject the Gospel. The Bible tells us that is the way it will be. Most people would rather associate with thieves and adulterers than with born again Christians (50:17,18).

II. THE WICKED SHALL BE JUDGED BECAUSE THEY HAVE EVIL MOUTHS (50:19,20).

1. I was just reading in the newspaper the other day that Michael Eisner, the wicked rascal that runs the Disney Corporation, referred to Southern Baptists as "crazy nuts." If he feels that way about Southern Baptists, I wonder what he thinks about independent Baptists?
2. More and more, as we get closer to the return of our Lord, we are seeing the open contempt that the wicked have for God, and His Word, and His church. Many wicked people are scheming right now to take away tax-exempt status from churches, and close down Christian schools, and force Christians to accept homosexuality and other disgusting sins.
3. As they speak evil against us (50:19), we should not be surprised, but remember the words of our Lord: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18).
4. The wicked are so depraved and devilish that they even slander their own brothers (50:20). What this psalm is teaching is that people’s relation to others is not right because their relation to God is not right (cf. Matt.10:34-38).
5. If people do not respect the first half of the commandments (which deal with man’s responsibility to God), then they will not respect the second half of the ten commandments, which deal with man’s responsibility to his fellow man.
6. The wicked are consistent law-breakers. God’s law says: "Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" (the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th commandments), but the wicked disregard God’s holy Word (50:18-20).
7. The wicked continually break God’s laws, and the Bible says: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek.18:4).
8. And the Bible says: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom.6:23). Have you received this gift?
9. Beloved, it is either the wages of sin or the gift of God. You are either saved or you are lost.

III. THE WICKED SHALL BE JUDGED BECAUSE THEY FOOLISHLY BELIEVE THAT GOD IS LIKE THEM (50:21).

1. The ancient Greeks were guilty of this. Mount Olympus was filled with various gods made in the image and likeness of mortal men. But while we can expect that from the Greeks and the Romans and the Hindus and so on, it is sad to see this same sort of idolatry practiced here in America.
2. For all practical purposes, Princess Di has been made into an idol, some strange immoral goddess. Others prefer Elvis or some other raunchy rock and roll singer or movie star.
3. Here God is saying that because He has been silent, the wicked foolishly thought that God was like them (50:21).
4. Because God kept silent and did not punish the wicked immediately, they thought that He was as careless and indifferent as they were (50:21; cf. Eccl.8:11).
5. The wicked do not realize that God’s patience was designed to give them time to repent (II Peter 3:3-9). Soon however, God’s patience will run out.
6. It is strong evidence of the wicked heart of man that rather than go to the Bible to learn about the character of God, and the holiness of God, and the judgment of God, they instead invent their own ridiculous ideas about who God is – and it is invariably someone just like themselves – a jolly, fat old Santa Claus or a silly cigar-smoking fool like George Burns ("Oh God"), or a hippie-type Jesus who never judges sin ("Jesus Christ Superstar"), etc.
7. But God’s Word is clear – God will reprove the wicked (50:21b). He will judge them for their horrible sins, especially the sin of unbelief. He will set them (their sins) in order (50:21b).
8. The fire and tempest mentioned in 50:3 represent God’s holiness and God’s judgment. The fire is God’s holy wrath, and the tempestuous storm is the power of His holy wrath.
9. Unsaved friend: God’s fire of judgment will consume you unless you repent and get right. The storm clouds of His judgment are moving over your head right now.

IV. THE WICKED SHALL BE JUDGED BECAUSE THEY FORGET GOD (50:22).

1. Most people will insist that they do not hate God, but if they are honest they will have to admit that they forget Him. That is, they live their lives as if He did not exist, as if He did not matter.
2. How refreshing it was to read about the lady who gave birth to the seven babies, because just about everyone they interviewed – the father, the grandparents, friends, and neighbors – gave God the glory and professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The father gave a press conference down at his church, he and his wife met at a Baptist Bible college, etc. But this is becoming rare nowadays. People are leaving God out, they "forget God" (50:22).
3. "Now consider this…" (50:22). The strongest warning in this chapter is to those who "forget God." If they do not repent, God will pounce on them like a lion and tear them to pieces (50:22).
4. "How terrible, how complete, how painful, how humiliating, will be the destruction of the wicked! God uses no soft words, or velvet metaphors, nor may His servants do so when they speak of the wrath to come" (C.H.S.).
5. How tragic that most people believe in an afterlife, and have some concept of judgment and hell, but so few truly understand the horror of it.

CONCLUSION:

1. This Psalm contains some very strong warnings but it concludes with a beautiful promise (50:23).
2. God will "show the salvation of God" to those who seek it. If you want to experience the joy of God’s salvation, why don’t you do it today with out any further delay?
3. When the great evangelist, Gypsy Smith, was converted he immediately yearned for the conversion of his uncle. But among gypsies it is not proper for children to address adults on the subject of duty, so Gypsy waited and prayed for his uncle.
4. One day his uncle noticed a hole in Gypsy Smith’s pants and said: "Rodney, how is it that you have worn out the knees of your pants much faster than the other parts?"
5. He replied, "Uncle, I have worn them out praying for you, that God would save you!" The uncle started crying and soon was saved.
6. Unsaved friend: Maybe there is someone with holes in their pants and sore knees praying for you. Why don’t you come to Jesus now?