If you look at Psalm 35 verse number 4
Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul
Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that divides my hurt
So the Psalmist is asking God, God will turn his enemies into being confounded and confused
So that's the title of the sermon tonight, Confounded and Confused
Have you ever looked at somebody's life and looked at somebody's actions?
You've seen the way they've behaved, maybe in a tough situation they've made certain decisions in life
And you've kind of said to yourself, I don't know why they made that decision
I'm confused, it confuses me to understand why they chose that path
Why they said those words
And sometimes when we look at certain people's actions
We kind of want to understand where they're coming from
You kind of want to put yourself in somebody else's shoes
But it's just too confusing, how is it that somebody did this?
You know why they did it? Because they were confounded and they were confused
Which is why it brings you to confusion to try to understand why they're acting that way
One thing that we learned from this Psalm is that
God will sometimes cause people to be confused or confounded
Confounded and confused, these are similar terms
Of course the word confounded is more archaic, we use the word confused
So let's have a look at this, this will be the main driving point of the sermon today
And the Psalmist is asking God, can you confuse my enemies? Can you confound my enemies?
And I think the great lesson we can learn here is we learn how we can pray
Against those that are trying to hurt us
Pray against those that are our enemies
And you know the Bible commands us that we ought to do good to our enemies
I'm not saying that we ought to do something bad toward them
We ought to do good unto them
But when we go to the Lord for justice, we ought to be praying to the Lord
Can you confuse my enemies? Can you confound my enemies?
And we'll take an understanding of what that might look like here
So let's start there in verse number 1, Psalm 35 verse number 1
You can see it says the Psalm of David, so this is again King David's Psalm
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me
Fight against them that fight against me
We know that many of the Psalms are about David against his enemies
And he's crying to the Lord for help
We'll look at verse number 2, take hold of shield and buckler
And stand up for mine help
So the first thing he asks from the Lord when he's dealing with some wicked enemies of his
He asks for the Lord to come to his defense
He says take hold of shield and buckler
He runs for God to defend him
He doesn't seek to defend himself
He runs for the Lord who's going to be strong defense
Amen?
Now we often pray that
Some Christians don't have a problem asking and praying for the Lord to defend them
But how many Christians have the courage or believe it's right to pray not just for defense
But for God to go on the attack
We'll look at verse number 3
Now he says to God, draw out also the spear
And stop the way against them that persecute me
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation
So not only is the Psalmist asking for defense
He's asking God, can you go on the attack now?
Can you go attack my enemies?
Can you go take them down Lord?
They deserve to be attacked
And he's asking for God to take up his spear
Which of course is a weapon of attack
So it's not just about being defensive
It's about asking the Lord again
You know, who defends us? The Lord
Who fights for us? Who attacks our enemies for us?
It's the Lord, it's not our job to do that
But there's nothing wrong with us going to the Lord
And seeking his help, seeking him to defend us
Seeking him to attack for us as well
And you know, I think a lot of Christians
Don't even think this is a Christian attitude
A lot of people just, they don't know the Bible
You know, they love the Psalms but they don't understand
This is another imprecatory prayer
You know, this is another prayer where the Psalmist is asking
God, take out my enemies, okay?
Take up your spear, destroy them
But I love the way he asks God to destroy them
He asks God, can you confuse them?
Can you confound them?
Can you mess with their minds, in other words, okay?
So what is it, verse number 4, let's look at it again
Let them, those are the enemies, be confounded
And put to shame that seek after my soul
Let them be turned back and brought to confusion
That devise my hurt
Now I was looking up the dictionary definition of the word confound or confused
And the favourite one that popped up for me
And I'll just tell you what it is
My favourite definition that I saw there
Was to throw the mind into disorder
To throw the mind into disorder
So instead of asking the Lord to imprison his enemies
Instead of asking the Lord that they would be destroyed by
Some other powerful enemy of maybe that they might have, alright?
Instead of asking the Lord to maybe cause them to fall sick
Actually the Psalmist says, God, can you mess with their minds?
Can you cause their minds to be disordered
So they don't know their plan of attack against me
And you know, this is one sure way that God may very well use
His chastisement or his defence or his attack
Against those that are striving to hurt his people
And you know, when I understood this part of God
When I understood that he's someone that can mess with people's minds
A lot of these psalms really started to speak to me in a great way
I started to realise, wow, this is found a lot of times in the Bible, okay?
Where God would act in this way
And so, you know, I guess when we think about God messing with some people's minds
I guess the first thought that we would get is of course the reprobate, okay?
Now, let me just quickly read to you from Romans 1.28
It says, for even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge
God gave them over to a reprobate mind
To do those things which are not convenient, okay?
So there are certain people, and I'm not going to teach you on reprobates today
But there are certain people that do not want to retain God in their knowledge, okay?
They don't want to be thinking about God, they don't want to praise God
They don't want to think about him as creator
They hate God, they hate the concept of God
Well, God gets to a point when he gives them over to a reprobate mind
He messes with their mind, the word reprobate means rejected, okay?
And they can no longer think like a normal human being, okay?
This is why they end up doing, you know, disgusting, unnatural sins, you know?
Such as homosexuality and things like that
But God can give people over to a reprobate mind
Those that have rejected him, those that do not want to think about him
We're not talking about Christians here, we're talking about God haters, okay?
These are people that never got saved, but they've heard of God
They've heard of his salvation, and they've rejected Jesus outright
Again, we don't know exactly at what point that line is crossed with God
But surely he can mess with people's minds, okay?
He gives them over to a reprobate mind
And of course that is a permanent thing, okay?
The mind there is permanently destroyed
That mind and that heart of that reprobate can no longer believe on the gospel
Can no longer believe on Jesus Christ
And they will, they're damned
They're on their, you know, they're breathing the last breaths before they're cast into hell
There's nothing they can do to change their eternal destination
But can you please keep your finger there in Psalm 35 and turn to Daniel chapter 4
Turn to Daniel chapter 4
Because I'm going to be looking at four groups where God may mess with people's minds
And understand for what purpose and what could that look like
So let's go to Daniel chapter 4 and verse number 31
Daniel chapter 4 and verse number 31
Actually it's four groups, not necessarily where God necessarily messes their mind
But we might have people in this world where their minds are messed up, okay?
Where they are mentally handicapped to some extent
The next time, the next group of people that we might see where God will mess with someone's mind
Is to bring somebody into humility, okay?
So when we turn to Daniel chapter 4 we're dealing with King Nebuchadnezzar
Who thought too highly of himself, you know, if we read the whole passage
We know that he was very proud
He doesn't recognise that God gave him his kingdom and he thinks it's all about himself
And, you know, God warned Nebuchadnezzar that if he does this that God will mess with his mind
So let's look at Daniel chapter 4 verse number 31
And again Nebuchadnezzar here at this point is not saved, okay?
He's an unsaved heathen king
But it says in Daniel 4 31
While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying
O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken
The kingdom is departed from thee
And they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field
They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen
And seven times shall pass over that seven years
Until thou know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will
So Nebuchadnezzar is going to face his judgment of God
Where he's going to be cast out of men and he's going to start eating grass like an ox
Like a cow
That's going to be his food, he's just going to go find a field and start eating the grass
He's going to be driven insane, alright?
Let's keep going, verse number 33
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar
And he was driven from men and he did eat grass as oxen
And his body was wet with the dew of heaven
Till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws
So he's there for seven years, he's lost his mind for seven years
And his nails grow and they look like claws
His hair grows and he gets long hair or whatever
He doesn't fix himself up, I mean this guy looks like an animal
He's eating grass of the field, he's gone insane
Look at verse number 34
And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven
And mine understanding returned unto me
In other words he lost his understanding
He was confused, he was confounded, this was a judgment from God
Now he wasn't given over to a reprobate mind
Remember the reprobate is a permanent alteration of their mind
This was something temporary, this was a seven year thing
Seven years of being driven insane by God
Understanding returned unto me
And then it says, and I blessed the most high
And I praised and honored him that liveth forever
Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion
And his kingdom is from generation to generation
So you can see where God has allowed Nebuchadnezzar to be messed with in his mind
Where he's driven to be humbled
He's understanding, his sanity returns to him
And he realizes God did this to me
And then he seeks to worship God
He recognizes the God of Daniel, the God of the Bible
And I believe King Nebuchadnezzar gets saved here
Definitely because this is King Nebuchadnezzar's testimony
Of how he came to worship the God of the Bible
And so that's the second group there
Where God can mess with the mind of another unbeliever
But to bring them to humility
They've been too proud, they've been too lifted up
And God does it so they will be drawn toward the Lord
So Nebuchadnezzar was never somebody that outright rejected God
In fact he never rejected God
He just tried to add God to all his other Babylonian's God that he had
But the reprobate actually hates God completely
Doesn't want anything to do with God
And that's why it takes permanent damage to their brain
The reprobate mind
And so we've got the reprobate which is permanent
And then we have this temporary alteration of the mind
Where Nebuchadnezzar is driven insane for seven years
Alright
The third group in the Bible that we see that seemingly lose their mind
And if you can please turn to Luke chapter 8
Luke chapter 8, we read a lot about it especially in the gospels
The four gospels of Jesus Christ
It's those that have been possessed by devils
Now I have no reason to not believe that there are still people that are possessed by devils today
And you might see somebody lose their mind, completely lose their mind
And they might be taken to some mental institution
Or they might be considered insane
But it's not really that their mind has been messed with by God
But rather that they've opened themselves up to some evil spirit to destroy them
Okay
And we're not going to go too far into this because this is again
This is not God directly affecting a man
This is just somebody opening themselves up to a devil destroying their minds and destroying their bodies
And in Luke chapter 8 we have the story of a man that was possessed by the legion of devils
Okay
And then Christ delivers him
But I just want you to notice verse number 35
Luke 8 35
So once Christ delivers the devils out of this man
It says
And they were afraid
Okay
So Jesus not only cast out the devils
But he restored that man's mind
Of course once those devils were gone
That man was going to be put back at his right mind
So this is another
This is a third category
Where people can lose their minds again
It's not the work of God
But they've allowed a devil or devils to come and possess them
And to destroy their life
Okay
Destroy their minds
And then we have the fourth group
And the fourth group of people
Are people with genuine, you know, mental disorders
And the reason for this isn't because God has judged them
The reason for this isn't because they're possessed by some devil
It's simply because we live in a sin-cursed world
And our bodies are deteriorating
Okay
We have genetic defects
And, you know, we all have genetic problems
Okay
There's no like superior human being on this earth without some genetic issue
Everyone's got some issue
Everyone's got their sin-cursed body
We're all going to die one day
This body deteriorates
Okay
No matter how much you try to look after and protect it
One day it's going to pass away
Alright
But some people have genetic issues that affect their minds
Okay
So you might think about a child that might be born with Down syndrome
Okay
Or maybe not even born that way
But they might have a serious concussion
A serious head injury
You know
Just in life
Maybe in a sporting accident
A car accident
And they've suffered brain damage
Okay
And again this is not God coming in and just making it happen
It's just because of the sin-cursed world
The consequences of a sinful nature and a cursed world
Where unfortunately this happens to many people
Again it's not a supernatural
It's just a damage of the mind
Okay
And, you know, other people might have chemical imbalances in the brain
That affect maybe hormones
And that can cause people to be bipolar
People get labelled with different kinds of mental disorders
And I'm not a medical expert here
I think that a lot of people are diagnosed with mental issues that have no mental problems at all
They're just different
We're all different
But because they're not within social norms
They're considered to be some type of mental patient
You know
We're all different
I recognise that
But then there are obviously some people that are born with these issues
You know
We often look at people that are diagnosed with depression
And I never understood this before
Because I used to think
How can you be diagnosed with depression?
How is this a mental disorder?
Because I used to think
Well, you know, we all get depressed, don't we?
We all get saddened
We all get stressed
We all get worried and frustrated
You know
Are we all suffering from depression then?
Do we all need to be treated?
But what I understood once was made clear to me
Is that people that are suffering from depression
That are clinically diagnosed as depressed
It's more to do because they've lost the mental capacity
To overcome difficult situations
A normal person with normal mental abilities
Will go through sorrow
Will go through depression
Will go through sadness
But then they have the mental capacity to find a solution
Say, okay, this is how I'm going to work my way out of this situation
You know
I'm going to take steps moving forward
To get myself out of this
So I can overcome
Whereas somebody that is diagnosed with depression
From what I've heard anyway
It's that the mental ability to get them out of that situation
To create a plan to overcome the sorrow and the sadness
It doesn't work
Okay
There's a problem there
And so they're suffering from some type of mental issue
Which might be genetic
Okay
And so I'm not going to go into all of that in any great depth
We're primarily looking at when God will mess the minds of our enemies
Okay
And God can have a hand there
So again, let me just tell you what those four grips are
Number one, where God, you know, gives someone over to a reprobate mind
Which is permanent
Number two, where God allows somebody to go temporarily insane
Okay
In order to be humbled and to see the power of God
We have number three, where God doesn't necessarily do this
But somebody, a man, allows devils to corrupt their minds
Okay
Number four, people are just born with genetic issues
That's just the way of the world
Okay
And so these are, you know, different groups of people
Maybe suffering with mental issues
Now, as I said, the title for the sermon tonight was
Confounded and Confused
Now, we can all feel confused sometimes
You know, we might have different options in life
And we say, look, I'm a little bit confused
I'm not sure which option to take here
But you're in your fine mental state
Okay
It's not that you're confused in the sense of the psalm
You know, it's just that, hey, you're not sure which way to go
You might look at a Bible passage and you go, well, that Bible passage, it's a bit confusing
But again, we don't mean it in the same context as this psalm
Because God is not the author of confusion
Okay
God wants to reveal his truth to us
Okay
This is the point where somebody just literally cannot think clearly
Okay
He was once an enemy trying to hurt the psalmist or hurt you
And you've asked God, God has stepped in
He's messing their minds
And that person no longer knows how to hurt you
No longer knows how to attack you
And they start making and saying stupid things
That ultimately lead to their own destruction
That's what we're looking at here in this psalm
So let's keep going there
Go back to Psalm 35
If you turned away, Psalm 35 and verse number 5
Psalm 35 verse 5 says
Let them, those that are confused and confounded, let them be as chaff before the wind
And let the angel of the Lord chase them
Alright, so we looked at the chaff before
It's a chaff which blows away when you're growing crops
And the idea that I get here about being confounded and confused and being blown away
Is that it's kind of like the psalmist is asking this enemy, can you make him a has-been
When I think about a has-been, I think about child Hollywood actors
Children that got into Hollywood really early and they become really popular
And then it's like, you know, what's happened to them, right?
Many years go by, you don't hear about that individual
What's happened to them, right?
They become popular, they become full of pride
They become very wealthy at a very early age
And then they become insignificant
They become like chaff that gets blown away
They were somebody at one point and then they become insignificant
And then when you find out, well, what happened to that child star?
What happened to that Hollywood star?
You find out they're filled with drugs
You find out that maybe they've ended their life early
They're imprisoned, they're, you know, whatever
They're alcoholics, they've been divorced five times and remarried five times
You know why that happens?
Because they've become confused and confounded
They've been overwhelmed with the popularity
Overwhelmed with all the pleasures, so-called pleasures of this world
And God, you know, has allowed in His power to just confuse their minds
And you're just wondering, what happened to them?
That was so promising and I don't think that
Because I think all actors are trash anyway
All Hollywood actors are trash
But, you know, that's what people say
They're so promising, they've got a bright future
And then you find out they're destroying their lives
They've gone insane, they've gone crazy
And you're like, I just don't understand, how did they become?
Well, the reason you don't understand is because you have sanity of mind
You know, God many times can step in and destroy people's minds on purpose
Because they've lifted themselves up against the Lord
Let's keep going
Verse number six
Let their way be dark and slippery
And let the angel of the Lord persecute them
Remember, this is a godly man telling God
Can you send your angel to persecute my enemy?
Can you make their way dark and slippery, okay?
So, Lord, can you just turn off the lights there?
Right, when something is dark, you can't see clearly
You don't know what steps to take, right?
And it's slippery, meaning that you're going to slip, you're going to fall
And so this enemy once had, you know, tactics against the Psalmist
Or maybe against you, you can put yourself in this situation
If you've been persecuted by people
And you're asking God, can you make their ways very dark?
Don't give them light, don't allow them to think of a good plan to attack me
In fact, make them slip, Lord
Make them hurt themselves, make them fall and hurt themselves
Because they're so confused and so confounded
And brethren, I've, you know, I've dealt with this in my life
Where I've had enemies
And all of a sudden, you know, it seems like they've got a plan
And all of a sudden, they just trip over themselves, all right?
Or they just end up hanging themselves, figuratively speaking, right?
You've given them too much rope and they hang themselves
It's like they don't even know what to do, they don't even know what to think
They don't know how to move forward in their attack
And I truly believe it's because God steps in many times
And defends you, attacks those enemies and confounds them
Confuses them, messes up their minds, okay?
And they cannot think clearly
I would hate to receive the judgment of God
The chastisement of God in this way
You know, I have wife, many kids, you know, two churches to oversee
And I would hate for God to step in and confuse me, confound me
I just didn't even know, what do we do? I don't know
And the steps you take are dark and slippery and you fall and you hurt yourself
But this is one sure way that God can attack your enemies
And you need to think about this
If you have people that seem to be on your back
On your case, just trying to hurt you
You may need to go to the Lord in prayer
This imprecatory prayer like this
And ask God, can you please mess with their minds?
Let's keep going, verse number seven
So the Bible says, look, let them be caught unaware
Let them fall in their own traps
Can you keep your finger there and go to Esther chapter seven
I think the book of Esther has one of the best stories
Of somebody falling in their own traps, okay?
They set a trap to hurt others
But then they fall in their own trap
And Esther chapter seven, please, Esther chapter seven, verse number three
Esther chapter seven, verse number three
We have the story of Haman and his hatred toward the Jews
And his hatred toward these people that have been taken into captivity
And he sought to destroy, to kill all, to wipe out all the Jews in the land of Persia
And we have the great story of Esther
A very courageous, godly woman who sought to protect her people
And let's just fast forward to the story here in Esther chapter seven, verse number three
and my people at my request
Before I keep reading, I should say that Haman
He was basically like second in command on the kingdom, okay?
And he was thinking that the king thought well of him
He thought the queen, Queen Esther, thought well of him
You know, he thought that he was going to be, you know, just paraded
And received by the masses
And his name was going to be great
Haman was caught unaware
The whole time he's seeking and plotting to destroy the people of God
And he's caught unaware
Verse number four, what does Esther say?
For we are sowed, I and my people, to be destroyed
To be slain and to perish
But if we had been sowed for bondmen and bondwomen
I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage
Then the king, Ahasuerus, answered and said unto Esther the queen
Who is he? And where is he that dost presume in his heart to do so?
Who is this guy that's trying to destroy the Jews?
Who is this guy who's trying to kill you, Esther?
Well, it says there in verse number six
And Esther said, the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman
Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen
So Haman's plans are found out, okay?
He did not realize that the queen herself was a Jew
And that by trying to kill all the Jews
He was out actually hurting the queen herself, okay?
So now he's afraid, what's going to happen?
Drop down to verse number nine
It says, and Habonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king
Behold also the gallows fifty cubits high
Which Haman had made for Mordecai
So Haman had made these gallows, okay, to hang Mordecai
What fifty cubits high, who had spoken good for the king
Standeth in the house of Haman
Then the king said, hang him thereon
So they hanged Haman on the gallows
That he had prepared for Mordecai
Then was the king's wrath pacified, okay?
So when we look at the fact that the psalmist is asking
That God would mess with someone's mind
That they would be caught unaware, okay?
So in other words, we're praying that this enemy of ours
Would lack situational awareness, okay?
That would lose the ability to understand
What is developing around them, the environment around them
And when things are turning against them
They still think they're going to win
They still think they're going to defeat their enemies
But the whole time the tables have been turning
And eventually you see the same thing that he had planned
To do to Mordecai
He ended up suffering himself
He was hung himself
And this is a great example of somebody spreading the net
Creating a situation to hurt somebody
And then they fall into their own trap
Again, God can cause somebody to be mentally blinded
Confused, distraught, unable to think clearly
Where they fall into their own trap
I think this is a great prayer to pray
Again, I've seen it in my life
And I've seen it in other people's lives
Where God has come in and defended them
From the enemies that sought to hurt them, okay?
Back in Psalm 35, verse number 9, Psalm 35, verse 9
Now you say, Pastor Kevin, are you sure we should be praying for this?
God, can you mess the minds of my enemies?
Can you cause them confusion?
Can you cause them to be confounded?
Can you make their ways dark and slippery, Lord?
Can you cause them to fall into their own trap?
Lord, I want to see them destroyed by their own hands
Are you sure, Pastor, that this is a good prayer to pray?
Absolutely, look at verse number 9
And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord
It shall rejoice in his salvation
So the psalmist is saying, when I see you confound the Lord
When I see them confused and blinded
And unable to attack me anymore
And they destroy themselves
He says, I'm going to rejoice about it, praise God
Yes, this is in our Bibles
Yes, not many churches like to preach on these psalms
But these are wonderful psalms
They give you great comfort
Not great comfort, but it gives you great comfort
To know that God can help you in such a manner
Verse number 10
All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?
Who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him?
Yea, the poor and the needy, from him that spoileth him
Can you please keep your finger there and go to Proverbs 24
Keep your finger there in Psalm 35 and turn to Proverbs 24
Is it right to rejoice when we see our enemies destroy themselves?
Absolutely
Now there is a proverb here that I want you to read
And it's not a contradiction in the Bible
It's just understanding this in the right way
I want you to rejoice
When you see God's hand against an enemy
And he wipes them out for you
I want you to rejoice in the right way
So Proverbs 24 verse number 17
It says, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth
And let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth
So should we rejoice when our enemy falls?
Because Proverbs says don't, don't rejoice
But he said, Pastor Gavin, you just told us to rejoice
Well, let's keep going, verse number 18
Let the Lord see it, and it displeased him
And he turned away his wrath from him
You see, when you rejoice in the wrong way
It will displease God
And God will no longer continue pouring out his wrath on your enemy
So you say, what do we do, Pastor? Do we rejoice or do we not rejoice?
Of course we rejoice, but we rejoice in the right way
You know, when we see our enemy defeated by the hand of God
We ought not to be like, ah, sucked in, you're an idiot
You deserve, look what happened to you and rejoice over there falling
No, we ought to rejoice and say, God, thank you for helping me
Lord, thank you for stepping in
We're rejoicing in God's salvation
We're not rejoicing at seeing somebody hurt themselves
We would rather, wouldn't we rather be their friends?
Wouldn't we rather they never hurt us?
Wouldn't we rather that they love the Lord?
Wouldn't we rather they believe in the gospel and be saved?
We don't want to see them just destroyed for the sake of being destroyed
But when we see them destroyed, we also turn to God and say, God, I rejoice in you
I rejoice in your salvation
I've seen your hand, Lord, and that will please the Lord
But when we're just there mocking our enemy that has fallen
Ah, you're an idiot, you're stupid, look what God has done to you
That's going to displease God
Because your heart's not in the right place
When we rejoice
When we rejoice, when we say our enemies fall
We turn and rejoice in the Lord
Lord, thank you for helping me
Thank you for delivering me
Thank you for your salvation
Back to Psalm 35
So the question becomes
And I think as we're looking for this psalm
You know, when should we pray this prayer?
When should we get to the point where we go to the Lord and say, Lord, I want you to mess with their minds
Please confuse them
Please confound them
We'll sandwich from this point, I believe, all the way to verse number 26
We get the description of an enemy
Where, you know, biblically speaking, you are in your right to go to the Lord and ask him to confuse them
Because if you drop down to verse number 26
In the psalm, drop down to verse number 26
It says, let them be ashamed
And brought to confusion, there it is again, together that rejoice at my hurt
So you can see when we get to verse number 26, he hasn't really changed topics here
But he's still talking about those that he's asking God to confuse
So sandwich from here to verse number 26
The description of the enemy
When you sort of identify your personal enemy as someone like this
Then you can say, well I know this is when I can go to the Lord and pray for God to confound them
So let's keep going there in Psalm 35 verse 11
Verse number 11
So this is what the enemy of David is doing
False witnesses did rise up
They laid to my charge things that I knew not
So false witnesses
So when people start to lie about you
They lay to your charge, they say, you said you're going to do this
You said you're going to do that
You did this and you did that and it's all a lie
It's false witnesses
At that point, you know, hey this is an enemy that I can pray for
That God would confuse, that God would confound
Let's keep going, verse number 12
So what does David, what does the Psalmist do?
Is the Psalmist doing evil to his enemy?
No, it says, they rewarded me evil for good
I've done them good
But they've done me evil to the spoiling of my soul
Well you know what, if you've done good to people
Even when you know they don't deserve it
You know, and they turn around, they do evil
They harm you, they hurt you
This is the time for you to pray an imprecatory prayer like this
And ask for God to confuse and confound them
Verse number 13
I believe what it's saying there, my prayer returned into my own bosom
I believe it's saying that I prayed privately, you know, for this person
You know, I've thought about this person
I've seen them hurting
I've fasted for them
Hey, he's doing good toward his enemies
He's fasted for them when he's seen his enemies sick
He's prayed for them, not only with them, but privately
He's gone to his house, he's thought about them
He's praying privately
Obviously, this guy, you know, the Psalmist
And what you should be doing to your enemies
Is doing good, pray for their good, okay?
But then, obviously, when they do evil back to you
And they can turn around and say, well God
Now is the time for me to ask you to please defend me
Please attack my enemy
Please cause them to be confused and confounded
Verse number 14
The point being here, brethren
Is that if you've wronged somebody
Okay, you've done wrong, you've done evil
You've hurt somebody
And then they've responded in a hurtful way
That's not the time for you to pray
An imprecatory prayer
Cause they're responding from the wrong that you've done
The point here is
That if you treated that person as a friend
As a brother, you know
And they've turned around and they've backstabbed you
They've hurt you
Now you have the liberties
Now you're justified to go before God
And pray an imprecatory prayers
Let's keep going, verse number 15
Notice that it's not just one
When you've got that personal enemy
They want to gather others with them
They want to turn others against you
It says
So when's another time
What kind of person should we be praying imprecatory prayers toward?
Somebody that gets together with other people
They conspire against you
He says
So it's a secret thing, right?
They're getting together secretly
To turn against you, to do you harm
And when you find out about that
And they tear into you
That's when you ought to go to the Lord
Lord, please confound my enemy
Please confuse them
Verse number 16
With hypocritical mockers in feasts
They gnashed upon me with their teeth
Okay
So when you're hypocritically mocked
That's another time
That's another person that you ought to be praying imprecatory prayers against
Now brethren
I've said it many times
I'm pretty sarcastic
And I can mock
Maybe I go a bit overboard sometimes
I laugh at people
I like to keep things light and friendly
I can laugh and mock at myself too
You know
But the difference between just having a joke around
You know, for fun
And look at the kind of mocking that this is
It says
So obviously this mocking is to destroy
Okay
It's to destroy somebody
It's not just to laugh around and have a good time
It's to absolutely embarrass and destroy an individual
Okay
But it's not just mocking here
It's not just when somebody mocks you
They are hypocritically, hypocritical mockers
Meaning that they are
They're critical of you
They're critical of your actions
But they do the same thing
Or they do even worse
Okay
Have you ever come across somebody like that
That criticizes your behavior
Criticizes what you've done
But you know that they're the same
They do the same
Or they've done even worse than what you've done
I hate hypocrisy
You know, I hate it
And it's just one of the worst things
That gets under my skin Reverend
Okay
But hey, that's a great time
Someone is hypocritically mocking you
That's a great time to praise the Lord
That he would confound them
You know, the term that I've heard get thrown away in the last
I don't know if this term
I'm sure it existed before
But the word projection
The idea of projection is the idea where
You know, you would criticize somebody
For something
But what you're really doing is you're projecting
So you might say to somebody
Hey, you're a racist
But you're just projecting that racism
And you're a little racist
Okay
You might say, hey, I don't know
You know, this person is slothful and sluggard
You know, but really you're projecting
Your slothfulness, your slugginess
Towards somebody else
And of course that would be hypocrisy
Because you're the one that's actually with that sin
And those struggles
But you're trying to make other people look like that way
So you feel better about yourself
Okay
Well, you know what
When people are accusing you falsely like that
Hypocritically
You ought to be praying that the Lord will judge that individual
Let's keep going
Verse number 17
And these are verses that I like in the Psalms
Because, you know, we're just men
We're just flesh and blood
And when we're asking for the Lord to defend us
And to judge our enemies
It can seem like that God takes a long time
You know, we want God to deal with something very swiftly, very quickly
But you need to understand that God can see
You know, obviously the future
He knows the future
And God sometimes will allow things to play out
To the point where your enemy is not just defeated
You know, in the battle
But that he's defeated in the whole war
Many times
God will just allow the things to continue for
His wrath to be built up against that enemy
And you've just got to be patient with the Lord's timing
Now, what I like about verse number 17
It just shows the realism of the human nature
Because the Psalmist is saying
Lord, how long will thou look on?
How long, Lord, are you going to keep watching?
My enemies hurt me
Rescue my soul from their destructions
My darling from the lions
So you can see the Psalmist becoming impatient
Lord, how long, when are you going to step in, Lord?
When are you going to defend me?
When are you going to attack my enemies?
When are you going to make them confounded and confused?
And again, you know, if you have been praying these kinds of prayers
And you've got enemies
And you just don't see them being defeated
Just realize that this is part of human nature
We can all become impatient like this
But again, this is in the Bible
So we know that, no, don't worry
God's timing will come, okay
And he will destroy our enemies in his due time
Let's keep going to verse number 18
And then he says
I will give thee thanks in the great congregation
I will praise thee among much people
So he says, look, when you deliver me, Lord
When you confuse and confound my enemy
You know what I'm going to do, Lord?
I'm going to praise you
I'm going to go to the great congregation
Hey, I'm going to go to church
And I'm going to tell everybody
I'm going to testify how you have delivered me
And you've caused my enemies to become confounded and confused
Now, I can't remember that testimony recently in church, do you?
I don't know
But this is something like we often rejoice when we see souls saved
We might rejoice when we've been sick
And we see God deliver us from some sickness
But I haven't heard many times people come to church
And say, Brevin, let me tell you a story
I had this enemy come to me
And I prayed some imprecatory prayer
God destroyed him
Praise God, I'm going to rejoice the Lord in the great congregation
Hey, but it's something biblical
It's something we should do
You know, giving great testimonies like this
When God has delivered you from the hands of your enemies
Verse number 19
Let not them that are mine enemies
Wrongfully rejoice over me
Neither let them wink with the eye
That hate me without a cause
For they speak, not peace
But they devise deceitful matters against them
That are quiet in the land
So these enemies of the psalmist
They kind of mock you for sport
Alright
And they get a kick out of seeing you suffer
The psalmist is saying, God, don't give them that satisfaction
Don't let them be satisfied when they
Don't let them succeed in their plans
Because they're going to rejoice over me
When they hurt me and they see me fall
And they see me struggle
They see me cry
They see me get depressed, Lord
Don't let them be satisfied when that happens
Of course, you know, if they're confused and confounded
They're not going to be able to think straight
They're not going to find satisfaction in hurting God's people
Verse number 21
Ah ha! Ah ha!
Our eye has seen it
So what are these wicked people like?
Well, when you've got a wicked person
That's just constantly watching you
Constantly just seeing, watching you fail
Their eyes are upon you
And boy, I've seen this online
Where you have some great men of God
Some great pastors
And look, every pastor is just a human being
Every pastor is not perfect
Every pastor can say some wrong things
Or do some wrong things
But you've got enemies online
And they're just watching every sermon
They're watching every video
Just to go, ah ha! Ah ha!
Our eye has seen it
We've seen you fail
Listen, if you watch someone long enough
Of course you're going to see them fail
If someone watches me long enough
They're going to see me fail
If I watch you long enough
I'm going to watch you fail
But these are wicked people
The only reason they watch
Is to see some mistake
Some slip of the tongue
And again, these are the kinds of enemies
They're not there to be your friend
They're there to waste your time
And watch you fall
Let's pray that these people
Get confused and confounded
That God will go on the attack
In our war against these enemies
Verse number 22
This thou hast seen, O Lord
Keep not silence
O Lord, be not far from me
So it says, Lord, you've seen
What the enemies have done
And I think that's, again
That's very encouraging
Because people can hurt you
And they might do it behind the scenes
Or secretly
And you're like, you know
It's done secretly so nobody knows
But you know someone's trying to hurt you
You know so many people are trying to attack you
But you just don't know how to respond to it
Because if you start saying
Well, this person's a wicked person
They can sit around and say
Well, what have we done?
Because it's all done secretly
But remember, God sees all things
And this should give us great comfort
Because God sees it when people hurt you
When people are plotting against you
When people are trying to hurt you
God sees their actions
Okay
Look at verse number 23
Stir up thyself
And awake to my judgment
Even unto my cause
My God and my Lord
Now what I thought was interesting in this psalm
Instead of the psalmist saying
God, can you judge my enemy
And of course, God will judge the enemy
But the psalmist is saying
Lord, can you awake to my judgment
He's saying, can you judge me
He says, even to my cause
My judgment, my cause
He's saying, why would the psalmist be saying that to the Lord
Well, let's keep going to Psalm 24
Again, it says, judge me
O Lord my God
According to thy righteousness
And let them not rejoice over me
Okay
So we want to remember that
We may want to see God's hand
A certain way against our enemies
Again, maybe the timing
We want God to deal with it quickly
Or we want God to deal with it a certain way
Okay
But really, when God's judgment falls
God's going to do it his righteous way
Right
Judge me, O Lord, according to thy righteousness
Lord, you judge it righteously
And so God may judge the situation differently
Than what you hoped for
Okay
The other thing the psalmist is saying, judge me
Am I, Lord, can you truly look down upon me
And say that what I'm suffering against this enemy
That that's the right judgment for me
You know, is it right for me to go through
This punishment or, you know, these attacks
From the enemy
Can you judge me according to your righteousness, Lord
And again, I think this is very wise
Not just asking God, can you judge my enemy
Can you destroy my enemies
But can you judge me righteously as well
Okay
And, you know, this will help you accept
When God does pass judgment
And it might not be the kind of judgment you hoped for
That you wished for
But when it falls, you can say, well, God judged righteously
He knew better than me
Okay
Verse number 25
Let them not say in their hearts
Ah, so we would have it
Let them not say, we have swallowed them up
Again, he's asking God, don't give them satisfaction
Don't let them think they've beat me
Because, Lord, I'm your child, I'm your son
I don't want, you know
I don't mind them, you know, constantly trying to hurt
Like, you know, be seeking to hurt me
But I don't want them to be satisfied
I don't want them to succeed
I don't want them to see my fall
Okay
Verse number 26
Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion
Together that rejoice at mine hurts
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
That magnify themselves against me
So the Simon's saying, Lord, again
Please confuse them, please confound them
Okay
To the point where by them being confused and confounded
They start doing stupid things
They start saying the wrong things
They start acting the wrong way
That it brings, they close them with shame
That they're ashamed for what they've done
Where before other people, other people would look at them
And say, hey, you guys are idiots
You know, you should be ashamed for the way you're behaving
And dishonor
That they would be dishonored by their behavior
So again, this is one way God may very well judge our enemies
To cause them confusion and be confounded
Where their actions no longer look right or sane
And they just dishonor
Whatever honor they may have had, you know, before other people
In the eyes of others
Now they've lost their whole reputation
Right
People think of them like complete morons
For the way they've behaved
And yeah, surely that's what happens when people are confused and confounded
They perform the wrong way
They say the wrong things
They do the wrong things
And then their weakness is on show for everybody else
They're ashamed
They're dishonored
Verse number 27
Then it says
Let them shout for joy
Who's them?
Let them shout for joy and be glad
Who's these?
That favor my righteous cause
Yea, let them say continually
Let the Lord be magnified
Which have pleasure in the prosperity of his servants
And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness
And of thy praise all the day long
So it's saying
Not only is it saying Lord judge my enemies and confuse them
But Lord for those that have supported me
Those that have been behind me
Those that have helped me in this time of battle
That have supported me against all these other enemies
Lord we're all going to shout for joy together
Right
That favor my righteous cause
Those that have looked upon me favorably
Those that came to my aid and helped them
Lord we're going to rejoice together
We're going to rejoice that you have stepped in Lord
And defeated my enemies that you've stepped in
And you've saved me from this problem
We're going to rejoice together
And again that's the thought
Where hey we need to come to church sometimes
And bring that great testimony
When God has delivered you from the hands of the enemy
And we ought to rejoice together
Alright
And I think sometimes you know
It changes the way we sort of process sometimes information
Because we might go to church and share something like this
And say yeah you know this guy that was trying to hurt me
Or this enemy of mine that was trying to you know dishonor me or something
And they've been sorted out
And we're like oh yeah how sad
Yeah you know
Wishing didn't come to that
But other you know we should be going
No praise God that he's delivered us
Praise God rejoice in the Lord that he's our great savior
That he answers our prayers
That he causes our enemies to be confused and confounded
And so brethren in conclusion
Psalm 35 is another imprecatory prayer
You know
And again
There aren't many churches that will preach on these psalms
Okay
Or they'll try to justify or explain away
And say well this is not how we ought to pray today
But God has given us his word
You know every word of God is pure
Okay
You know God has given us these psalms
You know all scripture is given by inspiration of God
And we ought to learn from this
You know
I mean when have you prayed like
When's the last time you've prayed like this
Well hopefully you haven't had too many enemies to pray
But when you've had enemies
And you've gone through problems and hardships
Have you turned around and prayed like this
Well this is why we got a psalm like Psalm 35
So we can learn
We can identify
Say God we want you to attack this certain way
We want you to attack with confusion
We want you to mess with their minds Lord
We want them to be in a dark place
A sleepy place
Where they fall in their own nets
They hurt themselves
They destroy themselves Lord
And you know you've given us this psalm
So you can help us identify the kind of personality
The kind of enemy that deserve this kind of prayer
And I think if we pause
And think about our lives
Where people have been harmful and hurtful
We can probably think back and say
Yeah there were people in my life that were like this to me
And you know next time this happens
Or maybe you're in a situation right now
Maybe you have an enemy right now that's seeking to hurt you
In a similar way to Psalm 35
Well you know what
Stop praying that God will bless them
And pray that God will curse them
Pray that God will confuse and confound their minds
This is biblical, this is proper
And again we have this in the Bible
So God can teach us to pray in the right way
Okay let's pray