The God Who Knows Me (5): Counting Jehovah's Enemies as Mine (Psalm 139:19-22) by Rev. Martyn McGeown
I. Who They Are
II. My Attitude Towards Them
III. My Reason for This
C. H. Spurgeon: “Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? He was a good hater, for he hated only those who hated good. Of this hatred he is not ashamed, but he sets it forth as a virtue to which he would have the Lord bear testimony. To love all men with benevolence is our duty; but to love any wicked man with complacency would be a crime. To hate a man for his own sake, or for any evil done to us, would be wrong; but to hate a man, because he is the foe of all goodness and the enemy of all righteousness, is nothing more nor less than an obligation. The more we love God, the more indignant shall we grow with those who refuse Him their affection. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha” (The Treasury of David, vol. 3, p. 265).
James Montgomery Boice: “We say, ‘Hate the sin, but love the sinner!’ It is nice advice, but it is also hard to do since love of the sinner, if we are not extremely careful, leads first to a love of the sinner’s sinful ways and then to a participation in them. David was not at all sure that he could successfully love one and hate the other. So his decision was to separate from evil persons entirely. This separation does not mean that David never had anything to do with sinful people; he himself was one. It only means that he did not want to be with those who were openly marked by evil” (Expositional Commentary on the Psalms, vol. 3, p. 1211).