16 And to the wicked hath God said: What to thee—to recount My statutes? That thou liftest up My covenant on thy mouth? 17 Yea, thou hast hated instruction, And dost cast My words behind thee. 18 If thou hast seen a thief, Then thou art pleased with him, And with adulterers 'is' thy portion. 19 Thy mouth thou hast sent forth with evil, And thy tongue joineth deceit together, 20 Thou sittest, against thy brother thou speakest, Against a son of thy mother givest slander. 21 These thou didst, and I kept silent, Thou hast thought that I am like thee, I reprove thee, and set in array before thine eyes. 22 Understand this, I pray you, Ye who are forgetting God, Lest I tear, and there is no deliverer. 23 He who is sacrificing praise honoureth Me, As to him who maketh a way, I cause him to look on the salvation of God!
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 50:16-23
Commentary on Psalm 50:16-23
(Read Psalm 50:16-23)
Hypocrisy is wickedness, which God will judge. And it is too common, for those who declare the Lord's statutes to others, to live in disobedience to them themselves. This delusion arises from the abuse of God's long-suffering, and a wilful mistake of his character and the intention of his gospel. The sins of sinners will be fully proved on them in the judgment of the great day. The day is coming when God will set their sins in order, sins of childhood and youth, of riper age and old age, to their everlasting shame and terror. Let those hitherto forgetful of God, given up to wickedness, or in any way negligent of salvation, consider their urgent danger. The patience of the Lord is very great. It is the more wonderful, because sinners make such ill use of it; but if they turn not, they shall be made to see their error when it is too late. Those that forget God, forget themselves; and it will never be right with them till they consider. Man's chief end is to glorify God: whoso offers praise, glorifies him, and his spiritual sacrifices shall be accepted. We must praise God, sacrifice praise, put it into the hands of the Priest, our Lord Jesus, who is also the altar: we must be fervent in spirit, praising the Lord. Let us thankfully accept God's mercy, and endeavour to glorify him in word and deed.