The blessings and the life that you've given us this week.
Lord, we ask your blessing on our time tonight as we look at your word, as we sing, as we remember who you are, how great you are, and how much you love us.
We thank you for that, Lord. Amen.
We sing a song.
Psalm 75.
This one's actually a song, which is good.
It's kind of just the thought of being able to spend some time reading over and meditating something that, you know,
the people of Israel sang.
It says in some of the Bible that it was according to do not destroy.
So the thought behind that is that could be like the melody or something that the singers,
the people in charge of worship, knew the song by and the song kind of went by.
So I don't really have a specific time or event that this song was sung.
But nonetheless, it's one that is encouraging and also eye-opening because it deals with the pride of wicked people.
And God talks about dealing with them, which is difficult to sing.
But at the same time, we sing to that and we sing praise to God.
So I'm going to read through the whole thing and then we'll just break it down.
Verse 1.
We give thanks to you, O God.
We give thanks for your name is near.
We recount your wondrous deeds.
At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity.
When the earth totters and all its inhabitants, it is I who keeps steady its pillars, Selah.
I say to the boastful, do not boast.
And to the wicked, do not lift up your horn.
Do not lift up your horn on high or speak with haughty neck.
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up.
But it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
For in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it.
And all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
But I will declare it forever.
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
All the horns of the wicked I will cut off.
But the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
At times, I'm not sure exactly how you might sing that in a corporate worship setting.
But I'm sure the singing was different back then than it is now.
And nonetheless, it's helpful for us to go through these.
We give thanks to you, O God.
It is not to ourselves that we're looking.
It's not to ourselves that we're giving praise.
But it's to God.
So it's repeated there.
We give thanks for your name is near.
And we recount your wondrous deeds.
This is something that repeats a lot in the Psalms.
Is David or other authors of the Psalms just rehearsing what God has done.
And this is really something that's helpful.
Just remembering what God does and how he blesses us.
Especially at times where we're struggling.
Especially, you know, times where we feel like things aren't going well.
Or there's more bad than good.
It's helpful to go over all the things that God has done for us.
So this is what the Israelites are doing.
And we recount your wondrous deeds.
How he rescued them from slavery.
How he brought them up from the Red Sea.
How he fed them through the wilderness.
And he brought them into the land that he promised them.
Even now, during this time, he's raising up kings for them.
And he's giving them prosperity.
And he's making them victorious over the enemies that are coming up against them.
And so they're recounting this.
They're giving God praise for these things.
Just praising him for his protection.
For his providence and his grace.
So just things that are helpful to us.
Again, just to remind ourselves of the wondrous deeds that God has done for us.
And his ongoing grace for us are proofs that he is ever with us.
So that's the thought of when it says that your name is near.
Jesus is with us.
Is what that means.
Matthew 28, verse 20.
Jesus says,
And behold, I am with you always.
Even to the end of the age.
So after he gives the command to go and make disciples.
He's also quick to give that reassurance that I'm going to be with you.
As we look at the next few verses.
Verse 1 was the people singing this or reading this.
And verses 2 to 5, this is actually from God's perspective.
So this is God speaking as he says,
At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity or uprightnessness.
Here God is saying that not only is he the upright judge,
but he chooses the proper time for his judgment.
While his timing, as we all know, might not be what we choose,
we have to humbly trust him knowing that his timing and his judgments are right.
Dr. James Boyce says,
If judgment were left in our hands,
we would probably let it flash out against anything that displeases us whenever we see it.
But God lets evil go unchecked sometimes for a rather long time,
knowing that he has appointed a proper time when it will be brought down.
God will seize the moment.
It will be in his time.
And it will never be late.
Verse 3 says,
When the earth totters and all its inhabitants,
in some translations it says dissolved or quaked,
when the earth quakes and all of its inhabitants,
it is I, God speaking, who keeps steady its pillars.
Silah.
So the idea behind the silah is just a brief pause for meditation,
just to think about what's just been said.
When everything is becoming unloosed,
it is God who steadies the pillars.
When governments fall and nations war against each other,
which we see natural disasters,
which we see sicknesses,
death,
which we see,
we know that God is rock solid
and he's the one that holds all things together.
The pillars stand because they must,
because God is the one that upholds them.
So while these things that happen that cause us to shake
and the things around us to shake,
they're difficult,
but we can take comfort in the fact that
that God is the one that's holding all this together.
I was also reminded of just thinking of
God keeping the pillars steady.
There'll be a time where
the pillars kind of keeping the earth where it is
will be taken away,
right?
As God's judgment comes towards an end
and the old earth passes away,
the earth as we know it won't be anymore,
but during that time,
God is still going to rescue his own people,
his church.
He's going to pull them up,
keep them safe
as he gets the earth ready for
the new heaven
and the new earth
and then puts us into that.
Move down to verses four and five.
I say to the boastful,
do not boast,
and to the wicked,
do not lift up your horn.
Do not lift up your horn on high
or speak with haughty neck.
The horn here
symbolizes strength
or power.
So if you think of an animal
with a horn
or horns rather,
like a large mountain goat,
the horns are a symbol
for that goat of strength.
It's his protection.
So that's what is meant
when he's talking about the horn.
So do not lift up your horn
or speak with a haughty neck.
The haughty neck being
someone who's boastful and proud
where they're sticking their head up
and they're very proud of themselves.
James 4, 6 says,
God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.
We all know
that God is,
hates those who are proud.
The reason for that
is because pride
is us not giving praise to God
but rather praise to ourselves
from something that we did
when really it's something
that God gave us.
So it's putting yourself
in the place of God
which is one of the reasons
why he hates it
and feels the way he does about it.
If we look at verse 6 and 7,
for not from the east
or from the west
and not from the wilderness
comes lifting up
but it is God
who executes judgments
putting down one
and lifting up another.
Which is why
we're called not the boast
because the judgment
and the lifting up
and the putting down
is something that comes from God.
Things don't happen by chance
because God is in control
of those things.
The putting down of one,
the lifting up of another,
it doesn't come from
the rising or setting of the sun
which is the thought here
behind the east or the west
as the sun comes up
and as the sun goes down
from the wilderness
that is not where
it comes from
but it comes from God
and Him executing
His desire,
His judgment
on what He wants to do.
Next we see in verse 8
we see a warning
and a judgment
coming to the wicked.
For in the hand of the Lord
there is a cup
of foaming wine
in some translations
they say
wine that is red
is well mixed
and He pours out from it
and all the wicked
of the earth
shall drain it down
to the dregs.
Here's the more difficult
part of this psalm
just because
as we start to picture
the wrath of God
that He will be pouring out
to those
who remain wicked
and do not accept
Him
do not accept
the love
that He's given us
through Jesus Christ.
For in the hand
of the Lord
there is a cup
we can see from that
like the punishment
is already prepared
it's not something
that God is doing later
but He's holding a cup
so we get this picture
that
that punishment
is there
and ready
for when He decides
to
execute it
and it's for all
those who do not
follow God
those who have laughed
and rejected
His Son
His gift of love
to them
and because of that
they will be forced
to drink
the wine of wrath
at His table
of justice.
Revelation 14.10
says
the same
shall drink wine
shall drink
the wine
of the wrath
of God.
So the red wine
the
foaming
of the wine
is supposed to be
a representation
of the wrath
of God.
Well mixed
speaking of different
things that are
in the wine
like His righteous
anger
and His justice
these are all things
that are not
earthly
or human
anger
and vengeance
but it's a holy
vengeance
it's a righteous
anger.
and this is
the
what the wicked
will be forced
to drink
in the end.
So the imagery
is really strong
which was encouraging
at times
to the Israelites
because
of
the enemies
that were coming
against them.
They were looking
for some type
of justice
when there wasn't
any justice.
So it's
verses like this
not that they were
glad that this was
happening to the enemies
but they were able
to take solace
in the fact that
God does give judgment.
God does see
what's happening
to His children
and it's not
that He doesn't care
He just has a timing
that's different
than what we think.
So this judgment
here is
is a really
a horrific ending
for the wicked.
But luckily
and rejoicingly
this song
this psalm
doesn't end here.
we'll move on
to verses 9 and 10
but I will declare
it forever
I will sing praises
to the God of Jacob
all the horns
of the wicked
I will cut off
but the horns
of the righteous
shall be lifted up.
So here we have
the people of Israel
coming back
and finishing
their song.
They're rehearsing
their singing
of Jehovah's praises.
Charles Spurgeon
writes
the covenant God
who delivered Jacob
from a thousand
afflictions
our soul
shall magnify.
He has kept
his covenant
which he made
with patriarch
and has redeemed
his seed
therefore we will
spread abroad
his fame
world without end.
The idea
being that God
is in control
and the blessings
that we've been given
we don't make
ourselves proud
or boastful.
He says
all the horns
of the wicked
I will cut off.
God abhords
the proud
but he lifts up
the humble.
So if God
hates the proud
that much
because of
what they stand
for
then his church
should also
make sure
that we fight
against
pride in ourselves
and pride in what we do
pride in our church.
So just
in summary
as we look
through the
different
the highlights
of just
those ten verses
is
that we give
thanks
and we should
always be given
thanks.
Notice he repeats
that so
when we're not
giving thanks
give thanks
again.
When it's hard
give thanks.
It's our way
of reminding
ourselves
of what the
things God
has done
for us
it also
gets our
mind off
of our
troubles
here
and onto
more of
God's view
of things
as we remember
what he's done
and who he is
because as he
says
in verse
two
I will
judge
with
equity
and he
keeps the
pillars
steady
God is
the one
that's in
control
and then
further on
to protect
ourselves
against
pride
so we need
to watch
our heart
we need
to watch
our appearance
and also
our speech
and how we
talk
so areas
of pride
because the
wicked will
be judged
and we
don't want
to
not only
do we
want to
share
the gospel
with a
lost
world
but we
don't want
how we
talk
or how
we look
to keep
them from
seeing that
gospel in any
way
we don't want
to be a
stumbling block
just in the
way that we
live
because they
will be
judged
and we
don't say
that out
of
us getting
vengeance
we say
that out
of
really out
of horror
of the
just the
the
death
of
what
hell
is
the
depth
of
what
that
wrath
is
going
to
look
like
on
those
who
don't
believe
God
is
just a
scary
thing
so we
keep that
in view
to help
us
in our
sharing
that with
the world
and then
he ends
with
declaring
the
majesty
of
God
so we
sing
his
praises
not
knowing
why
God
lifts up
and tears
down
why
God
takes
a life
before we
think
it's
time
we
still
sing
his
praises
his
goodness