That's a glorious thought. Our
Lord will bring us to His throne to ever, ever be with Him. I want to read a passage from
Hebrews chapter 13 if you'd like to turn with me there in your
Bibles, Hebrews 13. Most of you know that Maggie
Michael and Diane's daughter had her baby Nolan yesterday.
So Michael and Diane are proud grandparents again. He was born
yesterday at 8 pounds. Hebrews chapter 13, and I'll
begin reading at verse 9. Be not carried away with divers
and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace." You see the difference? Divers
and strange doctrines contrasted to the heart being established
with grace. Not with meats which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein. The whole sacrificial system.
that which man brings. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to
eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also that
he might sanctify the people, make them holy, with his own
blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we
no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him, therefore,
by the Lord Jesus Christ, let us offer the sacrifice of praise
to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. Pray the Lord will enable us
to do that this hour. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
you've told us to come to your throne of grace in our time of
need. Lord, when we approach you in
worship and when we open your word to find thee, we're in most
need of your grace. We ask that you would be pleased
to cause your word to be alive and effectual Cause it to speak
of Christ and to lift Him up. Cause us, Lord, to believe it
and to rejoice in it. And to wait on Thee, Lord, to
know that we have no continuing city here in this world. That
You've called us outside the camp to identify with the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ as our sacrifice for sin. We thank you for his shed blood.
We thank you for the remission of our sin. And we ask, Lord,
that you would send your Spirit and enable us to worship him. Thank you for the safe birth
of little Nolan, and pray for Michael and Diane that you would
continue to bless them with wisdom. as they seek to be a testimony
of your grace to their children and grandchildren. We ask it
in Christ's name. Amen. Let's all stand together. I am so thankful to be able to
believe that. There was a time when I couldn't
believe it. What a comfort, what a joy, what
a hope we have. I've titled the message tonight,
Two Horns, H-O-R-N-S, Two Horns. And my text is Psalm 75, if you
would like to turn there with me in your Bibles. Psalm 75. Verse 1, Unto thee, O God, do
we give thanks. And we do. The thanksgiving of our praise,
our worship. Unto thee do we give thanks.
for that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare." We've
seen that, haven't we? How the names of the Lord declare
His work, His work of redemption, His work of salvation is knit
into every one of His names. When I shall receive the congregation,
I will judge uprightly. Now here's the Lord Jesus Christ
himself speaking. He's saying, there's going to
come a day when I'm going to receive my church into glory. And when I do, I'm going to exercise
my judgment and my judgment will be judged righteously. The earth
and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved. I bear up the pillars of it. This is a glorious truth that
men don't believe. It's called the great and terrible
day of the Lord. It's great for the believer and
it's terrible for the unbeliever. It's a day of judgment. It's
a day of reconciliation. It's a day of glory and a day
of wrath. And the Lord speaks very clearly
of it. He says, As it was in the days
of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son
of Man. In the hour which you think not, the Son of Man will
come. The earth didn't believe it then,
they don't believe it now. Noah prophesied and preached
the judgment of God, and they said, Rain? What's that? We've never seen rain before.
The Lord's declared the same thing to us, hasn't He? Only
this time the judgment's not going to be water, it's going
to be fire. And He makes it clear here that this whole earth that
He is upholding will be dissolved. Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter
3. We've just sang about this. Look at verse 4 in 2 Peter chapter
3, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of. that by the word of God the heavens
were made of old and the earth standing out of water and in
water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with
water perished but the heavens and the earth which are now by
the same word are kept in store and that's what he just said
in Psalm 75 I uphold the pillars of the earth I'm restraining
my wrath but when when I receive my church into glory When the
last of my elect are brought into the family of God, then
the whole church is going to be received up into glory. Those
that are dead are going to be called up into the heavens, and
those of us that are alive will be called up together with them
in the air, and God's going to bring a cataclysmic end to this
whole thing when the last of His elect are saved. Everything
in this world is for the purpose of the salvation of God's people.
He says, the nations are dropping the bucket, they're speck on
the scale, they are nothing to him. The only thing of any value
to God in this world is his church and his people. And that's what
he said in Psalm 75. When I receive my church, then
the earth is going to be dissolved. And Peter tells us the same thing.
Look what he says. halfway through verse 7, unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is
one day. Now, if you reckon time according to what the scripture
has revealed, that means the earth is about six days old.
Six days old. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward. Long-suffering to usward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. All the uswards, all God's elect,
all the whole church is going to be saved. All Israel, Romans
chapter 11, will be saved. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved." Isn't that what we just read in Psalm 75? He's going
to dissolve the earth. what manner of persons ought
we to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt away
with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness." Oh, what a day that's going to be. What a day
that's going to be. What a mess this world is that
we're in. What a mess we're in. Here's our hope. Here's God's
promise to us. And He repeats it over and over
and over again. And we glory in this promise. What else do we have? What else
could we ask for? What greater blessing could we
anticipate? Go back with me to our text,
Psalm 75. Bridegroom is coming. Oh, that
we would not be like those foolish virgins who were not ready for
the coming of the bridegroom. that God would take His Word
and cause us to find our strength in His horn. Let's read on. Look at verse 4. I said unto the fools,
deal not foolishly, and to the wicked, lift not up the horn. Now the horn, as we're going
to see, is a picture of strength, as it is in the animal kingdom. A ram would find its strength
in its horn. And so when the Lord uses this
term, He's speaking of that which is strength. And He says to man,
don't lift up your horn. Where is your strength? Where
is your hope in this day of judgment that's going to come? To the
fool he said to them, Don't lift up your horn. Look at verse 5. Lift not up your horn on high,
speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither
from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. You're not
going to promote yourself into the kingdom of God. It's not
going to come from your right hand, it's not going to come
from your left hand, it's not going to come from below you.
Notice he doesn't mention it doesn't come from the north because
in the next verse that's the That's the idea. For promotion
cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the
south. But God is the judge, and he putteth down one, and
set up another. For in the hand of the Lord there
is a cup, and the wine is red. It is full of mixture, and he
poureth out of the same. But the dregs thereof, all the
wicked of the earth, shall wring them out, and drink them. But
I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob."
There we are, just like Jacob, wrestling with the Lord. All the horns of the wicked also
will I cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. All promotion, all promotion
comes from God. Whether it be promotion in this
world or whether it be promotion out of this world, it all comes
from the Lord. Psalm 115 verse 1 says, Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Lord, we We don't have
the ability. We don't have the strength. And
the Lord has given each of us a thorn in the flesh to reveal
that to us, hasn't He? So that we are able to say with
the Apostle Paul, His grace, His grace, His horn, His strength
is sufficient for me for when I am weak, then I am strong. His strength is made perfect,
Paul said, in my weakness. Now he said, don't lift up your
horn. You don't have the ability. You don't have the strength.
God's gonna cut off every horn of man. He's going to cut it
off either in salvation or he's going to cut it off in judgment.
Has your horn been cut off? Has your ability to promote yourself
before God been cut off? What is the horn of man? Well, it's threefold. The horn of man is threefold.
Where does man find his strength? The first point of the horn of
man is his will. His will. Oh, he thinks his will's
got such power. And you know that horn, even
as a believer, has a tendency to protrude from our forehead,
doesn't it? I mean, we often think, well,
I can handle that. I can fix that. I'll work harder. I'll renew my commitment. And we, you know, just the horn
of flesh. And God has to keep cutting it
off, doesn't it? Every time it grows out, He just cuts it back
off and shows us how weak that horn is. And my hope tonight
is that He'll cut off our horn once again and He'll give to
us the horn of His strength. But man, his will is his horn. And you see that especially when
it comes to his attempts to save himself. He thinks he's going
to save himself by his own will. Exodus chapter 15, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. I will draw my sword. My lust shall be satisfied. My hand shall destroy them. So man in his pride says, we'll
not have that man to reign over us. Man has a will, but his will's
not free. And it's certainly not powerful.
Truth is, you can't will yourself out of a common cold. How are
you going to will yourself into glory? When the Lord makes His horn
known to us, He cuts off the horn of our will, doesn't He?
He shows us how weak and how inadequate our will is. But that's what the fool says. Our will is in bondage to our
nature. And in fact, it's the weakest
thing about us, our will is. I hesitate to read the words
of this song because I don't want to put an ear, a worm in
your head, but But this song expresses what man's horn is
in terms of his will. And it expresses it in such a...
He says, it was popularized by Michael Jackson, I used to think
that I could go on and life was nothing but an awful song, but
now I know the meaning of true love. I'm leaning on the everlasting
arms. Well, that sounds pretty good.
If I can see it, then I can do it. If I can just believe it,
then there's nothing to it. See, I was on the verge of breaking
down. Sometimes silence can seem so
loud. There are miracles in life I
must achieve. But first, I know that it starts
inside of me. Because I believe in Me, I can
fly. I can reach the sky. Isn't that
the horn of man? I can do it. If I can dream it,
I can do it. I can achieve it. I've got a
will. I've got an ability. God says
that horn is going to be cut off. Has God cut the horn of
your will off? Has he done that? The second horn that man is so
proud of is the horn of works. But Lord, we did many wonderful
works in your name. And being ignorant of God's righteousness,
men go about to establish their own righteousness, not knowing
that their righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. That which they should be ashamed
of, they're proud of. And the horn of their works is
where they're trusting. And the Lord says, I'm gonna
cut them off. He says to the foolish, don't lift up your horn.
Don't offer up your free will. Don't offer up your good works
as hope for your salvation. They're not sufficient. The third
horn of man is the horn of his wisdom. He's got the horn of
his will, the horn of his works, and the horn of his wisdom. The scripture says that knowledge
puffs up. If a man thinks that he knows
anything, he knows nothing as yet he ought to know. And so
what do we find men doing in their, we did it, vain jangling,
contending over words, competing with our peers, seeing who could
win the argument. theological debate, impressing
men with our vocabulary and with our intellectual prowess, and
all along we were just boasting in our own horn. God says, I'm going to cut it
off. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off. That's why every one of God's
people bow before Him and say, Lord, I can't do anything. I don't have anything. And I don't know anything. Lord,
if You don't teach me, if You don't give me Your grace, I'll
be cut off. My horn is not a horn of strength,
it's a horn of foolishness. Promotion cometh neither from
the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. For God is the judge, he puts
down one, and he setteth up another." He's got to do it. He's got to
be the one to make us to differ. We can't do it ourselves. It's
not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
It's of God that showeth mercy. What is the horn of God? Well,
my three points for the horn of God are the same as my three
points for the horn of man. The first point is that the horn
of God is His will. It's His will. He hath done whatsoever He wills. It is God that showeth mercy. It is He that has determined
according to His own purpose and will in election to choose
a particular people. It's God's will that's the strong
horn, not ours. It's He that chose who He would
save. In John chapter 17, the Lord
Jesus Christ said, Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast
given Me be with Me where I am that they may behold My glory. Oh, the will of God. The will
of God. He does whatsoever He wills with
the armies of heaven and with all the inhabitants of the earth.
His will is a strong horn. Our will is nothing. Our promotion comes not from
the East. It comes not from the West. It
comes not from the South. Don't lift up your horn. God is the judge. He's the one whose will must be fulfilled,
and it will be. The horn of God, secondly, is
His works. Isn't it amazing? The same horn
that God has is the horn that man has. That's what we do. We
set ourselves up on the throne of God, don't we? We make ourselves
out to be God. And we take over the work of
God. And here's what He's saying. Your horn's going to be cut off.
Oh, that God would cut off my horn. Oh, just cut off my will. Cause me, cause me to say, Lord,
not my will but Thine be done. Cause me to desire Thy will. Lord, that Your will would be
done on earth, even as it's done in heaven, that it would start
right in my own heart. Lord, that I would have no confidence
in the flesh. that I would worship you in spirit
and in truth, and that there would be no confidence in anything
I've ever done. All my confidence would be in
your work. And His work is a strong work.
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. The Lord told his mother, he
said, I must be about my father's business. And that's what he
did. That's what he did. And he satisfied through perfect
obedience to the father, all the demands of the law. He satisfied
God's divine justice. He put away the wrath of God
when He offered Himself up on Calvary's cross to the Father
as a sacrifice for sin, as a sinner's substitute. He honored the law and He redeemed. He redeemed. He didn't make an
attempt to redeem. He accomplished the redemption
of His people. That's his work. Unto thee, O
God, do we give thanks. Unto thee do we give thanks.
For that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare. How did he do it? Well, look at verse 8. For in the hand of the Lord there
is a cup. There is a cup. The Father handed him that cup
in the Garden of Gethsemane. When he prayed in agony, Father
if there be any way this cup can pass from me let it be nevertheless
not my will but thine be done. He was about to drink the bitter
dregs of God's wrath and be separated from the Father for the sins
of his people. In the hand of the Lord there
is a cup. And he did drink that cup. He
drank damnation dry and satisfied divine justice once and for all.
And that cup was filled with a mixture. You see that? Now that word mixture means wine
mixed with spices. Wine mixed with spices. In the
Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verse 1, I am come into my garden,
my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh and my spice,
O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, my beloved. Now that's
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ saying to us, because of the
cup that I had in my hand, That cup was filled with a mixture,
a mixture of blood and spices. The shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ poured out on Calvary's cross is the means by which we
are able to drink of the sweet spices of His grace in the garden
of the beloved. Lord, come." That's what he's
saying. He's saying to his bride, my
beloved, my spouse, my sister, come. And in my garden there
are many spices. Oh, the spice of His comfort,
the spice of His love, the spice of His grace, the spice of joy,
the spice of hope. These are true spices that come
to us through the mixture of blood and spice that He holds
in His hand. Now turn with me to Revelation
chapter 14. Verse 9, And the third angel
followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the
beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or
in his hand. Now what is the mark of the beast?
It's the number 666. It's the number of man. Man was
created on the sixth day. It's the horn of man. It's the
horn of man written on his forehead, speaking of the pride that he
has of his will. It's the number of man written
upon his hand, speaking of the pride that he has in his works. And in his wisdom, man worships
the beast. He's trusting in the arm of flesh
for his salvation. He's trusting in his ability
to promote himself before God. And God says that horn is going
to be cut off. Look at verse 10. And the same shall drink
of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture. Without mixture, there won't
be any grace in that cup. There won't be any mercy in that
cup. See, right now, the Lord's holding the cup, and He's calling
us to come and to drink from that cup, because that's His
horn. That's His strength. That's where
His salvation for His people was accomplished, through His
shed blood. And when He said, if you drink
of this cup, My blood is drink indeed. And drinking now, having
our horn cut off now, and drinking of His cup now, we receive with
His blood the sacrifice of sin and all the blessings of grace
that come to the heart and to the life as we wait on Him. There's
going to come a day when that cup will be drank without mixture
into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb." What a contrast. Has the Lord cut off your horn? Has He cut off your strength?
as He afflicted you with your sin and caused you to realize
that you don't have the ability to save yourself with your will,
with your works, or with your wisdom. You see, the point is that He's
either going to cut it off now and allow us to drink of the
cup with mixture, or He'll cut it off in that terrible day of
judgment and will drink of the cup of His wrath without mixture." The horn of God is His will. He has determined who He will
save. He will have mercy upon whom
He will have mercy. And whom He will, He will harden. That's the horn of God. Now go
back with me to our text and look at that last verse in Psalm
75. The horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Shall be exalted. That's His will. That's His works. And that's His wisdom, all the
wisdom of God. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus. who of God is made unto us our
wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption,
so that he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord." God's the only one that has the
wisdom. to remain perfectly just and
holy and be able to justify sinners like us at the same time. And it wasn't a plan. It was
a purpose. It was a purpose. James put it
like this, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. And He'll give liberally. He upbraideth it not. He delights
in making Himself known and showing forth His wisdom and His mercy. Solomon said this in Proverbs
chapter 2, Incline thine ear unto wisdom. Search for her as
silver and as a hid treasure. Seek for her with all of your
heart. The horn of the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. Numbers chapter 23 verse 22,
God brought them up out of Egypt. He has, as it were, the strength
of a unicorn. You know unicorns are used about
seven or eight times in the scriptures. And it's not a reference to that
frilly little imagination that children have of a horse with
a horn. No, more than likely, it was
a great rhinoceros is what it is. And God's just using that
picture of his strength. One horn. Turn with me. See if you can
find the book of Habakkuk. It's one of those little prophets
in the back of your Old Testament. right after Nahum and just before
Zephaniah. It's a little short prophet Habakkuk. Verse 1 of chapter 3. A prayer
of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shuganoff. O Lord, I have heard
thy speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years, in the midst of the years, make known in wrath,
remember mercy. Now there's the mixture of wine.
In the wrath that fell from heaven on the Lord Jesus Christ, it
was mixed with the spices of grace and mercy." And here's
the prophet saying, Lord, in your wrath, mix it with mercy. Yes, be just, but justify me. might righteousness and mercy
meet together. And that's where it happens at
the cross. God came from Timan and the Holy One from Mount Paran
Sila. His glory covered the heavens
and the earth was full of His praise and His brightness was
as the light and He had horns coming out of His hand. And there was the hiding of His
power. The hiding of His power is the
horns that come forth out of His hand. It's the strength of
His work that saves. It's the strength of His grace
that redeems. It's the strength of His mercy
and His providence that sustains His people. And it's a horn that comes right
out of His hand. In the strength of a unicorn,
Thou hast delivered Thy people from Egypt. That's the horn of the Righteous
One that will remain. The horns of man will be cut
off, but the horn of God will be exalted. Listen to Psalm 132
verse 17, There I will make the horn of David to flourish. He's speaking of His work of
grace in the church. That's what He's doing right
now. Right this very minute, I trust that He's doing that
in your heart and in my heart. He's causing the horn of the
Lord to grow and to flourish. When Mary and Joseph brought
the baby Jesus to the temple to be circumcised on the eighth
day, the priest and prophet Zacharias had been waiting for the consolation
of Israel. And you remember there in Luke
chapter 1 where he speaks prophetically about this child and he says
this, the Lord hath raised up the horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
righteous horn. He's our strength. He's our strength
in salvation. He's our strength in providence.
We don't have any strength. In Psalm 118 verse 27, David
writes, the sacrifice with cords to the
horn of the altar. Now we just read in Hebrews chapter
13 at the beginning of the service, we have an altar. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that altar. And when God instructed Moses
on building the altar, he told him to make the four corners
of the altar a brass horn. So this altar that was built
now for the tabernacle had horns sticking out of its four corners.
And the sacrifice was to be bound to the horns. What are those
horns representing? God's people are gathered together
from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south,
in the four corners of the earth. and the strength of God's grace
and His mercy and His redemptive work is seen in the altar, it's
seen in the horn, it's seen in the sacrifice. You see, everything
about that, it all points to Christ. It all points to Christ. Turn back with me again to Psalm
Seventy-five. The horn of God is His will, His work, and His
wisdom accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I will glory in my
infirmities, knowing that when I am weak, then I'm strong. Two horns. There's the horn of
man, and there's the horn of God. And God's gonna cut off
every horn of man. He's going to cut off our will,
our works, and our wisdom, and cause us to acknowledge that
His horn is the only one of strength. And He'll do it now with a mixture
of judgment and grace. Or He'll do it then, when the
wrath of God's judgment is poured out without mixture. without
mixture. Psalm 75, verse 1. Let's just
read it in closing. Unto thee, O God, do we give
thanks. Unto thee do we give thanks,
for that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare. When
I shall receive the congregation, I will judge uprightly. Now that means that when he receives
us, we don't receive him. When he receives us, he judges
uprightly. He cuts off our horn. And when
he receives the entire church together into glory, he's going
to cut off the horn of man. The earth and all the inhabitants
thereof are dissolved. I bear up the pillars of it.
I said unto the fools, deal not foolishly. And to the wicked,
lift not up your horn. We were fools. We thought that
our horn was strong enough. Lift not up your horn on high.
Speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither
from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is
the judge. He putteth down one and setteth
up another. For in the hand of the Lord there
is a cup. And the wine is red, and it's full of mixture, and
he poureth out the same. But, Revelation 14, there's going
to come a day when the bitter dregs of his wrath are going
to be poured out on this world without any mixture of grace.
And he'll wring them out, and they'll drink them. And I will
declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob,
all the horns of the wicked also will I cut off. But the horns
of the righteous shall be exalted." What did Peter say in that day? Wherein dwelleth righteousness. There's going to be one horn
in glory. the unicorn, the horn of God. And all God's people
are going to worship Him. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're thankful that You've been pleased to reveal
in Your Word the weakness and the inability and the frailty
of our of our flesh, the foolishness of our horn. We pray that you
would cut them off. We pray that the righteous horn, the Lord
Jesus Christ, would be exalted and that we would find all our
hope and all our salvation in His will, in His works, and in
His wisdom. for we ask it in His name. Amen. Alright, let's stand together,
Brother Tom. Number 98 in the soft back temple.