Psalm 76, the title of the message, God's
name is great in Zion. And Zion, of course, is the church. You know, God's name is much
blasphemed among all false religions, God's name is blessing. But in
Zion, in the church, His name is great because He is great. And He has done great things
for us. And that's what we want to look
at tonight. You know, His name is who He
is. His name Elohim, Creator. Our God is the Creator of heaven
and earth and all the host of heaven and all the host of earth. I was watching Nature Channel
the other day, and they were talking about how many species,
new species, they are still finding each year. In fact, this is interesting,
as I was watching another program on the brain, they have found
new areas in the brain that they have never discovered before.
And it's because God, who is great, made it. He created. Our God did that. My God, your
God, did that. Elohim. El Shaddai. God Almighty. Our God. Our God is God Almighty. Jehovah,
the self-existing One. The Lord, capital L-O-R-D. He is our God, the self-existing
One. Our God is eternal. Our God has no beginning of days
nor end of life. Our God is the eternal God. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
provide. You see, in His name is our confidence. It's taken me a while in growing
up over the years to learn whether I have a job, lose a job, you
know, whatever's going on, the Lord will provide. He'll do it. He'll provide. Jehovah Rapha,
the Lord who heals. He heals us spiritually. We get
spiritually sick from time to time. We do. Cold. indifferent,
just like the church at Ephesus. He said, you've left your first
love busy, busy as can be. But He said, you've left your
first love. But He's the one who heals us
spiritually and physically. He may use medicine. That's of
God. There's nothing on this earth
that God didn't create. And He's given men wisdom and
understanding how to put it together for medicine, and we're healed
by it. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner.
He's our banner. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. His name is great. in Zion, in Israel. He's talking about his people.
The world doesn't know who God is, but you do. Oh, no wonder
they put Selah down there after the, what was it, the second
verse? Second or third verse there, they put Selah. It means pause and think about
this. You know God. It's not only that God knows
you, but you know Him. You know how few people know
God? He's made Himself known to you. That's why you and I
know Him. He's made Himself known to us. We who believe know who
the living God is. We know who provides for us. We know how God can save us and
still be God. We know this. Now he says here
in verse 1, God is known in Judah, and His name is great in Israel.
He's revealed Himself to His people. He's talking here about
His elect, His people, and He's made Himself known. You know,
you were not educated into the knowledge of God. God made Himself
known to you. Yes, we take the Word of God
and we teach His Word, but I'll tell you this, if He doesn't
reveal Himself, you can sit there until you're 90 years old or
100 years old and you still won't know Him. You still won't know
Him. He's got to reveal Himself and
make Himself known. He is known as the only wise
God. He's known as the only true God.
He's known as a just God and a Savior. Do you know Him as
that? As a just God and a Savior? He's
known in His grace and His mercy. Listen, He's known in Christ. All that I just mentioned, without
Christ, you can't know God. In Christ, this is how we know
Him. The God of all grace, the God
of all comfort. That's how we know Him. Our Lord
said in John 17 that eternal life is what? It's to know God. Not know about Him. Not know
some facts about Him. It's to really know Him. That's
a living relationship with Almighty God. It's to know God and Jesus
Christ whom He has sent. Now we know that God is omnipresent. We know He's everywhere. But
His special presence is with His people. You know God dwells
among us. If we're His church, we're His
people. God dwells in us. He tabernacles in us. He walks
in us. We are His special people and
He dwells. God does not visit us. If we
are His people, God does not visit, He dwells with us. Look
over in Revelation 21. Listen to this, in verse 2, Revelation
21, And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men
and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God
himself shall be with them and be their God. He dwells with
us. And then it says in verse two,
he dwells there in Salem. That means Jerusalem. If you'll
notice that the ending of Jerusalem is Salem. That's where Melchizedek
was in Salem. He's talking here about Jerusalem.
And this tabernacle... God has tabernacled with us,
or among us, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the manhood of Christ.
He's tabernacled among us. He's walked among us. But now
here's what's interesting. The meaning of this is, the tabernacle
He tabernacled, it has the meaning of the lion's
lair, the lion's den. In other words, when the enemy
come up, God is like a lion with His people, and when they come
up to attack His people, He pounces on them. They become His prey. Now this Psalm Now, if you'll
remember, back a few months ago, I read to you out of Isaiah,
let's see, was it Isaiah 36 and 37? Remember when, let's see,
what was his name, that king? Remember when he was coming up
against Israel, and he sent his messenger there, and he said,
you know, no God's ever delivered out of the hand of the Assyrian
king, and he was telling the people there on the wall that
you need to just bow down and give yourself up. And then he
sent the letter to Hezekiah, saying basically the same thing.
And Hezekiah took the letter and laid it before the Lord,
and he prayed over it. And he prayed about it. And then,
to make the story short, Israel didn't even have to fight in
that battle. Remember, God sent an angel and slew 185,000 soldiers. I mean, here the Assyrian king
and the Assyrian army had never been defeated. No one was able
to stand before them. Israel didn't even draw a sword. God sent an angel, killed 185,000.
That's what He's got in mind in this psalm. That's what He's
talking about. When they came up against Israel, God was like
a lion in His lair. And then whenever they got up
close, He sent an angel and slew them. He just pounced on him. And this is good for us because
the spiritual implication is so strong. How that he has defeated
all our enemies, all our sins are gone. Satan is defeated. Satan has no power at all against
us. Christ defeated him at Calvary.
He gave him his death blow at Calvary. So it says here, God dwells in
Jerusalem, and Zion, which is His church, He dwells there. To attack the church is to attack
God. Our Lord said to Saul of Tarsus,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? To attack the church is to
attack the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. is to attack God. And now in verses 3 through 9,
we see that none can stand before God when He rises up to judge. When He rises up in anger, none
can stand before God. There's not one person in heaven
or earth that can stand before God. He says here in verse 3, There break he the arrows of
the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." There,
He put an end to it. It's like He says to the sea,
to the proud waves of the sea, "...hither shalt thou come, and
no further." No further. And I was thinking of this verse
3 when He says, "...there break he the arrows of the bow, the
shield, and the sword, and the battle." I thought, where's there? Where's there? What's he talking
about? Where's there? Well, we're not just getting
the history lesson. We didn't come here tonight just
to get a history lesson of the battles that Israel won and God
fought for them and won. But there is at Calvary. There
at Calvary, God defeated our enemy. There at Calvary, He broke
the arrows of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle. No
weapon, He said, that is formed against you shall prosper." None. No, it doesn't matter if someone
gets behind the doors or a committee gets behind the door and they
plot and plan against you. God's behind those same doors.
He's listening. He's listening. He's guiding. He's controlling. We'll see this
here in a minute. He's controlling all things. Then in verse 4, God is far above
the greatest of men. He says, Thou art more glorious
and excellent. God is. Our God is more glorious
and excellent than the mountains of prey. Those great mountains,
and I think he's speaking here of great men. God's far more
glorious. He said in one place, to whom
will you liken me? Who is there that can be compared
to God? Our God. There's none that can
be compared to Him in any way, shape, or form. And then he says here in verse
5, the stout-hearted are spoiled. If you go back, read chapter
36 and 37 of Isaiah, and you listen to the arrogance and the
stout-heartedness of a shennekrib, Listen to that. Listen to that
conversation. My soul, He walks in there like,
or sends a messenger and a letter like, I'm God, y'all need to
bow down. The arrogance. And it says here,
the stout-hearted are spoiled. He's made them afraid. He's taken
their stout heart away from them. They took their tail between
their legs and left and ran and went home. It was what they did. God's power is irresistible. The stout-hearted must bow to
his will. And I'm so glad of that because
there was one time I was stout-hearted. You were too. You had no interest
in God. You had no interest whatsoever
in God. You had no interest in Jesus
Christ. You had no interest in being saved from your sins. You
had no interest. You and I were stout-hearted.
And He broke us. He broke us. As it says in Psalm
110, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. In the
day that He broke you and broke me, He gave us a new heart. a heart that was willing to bow. But here, whether it's breaking
the stout heart of one of His children and saving them like
Saul of Tarsus or like me, like you, or His enemies, He can break
their stout hearts. He can bring them to the dust.
And listen here in this verse. They're stout-hearted or spoiled.
They have slept their sleep, that is their sleep of death.
And none of the men of might have found their hands. They didn't have the courage
when God descended upon them, when that angel descended upon
them. They didn't have the courage to draw the sword. They couldn't
find their hands. You know, if you're a warrior,
you know how hard it'd be to be a warrior without hands? God
shut them down. They were so afraid, they couldn't
even draw their sword. And listen, this is just a little
inkling of God's wrath. This is just a little demonstration
of God's power. You know, when we read through
the Scriptures and He defeats this army, we're just talking
about men. I mean, what is man? He says,
they're mindful of Him. They couldn't even find
their hands. This shows what control God has
over all humanity. He makes wars to cease until
the ends of the earth. Every war that comes to an end,
God put an end to it. after it served His purpose. And then in verses 6 through
9, we see that the victory comes at God's rebuke, that is, His
Word, His judgment, and His purpose in saving His people, which are
called the meek, the meek of the earth. That's who He's talking
about. Now, He says there in verse 6,
"...that thy rebuke at your word, You know, I can give my word,
and a lot of, most people is gonna just say, they're gonna
say, who are you? You're like, who are you? Remember those demons in the
gospel when these men tried to cast out these demons? And those
demons said, who are you? Paul we know, Jesus we know,
but who are you? And they sent those men out there
naked. But now, when God speaks, when
He speaks, it happens. My Word will not, shall not,
cannot return unto me void. It's going to accomplish the
thing whereunto I sent it. Now, when God rebukes us, He
rebukes us in love. And He does rebuke us in love,
and He rebukes us with His Word. I mean, there's been several
times I've sat down to the gospel and listened to Henry preach,
and his word just hit me. And it just hit me, and it hit
me with a rebuke. But boy, when he rebukes the
enemy, he rebukes them. Oh God, he says
here, at thy rebuke, oh God of Jacob, Both a chariot and horse
are cast into a deep sleep, or a dead sleep." I tell you what, when God calls life away from
a person, it's over. It's over. When God commands
that life to leave, that body, there's not a thing a person
can do to keep it there. Not a thing. When God, when God
said, I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. This is who
God is. This is who he is. And he says here in verse 6,
"...at thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and the horse,
they are cast into a dead sleep." They are made powerless. Powerless. You know, our Lord, when He ascended
on high, He led captivity captive, and He was far above all principalities
and powers, and all of them are subject to Him. All are subject,
even the ones that don't look like it right now. The ones out
here that we see in our lifetime, what's going on, it doesn't look
like they're under the power of God, does it? They are. They are. Who would have thought that Saddam
Hussein would have been hung? I mean, he terrorized, terrorized
those people. And then one day, they get the
tables turned, and God had him hung. You can go out, you can just
take leader after leader, you know, Hitler. I mean, it looked
like he was gonna rule the world at one time, didn't it? He ended
up committing suicide. And then he met God. The minute
that he pulled that trigger, he met God Almighty. He renders them powerless. You know, the men, the wickedness of men,
the power that God allows men, it's like a weapon in God's hand. He's using it to accomplish His
purpose, and they don't even know it. They don't know it. When they were going to crucify
the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul said, you by wicked hands, you've crucified
and slain. But the only thing you did was
what God purposed. God purposed it. God delivered
Him up. Everything that happened today,
everything that happened, God purposed. Now He either rules
over it or He overrules it. It's one or the other. You say, explain that. I can't
explain that. I'm not God. I'm not privy to
the secret counsel of God. He says in verse 7, Thou, even
Thou art to be feared. Now, Hezekiah and the people,
when Sennacherib sent that letter, when he sent his messenger, they
were afraid. They became scared. I mean, they
became scared. They were afraid. How many times
did our Lord say to the disciples, why are you so fearful? What
are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? And they were so afraid. And
then the Lord killed 185,000 men and sent them down the road.
And then He says this, You're the only one to be feared.
You know, Solomon said, the fear of man brings a snare. If you
and I begin to fear men, whether they can take away my job or
help, it doesn't matter. If we begin to fear men, we begin
to compromise. We will always begin to compromise. But when we fear God, when we
fear God, they can burn you at the stake and you won't compromise. Thou, even thou art to be feared,
and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? I don't
have the words. I don't have the words to express
the meaning of this. Who can stand in God's sight
when He's angry? Look what happened to his son.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Hanging on that
cross. Jesus Christ is the only man
that was able to stand before God's anger and take it and drink
the cup dry. When he died, listen, when he
died, he died of his own accord. He said, Father, into thy hand
I commend my spirit. He gave up the ghost. He gave
up his life. He said, no man takes it from
me. I lay it down on myself and I take it up again. God is to be feared. No one can stand before His anger. And then he says here in verse
8 and 9, when God arose to judgment, He saved His people and none
can stop Him. That's what we'll see in verse
8 and 9. Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven." Two
things. First, the application at that
time period. Judgment, he said, you have caused
to be heard from heaven. He sent an angel and killed 185,000. That judgment came straight from
the throne of God. That's where all judgment comes
from. It comes from the throne. And
then, thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven, that
happened at Calvary. Jesus Christ took our hell. He took our judgment. He took it. He took every bit
of it. And the earth feared and was
still. Who can stand in God's presence? Who can resist the anger of God? He said, the earth feared and was still. When God arose to judgment, you
say, oh, how awful that is! How awful! God rising in judgment,
Here's the good news. He rose in judgment, but that
judgment was also an act of mercy because He saved the meek. See,
God rose in judgment and slew that army, but at the same time,
what did He do? He saved His people. God rose
in judgment at Calvary and took out His wrath on His Son. But
in doing that, what did He do? He saved His people. When God arose to judgment to
save all the meek of the earth. Stop and think about that. Stop
and think about that. Surely, He says here, Surely
the wrath of man..." You know, in the original, it says, surely
the wrath of Adam, or, and I like this one, I think it's the best.
Surely the wrath of clay. She'll praise thee. That's all
you and I are. God made us from the dust of
the ground. And you can read that, surely
the wrath of clay. shall praise Thee." This is seen throughout history.
When you look at history, and you look at man's wrath, you
look at the history of Israel, all those that came up against
Israel. All they did was refine Israel,
the true believers there. You know, all your troubles,
all your trials, when they come up on you, you know what they
do? They refine you. They refine you. They conform
you to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. What you may and
I look at as enemies, they end up conforming us to the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They end up training us, disciplining us, making us set our hearts on things
above. That's what they do. or the wrath of man shall praise
Thee." I can't think of any greater
situation of the wrath of man praising God than Calvary. Crucify
Him, crucify Him. We will not have this man reign
over us. Away with him. Paul said, you
know, I don't find any fault with Him. Crucify Him anyway. I mean, since the creation of
the world, the absolute hatred that man has toward God was expressed
at Calvary. We vented out our absolute hatred
of God at Calvary. And you know what? God raised
Him from the dead. God raised that man, Jesus Christ,
from the dead. Gave Him a name that's above
every name, and at His name, every knee is going to bow in
heaven and earth. Every tongue is going to confess
that He's Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise Him, and the rest You'll restrain, you'll overrule, you'll
put a stop to it. You'll put a stop to it. Man
can't do any more than God lets him do. He can't do it. Not one person on
this earth. You know, there's over 7 billion
people on this earth, and not one person God does not
miss one thought of any one person on this earth at any one time. He doesn't even miss a thought. No, no, no. Surely, truly the
wrath of man shall praise Thee. And the remainder of wrath, You'll
put a stop to it. You'll restrain it. Can you imagine,
can you imagine what it would be like to live on this earth
if God did not restrain the wrath and hatred of humanity, if he
didn't do it? And then he says here in verse
11 and 12, Vow and pay unto the Lord your God that all that be
round about Him, right now. Are we not round about Him right
now? Think about it. I wish our senses weren't so
dull, our spiritual senses. I wish they were not so dull.
We can understand that we are round about Him just as the angels
are right now, and those who have already gone to glory and
are there. We are round about Him just as
they are. And bring a present. What will we bring tonight? Praise
and thanksgiving. And God knows my heart, God knows
your heart. We come into here with praise and thanksgiving.
Glad to be here. I'm glad to be here. I look forward
to coming down here and attempting to do this. It's a feeble attempt,
but I tell you, the older I get in preaching, the harder I find
it to find words, the vocabulary, to express what I see. It's just
like it's just too great. It's just too immense to find
words to tell about it. Vow and pay unto the Lord your
God. And I think what he's saying
here is this, be committed to Him. I'll tell you what, When God
saves a person, that person is either all out committed or has
never been saved. I'm not saying we don't have
ups and downs. We do. We have ups and downs. But in our ups
and downs, we're still here. We're still here. One of the
last things I told Henry, he said, John, how long have we
known each other? I said, over 40 years, Henry. I said, one
of the things that makes me so happy is that we're still here
under the Gospel. We still love the Gospel. We're
still preaching the Gospel. I said, we're still here. Forty years
later. Be committed to Him. He shall
cut off the spirit of princes. He shall do it. This is a promise. You think people are in power
right now? You see people in power? You think they're always
going to be in power. You think you're never going
to get them out of power. Well, God's going to get them out of
power. Everything has a shelf life.
Remember that. I was looking at that in the
store one day, and I was looking at the date. And I thought, everything
has a shelf life, even me. Me and you have a shelf life. You know, one of the things I
was telling mom and dad last time I was in there, I said,
because they always talk to me about the scriptures. You know,
we always get on the scriptures and he always talked to me about
dying. And I said, we have a date. We're not going to go beyond
it. I said, it's right there, right to the second. And I said,
let's live right up to that date. And don't sit down and die, just
don't sit down and wait. Be about your father's business.
Be about our father's business. Committed, and he gonna cut off
the spirit of princes now. He gonna cut people off in power.
He's terrible. He's terrible to the kings of
the earth. He's terrible to... Pharaoh,
look at Pharaoh. He drowned him. Look at these
different kings of the earth. He's terrible to them. Our God, now listen, our God,
He's known in Zion, you know Him, don't you? That right there
ought to make us stand in awe. You know Him. We know Him. And to us, He's great. There's
none like our God. There's none like our rock. That's what they say in the Old
Testament. There's none like our rock. Their rock is not like
our rock. Their rock is little R. Our rock
is the big R. It's capital. It's like Satan's
called the God of this world, but it's a little G. But God is capital G. He is God. And He's our God,
and He's great. He's great. Let us never lose
sight of the greatness of our God. Never do that. All right.