All right, Psalm 74. I want to
go through this Psalm. I want to read through it with
you again. We read it last time, but it's long enough that I feel
like we need to begin reading it from the beginning in order
for us to get a better sense of what is being spoken of here.
It's clear that as I read through this, you'll see this, that the
psalmist is pleading with the Lord. He's asking God on behalf
of the Lord's people He's asking him in a very bold manner, and
yet a very earnest manner, why it seems that the Lord has cast
them off even forever, in verse 1, and he calls on the Lord as
God over his people as his sheep, his people being his sheep, his
congregation, his inheritance, his redeemed. And then he goes
on to talk about how great the enemy has afflicted God's people,
and how greatly this affliction has come upon them. And then
he reminds himself in this prayer, not only himself, but the ones
he's praying for, the Lord's people, and God in prayer of
his purpose to save and his power to save and how the enemy has
actually defiled the Lord's place and his people and God's name,
has brought reproach on God's name. So all of this is meant
to be a prayer of great earnest supplication, and I think that
as we go through this you'll see that, and let's go ahead
and read through it. Psalm 74 verse 1 says, Oh God,
why hast thou cast us off forever? Why doth thine anger smoke against
the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation which
thou hast purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance which
thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt.
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations, even all that the
enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar
in the midst of thy congregations. They set up their ensigns for
signs. A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon
the thick trees, but now they break down the carved work thereof
at once with axes and hammers. They have cast fire into thy
sanctuary. They have defiled by casting
down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They said
in their hearts, let us destroy them together. They have burned
up all the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs. There is no more any prophet,
neither is there any, I'm sorry, neither is there among us any
that knoweth how long. O God, how long shall the adversary
reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy
name forever? Why withdrawest thou thy hand,
even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom, for
God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the
earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest
the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads
of Leviathan in pieces and gavest him to be meat to the people
inhabiting the wilderness. Thou didst cleave the fountain
and the flood. Thou dryest up mighty rivers.
The day is thine. The night also is thine. Thou
hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders
of the earth. Thou hast made summer and winter.
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and
that the foolish people have blasphemed Thy name. O deliver
not the soul of Thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked. Forget not the congregation of
Thy poor forever. Have respect unto the covenant,
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of
cruelty. O let not the oppressed return
ashamed, Let the poor and needy praise thy name. Arise, O God,
plead thine own cause, Remember how the foolish man reproacheth
thee daily. Forget not the voice of thine
enemies, The tumult of those that rise up against thee Increases
continually. All right, so you can see that
the psalmist is praying here with a sense of frustration,
it would almost sound like, because he says, why have you cast us
off, in verse one, forever? Why does your anger smoke against
the sheep of thy pasture? And he goes on to speak on behalf
of the congregation. Remember thy congregation. So
I want to first notice here the manner in which the prayer is
given. And I have some questions that
we were beginning to go through last time, but I want to take
this view of the psalm because I think it's intended for us
to take this view. It turns out that in Scripture,
over and over again, the Lord's people are seen to be a sinful
people. And then even though they are
sinful and it seems that God's justice is bringing trouble on
them or promises to bring trouble upon them, destruction because
of their sin, yet the Lord provides for them even though they are
sinful, and he provides for them in an advocate. He provides one
to intercede for his people. If you remember when, I think
I mentioned this last time, when Moses came down from the mountain
after the people had worshiped the idol that Aaron had made
for them. And when the people were about
to go into the land of Canaan, on both cases, Moses interceded
for Israel at those times. And this is seen throughout scripture.
Daniel, in Daniel chapter 9, near the end of the captivity
of Israel in Babylon, or actually Judah, in Babylon, when Daniel
prayed for them, he was making intercession to God for them.
And so many places in scripture where God raises up an intercessor,
someone who is advocating for his people. Now, if you just
read this psalm, you realize that the psalmist is praying
on behalf of, he's praying to God on behalf of the Lord's people. And so that's a powerful motive
that he's showing here in this psalm, a powerful motive from
God's perspective. Remember, all of scripture is
inspired, it's given, it's breathed out by God. So we understand
then that this psalm, like all of scripture, is by the Holy
Spirit, is speaking out God's will And he's doing it in a way
of a man who feels the intensity of the sorrow and anguish, the
urgency and the earnestness of God to come to the aid of his
people, because for their sins sake, the enemies of God have
seemed to have the power over them, and have brought destruction
and desolation and reproach on them, and so brought reproach
on God's own name. So that's the first thing I want
you to see here, is that the psalm is uttered as from an advocate
for the people. and it's an advocate to God.
And I read this in our Sunday service a couple of weeks ago
from Hebrews chapter five. Let me just remind you of what
it says there in Hebrews chapter five and verse one. Every high
priest taken from among men, it says in Hebrews five verse
one, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may
offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. who can have compassion
on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for that
he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason
hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself to offer
for sins. No man takes this honor to himself, but he that is called
of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made an high priest, but he that said to him, thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee, as he saith also in another
place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
who in the days of his flesh, speaking of Christ now, the Son
of God, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that
was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared,
though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered. This is another place in scripture
that shows us that the obedience of Christ was in his sufferings,
was the obedience that paid for our sins and fulfilled our righteousness. He goes on in verse 9, and being
made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them
that obey Him, and that obedience is reaching back in Hebrews from
chapters 3 and 4 and forward to chapter 11, speaking of the
obedience of faith. So here what we see is that God
had In this psalm, he had, from the beginning of time, even before
time, had ordained that Christ should stand as a high priest
for his people. And as a high priest, he laid hold on God in
things pertaining to God, and he laid hold on the people in
things that concerned the people as it concerns the will of God.
So, by the will of God, the priest was appointed, and the priest
did his work, fulfilled his office in offering to God on behalf
of the people for their sins, and he made intercession for
them, and he was a man who could be touched with the feeling of
their infirmities, but as he is the priest Melchizedek, then
therefore he is without beginning of days, without end of life,
like the Son of God. He is the Son of God. And so
he could also lay hold on man. Remember the words that Job said,
he prayed that someone could lay hold on God and himself. He needed an advocate, he needed
an intercessor. And so in this Psalm 74, he's
showing us that God has ordained, appointed, and he's using the
words of this Psalm to express his will through the prayers
of one who has the interests of God's people in mind as someone
who has the same feeling as their infirmity can understand their
ignorance and have compassion on them and make their plea to
God against their enemies for their salvation. Now, I think
this is a dominant theme in scripture, but it's such a precious theme.
this word paraclete comes to my mind. And remember in the
New Testament Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be the comforter
and the paraclete, someone who would come alongside and make
intercession for us and comfort us by that intercession. And
then in Romans chapter 8 it's also stated, it's revealed, we
wouldn't know it had it not been revealed, but listen to these
words in Romans chapter 8. He says, In verse 26, likewise, the Spirit,
meaning the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit
of Christ, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
Whatever our weaknesses are, He helps them, for we know not,
this is one of those weaknesses, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, we should, we should know, but we don't.
We don't know what we should pray for as we ought, but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. And notice verse 27, and the
Spirit of God dwells in his people. So from within believers, the
Spirit of God is making intercession for them with groanings which
we can't utter, which no one utters. The Spirit of God does.
But it says in verse 27, he that searches the hearts, that would
be Christ, knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
So you see here the advocacy of Christ for us, by his spirit
in us, and by himself at the throne of God, he makes intercession
for the saints. Look at verse 34. Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, he didn't just die, he didn't merely die, but he died
and rose again, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. And who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? And he goes on, he
lists all those things. In verse 36 of Romans 8, as it
is written, and keep this in mind, when we go back to Psalm
74, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted
as sheep for the slaughter, nay, in all these things we are, notice,
more than conquerors through him, Christ, that loved us. So the Lord Jesus Christ died
for us, he rose again, he reigns, and he intercedes for us. by
his spirit in us, he searches the hearts, he knows the mind
of the spirit, and he himself at the right hand of God makes
intercession for us according to the will of God. That's phenomenal,
isn't it? It's phenomenal. Now I want to
look at a text of scripture that I didn't see until I was studying
tonight for this, or studying today for this for this study,
but this is found in Zechariah chapter 1. I'll give you a minute
to turn to Zechariah because it's so significant. Now think
about what we just read in Psalm 74. Think about how much trouble
had come upon God's people, not just a nation of people who were
not the Lord's people, but these were the true people of God within
that nation of Israel. And they're used as a type and
a figure, a picture of all of God's people throughout time.
And the psalmist is praying for them because an enemy has come,
the enemy, in the historical case of Israel. It was the Egyptians,
it was the Babylonians, it was the Assyrians. It was all these
different nations. And those nations were powerful,
much stronger than God's people in Israel. And they had no strength
against them. And these people were cruel.
And they were... sacrilegious, I don't know if
that's the right word, but they defiled God's temple, God's dwelling
place, and they brought reproach against God's name. And they
did all these things because the Lord's people were disobedient. They were sinful. And yet the
Lord appoints an intercessor, an advocate. But here in Zechariah
chapter 1, if you're there, it says in verse 11, actually in verse 12, then the
angel of the Lord answered and said, now this is the time, the
same period of time frame historically where God's people are in Babylon
in captivity. The angel of the Lord answered
and said, O Lord of hosts, notice the intercession, notice the
advocacy. The angel of the Lord answered
and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy
on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast
had indignation these three score and 10 years, 70 years? You see,
this is talking about that Babylonian captivity that lasted 70 years.
He says, the angel of the Lord's asking the Lord, how long will
it be before you have mercy on these people? And the Lord answered,
the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable
words, so the angel that communed with me said, cry thou, saying
thus saith the Lord of hosts. I am jealous for Jerusalem and
for Zion with a great jealousy. They were God's people. That's
why he was jealous for them. God is jealous for His people.
I'm not talking about a physical nation, a political nation. I'm talking about the real nation
of God's people. called the Israel of God. He
says in verse 15, And I am very sore displeased with the heathen
that are at ease, for I was but a little displeased, and they
helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built
in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched
forth upon Jerusalem. All right, he goes on, verse
17, cry yet saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, my cities
through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord
shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Do you
see? So here they are, the nation,
the physical nation, the political nation is in captivity in Babylon. And yet within that nation, there
is a remnant nation, a remnant spiritual nation called Israel.
And for that nation, Judah or Israel, whichever one, doesn't
matter, the same applies here. For that nation, God is saying
before the end of their captivity, he provides an intercessor, an
advocate for them, who pleads to God and asks how long will
it be before God has mercy on them. And the Lord says he's
jealous for them, and he will yet comfort them. and that he will not only comfort
them, he will choose Zion, he will choose Jerusalem, he will
comfort Zion. And so you can see how it's very
similar, isn't it, to Psalm 74. The people were under the affliction
in Psalm 74 of these mighty, cruel, wicked enemies who hated
God and hated his people. The psalmist is raised up by
God as an advocate and as an intercessor. He prays on behalf
of the people of God with bold prayers. He asks the Lord, why
have you cast them off forever in verse one? Why does your anger
smoke against the sheep of your pasture? So he's bringing in
motives now according to the heart of God himself. They are
your congregation. They are your sheep. You purchased
them. They are your inheritance, verse
2. They are the redeemed. They are
Mount Zion. They're the ones in whom you
have dwelt, your dwelling place. You see? You see how the intercessor
brings in powerful motives that are in the heart of God? These
are your people. All right, so that's the first
thing I want you to see, how God raises up an intercessor
and through that intercessor makes prayers to God on behalf
of the people according to God's will. And not only is this according
to God's will, but His own prophecies speak to Jerusalem Comfortable
words, words of promise. His feeling and his purpose towards
them. Feeling isn't perhaps the right word to use for God, but
he says jealousy. He has a godly jealousy over
them because he has married them. Okay, so you can see the relationship
here. God and his people. God providing an intercessor,
his people had been sinful, their enemies had come against them,
and now all of this is causing this prayer to be heard. So,
with that in mind now, as an overview here of what's being
said in this psalm, with all that in view now, the psalmist
is filling the role God has appointed him to intercede as an advocate
for God's people. He lays hold on God and he lays
hold on them as the mediator. No one else but Christ could
do that, could they? The Spirit of God makes intercession,
that's the Spirit of Christ. Christ makes intercession at
the right hand of God. This is God's appointed role for the
Lord Jesus as the High Priest for his own people. He was taken
from among men, he was ordained for men in things pertaining
to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
What a blessed role God has provided for us. What a prayer, what a
powerful intercessor, what an advocate we have here. And so
I want to go through now and point out some of the other motives
in this psalm that the intercessor is making. He says, Look at verse
three. Lift up thy feet to the perpetual
desolations, even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the
sanctuary. The sanctuary is where God dwells.
The sanctuary is where God reveals himself to his people, where
he communes with them over the mercy seat. And this is where
Christ offered himself. This is where we meet with God.
We come to God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so this is the place of God's revelation, the place of God's
communion with his people, where he brings forth his purposes
and his will and his word and his promises. and he sets them
forth as fulfilled in the blood of his son, has faithfulness
to keep these things. And all of these concern our
eternal salvation, our eternal salvation. And the salvation
is clearly from this enemy. And this enemy came because of
our sin. Remember, it's sin that brings
death, isn't it? The wages of sin is death. on
Sunday, we're going to be looking at this text of scripture, but
in 1 Corinthians 15, in verse 54, he says this, the enemy and
the reason for the enemy. Notice in 1 Corinthians 15, verse
54, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, that
means in the resurrection of her body, and this mortal shall
have put on immortality, notice, He says, then shall be brought
to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. This is the ultimate victory,
isn't it? This is the final triumph. He
says in verse 55, oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where
is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. Okay,
you got that? Back in Psalm 74, why were these
enemies against them? Because of sin. But the sin is
the sting in the enemies coming against them. If Christ has removed
our sin, as we read in Hebrews 5, he was appointed by God to
do, he was ordained by God in things pertaining to God to make
sacrifice and offering for sin. If he has made the offering and
the sacrifices for sin, then that's the sting of death, and
that sting is removed, isn't it? And so, likewise, in this
psalm, the intercessor is pleading to God against the enemy, but
the enemy is against them because of their sin, and so the way
God deals with our enemies, he deals with our sin, and then
he deals with our enemies. Remember in Colossians chapter
two, let me read that to you as well. In Colossians chapter
two, he says in verse, and I'll read from verse nine since we
love that text so much. For in him, in Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is our intercessor,
isn't it? This is our advocate. This is
our high priest. This is our king. and you are
complete in him. You lack nothing. You're as full
in Christ as Christ is fully God. He says, which is the head
of all principality and power. Clearly, Christ rules over everything.
In whom, in Christ also, you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. When Christ died on the
cross, and was cut off, our sins were cut off. And so that our
sinful flesh was cut off from us. Verse 12, buried with him
in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God. So the faith of the operation
of God is the faith concerning Christ, which is given to us
through the Spirit of God, so that we trust Him, and that's
the result of our having been baptized with Christ in death
and raised again with Him to life. He goes on, buried with Him in baptism, wherein
also you're risen with Him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised Him from the dead. And you, verse 13,
Colossians 2, 13, you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, giving you
life. Notice, having forgiven you all your trespasses. So what
was the release from death? It was God forgiving us of our
trespasses. We were justified, and therefore
we were raised. We were raised from the dead
because we were justified. Remember Romans 4.25? Here, he's
saying we were raised together with Christ, God having forgiven
our sins, our trespasses. And then, in verse 14, he goes
on to describe the way that this was done at the cross. Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, that would
be God's condemning law. which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Christ took
all the accusations of God's holy law against us, and he was
charged with them, and they were nailed to his cross, and he answered
for them. In verse 15, having spoiled principalities
and powers, he overcame them, then took from them their bounty,
their booty, or whatever you call it, their wealth, He made
a show of them openly. He paraded them in humiliation,
triumphing over them in it, in his cross. All right, the result
of that is don't let anyone judge you in meat, drink, and all these
other things. They're just a shadow of things
to come. The body, the real thing, is Christ. All right, so The point I wanted to make in
reading that one was to reinforce what I just said a moment ago
about death and the sting of death as sin. And in this chapter,
the enemy is like death. the one against whom the intercessor
and advocate is pleading to God against, because this enemy has
not only been cruel to God's people in so many ways, but also
because that enemy is blaspheming God's name. And so what was brought
to bear here is the cruelty and the wickedness of the enemy,
which is obviously against God, and therefore, since it's against
the Lord, then it shifts not only so that the motive in the
prayer, in the intercession, is not only that these are God's
people, but that the relationship God has to them is so intimate
that it calls forth a strong motive because the enemy is blaspheming
and reproaching God. The way the enemy is blaspheming
and reproaching God is his treatment of these people of God. But that's
an unjust charge, isn't it? It's unjust. Well, you say, no,
it's not. They were sinners. They deserved it. No. No, they
didn't deserve it because Christ answered for them. Remember?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
not true that God's elect are liable to death and to the curse,
because Christ has borne it for them. And so that's the sting, isn't
it? That's the sting that Christ removed. Our sin has been removed,
trespasses have been forgiven, we've been justified in the death
and the resurrection of Christ. He answered, He was obedient
unto death and He suffered as we just read in Hebrews 5 verse
8 and 9, He suffered, He learned obedience by the things which
He suffered and being made perfect, being perfected as our eternal
Savior, then He became the author of eternal salvation. Alright,
so now I want to look at this a little further in this psalm,
looking a little further It says, notice in verse 7, he says, they
have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled, by casting
down, the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. You see that? the dwelling place
of God's name. God dwelt there, so his name
was there. He put his name there. Solomon, in his prayer, said
that God had chosen to put his name in that temple. In verse
10 of this chapter, Psalm 74, verse 10, he says, Oh God, how
long shall the adversary Now, if you look up the definition
of devil in scripture, it means adversary, slanderer, the accuser. That's what this is about here.
How long shall the adversary reproach? Reproach who? Shall
the enemy blaspheme, notice, thy name forever? What a powerful
motive the intercessor makes in this prayer, doesn't he? And
then he adds this in verse 11. Notice the strength of the prayer. Why withdrawest thou thy hand,
even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom. It
sounds like the one speaking here is on, he's a fellow of
the Lord, isn't it? How could anyone pray this way
but the Lord's own fellow, which is Christ? And so he's pleading
with God as God and pleading for men as a man in God's appointed
role as the mediator, the advocate, and the intercessor. And in doing
that, he pleads first, they are your people, your inheritance,
your redeemed, your purchased people. you're turtled of, as
he says a little later. And then he also pleads the wickedness,
the horrible wickedness of the enemy, and he highlights what
the enemy has done by coming against God's people, even to
tear down and occupy the sanctuary and therefore to cast God's name,
the sanctuary and God's name, as it were, to the ground and
blaspheming God's name. That's what this enemy has done.
That's a serious charge, isn't it? And this is the plea of the
intercessor. Okay? And then, in this same
psalm, in verse 12, he says, for God is my king of old, working
salvation in the midst of the earth. And now he doesn't only
just plead that these are your people, and the wicked enemy
is reproaching your name, but he says, God is my king. This is the way he works. And God is the same, isn't he?
Yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ, the same. Yesterday,
today, and forever. Hebrews 13, verse 8. God doesn't
change. He's not a man. In Numbers 23,
19, it says he's not a man that he should repent, neither the
son of man. He's not like us. The gifts and
callings of God are without repentance. He set his love on his people
from eternity, and nothing can separate us from that love. And
so what he says here is God is my king of old. He has always
sovereignly stood up for his people. And this is what he does,
working salvation in the midst of the earth. And not just in
heaven, but in earth, among sinners. Jesus was accused of this. Why
do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Well, because they
need a physician. And those who are healthy don't
need a physician, they don't need a doctor, they're fine.
But the sick do, and that's who he's praying for here. God's
poor, oppressed, sick, helpless, weak people. And he's using the
motive in the prayer, not only are they yours and they're weak
and they're oppressed, but the enemy is strong and wicked, and
that wickedness is reached so high that he's blaspheming your
name. Look at verse 18. Remember this,
that the enemy has reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish
people have blasphemed thy name. All right, and look at verse
22. Look at verse 22 of Psalm 74. Arise, O God, plead, notice,
thine own cause. What greater motive can there
be in God answering this prayer of mercy towards his people than
that it would be his own cause? This is your cause. They're your
people, your salvation, your cause, your name, your glory,
your honor, and not to mention the fact that the enemy has arrogantly,
impudently set himself against the heavens. All right, what
do you think is gonna happen? Well, of course, the Lord's gonna
answer, right? And this is the certainty of
our salvation, that Christ makes intercession for us. He didn't
only die for our sins, but he rose for our justification. He
reigns as king and makes intercession for us. Romans 8, 34. Now, before
we end tonight, I wanna look at a verse of Scripture with
you so that we can see this in a way that we looked at briefly
on Sunday, but because there were some questions afterwards,
I wanted to revisit it for clarity sake. In Exodus chapter 3, In
Exodus chapter 3, the situation, the context is God sent Moses
to tell Pharaoh, let my people go. And Moses was first sent
to the people of Israel, the elders of Israel. And Moses is
asking the Lord, well, when they ask me what your name is, what
am I going to tell them? So that's the question that set
up this tremendous truth which God reveals. The tremendous truth
is what we're after here. But I like the fact that Moses
here, he's interested in telling the people of Israel who their
God is by his name. Okay? Remember that. What is
his name? What is his name? Now, in scripture,
the name is the person. The name is, as we would say
it in the job I had before I retired, It's the handle, the way we recognize
something for what it truly is. It's his name. In 1 Samuel, I
think it was 1 Samuel 25, verse 25, Abigail, the wife of Nabal,
told David, as is his name, so is he. His
name is Nabal, and he's a fool. That's to teach us what the name
in scripture signifies. It signifies the person. It signifies
the character of that person. And so the name here of God signifies
who God is. So remember that. So Moses is
asking them, who shall I tell the elders of Israel when they
ask me, what's his name? Who sent you? I'll tell them
whatever you tell me, Lord. Tell me your name. Verse 14,
Exodus chapter 3. God said to Moses, I am that
I am. And that's another way of saying
whatever God is today, that's what he has always been. And
whatever he has always been, he always will be. I am that
I am. Self-sufficient, eternal, unchanging,
immutable. His word cannot fail. He cannot
lie. God is. And there's no way you
can, that can be, you can't, There's nothing that can fail
with God, okay? He said, I am that I am. That
should give comfort to them, shouldn't it? Thus shalt thou
say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. But notice in verse 15, because
sometimes we lose this one, it's connected. So God is in himself
all that he is in himself. There was nothing outside of
God that made him do anything. He created all things. There
was nothing in creation that moved God. And what was there
before God created all things? There was nothing but God. So
certainly nothing could motivate God. So God is. He's self-sufficient,
self-subsistent. He just is who He is. And He's
never changing. And He can't change because He
can't be influenced by all that is outside of Him. But notice
in verse 15, the one who is unchanging, notice with this, and God said
moreover to Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, you see how he calls
himself? He's giving them his name. The
Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. And this is my memorial unto
all generation." What? The all-sufficient, eternal God
has taken His people to Himself, identifying Himself with His
people. That's His name. Now, what does
that mean to us? Well, it means everything. God
has in covenant, we know this from wherever God's covenant
is set forth, like in Jeremiah 31, he says, I will be a God
to them and they shall be my people. That's what this is talking
about. This is a relationship between God and his people that
makes them, their identity, in God and makes his name connected
to them so that if someone or anything were to try to separate
them from him and he's unable to keep them from separating
them, then his name is no stronger than that external force. Right? Or that wickedness. And that's
what's being talked about in Psalm 74. The psalmist is interceding
as an advocate for the church of God, the elect of God, those
he has chosen, his inheritance, his redeemed, his purchased people,
Zion, the church. And he's bringing not only their
relationship that they're the Lord's people to him, but also
God's name into the argument here, and the wickedness of the
enemy that he would blaspheme God's name by blaspheming God's
people. It's like it says in, I don't
remember the chapter now, he says, he that toucheth you does
what? He touches the apple of my eye.
You see, Jesus said, whatever they do to you, they've done
it to me. You see the union here between Christ and his people,
the identification of his people in God and his name connected
to them? The eternal God has chosen to
take his people to himself in such a close relationship that
if any defile them, if any destroy them or attempt to accuse them,
they have to go through God. They can't do it. That's why
Jesus said in John 10, 27 through 29, He says, My sheep hear My
voice. I know them, they follow Me.
And I give unto them eternal life. And no man is able to pluck
them out of My hand. My Father, which is greater than
all, is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. You see, they can't be separated
from Him. And so whenever Moses prayed
in Exodus 32 or Numbers 14, he pleads with God in the same way.
Well, if you cast off these people, if you just destroy them, then
the enemy's gonna say, you weren't able, you didn't think far enough
ahead. that they were going to be sinners
when you brought them out of Egypt. And they would be tempted
by these silly idols and fall in sin. And the enemy would come
in because you brought justice against them and destroyed them.
And the enemy is going to win. No, no, no. You're greater. Your
strength is much greater than that. They're your people. And
so these things are brought to bear in this intercession, and
this is the way the Lord prays. This is the way the Lord prays
for His people. He prays in the name, in the name of our Savior,
He who is God, the one who pleads for His people is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's why this psalm is
such a powerful message here. I'm not going to be able to get
into it tonight. I suppose I should spend one more part on this psalm
in order to cover this part. But I want you to look at one
more verse in Psalm 74 before we quit here, and that's in verse
20. Notice this motive too, that
the intercessor, the advocate makes in his prayer for the people
of God, making this prayer to God. Have respect unto the covenant,
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of
cruelty. All right, everything outside
of the covenant God made with his people in Christ is a dark
place. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
there's no cruelty but salvation. And so not only is the psalmist,
the intercessor, the advocate pleading with God because these
are his people, pleading with him because of the wickedness
of the enemy and the cruelty, and pleading with him because
his name is at stake. God himself has staked himself
to save his people. His name is so tied to his people
that if God fails to be, to, remember what Jesus said to the
Sadducees? He said, God is not the God of the dead. He's the
God of the living. And so his people have to live. he's not going to fail in that,
otherwise he's not the God of the living and his name would
fall to the ground. What about that other name? His
name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. If he fails to save his people, if he failed to save
his people because he went to the cross and cried, it is finished,
then his name can't be Jesus, can it? So all these things teach
us this, and he's adding this in verse 20, have respect, consider,
bring to mind that covenant. And which covenant is that? Of
course, it's the everlasting covenant, the covenant he made
with Christ. the covenant he made with Christ
for his people. All the promises which were made
were brought into effect when the testator, which is Christ,
died. And that will went into effect,
the full force of that will. And the testator, Christ, rose
again to administer that covenant so that everything promised would
be given to those people. So all these things are brought
to bear as the wisdom of God now is praying on behalf of God's
people, according to the will of God, according to the name
of God, according to his eternal love for his people, according
to his covenant, according to the Lord's own cause, as it says
in the last verse. He says, I'm sorry, the second
to the last verse, arise, plead thine own cause. And you know
what, it reminds me of that realization that I had when I first understood
the gospel, and that is this, that I am as safe as the Lord
Jesus Christ is. If God has accepted me for Christ's
sake, then I'm accepted in Christ. It's not conditioned on my performance. It's not conditioned on anything
in me, because that's what it means that God would receive
us for Christ's sake. He has forgiven you for His name's
sake. Remember that? In 1 John chapter
2 verse 12, I think it is, little children, I write these things
under you, he has forgiven you, your sins are forgiven for his
name's sake. Or in Ephesians 4, 32, forgive
one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. And all
these things should come to bear on this psalm here and bring
to us that greatest comfort of knowing that Christ as our mediator
and advocate and intercessor is pleading for us. He dwells
in His people. Nothing will separate us from
Him. He's not going to change His mind. God's not going to
change His covenant. He has staked Himself to fulfill
it. His name is at stake. His person
as God will fail unless He saves His people according to His promise.
And every sinner is told, look unto Me, by the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Look unto me and be ye saved. Now that is comforting, isn't
it? Every sinner looking to Christ is his people and they shall
be justified in the Lord. He is their righteousness. Let's
pray. Father, thank you for such a great and powerful salvation
that it would be grounded on the blood of your son, fulfilled
in the resurrected and reigning Christ, our King, even in Him who is our High Priest,
who offered Himself in blood for our sins and makes intercession
for us at the right hand of God, according to the will of God,
searching the hearts, knowing our weakness and our ignorance,
and pleading God's will to save us in spite of these things,
because God has set His people with Himself in His name and
declared His name in the Lord Jesus Christ with
his people so that our salvation is as sure as God is God. What an amazing grace and salvation
this is to us. And we pray, Lord, that you would
convince us of these things in our heart, make us thankful,
cause us to rest in you and be confident with full assurance.
We know we can't love unless we know your love or forgive
unless we are forgiven by you. We can't be gracious unless you've
shown us your grace. And we can't believe unless you
show us that Christ cannot fail. So teach us these things, Lord,
from your word in our hearts. In his name we pray, amen.