to Psalm number 76, the 76th Psalm. My text will be found in verse
number 10. My message is titled, The Gospel
According to Christ's Enemies. Psalm 76, in Judah, is God known. His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle,
and his dwelling place in Zion. There break he the arrows of
the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." Salem
probably means, pause and think about that. Verse 4, Thou art
more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The stout-hearted
are spoiled, they have slept their sleep, and none of the
men of might have found their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of
Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep. Thou,
even thou, art to be feared, and who may stand in thy sight
when once thou art angry? Thou didst cause judgment to
be heard from heaven. The earth feared and was steeled
when God arose to judgment to save all the meek of the earth.
See, I'll pause and think about that. Yeah, and pause and think
about this. Verse 10, Surely the wrath of
man shall praise thee. That's my text. The remainder
of wrath shalt thou restrain. Vow and pay unto Jehovah your
God. Let all that be round about him
bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. He shall
cut off the spirit of princes, He is terrible to the kings of
the earth. Verse 10, that's my text. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee. Jehovah glorifies himself in the deeds and words of the
wrathful against him. When they bellow their wrath
against him, he puts his trumpet to their lips, and they sound
forth his praise instead. When they hire prophets to curse
his people, Jehovah makes them bless his
people instead. Balaam is proof of that. for
most false prophets and all the holy scriptures. Balaam, Abed-Nehemite,
a knight and a prophet known far and wide. King Balak of Moab
hires Balaam to come and curse Israel who were passing not far
from him on their way to Canaan. Balaam shows up, receives his
fee, because he's a harling, receives his fee, and then proceeds
to curse Israel. And instead, he blesses Israel
instead. Repeatedly, Balaam says, I paid
you to curse them, and look, you have blessed them all together.
And Balaam said, in essence, Jehovah made me do it. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise you. Jehovah may glorify his name
and exalt his person when his enemies rise up against him to
destroy his people. Ask Pharaoh, well, you could
if he were still around. He did not last long. He and
his wrath went against Israel and Jehovah made him in the Red
Sea and drowned Pharaoh and destroyed him in saving his people. Paul the Apostle says he did
it so that he could magnify his name. Well, Jehovah succeeded. Here we are 3,500 years later
and we're still talking about it. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise you. Go ahead, Balaam. Go ahead, Pharaoh. Go ahead, whomever you are, and
vent your wrath against Jehovah. You'll end up praising him. He
will exalt himself and all your wrath against him. This truth
stated in our text, surely the wrath of man shall praise you.
It was gloriously illustrated when the enemies of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ wrathfully vented themselves against him. Hot and heavy were their words.
They did all they could to destroy him with their words, to bring
his reputation down, And all they did was exalt him in so
doing. They unwittingly spoke the truth
about him when they castigated him. Their words of condemnation
against him unwittingly justify him. They cast upon him terms
of derision and he took them and put them on and wore them
as a badge of honor. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise you. We read of all this in the four
Gospels. You know the four Gospels. The
Gospel according to Matthew and Mark and Luke and John. The first
four books of the New Testament. In those four books, those four
Gospels, you may find the words of the enemies of Jesus Christ
that they spoke against him. Now here's what we'll do. We'll take those words that they
spoke in those four Gospels. This morning we're going to put
them together and we will have a fifth Gospel. We will call it the Gospel According
to Christ's Enemies. They castigated Him with their
words. They derided Him with their words. They vented their
wrath against Him with their words. And in so doing, they
declared the gospel. They declared the gospel. Ten
ways. Ten ways. The gospel according
to Christ's enemies. They expressed the following
truths regarding him. His divine sonship, his indisputable
humanity, his divine power, His unbridled sovereignty, His vicarious
death, His kingly lordship, His Godward faith, His unselfish
salvation, His legal vindication, His receiving grace. Now that is the gospel according
to Christ's enemies in ten statements that we now will consider. They
declared to Jesus Christ divine sonship. Divine sonship. Jesus is in Jerusalem. He made at least three visits
a year to Jerusalem. He himself lived and ministered
for the most part up in the north in Galilee. But thrice a year
he goes to Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem there is a pool
at Bethesda. It is said that when an angel
would trouble the water, that whoever was first into the water
would be healed of whatever was his infirmity. And Jesus walks
by the pool of Bethesda. There's a man who is an invalid. He cannot walk. He cannot get
into the pool and it is the Sabbath day. Jesus walked by and healed
him on the Sabbath day. His enemies were upset. They criticized him for having
healed a man on the Sabbath. Think about that for just a moment,
if you will. The day on which you heal somebody
and do some good deed to them, that could condemn you. Jesus
just stirred the water up a bit more when He said, My Father has been working until
now, and I have been working. And they knew what He meant.
They knew what He meant. When he said, my father has been
working and I have been working, he was calling God his father. And furthermore, his work and
God the Father's work was the same work. Oh yeah, he has ruffled
some feathers. He has made some people mad.
They were so mad that they castigated him and they tried to kill him.
They said he committed blasphemy because, and here's what they
said, he said that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. Now they castigated him with
those words. He said that God was his father,
and he thinks he's equal with God. Well, he spoke the truth. God the Father is his Father,
is he not? Do not the Scriptures repeatedly
call Jesus Christ God's only begotten Son? God has many adopted
sons, but only one begotten Son. This begotten, this only begotten
Son of God was begotten of Him by an eternal generation before
time began. When Jehovah said in the second
Psalm, this day have I begotten thee, He's talking about an eternal
day, a day before all creation, before the foundation of the
world. There's God the Father and His only begotten Son. Jesus
knew that He was God's only begotten Son. Jesus knew that the Father
had begotten Him with an eternal generation. And furthermore,
on two separate occasions, God the Father publicly and vocally
declared that Jesus Christ was His Son. That is baptism. and at his transfiguration. At
his baptism, he's standing in the Jordan to be baptized by
John. And when Jesus is baptized, there
he is in the water. And what appears to be a dove
comes and lands on his shoulder. And a voice is heard from heaven,
this is my beloved son. in whom I am well pleased." And
then, on the Mount of the Transfiguration, when Jesus Christ was transfigured
before his disciples, another public occasion, there on that
mountain, Jesus is there with two of the foremost prophets
from the Old Testament. And the disciples see Jesus with
those two foremost prophets and they said, hey look, let us build
three tabernacles. Well, God the Father put a stop
to that. Instantly, he opened heaven and
said of Jesus, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Now, Jesus knew He was God's
only begotten son. He surely knew that, did he not?
When he says, my father has been working and I have been working,
he called Jehovah his father. And yes, if Jehovah is his father,
he is equal with God, because a son is equal in nature with
his father. Every son of every father has
his father's nature. Jesus is the only begotten Son
of God. He has the divine nature. He
is equal with God. We read in Philippians chapter
2 that Christ Jesus, two statements, He is in the form of God. He is equal with God from all
eternity. God the Father and Jesus Christ
are co-eternal, co-glorious, and co-equal. Jesus knew that. When his enemy said, he said
God was his father, he thinks he's equal with God. Well, yeah,
he did. He was convinced of it. Therefore, Jesus' foes spoke
truth Yes, they spoke truth when they said, he said, God was his
father. He thinks he's equal with God.
Well, that's true. They castigated him with those
words, but Jesus takes their castigation and wears it as a
badge of honor. Number two, Jesus Christ's indisputable humanity. Luke chapter 4, verse 22, in
the context of verses 16 through 30. Jesus, in the beginning of
His ministry, has gone through parts of Galilee preaching, teaching,
healing. Then He comes back to His hometown,
Nazareth. Folks, are undoubtedly excited. Our boy has come home. He's here in the synagogue with
us. It is Sabbath day. It is a Sabbath
day worship service and Jesus from our town, yeah, he's one
of us. He's here. It is known that he
has been teaching and preaching. Even down in Jerusalem they knew
that he was a man come from God. So as the custom is, the head
of the worship service in the synagogue tells Jesus, read the
scripture for us. Jesus walks over to the place
where the scrolls are located. He finds the one he wants. The scripture of a book, in this
case the book of Isaiah, it would be written on a scroll. They
did not have pages in the book. And so Jesus is unrolling that
scroll. He's looking in the prophecy
of Isaiah for a particular passage. And as he scrolls that, ah, there
it is! He has found it. All the eyes have been watching
him. This boy from Nazareth come back. What will he read to us? Jesus has scrolled down to the
prophecy of Isaiah, 61st chapter. He begins reading these words.
The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me. because he has anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor. Second, he has sent me to heal
the brokenhearted. Third, he has sent me to proclaim
liberty to the captives. Fourth, he has sent me to give
recovery of sight to the blind. Fifth, he has sent me to set
at liberty those who are oppressed. Sixth, he has sent me to proclaim
the acceptable year of Jehovah." They have heard what he wrote
or what he read. They knew the import of those
words. They knew that Isaiah's prophecy
was of the Messiah for whom they had been waiting for many years.
What will Jesus say about what he has just read about the Messiah? Here's what he said. This day,
this scripture is fulfilled in your ears. Well, that did not go over well. They knew it was a messianic
passage. They knew that Isaiah was talking
about the servant of Jehovah, his anointed one, the Messiah. And here is Jesus. He's from
our town? We know everybody in this town.
They said, is he not the carpenter's son? Is he not Joseph's son? That's the same thing as saying,
is He not one of us? That's what they're saying. Is
He not one of us? Well, yeah, He is one of us.
He is one of us. He is a man in our humanity because
in the incarnation of the Son of God, He became also Son of
Man. The unique God-Man. Son of God
and Son of Man. As Son of God, He is equal with
God. As Son of Man, He's one of us. He is one of us. They spoke those
words to castigate and deride Him. They were wrathful. They
tried to kill Him. Yes, He is one of us. The Son of God is pleased to
be one of us, and Jesus became one of us in order to fulfill
the prophecy of Isaiah. According to Hebrews 2, 14 through
17, inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood,
he himself likewise shared in the same that through death he
might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the
devil, and release those who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. Therefore, in all things, he
had to be made like his brethren." God's elect are the brothers
of Jesus Christ. He had to be made like them. The Son of God, who is equal
with God, became the Son of Man, equal with us. He's one of us. His enemies wrathfully castigated
him with this accusation. Is he not one of us? Yes, he
is. Yes, he is. They spoke the truth. He took their term of derision
and wore it as a badge of honor. Number three, Jesus Christ's
divine power. Divine power. He's ministering
in a house. There's a paralytic or an invalid
In fact, he was a paralytic, could not walk. His friends got onto the roof
of the house, removed some tiles. There in that crowded room, Jesus
in the middle of the room, here comes this paralytic, lowered
by four men. evidently on a pallet, four cords, and they lower him
right in front of Jesus. The scripture makes a very strange
statement. Jesus beheld the faith of the
four men. That's what the scripture says.
Jesus beheld the faith. What did he see? Four men who
believed he could heal that man who had just been lowered down
to him. He looked up. He saw their faith. Then he said to the paralytic,
Man, your sins are forgiven. What a glorious statement is
this! Man, your sins are forgiven."
Now, he later told him to get up and walk, but he says, your
sins are forgiven. And his enemies scattered around
the room, began to reason in their hearts and in their thoughts. And unbeknownst to them, Jesus
not only conceived the faith of the four men up there, But
he can read the minds of his critics. He knows what they're
thinking. You know what they're thinking?
Who can forgive sins but God alone? This man has just told
a man that his sins are forgiven. Who does he think he is? God?
Yeah. He's convinced of it. Who can
forgive sins but God alone? Now Jesus' foes understood this
truth. No one can forgive sins but God. No one can. I cannot forgive
your sins. You cannot forgive my sins. You can confess your sins all
day long to some man in the booth and he may say they're forgiven
but he does not have that power. He's not God. None but God can
forgive sins. No one can forgive sins against
the one against whom the sins were committed. No one can forgive
sins except Him whose law was broken. That's what sins are. If you want your sins forgiven,
you'll have to go to God. Only He can forgive them. We
sinners, if we are honest, we will pray as David did, against
you and you only have I sinned. Oh, he had done a terrible deed
with another man's wife. Yes, he'd done a terrible deed
to that man himself. But David says, against you and
you only have I sinned. I broke your law. We are honest if we admit that.
None but God can forgive sins, and since Jesus Christ is God,
sins against God are sins against Jesus Christ, and sins against
Jesus Christ are sins against God, and only He can forgive
them. I tell you that if Jesus Christ
ever says to you, your sins are forgiven, God has forgiven you. One more point. We'll continue
next week after this. Fourth point. Jesus Christ unbridled sovereignty. Unbridled sovereignty. He's casting out demons. It was
a very common occurrence in that day. Many people had demons.
Jesus was born at the most opportune time. Satan was in control in
a big way. So many people were possessed
of demons. And Jesus goes around and he's
casting out demons out of people. And his enemies see it. Now they
know they cannot do this. Ask the sons of Seba. They know
they cannot do this. And here is Jesus and he never
fails. If he casts out a demon, the
demon leaves. You know what they said about
him when he was casting out demons? They said, he has Beelzebub. Beelzebub! Who is Beelzebub? Beelzebub was the lord of the
flies. Flies are pests who love excrement. That's who Beelzebub was, the
lord of the flies. delighting in excrement. That
was the name they gave to Satan in that day, the ruler of the
demons. And they said of Jesus, he has
Beelzebub. He is the Lord of the flies. You cannot be much more insulting
than that. What an insult. He has Beelzebub. A few verses down, you'll read
these words. Jesus said, You cannot rob the
strong man's house until first of all you bind the strong man. Now if you bind the strong man,
you can go into his house and take whatever you want to. That's
what I have done. I have bound Satan. You can read
about it in Revelation chapter 20 verses 1 through 3. And I
saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold
of the serpent, that old devil, tied him up, bound him for a
thousand years. Yep, he did that two thousand
years ago. He walked right into the devil's
house, tied him up, and then began robbing him and proving
he had that power by casting out demons. Satan's emissaries,
he's casting them out. He has Beelzebub. Well, yeah,
he does have Beelzebub, not in the sense of which they meant, Beelzebub is Satan. Satan is the ruler of the demons. Jesus has bound Satan, now controls
his demons. Yeah, Jesus has Beelzebub because
he owns the devil. He owns Beelzebub! Satan is Jesus'
devil. He cannot do a thing unless Jesus
lets him. He's on a leash! Satan can snarl
and growl all he wants to, but he's like the sea to which God
says, hitherto thou shalt come and no further. No further. Yep. Jesus owns Beelzebub. Now, I take great comfort in
that. I take great comfort in that.
For Satan, my adversary, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour. I'm so glad he cannot devour
me because Jesus owns him. Jesus owns Beelzebub. Jesus has this divine sovereignty. It is unbridled. He has power
over all my enemies. And Jesus's enemies cast these
kinds of words as terms of derision. And He takes their terms of derision,
puts them on and wears them as a badge of honor. And we say, surely the wrath
of man shall praise Thee. O God, our Father, how many are Your enemies, and
Your enemies are our enemies, and hot are their wrathful words, terrible or their wrathful deeds,
how blessed we are in knowing that in all their wrath they
praise You. They bellow their wrath against
You, and You put Your trumpet to their lips, and they sound
forth Your praise instead. We give You praise. We give You
glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.