Hi everybody. Hi everybody. Would you turn
to the 75th Psalm. Psalm 75 and I want to read a couple of verses
out of this before I read the whole psalm. Verse two of Psalm 75 and verse
three. When I shall receive the congregation,
I will judge uprightly. The earth and all the inhabitants
thereof are dissolved. I bear up the pillars of it."
Who's speaking? Now, those could not be the words
of David. Yes, they are the words of David,
but these are primarily the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when we read this psalm, I want us to read all this psalm as
Christ in the first person. Psalm 75. 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. The earth and all the inhabitants
thereof are dissolved. I bear up the pillars of it.
Selah. I said unto the fools, deal not
foolishly. And to the wicked, lift not up
the horn. Now the word horn is symbolic
of power in the scriptures. 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. It's full of mixture, and he
poureth out 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. All the horns of the
wicked also will I cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall
be exalted. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are for who you are. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would reveal yourself to each one of us according to
your will. That you would speak in power
from your word to our hearts. And Lord, enable us to worship
thy dear son. Lord, we confess our sins, we
confess the sinfulness of our thoughts, of our deeds, of our
motives, and we pray for forgiveness and cleansing. We pray for your
grace upon this assembly. We ask that you would give us
grace to love you more than we've ever loved you before by your
grace and give us grace to love one another and be servants one
to another. Bless us for the Lord's sake. Be with all your
people wherever they meet together. Accept our thanksgiving in Christ's
name we pray. Amen. Unto thee, O God, do we give
thanks. Now this is the Lord Jesus speaking
as a we. Remember when he said, thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. This is the Lord Jesus speaking
as a we in behalf of all of his people. Now, like I said, as
we looked at these verses, this is the Lord speaking. Unto thee,
O Lord, do we give thanks. Unto thee do we give thanks. Now listen to this scripture
from 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. In everything, give thanks. Do you hear that? In everything,
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Whatever it is, whatever you're
going through, whatever I'm going through, And I know some people
go through some very difficult circumstances. I would not in
any way be hard toward that. The things people go through,
I've had it easy. The things people go through,
the difficult things. And yet Paul says in everything,
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you, whatever it is, it's God's will concerning you. And don't
give thanks because things could be worse. Give thanks because
things could not be better. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. It said of the reprobate in Romans
chapter one, neither were they thankful. May God give us grace
to be truly thankful people at all times. Amen. In everything. Give thanks unto
thee, O God, do we give thanks. Unto thee we give thanks, for
that thy name is near. Thy name is near. His name is his person. For thy
name is near, thy wonderful works declare. Now I'd love to think
of his wonderful works. They can be divided into his
works of creation, his works of providence, his works of salvation,
His wonderful works declare his name is near. You're in his creation
right now, aren't you? He's very near. You're in his
providence right now. He's the one who controls everything
that takes place. Let me repeat. Don't ever say
that was providential. Because if you say that was providential,
the implication is, is that some kind of special providential
thing that the other stuff wasn't? Everything is his perfect providence. He's very near. He's very near. The time right now you're in
says he's very near. Oh, his wonderful work of salvation. The word is nigh thee. nigh thee,
even in thy heart, in thy mouth, the word of faith which we speak. He's near. He's not a God of
far off. He's near. Verse two, when I shall receive
the congregation, I will judge uprightly. Now, this is the Lord
Jesus speaking. And do you know, we receive him. No doubt about it. As many as
received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons
of God. But we receive him because he
received us. And he judges uprightly when
he makes a judgment regarding every one of his believer. believers,
he judges them up rightly. It's called justification. They
are just before him. They're without sin before him. And he gives everybody, all of
his people, what they have coming, justification because of what
Christ did for them. He always judges rightly. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? That says in verse three, the
earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved. They're
unstable. They're melting away I bear up
the pillars of it. Now when the earth and all the
inhabitants of the earth shake, I am the one that upholds the
pillars of the earth. He upholdeth all things, the
scripture says, by the word of his power. Now this could not
be speaking of David the man. This is speaking of David's son
and David's Lord, the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he upholds the pillars of the earth. When everything seems
so unstable, when everything seems to be dissolved, melting,
guess who's upholding the pillars of the earth at all times? By him, all things consist. What a glorious Lord we have.
Verse four, I said unto the fools. Now, the word fools here is not
the word generally translated fools as far as what we, the
way the Bible usually uses the word. It's a different word.
It's the boastful. I said to the boastful, the boastful,
the proud, what is more unreasonable than pride. What do you have
that you didn't receive? And to be proud of what you are?
To be proud of who you are? What about just being envious
of somebody because they have some position that you think
ought to be coming to you? What about being jealous of somebody
because you think it ought to be coming to you? That's boastful. You think, I think we got it
coming to us. And that's so contrary to the
grace of God. What do you have that you didn't
receive? Now he's speaking to the boastful
at this time. I said to the boastful, deal
not foolishly. It's so foolish to be boastful.
And to the wicked, lift not up the horn. Now the horn in the
scripture always speaks of power. Don't think of your power or
any power you have. You know people covet power. The only power there is is the
Lord's. He's the only power. Power belongeth
unto the Lord. When people think of powerful
people and powerful men and women, there are no powerful men and
women. Power belongeth unto the Lord. Don't ever, by the grace
of God, don't ever even think like that. He says to the wicked,
lift not up the horn, don't think of power. Verse five, lift not
up your horn on high. Speak not with a stiff neck,
it's so contrary. Verse six, I love this verse. For promotion. Cometh neither
from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. What's the
only direction left? God, the North. Promotion only comes from Him. Promotion has one source. Now, I want us to remember the
unalterable law of the kingdom of heaven. Everyone that exalts
himself shall be abased. The Lord knows how to abase them
that walk in pride. And everyone, this exalting yourself
is promoting yourself, isn't it? That's exactly what it is.
It's promoting yourself. Remember, promotion doesn't,
it only comes from the Lord. When you promote yourself, you
shall be abased. If I promote myself, I shall
be abased. And he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. The beautiful illustration the
Bible gives us of this is the Pharisee and the publican. The
Pharisee exalted himself. Lord, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are. And what about the publican? He beat on his breast, crying,
God, be merciful to me, thee, sinner. And what took place?
One was exalted. The other was abased. Now let's
go on reading verse seven. God is the judge. He put us down one and set up
another. I love to think of this. The
Lord putting down one and bringing up another. Turn with me for
a moment to 1 Samuel 2. I think this is the best commentary
on this passage of scripture. He put it down one and set it
up another. This is Hannah's prayer. 1 Samuel
2 verse one. And Hannah prayed. and said,
my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn, what strength I have,
is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There's none holy
as the Lord, for there's none beside thee. Neither is there
any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge. By Him, actions
are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are
broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They
that are full have hired out themselves for bread, and they
that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath born seven, and
she that hath many children is wax feeble. The Lord killeth
and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust and lift up the beggar from the dunghill to set him
among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for
the pillars of the earth are the Lord's. and he has set the
world upon them, he will keep the feet of his saints, and the
wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man
prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces, out of heaven shall he thunder upon them, the
Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give
strength unto his king, and exalt the horn. of his anointed. The Lord bringeth down, the Lord
raises up. He is the judge, he putteth down
one, verse seven, and setteth up another. Verse eight, Psalm
75. For in the hand of the Lord there's
a cup. Now this is the cup that the
Lord spoke of when he was in Gethsemane's garden. And this
is what this is a reference to. You remember when he said, sweating
great drops of blood. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. And this is the cup that he's
speaking of here. And notice he says the wine is red. That
means boiling. Boiling that's not talking about
the color red If I said that right color color, how are you
say it? This is not talking about the
color red This is talking about the content of that cup that
he was called upon to drink. And when we consider something
like this, we're so aware of, all of us, me and you are both
aware of our ignorance of understanding this, but the content of that
cup Yes, it was the wrath of God. Yes, it was the pain of
wrath, the pain of separation. But more than anything else,
that was his people's sins that he was drinking and taking into
his own body on the tree. He said, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Now, somebody says he knew it
wasn't possible. How could he say that? I don't know, but he
did. The thought of drinking in that sin, taking our sins
in his own body on the tree. This is the transference of sin.
The sins of his people became his sins. He drank them into
his own body on the tree. After this, after this time in
Gethsemane, he said in John chapter 18, the cup which my father has
given me, shall I not drink it? He drank that cup. This is what this is a reference
to. For in the hand of the Lord, verse eight is a cup. And the
wine is red, boiling, it's full of mixture. And he pours out
the same. But the dregs thereof, all the
wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them, all
of the wicked of the earth shall drink. Now, the Lord experienced
all the wrath of God as the substitute of his people. He took my place, and he bore
my sin, and he experienced the wrath of God, and he satisfied
it. He satisfied it. That's why he
was raised from the dead. But all the wicked will drink of
the dregs of that cup. Verse nine, but I will declare
forever. I will sing praises to the God
of Jacob. Now that's the covenant of God,
the covenant God, the God of Jacob. Don't you love how he
is called the God of Jacob? That gives me hope that he's
my God, my covenant God, the God of Jacob. Jacob have I loved. Now, verse
10. All the horns, that's the strength
of the wicked, also will I cut off. But the horns of the righteous
shall be exalted. Now here are the two kinds of
people, the wicked and the righteous. Now I realize that all men, by
nature, me and you, by nature, are born into this world wicked. Wicked, that's strong language,
wicked. Paul said there's no difference.
Talking about men, there's no difference. There's no difference
between me and you. There's no difference between
you and anybody else in the world in the sense that we're all wicked. You believe that about yourself?
We're all wicked. It's what we are by nature. Born
into this world, you take the most moral, fine, upstanding
man, and I'm not, we ought to all be fine, moral, upstanding
man. But before God, you take the
most moral man and you take the most immoral man. There's no
difference. There's no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Yet we have this
description of Christ of all men, the righteous and the wicked. If I'm in Christ, I am righteous. Altogether righteous. When I stand before God in judgment,
I'll have nothing to be ashamed of. I won't have any skeletons
in the closet. Nothing can be brought against
my charge. I stand righteous. Righteous. And then there are
the wicked, those who stand in themselves, those who stand in
Christ, those who stand in themselves, righteous and wicked. Now turn
with me for a moment. This is the last scripture we'll
look at to Isaiah chapter three. All the horns of the wicked also
will I cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Isaiah chapter three, verse 10. Say ye to the righteous that
it shall be well with him. For they shall eat the fruit
of their doings. Now think about what that says.
It's going to be well for the righteous, for they shall eat
the fruit of their doings. Now, somebody says, that doesn't
sound too good to me if I eat the fruit of my doings. If Christ's
doings are your doings, it's all good, isn't it? That's the
point, I think, of that passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 10, where it, let's turn, hold your finger there.
I said I wouldn't turn it anymore, but I want you to look at this. 2
Corinthians 5. Verse 10. For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Now, when I stand before God
in judgment, I'm going to receive for the things done in this body,
and they're all good. Because Christ's righteousness
is my personal righteousness. This is not some kind of paste
on righteousness. This means everything I've done
in my body is good. Say to the righteous, it'll be
well with them. They're going to receive the
fruit of their doing. My history is recorded in Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. The 33 years that the Lord lived
upon this earth, that's my doing. That's what it means to be saved
by the righteousness of Christ. It's not a legal, you know, I've
heard people talk about justification. They've called it, it's forensic.
You know, that word's not in the Bible. It's his righteousness
is my righteousness. His doing is my doing. It's all
good. And that's why it's going to
be well with me. Say to the righteous, Isaiah said, it'll be well with
him. They're going to receive the fruit of their doing and
their doing is all good. Say that to the righteous. Verse 11. Woe unto the wicked. It shall be ill with him, for
the reward of his hands shall be given him." He's going to
be given exactly what he deserves, the work of his hands. God's just. And his judgment
is always perfectly just. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? And he's going to give everybody
exactly what they personally deserve. Say to the righteous,
it's going to be well. Whatever happens is for your
good. It's all good. Say to the righteous,
it should be well. Say to the wicked, it shall be
ill. They're going to be given what
they deserve. Well, the gospels are glorious,
isn't it? Amen.