2. Of ‘Fools’, the Proud & Humanists Psalm 75:4-6

Text: “I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn.  Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.”

Psalm 75:4-5.

Good morning, God-fearing Christian!  When you come before God’s throne of Holy grace, you make sure you come in a penitent spirit of true reverence and worshipful praise to the One Who has redeemed our souls by the price of His own precious and sinless Blood.  We seek to, at all times, revere our God’s absolute Holiness and wrath against all sin; and to give true worship and thanksgiving for His amazing grace and infinite mercy towards us, ‘His people’.  This is what it is to be a ‘God-fearing Christian’.  Glory to His Name.

Biblically Defined ‘Fools’: The Bible, God’s inspired Word, defines ‘fools’ according to their own obvious and Eternal foolishness.  “By their fruits ye shall know them…”

“Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”  (Matthew 7:16-20)

Verse 4. Fools. “The ungodly are Spiritual fools.  If one had a child very beautiful, yet if he were a fool, the parent would have little joy in him. The Scripture hath dressed the sinner in a fool’s coat: and let me tell you, better a fool void of reason that a fool void of grace: this is the Devil’s fool. (Proverbs 14:9)” (Thomas Watson 1620-1686)

“I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn."   (Psalm 74:4)

It is a very foolish person, who sits and hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ’s Salvation, and goes out and ignores the message, and fails to receive Christ’s offer of Eternal Salvation.

Verse 4. Fools. “Is not he a fool who refuseth a rich portion?  God offers Christ and Salvation, but the sinner refuseth his portion: “Israel would none of Me” (Psalm 88:11).  Is not he a fool who preferreth an annuity before an inheritance?  Is not he a fool who tends his mortal part and neglects his angelical part?  As if one should paint the walls of his house and let the timber rot.  Is not he a fool who will feed the Devil with his soul?

“As that emperor who fed his lions with a pheasant, is not he a fool who lays a snare for himself? (Proverbs 1:18) Who consults his own shame? (Habakkuk 2:10) Who loves death? (Proverbs 8:36).” (Thomas Watson, 1620-1686)

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God (or, No, God!). They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”  (Psalm 14:1)

Verse 5. The Proud: Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. The ‘horn’ in KJV Scriptures is symbolic of man’s authority, man’s strength, man’s pride in his own abilities, and in his ability to manage his own affairs; choose his own direction in life; decide upon vital matters which pertain to his well-being and vital needs.  Stiff-necked people are people who are too proud to bow to the will or direction of God, or other wiser people.

“In Scripture, the horn is a symbol of strength or power. The horn of Moab is cut off. Jeremiah 48. Horn is also an emblem of glory, honor, dignity. My horn is exalted in the Lord. 1 Samuel 2. In Daniel, horn represents a kingdom or state.”  (KJV Bible Dictionary, online)

“The horn of Moab (a type of the flesh, pride) is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord. Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the Lord: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.”  (Jeremiah 48:25)

Hell shall be filled with proud people, people that were too proud to yield to Christ, and receive His Eternal Salvation; too proud to humble themselves before Almighty Lord God, that they might receive His matchless grace.  Some proud men would literally starve to death before asking another for bread!  Pride will take millions down into a Christ-rejecter’s Hell.  What a tragedy!

“The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: but He will establish the border of the widow. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: but the words of the pure are pleasant words” (Proverbs 15:25

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, that to divide the spoil with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19)

Verses 6 & 7. Humanists: “But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

Definition: “Humanist – (adjective) relating to people who believe in humanism: the idea that people do not need a God or religion to satisfy their Spiritual and emotional needs.”  (Cambridge English Dictionary)

Our Lord God is a Sovereign Lord God.  He is an omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-present Lord God and Creator of all things.  There is no other like Him.  He is Supreme and perfect in all His manifestations, and Holy in all His Triune (three Persons) Being.  Our God reigns Supreme and Sovereign over all the works of His hands.  There is no other God but Jehovah Lord God. Amen.

Humanists do not believe this is so, and by doing so, manifest the terrible curse of reprobation; souls that are rejected by God in Salvation grace; souls who never receive the quickening (making alive) of the Holy Ghost; who wallow in their own pride, and confidence in their own fallen nature and what human effort can do to promote themselves and prosper in this sinful world.  Poor souls.  Their cries can be heard in unison with those who have cried down through the ages: “We will not have this man (Christ Jesus) to reign over us!”

“But His citizens hated Him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to rule over us.” (Luke 19:12-27)

“But those Mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before Me.”  (Luke 19:27)

We who are God-fearing Christians, who are given faith from the Lord God to believe His inspired Word on all matters, must seek to pray more earnestly for the precious and immortal souls of such ‘Fools, The Proud, and Humanists’ – in the hope that among their numbers there might yet be some elect souls, preordained to receive God’s quickening power (made Spiritually alive) and receive His gift of faith to enable them to believe and receive the Living Christ as both Saviour and Lord.

“The Lord shall reign forever and ever” (Exodus 15:18)

Thought: “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the Heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the Kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all.”  (1 Chronicles 29:11-13)