2. The Glory of God’s Powerful Victories! Psalm 76:4-10

Text: “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 the horse are cast into a dead sleep.”

Psalm 76:4-6.

Good morning, Christian resting in Christ’s Victories!  Christ’s Holy victories are what holds us, ‘His people’, up, amidst all that would seek, vehemently, to pull us down, and mar our public witness for Him.  Of ourselves, we are weak, and foolish, and too often found wanting in the midst of the daily Spiritual Battle – but, in Christ Jesus, we are always fully assured of the eventual and total victory.  All glory to the Name of all names, King Jesus Christ!  Hallelujah! 

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy…”  (Psalm 107:1-3)

Verse 4. “Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.  What are the honours of war but brags of murder?  What the fame of conquerors but the reek of manslaughter?  But the Lord is glorious in Holiness, and His terrible deeds are done in justice for the defence of the weak and the deliverance of the enslaved.  Mere power may be glorious, but it is not excellent: when we behold the mighty acts of the Lord, we see a perfect blending of the two qualities.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 325)

Because we that are redeemed by Christ’ sinless Blood have been permitted to see Christ Jesus with the eyes of God-given faith – we more fully understand the Lord’s motivations in every act of Spiritual war He engages daily.  All just, all merciful, all gracious, all loving, and all and impeccably Holy, is our Lord God Jehovah – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Knowing this by faith through His amazing grace, we see that everything that our Lord God does is done in perfect righteousness and grace.  Therefore, ALL that God Almighty is and does, we applaud and give thanks to Him for it.  What a privilege to belong to the Lord God and to be permitted to have a portion in all His most powerful victories.  Glory to the Lamb!

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”    (Romans 8:37)

When the Living Lord God subdues enemies, they immediately wither and fade into insignificance.  Tyrants and oppressors who show no mercy towards those less powerful than themselves, and especially towards Christian witnesses, are reduced to trembling cowards at the rebuke of the Lord God.

Verse 5. “The stout-hearted are spoiled. Daring men, who fear nothing, are turned into Magor-missabibs (definition: terror on every side), the name given by Jeremiah to Pashur the priest when he smote him and put him in the stocks for prophesying against the idolatry of Jerusalem. ( Jeremiah 20:3 ) – fear round about; their stout hearts are taken from them, and then they are so far from being a terror to other men, that they run from the shadow of a man; their courage is down; they cannot give a child a confident look, much less look dangers or enemies in the face.”  (Joseph Caryl, 1602-1673)

Check out what the Lord did to Pashur the priest, for playing the tyrant with His servant Jeremiah: “For thus saith the Lord, Behold (look, and fully understand), I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all they friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends to whom thou hast prophesied lies.” (Jeremiah 20:1-6)

It is wise to remember that the Lord God is a God of Holiness, wrath against all sin, and a strict upholder of justice – as well as a Lord God of grace, mercy, and matchless love.  He will not be mocked by infidels or Christ-rejecting reprobates.  Take heed!

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,

And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;

And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,

And their hearts but once heaved, and forever were still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,

But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride:

And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;

And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,

The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)

Verse 7. “Thou, even Thou, art to be feared. Not Sennacherib, nor Nisroch his god, but Jehovah alone, Who with a silent rebuke had withered all the monarch’s host. The fear of man is a snare, but the fear of God is a great virtue and has great power for good over the human mind. God is to be feared profoundly, continually, and alone.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, pages 325-236)

Verse 10. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain. …The Devil blows the fire and melts the iron, and then the Lord fashions it for His own purposes.  Let men and devils rage as they may; they cannot do otherwise than subserve the Divine purposes.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 326)

Thought: Contemplate for a moment, all the powerful victories of our great Lord God! Give heart-felt thanks to Him, for His mercies endure forever for 'His people'.

Psalm 76: God’s Terrible Power! 1. The Power of Christ’s Name Psalm 76:1-4

Text: "In Judah is God known: His Name is great in Israel"

                                                                                            Psalm 76:1.

          “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name: that, at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow…and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:9-11.

Good morning, Christ-honouring Christian!  Having been Spiritually regenerated, made Spiritually alive from being a dry-bone natural sinner – you and I have learned the privilege of exalting the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, the risen Christ.  What a truly marvellous privilege this is today.  Hallelujah!  We honour and praise you, Lord Jesus!

“Again, He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.”  (Ezekiel 37:1-10)

“And you hath He quickened (made alive), who were dead (Spiritually dead) in trespasses and sins…even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).”  (Ephesians 2:1-10)

The Sovereign Lord God has blessed you and I and granted us His gift of genuine FAITH to believe His Word, the Gospel of Christ Crucified for to save natural sinners – and we have been graciously saved; redeemed by the sinless shed Blood of God the Son, Christ Jesus.  Wow!  Now, there’s a thought that should cause our redeemed souls to sing with joy!  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour we have in Christ Jesus!  Thanks be to Thee, great Lord God.

“Here faith sings of triumphs achieved. The present Psalm is a most jubilant war song a paean to the King of kings, the hymn of a theocratic nation to its Divine Ruler.  We have no need to mark divisions in a song where the unity is so well preserved.” (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 325)

What great theme is being song here in Psalm 76?  What is the cause of Israel’s triumphant rejoicing?  Why, it’s the fact that the nation has received God’s enlightenment and come to worship the true Creator Lord God Jehovah; and, furthermore, the acknowledgement that the Lord God has made Himself known to this nation, and hidden Himself from many others!

Verse 1. “In Judah is God known: His Name is great in Israel. Dark is the outer world, but within the favoured circle Jehovah is revealed and is the adoration of all who behold Him.  The world knows Him not, and therefore blasphemes Him, but His church is full of ardour to proclaim His fame unto the ends of the earth.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 325)

For me, this mirrors the Spiritual mystery of Christ’s Eternal Salvation: He saves some, and does not save others.  Fact! Those whom God the Spirit ‘quickens’ (makes Spiritually alive) are Eternally saved and shall go to be with Christ in Heaven.  Those to whom God the Spirit does not ‘quicken’, never get Eternally saved, and go to Hell when they die.  Fact!

Both groups are privileged to hear the glorious Gospel message of Eternal Salvation in Christ’s Atonement at Calvary’s Cross for sinners – but only a portion of those hearers get Eternally saved.  The Gospel message means EVERYTHING to those who are ordained to be saved; the Gospel message means NOTHING to those who are ordained to remain lost. This is an easily observable FACT we can see taking place day by day. God gives the Gospel message out loud and clear to all souls, but only those ordained by Him to ‘…receive power to become the sons of God’; that wonderful Divine gift of faith, ever get Eternally saved.  God’s Sovereign will is, at all times, fully done.

“But as many as received Him (Christ Jesus), gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: which were born, not of blood (human conception), nor of the will of the flesh (humanism and self-will), nor of the will of man (decisionism), but of God.” (John 1:12-13)

“For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”  (Hebrews 4:2)

“But the natural man (unregenerate, unquickened) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)

This is the power of Christ’s Holy Name!  His Name is GREAT indeed, in Spiritual Israel (the born again, Bible-believing Church).  Others outside Christ’s Kingdom may well seek to blaspheme His Holy Name; use it as a curse word on television dramas, movies, and worldly shows, etc.  But ‘His people’ know and fully reverence the blessed Name of Christ Jesus.  Glory and praise to Him Who sits on the right hand of our Father God!  Amen.

“Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain.”  (Exodus 20:7)

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou (Joseph) shall call His Name JESUS: for He shall save HIS PEOPLE from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:21)

Verse 2. “…His dwelling place in Zion. In God’s awesome power, He deems it fit to dwell continually in the hearts of redeemed sinners. What Divine humility!  What Divine grace!

Today’s Zion: Today’s Zion, in Spiritual Christian terms, is the hearts of ‘His people’; we who are privileged to be Spiritually regenerated Christians, are the dwelling place of God the Holy Spirit. He condescends to live within the hearts of those He has quickened, and for whom Christ shed His own sinless Blood on that cruel Calvary Cross.  We are God’s Zion.

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit (capital S.), if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.  Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”            (Romans 8:8-11)

Thought:  Verse 3. “There break He the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Over the past 46 years, since the Lord in His Sovereign grace saved a Hell-deserving wretch like me – there have been many ‘arrows’, ‘bows’, ‘shields’, and ‘battles’ raging within my heart.  But the Sovereign Lord God has broken every weapon, and granted me His Victory. All praise, and honour, and glory to His Holy and loving Name! (Isaiah 54:17)

3. Drinking from God’s Cup Psalm 75:7-10

Text: “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and He poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.  But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.  All the horns (pride, authority) of the wicked (Christ-rejecters) also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”

Psalm 75:8-10.

Good morning, praising Christian!  Why are you found praising?  Who are you praising?  What Eternal reason would you have to be praising – even when you are at your wit’s end, why have you still this vital something for which to praise God?  Glory to the Lamb, Christ Jesus!  Bless the Lord, O my soul!  We praise our Sovereign Lord God Jehovah continually because we KNOW from His own inspired, God-breathed, Word that we have a great cup to drink from His hand that shall be our refreshment FOREVER.  Hallelujah!  Dear and Sovereign Lord God, we praise and thank Thee!

Verse 7. “But God is the Judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another. Our Lord God is a Sovereign Lord God, “…Our God is in the Heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” (Psalm 115:3)

Matthew Henry Comments:

“In these verses we have two great doctrines laid down and two good inferences drawn from them, for the confirmation of what he had before said.

Here are two great truths laid down concerning God's government of the world, which we ought to mix faith with, both pertinent to the occasion: —

1. That from God alone kings receive their power (v. 6, 7), and therefore to God alone David would give the praise of his advancement; having his power from God he would use it for him, and therefore those were fools that lifted up the horn against him. We see strange revolutions in states and kingdoms, and are surprised at the sudden disgrace of some and elevation of others; we are all full of such changes, when they happen; but here we are directed to look at the author of them, and are taught where the original of power is, and whence promotion comes. Whence comes preferment to kingdoms, to the sovereignty of them? And whence come preferments in kingdoms, to places of power and trust in them?

“The former depends not upon the will of the people, nor the latter on the will of the prince, but both on the will of God, who has all hearts in his hands; to him therefore those must look who are in pursuit of preferment, and then they begin aright. We are here told, (1.) Negatively, which way we are not to look for the fountain of power: Promotion comes not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert, that is, neither from the desert on the north of Jerusalem nor from that on the south; so that the fair gale of preferment is not to be expected to blow from any point of the compass, but only from above, directly thence.

“Men cannot gain promotion either by the wisdom or wealth of the children of the east, nor by the numerous forces of the isles of the Gentiles, that lay westward, nor those of Egypt or Arabia, that lay south; no concurring smiles of second causes will raise men to preferment without the first Cause.

“The learned bishop Lloyd (Sermon. in loc.) gives this gloss upon it: "All men took the original of power to be from heaven, but from whom there many knew not; the eastern nations, who were generally given to astrology, took it to come from their stars, especially the sun, their god. No, says David, it comes neither from the east nor from the west, neither from the rising nor from the setting of such a planet, or such a constellation, nor from the south, nor from the exaltation of the sun or any star in the mid-heaven."

“He mentions not the north, because none supposed it to come thence; or because the same word that signifies the north signifies the secret place, and from the secret of God's counsel it does come, or from the oracle in Zion, which lay on the north side of Jerusalem. Note, no wind is so good as to blow promotion, but as He directs who has the winds in his fists.

“(2.) Positively: God is the judge, the governor or umpire. When parties contend for the prize, he puts down one and sets up another as he sees fit, so as to serve his own purposes and bring to pass his own counsels. Herein he acts by prerogative, and is not accountable to us for any of these matters; nor is it any damage, danger, or disgrace that he, who is infinitely wise, holy, and good, has an arbitrary and despotic power to set up and put down whom, and when, and how he pleases. This is a good reason why magistrates should rule for God as those that must give account to him, because it is by him that kings reign.”  (Matthew Henry (1662-1714) Commentary on the Bible)

Verse 8. “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup…full of mixture. Note, first, that the cup of the Lord is a cup full of mixture: Eternally sweet red wine for His Blood-bought children; the Eternal vile dregs of the cup for the wicked. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye MUST be born again.”  (John 3:3-8)

“The judgments of God upon sinners are the cup of the Lord's right hand, (Habakkuk 2: 16.) The wine is red, denoting the wrath of God, which is infused into the judgments executed on sinners, and is the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery. It is red as fire, red as blood, for it burns, it kills. It is full of mixture, prepared in wisdom, so as to answer the end. There are mixtures of mercy and grace in the cup of affliction when it is put into the hands of God's own people, mixtures of the curse when it is put into the hands of the wicked; it is wine mingled with gall. These vials, (1.) Are poured out upon all; (see Revelation 15 7; 16 1); where we read of the angels pouring out the vials of God's wrath upon the earth. Some drops of this wrath may light on good people; when God's judgments are abroad, they have their share in common calamities; but, (2.) The dregs of the cup are reserved for the wicked. The calamity itself is but the vehicle into which the wrath and curse is infused, the top of which has little of the infusion; but the sediment is pure wrath, and that shall fall to the share of sinners; they have the dregs of the cup now in the terrors of conscience, and hereafter in the torments of hell. They shall wring them out, that not a drop of the wrath may be left behind, and they shall drink them, for the curse shall enter into their bowels like water and like oil into their bones. The cup of the Lord's indignation will be to them a cup of trembling, everlasting trembling, (Revelation 14:10). The wicked man's cup, while he prospers in the world, is full of mixture, but the worst is at the bottom. The wicked are reserved unto the day of judgment.” (Matthew Henry (1662-1714) Commentary on the Whole Bible)

Thought: God’s Cup for the Wicked: “They have not only the cup, but the dregs of the cup, that is, the worst of the cup; for as in a good cup, the deeper the sweeter; so, in an evil cup, the deeper the worse: the dregs are the worst, the bottom is the bitterest of a bitter cup.” (Joseph Caryl 1602-1673) God’s cup of wrath is on its way – wicked unbelievers, beware!