The Cup of Judgment

The blessings and the life that you've given us this week.

Lord, we ask your blessing on our time tonight as we look at your word, as we sing, as we remember who you are, how great you are, and how much you love us.

We thank you for that, Lord. Amen.

We sing a song.

Psalm 75.

Psalm 75.

This one's actually a song, which is good.

It's kind of just the thought of being able to spend some time reading over and meditating something that, you know,

the people of Israel sang.

It says in some of the Bible that it was according to do not destroy.

So the thought behind that is that could be like the melody or something that the singers,

the people in charge of worship, knew the song by and the song kind of went by.

So I don't really have a specific time or event that this song was sung.

But nonetheless, it's one that is encouraging and also eye-opening because it deals with the pride of wicked people.

And God talks about dealing with them, which is difficult to sing.

But at the same time, we sing to that and we sing praise to God.

So I'm going to read through the whole thing and then we'll just break it down.

Verse 1.

We give thanks to you, O God.

We give thanks for your name is near.

We recount your wondrous deeds.

At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity.

When the earth totters and all its inhabitants, it is I who keeps steady its pillars, Selah.

I say to the boastful, do not boast.

And to the wicked, do not lift up your horn.

Do not lift up your horn on high or speak with haughty neck.

For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up.

But it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.

For in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it.

And all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

But I will declare it forever.

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

All the horns of the wicked I will cut off.

But the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

At times, I'm not sure exactly how you might sing that in a corporate worship setting.

But I'm sure the singing was different back then than it is now.

And nonetheless, it's helpful for us to go through these.

We give thanks to you, O God.

It is not to ourselves that we're looking.

It's not to ourselves that we're giving praise.

But it's to God.

So it's repeated there.

We give thanks for your name is near.

And we recount your wondrous deeds.

This is something that repeats a lot in the Psalms.

Is David or other authors of the Psalms just rehearsing what God has done.

And this is really something that's helpful.

Just remembering what God does and how he blesses us.

Especially at times where we're struggling.

Especially, you know, times where we feel like things aren't going well.

Or there's more bad than good.

It's helpful to go over all the things that God has done for us.

So this is what the Israelites are doing.

And we recount your wondrous deeds.

How he rescued them from slavery.

How he brought them up from the Red Sea.

How he fed them through the wilderness.

And he brought them into the land that he promised them.

Even now, during this time, he's raising up kings for them.

And he's giving them prosperity.

And he's making them victorious over the enemies that are coming up against them.

And so they're recounting this.

They're giving God praise for these things.

Just praising him for his protection.

For his providence and his grace.

So just things that are helpful to us.

Again, just to remind ourselves of the wondrous deeds that God has done for us.

And his ongoing grace for us are proofs that he is ever with us.

So that's the thought of when it says that your name is near.

Jesus is with us.

Is what that means.

Matthew 28, verse 20.

Matthew 28:20

Jesus says,

And behold, I am with you always.

Even to the end of the age.

So after he gives the command to go and make disciples.

He's also quick to give that reassurance that I'm going to be with you.

As we look at the next few verses.

Verse 1 was the people singing this or reading this.

And verses 2 to 5, this is actually from God's perspective.

So this is God speaking as he says,

At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity or uprightnessness.

Here God is saying that not only is he the upright judge,

but he chooses the proper time for his judgment.

While his timing, as we all know, might not be what we choose,

we have to humbly trust him knowing that his timing and his judgments are right.

Dr. James Boyce says,

If judgment were left in our hands,

we would probably let it flash out against anything that displeases us whenever we see it.

But God lets evil go unchecked sometimes for a rather long time,

knowing that he has appointed a proper time when it will be brought down.

God will seize the moment.

It will be in his time.

And it will never be late.

Verse 3 says,

When the earth totters and all its inhabitants,

in some translations it says dissolved or quaked,

when the earth quakes and all of its inhabitants,

it is I, God speaking, who keeps steady its pillars.

Silah.

So the idea behind the silah is just a brief pause for meditation,

just to think about what's just been said.

When everything is becoming unloosed,

it is God who steadies the pillars.

When governments fall and nations war against each other,

which we see natural disasters,

which we see sicknesses,

death,

which we see,

we know that God is rock solid

and he's the one that holds all things together.

The pillars stand because they must,

because God is the one that upholds them.

So while these things that happen that cause us to shake

and the things around us to shake,

they're difficult,

but we can take comfort in the fact that

that God is the one that's holding all this together.

I was also reminded of just thinking of

God keeping the pillars steady.

There'll be a time where

the pillars kind of keeping the earth where it is

will be taken away,

right?

As God's judgment comes towards an end

and the old earth passes away,

the earth as we know it won't be anymore,

but during that time,

God is still going to rescue his own people,

his church.

He's going to pull them up,

keep them safe

as he gets the earth ready for

the new heaven

and the new earth

and then puts us into that.

Move down to verses four and five.

I say to the boastful,

do not boast,

and to the wicked,

do not lift up your horn.

Do not lift up your horn on high

or speak with haughty neck.

The horn here

symbolizes strength

or power.

So if you think of an animal

with a horn

or horns rather,

like a large mountain goat,

the horns are a symbol

for that goat of strength.

It's his protection.

So that's what is meant

when he's talking about the horn.

So do not lift up your horn

or speak with a haughty neck.

The haughty neck being

someone who's boastful and proud

where they're sticking their head up

and they're very proud of themselves.

James 4, 6 says,

God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble.

We all know

that God is,

hates those who are proud.

The reason for that

is because pride

is us not giving praise to God

but rather praise to ourselves

from something that we did

when really it's something

that God gave us.

So it's putting yourself

in the place of God

which is one of the reasons

why he hates it

and feels the way he does about it.

If we look at verse 6 and 7,

for not from the east

or from the west

and not from the wilderness

comes lifting up

but it is God

who executes judgments

putting down one

and lifting up another.

Which is why

we're called not the boast

because the judgment

and the lifting up

and the putting down

is something that comes from God.

Things don't happen by chance

because God is in control

of those things.

The putting down of one,

the lifting up of another,

it doesn't come from

the rising or setting of the sun

which is the thought here

behind the east or the west

as the sun comes up

and as the sun goes down

from the wilderness

that is not where

it comes from

but it comes from God

and Him executing

His desire,

His judgment

on what He wants to do.

Next we see in verse 8

we see a warning

and a judgment

coming to the wicked.

For in the hand of the Lord

there is a cup

of foaming wine

in some translations

they say

wine that is red

is well mixed

and He pours out from it

and all the wicked

of the earth

shall drain it down

to the dregs.

Here's the more difficult

part of this psalm

just because

as we start to picture

the wrath of God

that He will be pouring out

to those

who remain wicked

and do not accept

Him

do not accept

the love

that He's given us

through Jesus Christ.

For in the hand

of the Lord

there is a cup

we can see from that

like the punishment

is already prepared

it's not something

that God is doing later

but He's holding a cup

so we get this picture

that

that punishment

is there

and ready

for when He decides

to

execute it

and it's for all

those who do not

follow God

those who have laughed

and rejected

His Son

His gift of love

to them

and because of that

they will be forced

to drink

the wine of wrath

at His table

of justice.

Revelation 14.10

says

the same

shall drink wine

shall drink

the wine

of the wrath

of God.

So the red wine

the

foaming

of the wine

is supposed to be

a representation

of the wrath

of God.

Well mixed

speaking of different

things that are

in the wine

like His righteous

anger

and His justice

these are all things

that are not

earthly

or human

anger

and vengeance

but it's a holy

vengeance

it's a righteous

anger.

and this is

the

what the wicked

will be forced

to drink

in the end.

So the imagery

is really strong

which was encouraging

at times

to the Israelites

because

of

the enemies

that were coming

against them.

They were looking

for some type

of justice

when there wasn't

any justice.

So it's

verses like this

not that they were

glad that this was

happening to the enemies

but they were able

to take solace

in the fact that

God does give judgment.

God does see

what's happening

to His children

and it's not

that He doesn't care

He just has a timing

that's different

than what we think.

So this judgment

here is

is a really

a horrific ending

for the wicked.

But luckily

and rejoicingly

this song

this psalm

doesn't end here.

we'll move on

to verses 9 and 10

but I will declare

it forever

I will sing praises

to the God of Jacob

all the horns

of the wicked

I will cut off

but the horns

of the righteous

shall be lifted up.

So here we have

the people of Israel

coming back

and finishing

their song.

They're rehearsing

their singing

of Jehovah's praises.

Charles Spurgeon

writes

the covenant God

who delivered Jacob

from a thousand

afflictions

our soul

shall magnify.

He has kept

his covenant

which he made

with patriarch

and has redeemed

his seed

therefore we will

spread abroad

his fame

world without end.

The idea

being that God

is in control

and the blessings

that we've been given

we don't make

ourselves proud

or boastful.

He says

all the horns

of the wicked

I will cut off.

God abhords

the proud

but he lifts up

the humble.

So if God

hates the proud

that much

because of

what they stand

for

then his church

should also

make sure

that we fight

against

pride in ourselves

and pride in what we do

pride in our church.

So just

in summary

as we look

through the

different

the highlights

of just

those ten verses

is

that we give

thanks

and we should

always be given

thanks.

Notice he repeats

that so

when we're not

giving thanks

give thanks

again.

When it's hard

give thanks.

It's our way

of reminding

ourselves

of what the

things God

has done

for us

it also

gets our

mind off

of our

troubles

here

and onto

more of

God's view

of things

as we remember

what he's done

and who he is

because as he

says

in verse

two

I will

judge

with

equity

and he

keeps the

pillars

steady

God is

the one

that's in

control

and then

further on

to protect

ourselves

against

pride

so we need

to watch

our heart

we need

to watch

our appearance

and also

our speech

and how we

talk

so areas

of pride

because the

wicked will

be judged

and we

don't want

to

not only

do we

want to

share

the gospel

with a

lost

world

but we

don't want

how we

talk

or how

we look

to keep

them from

seeing that

gospel in any

way

we don't want

to be a

stumbling block

just in the

way that we

live

because they

will be

judged

and we

don't say

that out

of

us getting

vengeance

we say

that out

of

really out

of horror

of the

just the

the

the

death

of

what

hell

is

the

depth

of

what

that

wrath

is

going

to

look

like

on

those

who

don't

believe

God

is

just a

scary

thing

so we

keep that

in view

to help

us

in our

sharing

that with

the world

and then

he ends

with

declaring

the

majesty

of

God

so we

sing

his

praises

not

knowing

why

God

lifts up

and tears

down

why

God

takes

a life

before we

think

it's

time

we

still

sing

his

praises

his

goodness