God's Judgment

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, be always acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. Amen.

Good morning,

You Are Here Today to Thank God Because He’s Saved You Through Christ.

I am afraid I am going to date myself. How many of you know who the author A.A. Fair is? No? You may know this author by his other name of Earl Stanley Gardner? Mr. Gardner is a famous author that dealt with courtroom drama and had a character by the name of Perry Mason. Heather and I enjoy watching some of the old drama series on TV and Perry Mason is one of those shows we look back on. Perry and his team are always taking the long road to ensure their client’s innocence and ensuring justice is served. Yes, within 30 minutes with commercials Perry Mason lays out the crime, how it was done and most importantly who did it. The evildoer is identified, judgement is proclaimed and off he goes to the slammer. Evil is defeated and the world is right again until the next episode.

When we were all wrapped up in the full COVID-19 pandemic the news was very terrible to watch and many of us, including myself made the decision to shut off the news and the world for a while. The decision was made because we saw too much brokenness in our world and too much evil and frankly, we did not need to see more every day on the news.

There are times when we look at all the evil that is flooding into the world, and the terrible atrocities that are carried out by wicked men, and we are grieved.

We grieve because they never seem to be judged for their wrongdoing or punished for their evil deeds.

Like in the Perry Mason show we scratch our heads and wonder why things are so unjust in the world and hope that the unrighteous will be held accountable.

And we ask ourselves... When Will God Act?

But this is NOT a new concern that has just surfaced in our lifetime.

Over 3,000 years ago, a psalmist named Asaph who worked for King David both complained about the same injustice, the same evil in the world. Asaph was a Jew who wrote psalms. In his time like ours he faced many problems of flourishing prideful people who did evil while God’s people were abused and stepped upon. His world was also reflected as a broken world like ours.

We find Asaph composing Psalm 75. Asaph wonders, as he puts pen to paper how long it would be before justice would be poured out on the wicked society of his day----just as you and I wonder today!

In this sermon we will discuss Psalm 75,

Asaph had the question of... When Will God Act?

We look at the first verse and it praises God right off the bat. It is a promotion of thanksgiving towards God. Notice also that the psalm repeats in giving thanks to the Lord. We see it twice in the first verse.

Asaph Writes:

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

As Asaph writes he notes two things to give thanks for and something which he recalls.

He thanks God directly. In this act of giving thanks, he remembers God’s character, that he is good, just, kind, loving, and merciful.

He moves on to thank God that his name is near…Asaph was a priest, and as he would ascend to the tent where the ark of the covenant was kept, he’d remember how it is that that God is near. He would have this incredible privilege of being near to God’s holiness.

For Asaph, even knowing God’s name was a privilege.

God’s people knew God’s name through the story of Moses. In the story of the burning bush God was known as “I am who I am.” Asaph’s point in this verse was that God’s name represents His presence.

Then he recalls God’s deeds…perhaps for Asaph these were deeds that were of the exodus, how God redeemed his people out of Egypt, perhaps he remembers how God had helped David and all of Israel overcome the Philistines. Perhaps he remembered how God cared for His people.

Although Asaph may seem like a far-off character, his life totally foreign to us... he models a grateful heart… he models how we can respond to the question of “When will God act?”

He remembers who God is…he gives thanks for God because He is God, because he is just, kind, and merciful…you likewise…even in your dark seasons can give thanks.

He gives thanks that God revealed His name and made Himself known to His people.

Do you know that if you are in Christ…you are a living temple of the Holy Spirit? The third person of the Holy Trinity resides within You!

Finally…he remembers God’s incredible deeds for the people of Israel… you can remember God’s deeds for you…starting with your redemption through Christ…which made everything else possible.

Then, as we have heard in previous sermons from Fr. Ian, the psalmist shifts the speaker in the Psalm from “we” to “I”. Therefore, we see in Verses 2-5 a shift to a first-person pronoun. It is from the perspective of God that the psalmist is speaking in verses 2-5.

Asaph Writes:

At the set time that I appoint , I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.

The time has been set by God as mentioned in the gospel of Mark (Mk. 13:32). When it arrives, God will seize it and fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy “A king will reign in righteousness.” (Isa 32:1).

Notice that in this passage God will decide when to judge and when to be a judge. This may be in the lives of people, or at the end of their lives. Asaph tell us it is God’s timetable that God will execute his judgment or sentence, not according to man’s impatient expectations, but at the exact instant which He has chosen. The Lord is in control even when it seems that everything is falling to pieces. God will ensure that the pillars of moral order will always be steady. God’s grace will steady this messed up world no matter what you see or hear from others.

Man’s behavior is so important that Asaph committed two verses to it in the psalm. I would like to explore this with you a bit further.

Asaph Writes:

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.’ ”

How many have seen horns on animals? Cows, goats, and deer are examples. Horns are bones that they fight with. The horns make them strong and powerful. In this psalm the horns represent a picture of strength and pride. “Do not lift up your horn” in verse four is closely related to... “not shaking your fists in the air and projecting your boastfulness, your arrogance and false pride to the Lord.”

Here, Asaph was projecting man’s bad behavior of self-centeredness and the arrogance, boastfulness, and false pride against God.

It warns us that God is the judge that rebukes the proud. A haughty neck and proud speech are marks of an insolent and rebellious person, not one who has bowed down in submission to the Lord.

Asaph Continues to Write:

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.

We are reminded that there is a God and a providence and that things happen not by chance. The thought is clear that “lifting up” or deliverance does not come from any human or earthly source but from the Lord alone. We may get help from others; we may find allies in looking to the East and the West but ultimately it is God who delivers us and judges us for the Lord reigns. In other words, from no direction (vv. 6–7) comes final authority in life and history except from God. Let’s be clear, God’s judgment does use Earthly means, but God deserves the glory.

The phrase“putting down one and lifting up another.” The idea is, that in the matter of “lifting up” or “promotion” all depends on God. He confers exaltation, whether of an individual or a nation, as he pleases. When people get to the top, the ultimate cause is neither their own ability, nor the favor of some supposed “higher power,” nor is it by fortune. It is by God.

Here we see Asaph praising further what God can do and has done. God has performed great deeds with his mighty arm, He has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts. God drags strong rulers from their thrones and puts humble people in places of power. He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones and lifted up the lowly (Lk. 14: 11).

Asaph Writes:

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.

[Illustration]

When I was in the military service on a midnight shift, my eyes were fighting to stay open. It was a very quiet night, nothing going on and I was alone in the office. In the corner of the office was a coffee pot that had seen better days. It was the kind of coffee pot where you fill the top basket with coffee and the hot water would be forced up through a tube and over the coffee grounds. I decided to pour what was in the pot to keep me awake. Unknown to me was that I had poured into my cup the dregs of that coffee pot. It was one of the foulest things I have ever tasted. It was very bitter, chewy and the grounds were definitely foul and evil. I did not know that coffee could be chewed and, how wonderfully the grounds would stick to my tongue and coat the roof of my mouth and stay there. I know I ruined a pretty good toothbrush trying to clean all that out of my teeth and vowed that I would make my own coffee from now on.

In this verse, Asaph now moves into how God’s judgment will be given. It is by a cup. The cup contains the wine of judgment. The wicked are forced to drink God’s wrath once He no longer waits for people to repent. There are different places in scripture where the judgment cup is mentioned. One of those is in the Book of Revelation. (Rev. 14:10). “He also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger.”

God holds a great cup in His hand and is ready to pour out its foaming wine of judgment, into the throats of all the world’s boastful till the last dregs are downed.

God’s cup with foaming wine and the dregs will be a hundred times more terrible than anyone can ever imagine. This symbol we are given is particularly meaningful since Jesus used it when He spoke of taking the sins of the world on Himself. The cup that Jesus agonized over in the Garden of Gethsemane holds the mystery of his suffering and death. Jesus falls on His face. He prepares to accomplish His life’s mission…to bear the sins of the world… which is what this cup signifies. (Matt. 26:39). In the New Testament that cup awaits the wicked at the end of the age. Christ Jesus drained it on YOUR behalf when he went to the cross. (Jn. 18:11). Through His suffering, He provided a way.

A way for your Salvation and your deliverance from the power of sin. Your experience of salvation will be complete when Jesus the Christ returns (Heb. 9:28) and the kingdom of God is fully revealed (Matt. 13:41-43).

Let us recall the question at the very beginning from Asaph... When Will God Act?

That question has been answered. God has answered it by his actions of His Son, Jesus Christ drinking the cup of Wrath for you and me and giving us therefore, Salvation of our sins!

Asaph ends the psalm by responding to God’s coming righteous judgment. Here we jump back from God speaking to man speaking.

Asaph Writes:

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.

Here Asaph is speaking of the power being taken away from the wicked and being given to the righteous. So, the psalm ends as it began, with praise to God.

This psalm’s overall message is:

In spite of the chaos around us that we see on television or read in the newspapers or are discussed with our friends and family, God never loses control of the universe even if it seems to totter. He will give stability to earthly life, and He will judge the wicked at the appropriate time. But more importantly, this Psalm reminds us that, God will remove the glory of the wicked and lift up the righteous.”

Though we are not aware of the exact date of the last day, we should prepare ourselves each day for that final judgment.

The concept of judgment covers the entire history of the human race—from the fall to the last day. God is a just God who sees a decisive difference between good and evil has no choice but to carry out judgment upon all people in their daily lives and especially at life’s conclusion.

God in his grace has sent his Son to suffer the judgment we deserved, and in his mercy delays the final day of judgment so that many can come to repentance by faith in Jesus Christ(2 Pt 3:9). Maybe even those of you that struggle to love!

May YOU never doubt the faithfulness of God to vindicate those that are His and to cut off the “horns” of the wicked.

May YOU rejoice that in Christ we have the sufficient strength to stand firm in the evil days knowing that our hope is in Him.

We must never forget that Jesus drank the Cup of Wrath to Lift us Up. He was our Salvation; all will be made right.

God has acted.

Amen.