But God...is the Judge
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Intro.
What does a line that goes down the middle of the road mean? Solid line, no passing. Stay on your own side of the road.
Dotted line, like one in picture means you can pass if there is nothing coming the other way.
Whether solid line or dotted line, reminds you that you are supposed to drive on your side of the road, and the guy coming the other way is supposed to stay on his side of the road. Right?
What would happen if you were driving back and forth across the middle line and a police saw you?
The Bible consistently presents God as the judge of the universe! In this universe there is a fixed pattern of right and wrong that God has woven into the fabric of life. They are His laws.
Last we week we started a new series entitled, “But God...” this series will focus on 10 of the But God statements of the Bible which are found both in OT and NT.
Last week if you remember we looked at the life of Joseph in the Book of Gen.
20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Again today we are going to look at another passage with that same kind of God interference and see a very important attribute of who God is and why He is that way.
Look with me at Ps. 75:7 then we will read the whole chapter starting with vs. 1
7 But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.
Today’s title is But God…is the Judge.
Now as we move toward that reality let us read the entire passage first so we can get the full context of what is being said.
1 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.
Look at the words “wondrous works” for a moment, the root from the Hebrew word is pala it can literally mean wonderful, marvelous, miraculous, wondrous works. It means that God’s work’s are all powerful works, they works that man can not do. They are supernatural works. God’s works overcome natural law.
It is because of God’s miraculous wonderful works that we give thanks to Him! Now it should be noted that the wonderful deeds mentioned here is perhaps being associated with the events of the exodus from Egypt.
2 “When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly.
A lady called American Airlines and asked the reservation clerk, "How long does it take to get from Dallas-Fort Worth to Frankfort, Germany?" The clerk had to wait a moment for the information to come up on her computer screen, so she said, "Just a minute." The caller responded, "Thanks very much," and hung up! Most of the things that really matter in life do not happen in "just a minute". They come for those who learn to wait upon the Lord.
The proper time is God’s appointed time!
and yet people mock God and his promises of his second coming, the judgments that will come as a result of his second coming.
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
But God is the Judge, and His judgment is at His appointed time.
3 The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved; I set up its pillars firmly. Selah
This judgment will be against the wicked, but the question is this, who are the wicked...
The Biblical answer is that we are all wicked and deserve God’s judgment, “For all have sinned” no one is righteous no, not even one.
Do you know what that word “dissolved” means - it means melted away.
We are are appointed by God to die, then after we judged.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
There is a judgement day, and it comes at our appointed time of death. We will all stand before God one day and give an account of our deeds.
4 “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’ And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn.
5 Do not lift up your horn on high; Do not speak with a stiff neck.’ ”
The warning is that people ought not to live in arrogant defiance of God’s rule (75:4–5). The implicit message is that such defiant rebels will experience the judgment of God at the time that he has planned.
6 For exaltation comes neither from the east Nor from the west nor from the south.
No human being has the ultimate power to raise another human being up or make that person fall. Only God has such sovereign power (see 1 Sam 2:6). This sovereign power explains why he and he alone can judge in an ultimate sense.
7 But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.
8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, And the wine is red; It is fully mixed, and He pours it out; Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth Drain and drink down.
9 But I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 “All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”
the psalmist uses the image of the cup of foaming wine as a figure for divine wrath. On the final day of judgment, this cup will be drunk to its very dregs by those who have remained rebellious against God’s rule (Rev 14:10; 16:19; 18:6).
Martin Luther says the fact that a moral and just God can let the guilty go unpunished is "a problem worthy of God."
Any judge who sets a guilty person free with no punishment is immoral and unjust. Suppose a Judge has a man before him who is guilty, but has truly had a change of heart and life. If he is a just judge, he still cannot let the boy go. But if he comes down, stands by the boy, and serves his sentence for him, he can let the boy go and still be moral, righteous, and merciful. God did just this.
The good news of the gospel is, however, that Jesus has drunk the cup of wrath in our place that we might not have to drink it (
36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”
Though he had done nothing to merit judgment, he bore judgment as he bore our sins in his body on the cross. As a result, he now offers the cup of the new covenant, his blood poured out, that we might be forgiven and be blessed.
So, Those who will experience the Judgement of God will be the ones who have have taken Jesus and have reduced him in their mind and heart as just a mere man, with no importance or eternal value whatsoever.
It will be what is known as the unpardonable sin.
The sin of rejecting God’s plan of redemption which was purchased by His own blood for the sins that have been committed by the world.
God is the righteous good judge.