God is known in Judah; His name is great in Israel. Sermons
I. WHERE THEY TAKE PLACE. (Cf. vers. 1, 2.) It is where God dwells. The soul that is the abiding place of God witnesses and shares in the triumphs of God as none other can do. Fitful and partial religion leaves the soul more often vanquished than victor, and can never sing such a psalm as this. II. THEIR NATURE. It is threefold. 1. God destroys the weapons of the soul's great enemy. The arrows of evil thought; the shield of unbelief, love of sin, indifference - all that which wards off those words of God which are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies (Psalm 45.); the sword of the soul-slaying sin; the battle, the combined array of all the forces of evil. 2. Takes for himself the prey which the enemy had regarded as his own. (Ver. 4.) All the spoil of Judah, which Assyria had reckoned to gather on the mountains where they were encamped, all that spoil, together with what they already had, - all was taken from them (cf. Luke 11:22). So God takes from the evil one the possession of those human powers and faculties which he had usurped and claims, and keeps them as his own. 3. Keeps the enemy in the place of death. (Ver. 6.) It would be of little avail if our great spiritual foe were but for a time overcome, if after a little while he could come back with all his power. But our Lord came that he might give complete deliverance; and by the soul that continually trusts in him that deliverance is realized. III. HOW THEY ARE ACCOMPLISHED. (Ver. 6, "At thy rebuke.") The moment we believe, our help comes. Not before. All our strivings and endeavours leave us pretty much where we were; but when abandoning ourselves to God, that he may save us, then his power is made known, the enemy is rebuked and slain. The life of faith is, through God's grace, the death of our foe. IV. FOR WHOM ALL THIS IS DONE. (Ver. 9, "The meek of the earth.") Judah and Jerusalem were emptied of all self-trust, all pride and boasting, and had become meek, knowing that in quietness and in confidence was their strength. And so with the soul that is delivered by God. V. THE IMPRESSION PRODUCED. 1. Holy fear. (Ver. 7.) God's mercy and deliverance will never destroy, but ever deepen, holy fear. And there is no argument for God so effectual amongst men as the witnessing his real spiritual deliverances of his people. 2. Disdain of the wrath of man. What can it do against us, if God be for us? 3. Exultant confession, adoration, and service, together with earnest endeavours to draw others unto God. - S.C.
But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. : — The praise resolved upon here is worthy of our imitation, inasmuch as it —I. LOSES SIGHT OF SELF IN DEVOUT ADMIRATION OF THE CHARACTER AND DOINGS OF GOD. 1. He will praise God for His doings.(1) Undeserved by us. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."(2) Unsought by us. We did not seek God, but He sought us by Jesus Christ.(3) Freely and heartily given by God out of His own sovereign love. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." 2. He will praise God for His faithfulness. With Him there is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning." 3. He will praise God "for ever." "Let not thy praises be transient — a fit of music, and then the instrument hung by the wall till another gaudy day of some remarkable providence makes thee take it down. God comes not guest-wise to His saints' house, but to dwell with them. David took this up for a life-work: 'As long as I live, I will praise Thee.'" II. EVINCES ITS REALITY BY RESOLVING TO IMITATE HIM. Our praise of the excellences of others is a very hollow affair unless we also cultivate those excellences. We praise God for His "unspeakable gift"; are we imitating His pure generosity? We praise Jesus Christ for His great self-sacrifice for us; are we denying ourselves in His spirit that others might be benefited? We bless God for the Gospel; are we exemplifying the spirit of the Gospel? A certain Dr. Whitaker, on reading the fifth chapter of Matthew, brake out, saying, "Either this is not the Gospel, or we are not of the Gospel." And is it not to be feared that the spirit of the Gospel for which men praise God, and the spirit of their lives, are often widely different? Let us evince the sincerity of our praise to God by imitating Him in our spirit and life. Let us admire Him, commune with Him, adore Him, until we are transformed into the same image. (W. Jones.). In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel. I. AS THE GLORIOUS RESIDENT IN THE MIDST OF HIS PEOPLE (vers. 1, 2). God is everywhere; but is in an especial sense present with holy souls. They are represented as His "temple," which implies —1. Special connection with Him. 2. Special consecration to Him. 3. Special manifestation of Him. II. As the triumphant conqueror of his enemies. He does His work — 1. Thoroughly (vers. 3-5). 2. Easily (ver. 6). His word is the fire that will burn up corruption, the hammer that will break the rocky heart, the sword that will slay moral evil. 3. Judicially (vers. 8, 9). God is infinitely just in crushing all evil. Satan is a usurper, and all his hosts are rebels. As a just God, He will put all-enemies under His feel. In a moral sense, God is a "God of battles." He is eternally warring against wrong. III. AS THE ABSOLUTE MASTER OF MALIGN PASSIONS (ver. 10). 1. He subordinates human wrath. As the mariner makes the gale his servant to bear his vessel to the port, so God makes the malign passions of men and devils to bear on His great purposes to their complete fulfilment. 2. He restrains it. He allows the wrath of His creatures to go no further than He chooses. As He has set a boundary to the ocean, He has also to the human passions. "So far shalt thou go, and no further." IV. AS THE SUPREME OBJECT OF HUMAN WORSHIP (ver. 11). This implies two things. 1. Devout resolutions. "Vow and pay unto the Lord your God." In this clause we have the fundamental God, and do right, and we shall get on as much as He thinks good for us. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.) People Asaph, Jacob, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Asaph, 76, Chief, Choirmaster, Gt, Instruments, Judah, Leader, Lt, Music, Musician, Music-maker, Neginoth, Overseer, Psalm, Song, Stringed, String-musicOutline 1. A declaration of God's majesty in the church11. An exhortation to serve him reverently. Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 76: 5420 music Library Letter Xlviii to Magister Walter De Chaumont. To Magister [75] Walter de Chaumont. He exhorts him to flee from the world, advising him to prefer the cause and the interests of his soul to those of parents. MY DEAR WALTER, I often grieve my heart about you whenever the most pleasant remembrance of you comes back to me, seeing how you consume in vain occupations the flower of your youth, the sharpness of your intellect, the store of your learning and skill, and also, what is more excellent in a Christian than all of these gifts, the pure and innocent … Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux Epistle cxxii. To Rechared, King of the visigoths . Concerning Jonathan, one of the Sicarii, that Stirred up a Sedition in Cyrene, and was a False Accuser [Of the Innocent]. Jerusalem Beginning at Jerusalem The Jerusalem Sinner Saved; Question Lxxxii of Devotion The Harbinger King of Kings and Lord of Lords Question Lxxxi of the virtue of Religion Letter Xlv (Circa A. D. 1120) to a Youth Named Fulk, who Afterwards was Archdeacon of Langres Covenanting Confers Obligation. The Power of God Psalms Links Psalm 76:1 NIVPsalm 76:1 NLT Psalm 76:1 ESV Psalm 76:1 NASB Psalm 76:1 KJV Psalm 76:1 Bible Apps Psalm 76:1 Parallel Psalm 76:1 Biblia Paralela Psalm 76:1 Chinese Bible Psalm 76:1 French Bible Psalm 76:1 German Bible Psalm 76:1 Commentaries Bible Hub |