We will have our psalm meditation this morning. I just want to comment that I've really enjoyed focusing the meditations on the person and work of the Holy Spirit all through this last year. I'm returning back to the form that we followed earlier. I was taking a chronological work through the Psalter in our psalm meditations. So we're returning to that pattern today, and that means that I'll be looking at Psalm 75. And I'll say providentially, this Psalm fits really well with the message of 2 Samuel 23. In 2 Samuel, David is nearing the end of his life, leads him to reflect back and anticipate Jesus Christ. But in Psalm 75, it's at the very beginning of his work as king. It's thought that this was written at a point where David ascended to the throne of Israel and over the combined aspects of Israel and Judah and was crowned as king over them. So with that in mind, let me read Psalm 75 to you and make a few points. To the chief musician set to do not destroy, Psalm of Asaph song. We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks for your wondrous works declare that your name is near. When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly. The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved. I set up its pillars firmly. Selah. I said to the boastful, do not deal boastfully, and to the wicked, do not lift up the horn. Do not lift up your horn on high. Do not speak with a stiff neck. For exaltation comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge, he puts down one and exalts another. 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. But I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. In our meditations, I like to choose a few things to both explain that might be unknown to you, but also to narrow in on a few things that will help you to understand how these point to Jesus Christ. And the theme of justice and the judgment of the king run throughout this psalm, and so I'll focus on that. God gave this task and expectation really to all of the kings, but He gave this task to David, and in his life, David follows the command of the Lord to serve as a king and to do the work of judgment that is given to the kings of Israel. But it becomes clear that David anticipates the coming of the great King Jesus Christ, the one who would rule and judge perfectly and righteously forever. So when you read this Psalm, I hope you do see David, but like we have seen with Psalm 18 the last several weeks, I hope that you also see Jesus. I hope that you understand how David, as a prophet of God, looks forward, anticipating that promised Redeemer. So you can see and hear that task of judging throughout much of this psalm. And I'll point out a few places here. Look at verse two, and the king speaks. When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly. Then again in verses four and five, the king warns the proud not to boast. And he infers by that warning that there is a coming judgment that the king would bring against those who boast. And in those verses, verses four and five, there's something that may need some explanation. He warns the boastful, he says, don't lift up your horns on high. And that may be something that you aren't familiar with, but it was a very common allegory or symbol in the Old Testament. It was a symbol of power. And it refers not to a trumpet kind of horn, but instead the horns of a bull. It's a symbol of power. Just imagine you're out in the middle of a field, and you discover that in that field there's a bull. And it turns and it sees you, and it raises its head, and in this case maybe lowers his horns towards you. What are you gonna do? Well, that sign of power is very easy to understand, and you're gonna run and hide. The proud are said to boast about their own strength, their own power. They're said to raise their horns on high. And David the king says, you're not the authority here, God is. Do not boast about your own strength. Then in verses six and eight, the psalm describes the king's justice. He says very bluntly, God is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another. And in saying this, David is declaring the absolute sovereignty of God over all things. He is the one who had established the earthly kings, had established David. God is the one who will raise up the humble but also will judge and bring down those who are haughty and rebel against the Lord. And verse eight is another one of those places where some explanation is needed. Describes that judgment is a cup full of wine. Now this is not a pleasant cup of wine. This is not something to be enjoyed around a candlelit dinner. The Bible uses the cup of wine as another symbol of God's power and especially of God's judgment. And that comes through in what is said here. This cup is described in its color and of its makeup and is described as what is drunk by the wicked. and drunk to the very last drop. It's a sign of God's judgment being poured out. The rest of the Bible helps understand this. There are lots of other places in the Old Testament where God warns that the cup has been mixed and will be poured out upon the nations that refuse to listen to God. And then I hope that you will remember that Jesus talks about a cup of judgment too. It is on the night that he was betrayed and he's praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he knows what is about to happen. The wrath of God was about to be poured out on him. And he prays, Lord, may this cup pass from me. but not my will, but your will be done." We know that the Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself, even to the point of death on the cross. And that was for our salvation, that he suffered the wrath of God. He took that cup and he drank it completely, just like is described in Psalm 75. We hear of a cup again in the book of Revelation. There are a lot of symbols that the book of Revelation uses, and it uses again the cup of the fury of the Lord, cup of God's wrath. And this time it is associated with the return of Jesus Christ, the bodily return at the second coming of Jesus Christ. And one of the purposes that Jesus comes again is to judge the living and the dead. That cup of wine will be poured out then on the wicked because Jesus has satisfied that wrath for the righteous. Payment will fall upon those who have rejected Jesus. Psalm 75 closes then with praise, praise that God is a God of justice. That's right, to thank God that he doesn't turn a blind eye to wickedness. that he judges rightly and perfectly. He's given that judgment to the Son, Jesus Christ. So as we sing this, think of David, but also think of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the judgment that he bore for your sake, and think of the judgment that is to come, the warning that it gives. With those words, let's turn and sing Psalm 75, 75 Selection A. I invite you to please stand to sing.