Psalm 76, the title of the message, God's name is great in Zion. And Zion, of course, is the church. You know, God's name is much blasphemed among all false religions, God's name is blessing. But in Zion, in the church, His name is great because He is great. And He has done great things for us. And that's what we want to look at tonight. You know, His name is who He is. His name Elohim, Creator. Our God is the Creator of heaven and earth and all the host of heaven and all the host of earth. I was watching Nature Channel the other day, and they were talking about how many species, new species, they are still finding each year. In fact, this is interesting, as I was watching another program on the brain, they have found new areas in the brain that they have never discovered before. And it's because God, who is great, made it. He created. Our God did that. My God, your God, did that. Elohim. El Shaddai. God Almighty. Our God. Our God is God Almighty. Jehovah, the self-existing One. The Lord, capital L-O-R-D. He is our God, the self-existing One. Our God is eternal. Our God has no beginning of days nor end of life. Our God is the eternal God. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. You see, in His name is our confidence. It's taken me a while in growing up over the years to learn whether I have a job, lose a job, you know, whatever's going on, the Lord will provide. He'll do it. He'll provide. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. He heals us spiritually. We get spiritually sick from time to time. We do. Cold. indifferent, just like the church at Ephesus. He said, you've left your first love busy, busy as can be. But He said, you've left your first love. But He's the one who heals us spiritually and physically. He may use medicine. That's of God. There's nothing on this earth that God didn't create. And He's given men wisdom and understanding how to put it together for medicine, and we're healed by it. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner. He's our banner. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. His name is great. in Zion, in Israel. He's talking about his people. The world doesn't know who God is, but you do. Oh, no wonder they put Selah down there after the, what was it, the second verse? Second or third verse there, they put Selah. It means pause and think about this. You know God. It's not only that God knows you, but you know Him. You know how few people know God? He's made Himself known to you. That's why you and I know Him. He's made Himself known to us. We who believe know who the living God is. We know who provides for us. We know how God can save us and still be God. We know this. Now he says here in verse 1, God is known in Judah, and His name is great in Israel. He's revealed Himself to His people. He's talking here about His elect, His people, and He's made Himself known. You know, you were not educated into the knowledge of God. God made Himself known to you. Yes, we take the Word of God and we teach His Word, but I'll tell you this, if He doesn't reveal Himself, you can sit there until you're 90 years old or 100 years old and you still won't know Him. You still won't know Him. He's got to reveal Himself and make Himself known. He is known as the only wise God. He's known as the only true God. He's known as a just God and a Savior. Do you know Him as that? As a just God and a Savior? He's known in His grace and His mercy. Listen, He's known in Christ. All that I just mentioned, without Christ, you can't know God. In Christ, this is how we know Him. The God of all grace, the God of all comfort. That's how we know Him. Our Lord said in John 17 that eternal life is what? It's to know God. Not know about Him. Not know some facts about Him. It's to really know Him. That's a living relationship with Almighty God. It's to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Now we know that God is omnipresent. We know He's everywhere. But His special presence is with His people. You know God dwells among us. If we're His church, we're His people. God dwells in us. He tabernacles in us. He walks in us. We are His special people and He dwells. God does not visit us. If we are His people, God does not visit, He dwells with us. Look over in Revelation 21. Listen to this, in verse 2, Revelation 21, And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself shall be with them and be their God. He dwells with us. And then it says in verse two, he dwells there in Salem. That means Jerusalem. If you'll notice that the ending of Jerusalem is Salem. That's where Melchizedek was in Salem. He's talking here about Jerusalem. And this tabernacle... God has tabernacled with us, or among us, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the manhood of Christ. He's tabernacled among us. He's walked among us. But now here's what's interesting. The meaning of this is, the tabernacle He tabernacled, it has the meaning of the lion's lair, the lion's den. In other words, when the enemy come up, God is like a lion with His people, and when they come up to attack His people, He pounces on them. They become His prey. Now this Psalm Now, if you'll remember, back a few months ago, I read to you out of Isaiah, let's see, was it Isaiah 36 and 37? Remember when, let's see, what was his name, that king? Remember when he was coming up against Israel, and he sent his messenger there, and he said, you know, no God's ever delivered out of the hand of the Assyrian king, and he was telling the people there on the wall that you need to just bow down and give yourself up. And then he sent the letter to Hezekiah, saying basically the same thing. And Hezekiah took the letter and laid it before the Lord, and he prayed over it. And he prayed about it. And then, to make the story short, Israel didn't even have to fight in that battle. Remember, God sent an angel and slew 185,000 soldiers. I mean, here the Assyrian king and the Assyrian army had never been defeated. No one was able to stand before them. Israel didn't even draw a sword. God sent an angel, killed 185,000. That's what He's got in mind in this psalm. That's what He's talking about. When they came up against Israel, God was like a lion in His lair. And then whenever they got up close, He sent an angel and slew them. He just pounced on him. And this is good for us because the spiritual implication is so strong. How that he has defeated all our enemies, all our sins are gone. Satan is defeated. Satan has no power at all against us. Christ defeated him at Calvary. He gave him his death blow at Calvary. So it says here, God dwells in Jerusalem, and Zion, which is His church, He dwells there. To attack the church is to attack God. Our Lord said to Saul of Tarsus, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? To attack the church is to attack the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. is to attack God. And now in verses 3 through 9, we see that none can stand before God when He rises up to judge. When He rises up in anger, none can stand before God. There's not one person in heaven or earth that can stand before God. He says here in verse 3, There break he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." There, He put an end to it. It's like He says to the sea, to the proud waves of the sea, "...hither shalt thou come, and no further." No further. And I was thinking of this verse 3 when He says, "...there break he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." I thought, where's there? Where's there? What's he talking about? Where's there? Well, we're not just getting the history lesson. We didn't come here tonight just to get a history lesson of the battles that Israel won and God fought for them and won. But there is at Calvary. There at Calvary, God defeated our enemy. There at Calvary, He broke the arrows of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle. No weapon, He said, that is formed against you shall prosper." None. No, it doesn't matter if someone gets behind the doors or a committee gets behind the door and they plot and plan against you. God's behind those same doors. He's listening. He's listening. He's guiding. He's controlling. We'll see this here in a minute. He's controlling all things. Then in verse 4, God is far above the greatest of men. He says, Thou art more glorious and excellent. God is. Our God is more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. Those great mountains, and I think he's speaking here of great men. God's far more glorious. He said in one place, to whom will you liken me? Who is there that can be compared to God? Our God. There's none that can be compared to Him in any way, shape, or form. And then he says here in verse 5, the stout-hearted are spoiled. If you go back, read chapter 36 and 37 of Isaiah, and you listen to the arrogance and the stout-heartedness of a shennekrib, Listen to that. Listen to that conversation. My soul, He walks in there like, or sends a messenger and a letter like, I'm God, y'all need to bow down. The arrogance. And it says here, the stout-hearted are spoiled. He's made them afraid. He's taken their stout heart away from them. They took their tail between their legs and left and ran and went home. It was what they did. God's power is irresistible. The stout-hearted must bow to his will. And I'm so glad of that because there was one time I was stout-hearted. You were too. You had no interest in God. You had no interest whatsoever in God. You had no interest in Jesus Christ. You had no interest in being saved from your sins. You had no interest. You and I were stout-hearted. And He broke us. He broke us. As it says in Psalm 110, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. In the day that He broke you and broke me, He gave us a new heart. a heart that was willing to bow. But here, whether it's breaking the stout heart of one of His children and saving them like Saul of Tarsus or like me, like you, or His enemies, He can break their stout hearts. He can bring them to the dust. And listen here in this verse. They're stout-hearted or spoiled. They have slept their sleep, that is their sleep of death. And none of the men of might have found their hands. They didn't have the courage when God descended upon them, when that angel descended upon them. They didn't have the courage to draw the sword. They couldn't find their hands. You know, if you're a warrior, you know how hard it'd be to be a warrior without hands? God shut them down. They were so afraid, they couldn't even draw their sword. And listen, this is just a little inkling of God's wrath. This is just a little demonstration of God's power. You know, when we read through the Scriptures and He defeats this army, we're just talking about men. I mean, what is man? He says, they're mindful of Him. They couldn't even find their hands. This shows what control God has over all humanity. He makes wars to cease until the ends of the earth. Every war that comes to an end, God put an end to it. after it served His purpose. And then in verses 6 through 9, we see that the victory comes at God's rebuke, that is, His Word, His judgment, and His purpose in saving His people, which are called the meek, the meek of the earth. That's who He's talking about. Now, He says there in verse 6, "...that thy rebuke at your word, You know, I can give my word, and a lot of, most people is gonna just say, they're gonna say, who are you? You're like, who are you? Remember those demons in the gospel when these men tried to cast out these demons? And those demons said, who are you? Paul we know, Jesus we know, but who are you? And they sent those men out there naked. But now, when God speaks, when He speaks, it happens. My Word will not, shall not, cannot return unto me void. It's going to accomplish the thing whereunto I sent it. Now, when God rebukes us, He rebukes us in love. And He does rebuke us in love, and He rebukes us with His Word. I mean, there's been several times I've sat down to the gospel and listened to Henry preach, and his word just hit me. And it just hit me, and it hit me with a rebuke. But boy, when he rebukes the enemy, he rebukes them. Oh God, he says here, at thy rebuke, oh God of Jacob, Both a chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep, or a dead sleep." I tell you what, when God calls life away from a person, it's over. It's over. When God commands that life to leave, that body, there's not a thing a person can do to keep it there. Not a thing. When God, when God said, I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. This is who God is. This is who he is. And he says here in verse 6, "...at thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and the horse, they are cast into a dead sleep." They are made powerless. Powerless. You know, our Lord, when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and He was far above all principalities and powers, and all of them are subject to Him. All are subject, even the ones that don't look like it right now. The ones out here that we see in our lifetime, what's going on, it doesn't look like they're under the power of God, does it? They are. They are. Who would have thought that Saddam Hussein would have been hung? I mean, he terrorized, terrorized those people. And then one day, they get the tables turned, and God had him hung. You can go out, you can just take leader after leader, you know, Hitler. I mean, it looked like he was gonna rule the world at one time, didn't it? He ended up committing suicide. And then he met God. The minute that he pulled that trigger, he met God Almighty. He renders them powerless. You know, the men, the wickedness of men, the power that God allows men, it's like a weapon in God's hand. He's using it to accomplish His purpose, and they don't even know it. They don't know it. When they were going to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul said, you by wicked hands, you've crucified and slain. But the only thing you did was what God purposed. God purposed it. God delivered Him up. Everything that happened today, everything that happened, God purposed. Now He either rules over it or He overrules it. It's one or the other. You say, explain that. I can't explain that. I'm not God. I'm not privy to the secret counsel of God. He says in verse 7, Thou, even Thou art to be feared. Now, Hezekiah and the people, when Sennacherib sent that letter, when he sent his messenger, they were afraid. They became scared. I mean, they became scared. They were afraid. How many times did our Lord say to the disciples, why are you so fearful? What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? And they were so afraid. And then the Lord killed 185,000 men and sent them down the road. And then He says this, You're the only one to be feared. You know, Solomon said, the fear of man brings a snare. If you and I begin to fear men, whether they can take away my job or help, it doesn't matter. If we begin to fear men, we begin to compromise. We will always begin to compromise. But when we fear God, when we fear God, they can burn you at the stake and you won't compromise. Thou, even thou art to be feared, and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? I don't have the words. I don't have the words to express the meaning of this. Who can stand in God's sight when He's angry? Look what happened to his son. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Hanging on that cross. Jesus Christ is the only man that was able to stand before God's anger and take it and drink the cup dry. When he died, listen, when he died, he died of his own accord. He said, Father, into thy hand I commend my spirit. He gave up the ghost. He gave up his life. He said, no man takes it from me. I lay it down on myself and I take it up again. God is to be feared. No one can stand before His anger. And then he says here in verse 8 and 9, when God arose to judgment, He saved His people and none can stop Him. That's what we'll see in verse 8 and 9. Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven." Two things. First, the application at that time period. Judgment, he said, you have caused to be heard from heaven. He sent an angel and killed 185,000. That judgment came straight from the throne of God. That's where all judgment comes from. It comes from the throne. And then, thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven, that happened at Calvary. Jesus Christ took our hell. He took our judgment. He took it. He took every bit of it. And the earth feared and was still. Who can stand in God's presence? Who can resist the anger of God? He said, the earth feared and was still. When God arose to judgment, you say, oh, how awful that is! How awful! God rising in judgment, Here's the good news. He rose in judgment, but that judgment was also an act of mercy because He saved the meek. See, God rose in judgment and slew that army, but at the same time, what did He do? He saved His people. God rose in judgment at Calvary and took out His wrath on His Son. But in doing that, what did He do? He saved His people. When God arose to judgment to save all the meek of the earth. Stop and think about that. Stop and think about that. Surely, He says here, Surely the wrath of man..." You know, in the original, it says, surely the wrath of Adam, or, and I like this one, I think it's the best. Surely the wrath of clay. She'll praise thee. That's all you and I are. God made us from the dust of the ground. And you can read that, surely the wrath of clay. shall praise Thee." This is seen throughout history. When you look at history, and you look at man's wrath, you look at the history of Israel, all those that came up against Israel. All they did was refine Israel, the true believers there. You know, all your troubles, all your trials, when they come up on you, you know what they do? They refine you. They refine you. They conform you to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. What you may and I look at as enemies, they end up conforming us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. They end up training us, disciplining us, making us set our hearts on things above. That's what they do. or the wrath of man shall praise Thee." I can't think of any greater situation of the wrath of man praising God than Calvary. Crucify Him, crucify Him. We will not have this man reign over us. Away with him. Paul said, you know, I don't find any fault with Him. Crucify Him anyway. I mean, since the creation of the world, the absolute hatred that man has toward God was expressed at Calvary. We vented out our absolute hatred of God at Calvary. And you know what? God raised Him from the dead. God raised that man, Jesus Christ, from the dead. Gave Him a name that's above every name, and at His name, every knee is going to bow in heaven and earth. Every tongue is going to confess that He's Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Surely the wrath of man shall praise Him, and the rest You'll restrain, you'll overrule, you'll put a stop to it. You'll put a stop to it. Man can't do any more than God lets him do. He can't do it. Not one person on this earth. You know, there's over 7 billion people on this earth, and not one person God does not miss one thought of any one person on this earth at any one time. He doesn't even miss a thought. No, no, no. Surely, truly the wrath of man shall praise Thee. And the remainder of wrath, You'll put a stop to it. You'll restrain it. Can you imagine, can you imagine what it would be like to live on this earth if God did not restrain the wrath and hatred of humanity, if he didn't do it? And then he says here in verse 11 and 12, Vow and pay unto the Lord your God that all that be round about Him, right now. Are we not round about Him right now? Think about it. I wish our senses weren't so dull, our spiritual senses. I wish they were not so dull. We can understand that we are round about Him just as the angels are right now, and those who have already gone to glory and are there. We are round about Him just as they are. And bring a present. What will we bring tonight? Praise and thanksgiving. And God knows my heart, God knows your heart. We come into here with praise and thanksgiving. Glad to be here. I'm glad to be here. I look forward to coming down here and attempting to do this. It's a feeble attempt, but I tell you, the older I get in preaching, the harder I find it to find words, the vocabulary, to express what I see. It's just like it's just too great. It's just too immense to find words to tell about it. Vow and pay unto the Lord your God. And I think what he's saying here is this, be committed to Him. I'll tell you what, When God saves a person, that person is either all out committed or has never been saved. I'm not saying we don't have ups and downs. We do. We have ups and downs. But in our ups and downs, we're still here. We're still here. One of the last things I told Henry, he said, John, how long have we known each other? I said, over 40 years, Henry. I said, one of the things that makes me so happy is that we're still here under the Gospel. We still love the Gospel. We're still preaching the Gospel. I said, we're still here. Forty years later. Be committed to Him. He shall cut off the spirit of princes. He shall do it. This is a promise. You think people are in power right now? You see people in power? You think they're always going to be in power. You think you're never going to get them out of power. Well, God's going to get them out of power. Everything has a shelf life. Remember that. I was looking at that in the store one day, and I was looking at the date. And I thought, everything has a shelf life, even me. Me and you have a shelf life. You know, one of the things I was telling mom and dad last time I was in there, I said, because they always talk to me about the scriptures. You know, we always get on the scriptures and he always talked to me about dying. And I said, we have a date. We're not going to go beyond it. I said, it's right there, right to the second. And I said, let's live right up to that date. And don't sit down and die, just don't sit down and wait. Be about your father's business. Be about our father's business. Committed, and he gonna cut off the spirit of princes now. He gonna cut people off in power. He's terrible. He's terrible to the kings of the earth. He's terrible to... Pharaoh, look at Pharaoh. He drowned him. Look at these different kings of the earth. He's terrible to them. Our God, now listen, our God, He's known in Zion, you know Him, don't you? That right there ought to make us stand in awe. You know Him. We know Him. And to us, He's great. There's none like our God. There's none like our rock. That's what they say in the Old Testament. There's none like our rock. Their rock is not like our rock. Their rock is little R. Our rock is the big R. It's capital. It's like Satan's called the God of this world, but it's a little G. But God is capital G. He is God. And He's our God, and He's great. He's great. Let us never lose sight of the greatness of our God. Never do that. All right.