Psalms 75

Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly (Psalms 75:1-2).

This is, of course, God answering now.

The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it (Psalms 75:3).

And so many times in the psalms, we find God's response to the cry of the psalmist. And it is always a beautiful thing when God responds directly to the prayer, to the cry. This happens in many psalms. Psalms 32:1-11; Psalms 75:1-10; Psalms 91:1-16, where God Himself responds.

I said to the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: and he puts down one, and sets up another (Psalms 75:4-7).

This to me shows the folly of our endeavor to promote ourselves, or to promote our own efforts, or even to promote the program of God. So many churches have promotional programs. I was in that trap for years. In fact, we were sharing with some pastors in Portland this week, as I was asked to speak at a conference up there. And I had breakfast with some pastors and this one pastor was telling me, we were talking about contests and giveaways and gimmicks and all to get people to church. And he was telling me how this one pastor that pastored the church prior to his moving there advertised that they were going to give a baby chick to everyone that came to church on Easter Sunday morning. And so they brought the chicks there the night before, and they said when came into the church it smelled like a barn on Easter Sunday. And there was one lady whose husband was unsaved, and they had been praying for this man for years. But he was just bitter and stubborn and hard, and he just wouldn't go to church. But finally, this Easter Sunday he consented to go to church. And, of course, everybody was rejoicing and praising the Lord that her husband finally consented to go to church. So the next week when the pastor saw this lady, he said, "Well, how did your husband enjoy the service?" And she said, "Oh pastor, when we came up to the door, they were having so much problem passing the chicks out, someone asked him if he wouldn't help pass out chicks. And so he never did get into the service. He spent the whole time passing out chicks."
How tragic when we try to promote God, or to promote the work of God, or even try to promote ourselves. God said, "Promotion doesn't come from east, the west, from the south, God is the judge. He is the one that raises up and he is the one that puts down." And oh, that we would learn to just let the Lord do the promotion if He so desires. That we would not try to promote ourselves or the work of God.

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he pours out the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted (Psalms 75:8-10).

God's cup of wrath, the wine is red. In the book of Revelation we read also of that wine cup of God's wrath in chapter 14, where we read, "The third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, 'If any man worship the beast, his image, receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." That wine of the fierceness of God's wrath that is to be poured out upon the earth. And so referred to here in the psalm, and also made mention of in the Revelation. "