2. Pleading the Blood Psalm 74:2

Text: “Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast purchased of old; the rod of Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein Thou hast dwelt".  

                                                                                                  Psalm 74:2.   

 “And the Blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the Blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”

Exodus 12:13.

Good morning, Blood-bought Christian!  The entire volume of KJV Holy Scripture is known as ‘the book of the blood’; for the shedding of blood runs through its God-breathed pages more surely than human blood flows though the veins of every sinner that has ever lived upon this earth.  Furthermore, there is a most significant and Divine reason for this fact – without the shedding of Blood there is no remission from our sin.  We must plead the Blood.

“For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people.  Saying, this is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (of sins).”      (Hebrews 9:19-22)

God’s Way of Salvation:  To understand the significance of ‘the shedding of blood’ in God’s way of forgiving our sins and Eternal Salvation of the souls of ‘His people’ – we must go right back to the root of Created mankind’s problem – sinning against a Holy God of wrath against sin.

When God Created Adam and made Eve from him in Eden’s Garden – mankind was created sinless, pure, holy, and very good, with a free will to make choices that seemed good to him/her.

“And God saw everything that He had made, and behold (look, and fully understand), it was very good.  And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”  (Genesis 1:31)

Our Sovereign Lord God, Jehovah, is trice Holy and totally perfect - He does not create anything that is not good and perfect.  Adam was created good and perfect, you and I are not created beings, we are born of woman, born in the fallen image of Adam.  We are born guilty of Adam’s sin in Eden, and must be purged from sin by Spiritual regeneration.

“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5)

You and I do not become sinners when we commit our first sin.  We commit our first sin because we are natural born sinners; born of woman with a naturally sinful human nature.  All mankind born in Adam’s image, fallen from God’s grace by disobedience in Eden’s Garden – are natural born sinners; born with a nature that is totally biased towards sinning.

The apostle Paul put it this way: “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me (I would like to always do good); but how to perform that which is good I find not (I have no power over sin).  For the good that I would (do) I do not: but the evil which I would not (do), that I do.  Now if I do that I would not (do), it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”  (Romans 7:18-20)

Paul’s old nature, which still lives within him after he has been born again and given a new Spiritual nature within – is still very prone to sin, because he was born naturally of woman with a naturally sin-prone nature.  He was not Created of God, but born of sinful parents, with a body, a soul, and a DEAD spirit.  That is why we, also, must be ‘born again’ of God’s Spirit.  The genuine Spiritually regenerate Christian has now two natures – the old and the new.  That is why there is a continual Spiritual battle raging within each of us daily.

“And you hath He quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit that now worketh disobedience…even when we were DEAD in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Ephesians 2:1-6)

God’s Remedy for Sin: To redeem Adam and Eve from their disobedient sin, the Lord God decreed His way of Salvation: there had to be an acceptable sacrifice – the innocent for the guilty, and the innocent’s blood had to be shed to cover the sin of the guilty party.

The first deaths in all Creation took place when God slew innocent animals to make clothes to cover Adam and Eve – after they had sinned against Him.  This signified God’s way of redemption for time and Eternity – and pointed the way, prophetically, to the Sacrifice of the pure and Holy Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, Whose sinless Blood would be shed on the Cross, the innocent for the guilty; the just for the unjust; the sinless for the sinful – that we might be redeemed from our sins and be reconciled, sinful mankind with a Holy Lord God.

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21) The first mention of the shedding of innocent blood to atone for sin, marking out clearly, God’s way of redemption and Eternal Salvation, in the Blood of Christ, His Son.

“Neither is there Salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)  “Jesus saith unto him (Thomas), I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”        (John 14:6)

Adam, no doubt, taught his sons Cain and Abel God’s way of making a sacrifice for their sins.  Abel obeyed God’s way of redemption and he “…brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.  And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.” (Gen. 4:4)

But, “…Cain brought of the fruit of the ground (which the Lord God had cursed because of sin) an offering unto the Lord…but unto Cain and his offering He had not respect…” (Genesis 4:5) The Lord did not respect/accept Cain’s offering because no blood was shed.

“…and without shedding of blood is no remission (of sins).”  (Hebrews 9:19-22)

Thought: You and I are God’s ‘…congregation which Thou hast purchased of old; the rod of Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed;’ – purchased by the Blood of Christ Jesus.  That is why, in our fervent daily prayers, we must always seek to plead the Blood of Christ, doing so gives us Spiritual power with God and against all enemies, Spiritual and temporal.  “…Nothing but the Blood of Jesus…”  Hallelujah!

Psalm 74: Cruel Sufferings – Faithful Sufferers! 1. Reasoning with God in Suffering Psalm 74:1

Text: “Oh God, why hast Thou cast us off for ever?  Why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture?

Psalm 74:1.

Good morning, suffering Christian!  When you and I suffer as Spiritually regenerate Christians, we often know we are suffering because of some failing in our obedience to our Holy Lord God – in word, in thought, or in deed.  However, we also know that the Lord in all His grace and mercy has made a way for us to repent of that failing, that sin, that straying from the path of righteousness – and therefore we can make our way, reverently, to His throne of grace, to find mercy in time of need. We Christians often suffer constantly because of our sins.

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:16)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.”  (1 John 1:9-10)

As natural born sinners, we have always a way back to full obedience with the Lord God, our Creator Lord God Who gave mankind His Ten Commandments for one reason only – to show us that we could never fully keep them, and therefore needed a Saviour, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from all our sins.

However, it is when this type of suffering for sin becomes prolonged that we begin to become so very weary and distressed; when it seems like the Heavens are as brass, and that our prayers of repentance and seeking forgiveness are just not being heard by God.  This seems to be where the Psalmist has arrived here at the commencement of Psalm 74.

Verse 1. “O God, why hast Thou cast us off for ever? To cast us off at all were hard, but when Thou dost for so long a time desert Thy people, it is an evil beyond all endurance – the very chief of woes and abyss of misery.  Sin is usually at the bottom of all the hidings of the Lord’s face; let us ask the Lord to reveal the special form of it to us, that we may repent of it, overcome it, and henceforth forsake it.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 320)

An Instructive Purpose: Suffering in our Christian life and experience is given to us by God in order to instruct us in the way we should walk, in the way we should live our lives for Christ.  God the Holy Spirit condescends to come and take up abode within each and every soul redeemed by the precious, sinless Blood of Christ Jesus.  We become His temple.

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are.”  (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

When Christians commit sin – in any degree or form – we cause immediate grief to God the Holy Spirit living within us.  God cannot abide sin.  We must flee far from it.

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.  And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”  (Ephesians 4:29-32) 

We now realise that Spiritual suffering has an instructive purpose for God’s people. Sin separates us from the glow of Gods face, and we grieve the loss of His fellowship.

“Title: “Maschil of Asaph.” An instructive Psalm by Asaph.  The history of the suffering church is always edifying; when we see how the faithful trusted and wrestled with their God in times of dire distress, we are thereby taught how to behave ourselves under similar circumstances; we learn, moreover, that when the fiery trial befalls us, no strange things have happened unto us, we are following the trail of the host of God.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 320)

Suffering and Serving:  Sin is not the only reason the genuine Christian suffers.  Suffering seems to be a part and parcel of the lot of the most faithfully serving saints.  We often suffer not realising WHY we are suffering.  Such sufferings can be the Lord God’s way of testing us, as He did with the faithful Job, in order to make us even stronger in the service of Christ.

Verse 1. “Why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture?  Suffering in the Sovereign will of the Lord God becomes a God-ordained privilege for the Christian, when once we realise that it is sent against ‘the sheep’ of God’s pasture, and not the goats!  Such trials and sufferings only serve to assure you and I that we are indeed, ‘His sheep’.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them Eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.  My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck then out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are ONE.”  (John 10:27-30)

Verse 1. “…the sheep of Thy pasture. There is nothing more imbecile than a sheep: simple, frugal, gentle, tame, patient, prolific, timid, domesticated, stupid, useful.  Therefore, while the name of sheep is here used, it is suggested how pressing the necessity is for Divine assistance and how well-befitting the Most High it would be to make their cause His own.” (Lorinus John,1569-1634)

“Lord God? Why am I suffering at this present time, and for so long a period? Please reveal this unto me, that I may be encouraged to persevere in Thy service?” This may well be your reasoning with the Lord today, beloved Reader. (Isaiah 1:18)

The history of the suffering church of Christ Jesus, reveals unto us today, how we must endure suffering for reasons known only to the Lord God, but it is only ‘His sheep’ that suffer such times of hardness and day to day difficulties.  Knowing we are ‘His sheep’ is a very real encouraging assurance to us.  It is only Christ’s sheep that are going to Heaven.

Thought: “And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats (unsaved) on the left.  Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come ye, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  (Matthew 25:33-34)

8. A Forever Conclusion Psalm 73:26-28

Text: “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion FOREVER.”

Psalm 73:26.

Good morning, forever-settled Christian!  Since from before the foundation of the world, the Lord God has elected you and the author to be His Fatherly gift to His Eternal Son, Jesus Christ. Scriptural fact!

In time, God the Holy Spirit quickened us by His regeneration power, to be what the Lord God in His Sovereignty pre-ordained us to be – “…new creatures in Christ Jesus.” Scriptural fact!

Wow!  What a profound, yet simply understood, wonder of the Lord God’s Sovereign and Triune grace to Hell-deserving sinners such as we!  Glory to the Lamb Who is worthy! Glory to the Father of Sovereign grace!  Glory to the Holy Spirit of Eternal quickening!  Amen.

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”  (1 Peter 1:2)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be Holy and without blame before Him in love.”  (Ephesians 1:3-6)

“All that the Father giveth Me (Christ Jesus) shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.  For I came down from Heaven not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.”  (John 6:37-38)

“And you hath He quickened (made Spiritually alive), who were dead (Spiritually dead) in trespasses and sins…Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).  (Ephesians 2:1;5)

Knowing that the Lord God, the Creator of all things - Omnipotent, Omniscient; and ever-present God – has had, and will forever have, all pertaining to you and I firmly in His own hand and Divine will, brings us an Eternal relief from everything else that we might face in the duration of our puny lives upon planet earth.  Our destiny has a forever conclusion!

Verse 26. “My flesh and my heart faileth.  Now, here is a fact that few Christians would be foolish enough to refute.  The strongest Christian woman is still merely a fallible woman.  The strongest Christian man, is still merely a fallible man.  “…The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

Were we Christians, no matter how fervent, or committed to Christ, to begin to depend or rely on our own strength in order to do Spiritual Battle with the powers of darkness – we would very quickly realise the impossibility of such a mammoth task. 

Show me the professing Christian who has never failed in his/her faith and Spiritual strength – and I will show you a bare-faced liar!  Show me the Christian who has never felt totally overwhelmed by the world, the flesh, and the Devil – and I will show you Christ Jesus, and Him alone!

“There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:22-23)

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…If we say we have not sinned, we make Him (Christ Jesus) a liar, and His Word is not in us.”  (1 John 1:8-10)

It is only when Christians can honestly assess ourselves at this depth that we can admit the reality of our weaknesses, faults, and failings.  It is only when we servants of Christ can get to this stage of personal honest assessment – that self-righteousness is taken away from us, and we can learn to totally depend upon the Living Lord God and His Omnipotent strength.

Verse 26. “…God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.  Through all the troubles of my life, and my trial at death, my heart is ready to fail me, yet I have a strong cordial which will cheer me in my saddest condition: God is the strength of my heart.”  (George Swinnock, 1627-1673)

Verse 26. “And my portion forever. Without alteration, this God will be my God forever and ever, my Guide and aid unto death: nay, death, which dissolveth so many bonds, and untieth such close knots, shall never part me and my portion, but give me a perfect and everlasting possession of it.” (George Swinnock, 1627-1673)

In these God-inspired verses of Psalm 73, we find a concept that was so very relevant then, in the Psalmist's time in history, and still so very relevant today, in this 21^st Century of increased apostasy and an easy-believism that frightens the life out of us! 

Our KJV Bible is, in my humble opinion, God’s own breathed inspiration message to us, ‘His people’.  Others may disparage this doctrine of written infallibility in God’s Word, but many like myself do not, and will not give way on this profound belief.  Without the Word of God, written in a most dependable translation, our core belief system as Christians is immediately undermined. 

Modernism, Liberalism, Humanism, and Easy-believism are a bane on the promotion of God inspired faith in Christ, and in daily Christian practice and Holiness!

Verse 27. “For lo (look and understand), they that are far from Thee shall perish.  Why shall they perish?  Because they are far from God.  Simple, but most profound statement.

Verse 27.  “…Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from Thee. God has, and will continue to destroy all those that go a whoring from Him, that corrupt His Word; that teach/preach ‘another gospel…’; that teach error and join in unity with those that do. Fact!

Verse 28. “But it is good for me to draw near to God.  Continual confession of sins/faults to the Lord God; continually being ‘…washed by the washing of the Word…’; continuing on in prayerful fellowship with the Lord, day by day – is what we theologians call Progressive Sanctification.  What a totally GOOD it is for us to be permitted of God to draw close to Him in sincere worship, thanksgiving and praise.  Bless the Lord, Oh my soul!

Thought: Thank you, Lord, that we have a Forever Conclusion with Thee, In Christ.