741 God, why have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance;
Mount Zion, in which you have lived. 3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,
all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. 4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly.
They have set up their standards as signs. 5 They behaved like men wielding axes,
cutting through a thicket of trees. 6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers. 7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground.
They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name. 8 They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.”
They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped. 9 We see no miraculous signs.
There is no longer any prophet,
neither is there among us anyone who knows how long. 10 How long, God, shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever? 11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it out of your pocket and consume them!
12 Yet God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth. 13 You divided the sea by your strength.
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters. 14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces.
You gave him as food to people and desert creatures. 15 You opened up spring and stream.
You dried up mighty rivers. 16 The day is yours, the night is also yours.
You have prepared the light and the sun. 17 You have set all the boundaries of the earth.
You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh.
Foolish people have blasphemed your name. 19 Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts.
Don’t forget the life of your poor forever. 20 Honor your covenant,
for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth. 21 Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed.
Let the poor and needy praise your name. 22 Arise, God! Plead your own cause.
Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day. 23 Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries.
The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.
751 We give thanks to you, God.
We give thanks, for your Name is near.
Men tell about your wondrous works. 2 When I choose the appointed time,
I will judge blamelessly. 3 The earth and all its inhabitants quake.
I firmly hold its pillars. Selah. 4 I said to the arrogant, “Don’t boast!”
I said to the wicked, “Don’t lift up the horn. 5 Don’t lift up your horn on high.
Don’t speak with a stiff neck.”
6 For neither from the east, nor from the west,
nor yet from the south, comes exaltation. 7 But God is the judge.
He puts down one, and lifts up another. 8 For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup,
full of foaming wine mixed with spices.
He pours it out.
Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs. 9 But I will declare this forever:
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10 I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
761 In Judah, God is known.
His name is great in Israel. 2 His tabernacle is also in Salem;
His dwelling place in Zion. 3 There he broke the flaming arrows of the bow,
the shield, and the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah. 4 Glorious are you, and excellent,
more than mountains of game. 5 Valiant men lie plundered,
they have slept their last sleep.
None of the men of war can lift their hands. 6 At your rebuke, God of Jacob,
both chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep.
7 You, even you, are to be feared.
Who can stand in your sight when you are angry? 8 You pronounced judgment from heaven.
The earth feared, and was silent, 9 when God arose to judgment,
to save all the afflicted ones of the earth. Selah. 10 Surely the wrath of man praises you.
The survivors of your wrath are restrained. 11 Make vows to Yahweh your God, and fulfill them!
Let all of his neighbors bring presents to him who is to be feared. 12 He will cut off the spirit of princes.
He is feared by the kings of the earth.
16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” [1] 18 So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. 19 You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” [2] 21 Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? 22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction, 23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, 24 us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
25 As he says also in Hosea,
“I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people;
and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.” [3] 26 “It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
There they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” [4] 27 Isaiah cries concerning Israel,
“If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea,
it is the remnant who will be saved; 28 for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.” [5] 29 As Isaiah has said before,
“Unless the Lord of Armies [6] had left us a seed,
we would have become like Sodom,
and would have been made like Gomorrah.” [7]
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; 31 but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone; 33 even as it is written,
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense;
and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.” [8]
(Read Romans 9:14-24)
Whatever God does, must be just. Wherein the holy, happy people of God differ from others, God's grace alone makes them differ. In this preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace, he acts as a benefactor, whose grace is his own. None have deserved it; so that those who are saved, must thank God only; and those who perish, must blame themselves only, Hosea 13:9. God is bound no further than he has been pleased to bind himself by his own covenant and promise, which is his revealed will. And this is, that he will receive, and not cast out, those that come to Christ; but the drawing of souls in order to that coming, is an anticipating, distinguishing favour to whom he will. Why does he yet find fault? This is not an objection to be made by the creature against his Creator, by man against God. The truth, as it is in Jesus, abases man as nothing, as less than nothing, and advances God as sovereign Lord of all. Who art thou that art so foolish, so feeble, so unable to judge the Divine counsels? It becomes us to submit to him, not to reply against him. Would not men allow the infinite God the same sovereign right to manage the affairs of the creation, as the potter exercises in disposing of his clay, when of the same lump he makes one vessel to a more honourable, and one to a meaner use? God could do no wrong, however it might appear to men. God will make it appear that he hates sin. Also, he formed vessels filled with mercy. Sanctification is the preparation of the soul for glory. This is God's work. Sinners fit themselves for hell, but it is God who prepares saints for heaven; and all whom God designs for heaven hereafter, he fits for heaven now. Would we know who these vessels of mercy are? Those whom God has called; and these not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles. Surely there can be no unrighteousness in any of these Divine dispensations. Nor in God's exercising long-suffering, patience, and forbearance towards sinners under increasing guilt, before he brings utter destruction upon them. The fault is in the hardened sinner himself. As to all who love and fear God, however such truths appear beyond their reason to fathom, yet they should keep silence before him. It is the Lord alone who made us to differ; we should adore his pardoning mercy and new-creating grace, and give diligence to make our calling and election sure.
(Read Romans 9:25-29)
The rejecting of the Jews, and the taking in the Gentiles, were foretold in the Old Testament. It tends very much to the clearing of a truth, to observe how the Scripture is fulfilled in it. It is a wonder of Divine power and mercy that there are any saved: for even those left to be a seed, if God had dealt with them according to their sins, had perished with the rest. This great truth this Scripture teaches us. Even among the vast number of professing Christians it is to be feared that only a remnant will be saved.
(Read Romans 9:30-33)
The Gentiles knew not their guilt and misery, therefore were not careful to procure a remedy. Yet they attained to righteousness by faith. Not by becoming proselytes to the Jewish religion, and submitting to the ceremonial law; but by embracing Christ, and believing in him, and submitting to the gospel. The Jews talked much of justification and holiness, and seemed very ambitious to be the favourites of God. They sought, but not in the right way, not in the humbling way, not in the appointed way. Not by faith, not by embracing Christ, depending upon Christ, and submitting to the gospel. They expected justification by observing the precepts and ceremonies of the law of Moses. The unbelieving Jews had a fair offer of righteousness, life, and salvation, made them upon gospel terms, which they did not like, and would not accept. Have we sought to know how we may be justified before God, seeking that blessing in the way here pointed out, by faith in Christ, as the Lord our Righteousness? Then we shall not be ashamed in that awful day, when all refuges of lies shall be swept away, and the Divine wrath shall overflow every hiding-place but that which God hath prepared in his own Son.
