741 A Maskil of Asaph. O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever? Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? 2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt. 3 Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary! 4 Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place; they set up their own signs for signs. 5 At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes. 6 And then all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. 7 They set thy sanctuary on fire; to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of thy name. 8 They said to themselves, "We will utterly subdue them"; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land. 9 We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. 10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile thy name for ever? 11 Why dost thou hold back thy hand, why dost thou keep thy right hand in thy bosom?
12 Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. 13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy might; thou didst break the heads of the dragons on the waters. 14 Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan, thou didst give him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. 15 Thou didst cleave open springs and brooks; thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams. 16 Thine is the day, thine also the night; thou hast established the luminaries and the sun. 17 Thou hast fixed all the bounds of the earth; thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs, and an impious people reviles thy name. 19 Do not deliver the soul of thy dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of thy poor for ever. 20 Have regard for thy covenant; for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. 21 Let not the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise thy name. 22 Arise, O God, plead thy cause; remember how the impious scoff at thee all the day! 23 Do not forget the clamor of thy foes, the uproar of thy adversaries which goes up continually!
751 To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song. We give thanks to thee, O God; we give thanks; we call on thy name and recount thy wondrous deeds. 2 At the set time which I appoint I will judge with equity. 3 When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. [Selah] 4 I say to the boastful, "Do not boast," and to the wicked, "Do not lift up your horn; 5 do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with insolent neck."
6 For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up; 7 but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. 8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, with foaming wine, well mixed; and he will pour a draught from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. 9 But I will rejoice for ever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10 All the horns of the wicked he will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
761 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song. In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel. 2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. 3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. [Selah] 4 Glorious art thou, more majestic than the everlasting mountains. 5 The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands. 6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.
7 But thou, terrible art thou! Who can stand before thee when once thy anger is roused? 8 From the heavens thou didst utter judgment; the earth feared and was still, 9 when God arose to establish judgment to save all the oppressed of the earth. [Selah] 10 Surely the wrath of men shall praise thee; the residue of wrath thou wilt gird upon thee. 11 Make your vows to the Lord your God, and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared, 12 who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is terrible to the kings of the earth.
16 So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth." 18 So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills. 19 You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" 20 But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me thus?" 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
25 As indeed he says in Hose'a, "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'my beloved.'" 26 "And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" 27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth with rigor and dispatch." 29 And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left us children, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomor'rah."
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued the righteousness which is based on law did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall; and he who believes in him will not be put to shame."
(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.
