Psalms 68:21

Psalms 68:21-23, “But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same.”

God is making it very clear in these verses that God wins against His enemies and that His victories are complete and thorough victories. This kind of a complete and thorough military victory teaches us something important about salvation. When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave defeating sin He won the victory against the enemy of mankind. When a person comes to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins they are completely forgiven. They are not forgiven halfway or part way.

Ephesians 1:7 says, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” It is no coincidence in the New Testament when the Bible talks about the forgiveness of sins it almost always mentions sins in the plural and not the singular. It is all your sins that are forgiven at salvation not just some of them.

There is no such thing as being half saved or partly saved or being only partly justified. Some people confuse sanctification with justification. Justification means you have received the righteousness of Christ. It means to be declared righteous. It means just as if I had not sinned. Titus 3:5-7, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Justification refers to your legal standing with God. Once you are in Christ God declares you righteous. Now the word sanctification can be a tricky word. It means to be made Holy. There are really two ways the word sanctification is used in the New Testament. One is in reference to being made Holy at salvation in the sense of your position in Christ. The other is in reference to practical daily living. 1 Thessalonians 4:4-5, “That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God.”

Another way of explaining it is to say there is a positional righteousness and a practical righteousness. Positional righteousness refers to my justification my position of being in Christ. Practical righteousness refers to am I currently doing what is right or not? Some people do not understand the difference between justification and sanctification or you could say positional and practical righteousness. And because they do not they end up with a works salvation philosophy.

Anyone who thinks that not all your sins are forgiven at the moment of salvation, or who thinks that some how obtaining the righteousness of Christ happens progressively and not all at once and even anyone who thinks that you receive the spirit of God in increments and not all at once is a person who does not understand salvation but has a works salvation philosophy.

The Bible makes it very clear Jesus died for the sins of the world not some of the sins but all the sins. You are either in Christ or not in Christ there is no in between. It is important to understand the difference between justification and sanctification the difference between positional and practical righteousness. When God defeats His enemies it is never a partial victory it is always a complete victory.

Psalms 68:24-27, “They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.”

It only makes sense after God gave Israel victory over their enemies that they would praise God for it. It is even mentioned here that the princes praised God. Its actually very rare that princes or leaders of a country will praise God and give thanks for the good things which He has done. Leaders can have a great impact on a society just by the words that they say. It is a shame that more leaders do not follow the example of Psalms and praise God for the great things which He has done. To do so would have a good influence on people in society. It would help influence people to turn to the LORD.

Psalms 68:28-31, “Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.” These verses seem to be describing the reign of King Solomon. The key thing to notice is that it mentions the temple. The temple of God in the Old Testament is where the presence and glory of God was made manifest. What a testimony it was to the heathen nations of the world. People came all over the world from far and near, princes and paupers to see the beauty and splendor the temple in Jerusalem. They were drawn to the glory of God.

Of course we know that in New Testament times the temple of God is the believer. And a believer with a pure and holy testimony will draw others too him or her. The lost will be drawn to your testimony just like they were drawn to see the beauty of the temple in King Solomon’s day. Do not underestimate the power of a strong testimony. This shows the important of practical righteousness. This is what the book of James is talking about when it says in James 2:18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

Psalms 68:32-35, “unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah: To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.”

Psalms 68 ends by praising God. In talking about the greatness of God who God is and what God is doing it says, lo, He doth send out His voice, and that a mighty voice. A lot of Christians will be quick to say they believe in the power of the word of God and quote this verse: Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

But do they really believe and understand just how powerful the words of God really are? It is kinda like if you were in fantasy land and there was a wizard casting spells. And he said Words and then shazaam magical things began to happened. The word of God is like that. It has supernatural power to it. When you speak forth God’s Words it has a tremendous impact on the conscience and soul of a human being.

Sometimes preachers will stand up and give a sermon and not quote one verse of scripture. Is this a person that believes in the power of God’s Word or a person that thinks highly of their own words?

This is the reason that, when you get in debates about the gospel or bible in general with some lost people they will accuse you of being a bible thumper or they will try to get you to say something other than quoting the bible in your response to them. They don’t like hearing the Bible. The power of its words convicts their conscience and therefore they cannot stand to hear it.

Do not let the heart hearts of wicked people cause you to doubt the power of the Word of God. Human beings have a free will and they will choose to either turn to righteousness or turn away from it. No matter how hard the hearts of men are God’s Word still accomplishes its work in the world. Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

Now we move on to Psalm 69. Psalms 69 is a very interesting and important Psalm which includes several messianic prophecies in it. Psalms 69:1-3 says, “To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David. Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.”

A lot of the Psalms of King David are actually prayers to God. And there are quite a few of these which begin by King David recognizing his own sinfulness, his own weakness and inability to conquer sin, his need for God’s supernatural power in overcoming sin.

This is why the Psalms are a great example of how to approach God in prayer with humility and honestly. In these verses David said, “I sink in deep mire.” In many ways sin is like quicksand. One you step into it it will pull you under. Sin has a way of grabbing hold of a person, making them become addicted to it. Once it grabs hold it does not let go. This is why we need the power of God through the blood of Jesus Christ to free us from its grasp.

It is easy to understand why a lost person falls so easily into the different sins which will eventually destroy them. They do not have the Spirit of God inside them to empower them. They are dead spiritually and so they have no defense against the flesh. But even a Christian can find themselves sinking deep in the mire if they do not learn to live a life of repentance.

No matter how much you love Jesus you are at best still going to fail from time to time because you are human. The key is to be quick to repent of your sins to Jesus and to accept His forgiveness.

1 John 1:8-10, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 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 that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Psalms 69:4 says, “They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.” Once you turn from your sins to Jesus you will find that you have many enemies: there is the devil and his angels, there is your own sinful flesh, and there is the world and its billions of people with their power, influence, and teachings. That is a lot of enemies. The way to not let your enemies have victory over you is by staying rightly related to Jesus in a practical sense. Positionally you are in Christ if you are saved. There is no condemnation. But remember your enemies want you to sin. They want you to fail. They want you to fall away. They want you to stop serving God. That is their goal. So long as you rely on Christ’s grace and His forgiveness your enemies will never gain the victory over you.

Psalms 69:5-6 says, “O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.”

There can be great comfort in the fact that God sees all our sins at least for a person who desires to do what is right. We do not always see our own sins or understand our own sinfulness But God does. He knows just how to get us to repent. He knows just how to draw us back to Him.

When we do fail we certainly should be concerned how those failures will affect and influence other Christians around us. The key to minimizing any damage that might be cause through failure is to be quick to repent of your sins.

One of the greatest verses in the Bible in regards to repentance and forgiveness of sins and in regards to staying rightly related to the Lord is 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Psalms 69:7-9, “Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.”

These verses in Psalms are Messianic verses which means they are talking about Jesus Christ. Psalms 69:9 is quoted in two different places in the New Testament. The first half of Psalms 69:9 is quoted in the Gospel of John chapter 2:17, and the second half of Psalms 69:9 is quoted in Romans 15:3,

John 2:13-17 says, “the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”

Romans 15:3 says, “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.”

To reproach someone is to treat them shamefully and disgracefully It is interesting to note that the word reproach which is used here in Psalms 69 can also be translated blaspheme. Jesus certainly bore a great deal of reproach. He faced the reproach of both the roman and the Jewish governments. He faced the reproach of the multitudes and He especially faced the reproach of the sins of the world when He hung on the cross.

It is interesting to notice that zeal and reproach are talked about together in these verses in Psalms. There is a strong connection being zeal without knowledge and reproach. Zeal without knowledge is a dangerous thing. A great example is the life of the Apostle Paul before He was saved. Another great example are the Muslim extremists who kill Christians thinking they are doing God a service. Many people have made the mistake of having a zeal for God without knowledge and have done great damage in the world.

Psalms 69:10-20, “When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.”

These verses are basically a repeat of what was already said. There are many challenges to face in life some of the biggest challenges will come from your own sinfulness and from the evil people of the world who oppose Jesus. The solution to these challenges is to trust in God and rely upon His tender mercies and lovingkindness. God wants you to be successful in following Him through this life and you can be if you learn His Word and learn to rely upon Him in prayer for all things.

Jesus has the power to pull you out of the mire of sin. His tender mercies are so great that you will always forgive you when you come to Him for forgiveness no matter how great the failure. He will always forgive you because He loves you and He shed His blood for you on the cross some 2000 years ago. If you have not turned to Jesus, do so today and receive the forgiveness of sins.

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