(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

We are up to Psalm 74, and I thought I'd take the title from verse number 9. It says, we see not our signs, there is no more any profit. Title for the sermon comes from there. There is no more any profit. Let me give you a little bit of a background as to what this Psalm is speaking of. It's speaking about a time where Jerusalem or Judea if you want, Judah, is being neglected by God. They've turned against God and God has allowed some enemy to come in and infiltrate. They've also come in and they've walked into Jerusalem. They've defiled the Holy Temple of God as well. And the people are asking when we get that title, you know, there is no more any profit. They're asking, hey, where are the preachers? We need to hear from God. And it's not that there are no preachers, there definitely are preachers. It's just that the king of Israel has turned or the king of Judah, I should say, has turned his heart away from the Lord. And the Lord is just allowing the natural consequences of life to come in, the enemies to come in, because the king himself has turned against God. Now let's start there in verse number one and I'm going to share with you my thoughts as to what this is about historically. But in Psalm 74 verse number one, it says, Oh God, why hast thou cast us off forever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? So God has what cast off Israel at this point in time, right? Or at least the Psalmist's beliefs by God's actions that is cast them off. He refers to themselves as a nation, as the sheep of his pasture. Now if you want to take a secondary application, we can take this about ourselves. You know, we are all here at our New Life Baptist Church with a sheep of his pasture. We want to be led by the shepherd. And of course, as we continue down the track in this Psalm, it speaks of the temple. We know that in the New Testament, the Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. So if we want to take a secondary application, we can think about ourselves here. But of course, it's speaking about a time here, as we can see that the Lord has, as it were, forgotten them or cast them off. He continues in verse number two, the Psalmist says, remember thy congregation. So the thought is, God, you've forgotten about us, you know, so 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. So I believe the fact that it says this Mount Zion is most likely referring to earthly Mount Zion or where Jerusalem is, okay? So again, Jerusalem has been under attack by the enemies, and they feel like God is far away, and that God has cast them away. Now I was thinking about all of this Psalm here, and I think about at what point in history could this Psalm be referring to? I thought about Babylon. I thought about the time when Babylon came in and destroyed Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, but it doesn't seem to carry that same weight. This might be a reference to what we read about in 2 Chronicles. So come with me to 2 Chronicles, keep your finger there in Psalm 74, because I think if we can identify the historical setting, we can better understand what this Psalm is about. So 2 Chronicles chapter 12, 2 Chronicles chapter 12, and of course, the nation of Israel was a united nation under King David, under King Saul, under King David, and under King Solomon. And then after King Solomon, the nation was divided into two, right? The northern kingdom of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah. And we know that this Psalm is about Mount Zion, which is Jerusalem, which is the capital city of Judah. So the Psalm is about the southern kingdom. And the king that reigned during this time in the southern kingdom of Judah was King Rehoboam. So it says in 2 Chronicles 12, verse number 1, it says, And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established a kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. Okay? So you can see that the king is forsaking God's law. It says here that he was strengthened, he strengthened himself. You know, he's looking at his ability to rule and to reign, and his power and his might, and, you know, he got, I guess, caught up with himself, thinking that he's some wonderful man, but he forgets the laws of God, he forgets the Lord God himself. And then it says in verse number 2, And it came to pass that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord. Okay? So the Lord God allows who? The king of Egypt. And Shishak to come and invade the land. And not just the land, but even Jerusalem. Verse number 3, With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen, and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt, the Levims, the Sukims, and the Ethiopians, and he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah and came to Jerusalem. So look, when it comes to Psalm 74, I don't know if this is the exact story, but just in my thoughts, just contemplating what event this could be, I felt this might be the strongest candidate. I could be wrong. Okay? But I just felt this was the strongest candidate. Keep a finger there in 2 Chronicles, we're going to come back to it, and come back with me to Psalm 74. Okay? Come back with me to Psalm 74, and keep a finger there in 2 Chronicles. All right, the Psalmist continues, remember he asked God, remember thy congregation. It's like the Psalmist is trying to get a hold of God, and say, God, can you see what's happening to us? There's an enemy on the attack. You know, we've been invaded, even this Mount Zion, even this Jerusalem, where your presence is supposed to be in the temple. Then he says in verse number 3, Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations, even all that the enemy have done wickedly in the sanctuary. The sanctuary, of course, being the temple of God. So the Psalmist says to God, lift up thy feet, like, Lord, you know, do something, like Lord, get a move on, Lord, can you please just come to our rescue? Come and help us out, Lord, unto the perpetual desolations, can't you see the continual destruction that the enemy is doing on the land? Lord, please step up, come to the table and help us out here. Like the Psalmist is distraught, right? Like freeze nation, freeze people. We continue to read verse number 4. Thine enemies, roar in the midst of thy congregations. They set up their end signs for signs. So again, the fact that they've entered the sanctuary, they've come into the temple, and then the enemies are there in the midst of the congregation. So people are trying to sacrifice the Lord, they're trying to praise the Lord, they're trying to hear the word of the Lord, even though the king has forsaken the law of God. But at least in the sanctuary, God's people are trying to live righteously, they're trying to do the right thing. But the enemies come in and they set up their end signs for signs. They set up their flag of Egypt, whatever other nation this might be. And you know, like, we've conquered, you know, your temple, we've conquered your city. These are the Psalmist's asking, God, God, where are you? And I told you, I want you to also start thinking about this in your life. Because we are the temple of God, your body is the temple of God, I want you to remember that. Okay? And the Lord God has purchased you, and he has redeemed you. This body belongs to God. The Holy Spirit lives within us. But sometimes we allow the enemies to creep in. Sometimes we allow the devil an opening in our life. You know, we allow the world to influence our thoughts and our hearts, our lusts and our desires can interrupt the worship and praise that we ought to have for God found in our hearts. So the Psalmist is just crying out, Lord help us. Verse number five, five, a man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. Now I believe verse number five is a positive thing. A man was famous, like a man was renowned for his work of the axe, cutting down trees. And again, we're talking about the sanctuary, because you may recall when Moses was given the instruction to build the tabernacle and all the little tables and the setup and the decorations, where God utilized skillful men to design certain things. And there were men that cut down trees and set up, you know. So I think this is a positive aspect, verse number five. But then it says in verse number six, but now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. All right. So very quickly, I'll just read from Exodus 36 verse number one. And again, these are instructions that God gave Moses to build the tabernacle and of course the temple down the track, but it says, Then wrought Bezalel and Aholiab and every wise hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded. So God gave some instructions of how to build the sanctuary, okay. And then God would work in the hearts of certain faithful men and give them wisdom as to how to build, how to carve, how to set things up in the tabernacle, okay. So God is using skillful men, men that are using axes to cut down trees, to carve out some design for the worship and the temple of God. But now in verse number six, now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. So the enemy is not only have they infiltrated the temple, they're taking out their axes, their hammers, and they're destroying the things that, you know, was once worked. And for the service of God, they're just destroying, they're ransacking, ransacking the place. You know, they're vandalising the temple of God with their weapons. And again, brethren, you know, when it comes to my life and this body, which is the temple of God, I just won the Lord. You know, you've saved me and you live in me. The Holy Spirit is doing a work within me. And while we allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in our hearts, when our minds drift, when our hearts drift toward the world and the pledges of sin, you know, we're basically going to the work that the Holy Spirit is trying to do. And we're just causing destruction, mayhem in the life that we have. It continues in Psalm 74, they have cast fire into the sanctuary. So they light some things on fire. They have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They said in their hearts, let us destroy them together. They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs. There is no more any prophets, neither is there any among us, that knoweth how long. How long are the enemies going to, you know, take us for granted? How long are they going to destroy it? And you know, when are they going to leave us alone? They're saying there are no prophets to tell us. I took the title from the sermon there. There is no more any prophet, but there are prophets. And I'll show you soon when you go back to, when we go back to the story in St Chronicles, we'll go there in a moment. But I just wanted to notice that one thing that's going to cause destruction in the work that God is doing in your life is when you no longer attend church, when you no longer listen to preachers, when you're not listening to the pastor, when you're not listening to the preaching of God's word, and you start finding destruction and mayhem in your life, and you start to find yourself going a certain direction that God has not given you instruction, you just start destroying your life. You start destroying your peace that God has given you. And you know what, the first step to get to that point is to say, hey, I refuse to take in the preaching. I'm not going to listen to the preacher. I'm not going to listen to preaching. You know, a man who's expounding the word of God, because there is no prophet. No, no, there are prophets, there are preachers. It's just that you're not listening. And it's saying here that, you know, because there are no prophets, it says, neither is there any, neither is among us any that know of how long, there's nowhere to tell us. There's no prophets to preach to us. How long this is going to go for. But they're there. Can you, I'll just quickly read to you, if you can actually come with me to First Corinthians chapter six, come with me to First Corinthians chapter six, please. First Corinthians chapter six, I've been just mentioning this as we've been going through the fact that, you know, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, it says in First Corinthians 619, what, First Corinthians 619, what, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. It says ye are bought with a price and when it said in Psalm 74, remember thy congregation which thou has purchased of old. Why don't you think about that, that your body has been bought with a price, that price was the blood of Jesus Christ, it was his sacrifice, your body belongs to Jesus, okay. And we ought to serve him in this body. And part of that, part of knowing what we're to do is to be at church, to hear the preaching, right. Or you know what, even if you go on YouTube, there are a lot of great preachers online, as long as they're saved and they're King James only, you know, I recommend listening to some great preaching, it's going to stir your heart, it's going to get you motivated, zealous for God. But sometimes we forget, we say Lord, this body, I know you bought it Lord, but I'm just going to seek my own pleasures. You know that very verse there where it says, no you're not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, the direct application, if you can just go up to verse number 15. What Paul is teaching the Corinthian church here, he says, no you're not that your bodies are the members of Christ. Will I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of Ann Harlot? God forbid. You know, Paul was preaching against fornication. Paul was preaching here against sex before marriage, you know, and while those natural desires are right, you know, in the marriage bed, there are those that refuse to follow God's ways and say, no, I'm just going to give into temptations, I'm going to give this body to Ann Harlot, you know, to a whore, what have you. I mean, you don't understand, this body's been purchased by God. How can you take what belongs to God and defile it with such wickedness? We see Psalm 74, where the men of the axe, these craftsmen, had done something so wonderful in the sanctuary, but the enemies creep in and they destroy those wonderful things. You know, young people, your bodies are wonderful, it's God's creation. You know, God's given you a body to serve him, to love him, but also to serve and to love a spouse one day, to save yourself for marriage. Don't defile the temple that God has given you in your life. It continues there in verse number 16, 1 Corinthians 6, 16. What? Know you not that he which is joined to Ann Harlot is one body, for to save he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Leave fornication! Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. Leave fornication! I want to take that as one of the lessons that we can get out of Psalm 74. You know, the temple was supposed to be something beautiful, a place that was, you know, covered with gold and it was represented in the glory of God. You know, the temple was something to represent the teaching of God's Word. Well, that's what your body is. Did you know that? Our bodies are supposed to be that. It's supposed to glorify God. You know, when people see you and they interact with you, they're meant to see a little bit of Jesus in each one of us. But what do they see? What are the conversations? I haven't heard the sermon on Sunday, but I believe from what I know, the feedback that it's making sure that our mouths are speaking the Bible, speaking God's Word. People can see that this body belongs to God. It's the temple of God. We don't want to utilise this body and this mind and this soul and this heart for just worldliness. It's corrupt in the temple of God. And so when we look at Psalm 74 and we think of the enemies coming in and, you know, it was Shishak, the king of Egypt. Well, that's you and me sometimes. Like we're the ones that infiltrate sometimes the body God has given us and we just allow all manners of lust and worldliness to interrupt our life that ought to give honour and glory to God. Back to Psalm 74, verse number 10, the psalmist says, Oh God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Because he's not getting the answers from the preachers, right? So it's like, well, no one knows how long. Well, they were asking God, how long? And then he says, Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? Do we blaspheme the name of the Lord in our hearts sometimes? I don't know what the addiction of that term, oh my God, is. Again, young people, be careful. I don't know what it is. Oh my God. When they're not even calling out to God, using God's name in vain, emptiness for no purpose. That's what vain means. We call out God's name, but we don't even mean to call him. Or we're trying to substitute some filthy word with the name of God. What perversion? I hope you kept the finger there in 2 Chronicles. So come back with me in 2 Chronicles chapter 12. 2 Chronicles chapter 12, in verse number 5. We'll just continue the reading there in 2 Chronicles chapter 12, verse number 5. Anyway, the psalmist says there are no prophets. But here we have a prophet that turns up. In 2 Chronicles chapter 12, in verse number 5, it says, Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. Very clear. The reason I'm doing nothing about it. The reason I'm leaving you to the king of Egypt is because you first left me. Sometimes in our life we feel like God is far away. Have you ever felt that way in your life, in your Christian life? God, you're far away. Where are you, Lord? It just seems like we're not even walking closely together. But what we learn here, principle from God, it's not him that's left us. When we feel like God is far, we're just, Lord, do you even hear me? It's with, he's parted from him first. And God's proven the point, look, you forsook me. And then Shishak, I just, all right, if that's how you want to live, if you don't want my protection, if you don't want my blessings, then we'll just let the king of Egypt go in and run a mess in your life. Verse number six, it says, Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and they said, The Lord is righteous. That's the right response. I'm glad. I'm glad they humbled themselves. The Lord is righteous. It's not like, oh, we're righteous. No, no, no. Oh, man. When they're saying the Lord is righteous, they're saying they're not righteous. And so they're humbling themselves. Verse number seven, When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah saying, They have humbled themselves. Therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. And my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. So the Lord sees our humility. And brethren, if you've allowed this temple of God to be defiled, whatever sins, we looked at fornication, but look, we can defile our bodies with all kinds of manners of lust and weird things. And you might be feeling, Lord, where are you? Well, you know what, the first thing we need to do is humble ourselves. You know, listen to the words of the prophet or the words of the preacher. Lord, you're righteous. I'm not righteous. You know that. Lord, you are righteous. Lord, I'm nothing. We've messed up again. And we often mess up, don't we? Verse number eight says, Nevertheless, they shall be his servants, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house. He took all. He carried away also the shields of gold, which Solomon had made. So God allows Shishak to, you know, still, even though they've humbled themselves, you know, God allows his judgment to fall to the point where all of their riches, all the beautiful things in the temple, all the beautiful things in the king's palace, you know, all the gold, all the, you know, all the precious items have been taken away, all of it, by the king of Egypt. So what does Rehoboam try to do? Verse number 10. Instead, instead of which, king Rehoboam made shields of brass. They were shields of gold, they were a very precious item, and Rehoboam just does the best of a bad situation. He goes, well, we've got brass, so let's make shields of brass and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard that kept the entrance of the king's house. All right, I just want to show you, bring you up to speed, again, I believe this event is what Psalm 74 is about, but you can come back with me to Psalm 74. Come back with me to Psalm 74. So again, the Psalmist is asking God, like, you know, where are you? Well, we've learned from the story that it's the king, and it's the people. They're the ones that have deserted the Lord. They're the ones that departed from the Lord. So verse number 11 says, why withdrawest thou thy hand? In thy right hand, pluck it out of thy bosom. So Psalmist is kind of giving the description that God, it's like you've got your hands here. It's like, God, can you take your hands out of your bosom, and like, do something? Can you help us? Can you take this enemy away from Jerusalem? Verse number 12, for God is my king of old. Work in salvation in the midst of the earth. So he's telling God, and I think this is right. It's like, Lord, I just feel like you're not doing anything right now for me. You're not helping us, Lord, right? And so he goes, all right, I'm going to remember the times in the past where God has come through. That's why he says, for God is my king of old. You know, you've always been my king. You've always been my God. And then he says in verse number 13, he goes to the past. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Verse number 13 should be straightforward, at least the first part. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. What's that? So when God divided the Red Sea, right? When Israel came out of Egypt, again, why I think it is maybe the Egyptians again causing problems, because we're going back to the remembrance of when God delivered Israel out of Egypt, and they went through the Red Sea, and God divided the waters. But what's really interesting? They'll break us the heads of the dragons in the waters. Let's keep going there, verse number 14. They'll break us the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gave us him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. All right, I had to stop and think about this a lot. What is this talking about? Dragons in the waters, Leviathan. Well let's turn to a few references. Can you come with me to Job 41, where we have a reference to Leviathan? Okay, Leviathan is a dragon. It's some type of reptile, maybe some long extinct dinosaur, maybe, I don't know. I can't give you a full answer here. But what I want to show you in Job 41 and verse number 1, Job 41 verse number 1, it reads, Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook, or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose, or bore his jaw through with a thorn? See normally when you go fishing, you get a hook, right, and you can pretty much, you know, I've seen people go fishing, and they literally pull out sharks, like, you know what I mean? But you know, Job is saying here, like, you know, or God's saying here to Job, you know, can you pull out a Leviathan with a hook? Like this is the monstrosity of a beast, okay, you can't just fish it out with a hook. But what I want to show you there in Job 41 is that Leviathan is a literal beast, a literal animal, might be extinct now, I don't know, okay? But God uses the words dragons as well to describe this creature. Now come with me to another passage, come with me to Isaiah 27. Come with me to Isaiah 27, Isaiah 27 and verse number 1, Leviathan, thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces, heads, plural, Leviathan, singular, I hope that gets you thinking a little bit, heads, plural, Leviathan, singular, but in Isaiah 27 and verse number 1, Isaiah 27 verse number 1, it says, in that day, and I've been going for, I just preached for Isaiah 26 at blessing of the church, so it's about the end times, it's about, you know, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, in that day, the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword, shall punish Leviathan, okay, well, that's, that's a creature in the sea, well, hold on, shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea, interesting how it's used to describe Leviathan as that crooked serpent, the piercing serpent, and often when we think about a serpent, we think of the serpent in Genesis 3, which was the devil, okay, and you know, the temptations that he put upon Eve and the fall of man and all of that, well, interesting, okay, Leviathan is a piercing serpent, a crooked serpent, a dragon that is in the sea, well, you know, we've just gone through the book of Revelation, not long ago, so let's just look at some passages there, in Revelation chapter 12, Revelation chapter 12 and verse number 3, Revelation chapter 12 and verse number 3, Revelation 12 and verse number 3. And of course, at this point, Revelation 12, you may recall was very symbolic, the woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet, and then it talks about here in chapter, in verse number 3, and there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads, drop down to verse number 9, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. So by looking at all these references, we see the dragon here, the old serpent, and again, this dragon has seven heads, multiple heads, like the psalm, alright, just like the psalm, you've got Leviathan with multiple heads. Now, when it comes to Leviathan the creature, I'm sure the creature had one head, right, like I'm sure that beast had one head, but we can also see where God uses Leviathan or dragon to describe who? The devil, symbolically, as this great reptile, there's this great dragon or that crooked serpent, and in the symbolism that we see in Revelation 12, the dragon has seven heads, multiple heads. So with all of these, you know, putting all this together, coming into one more passage in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel 28, please, Ezekiel 28 and verse number 1, Ezekiel 28 verse number 1. Let's put this together. There probably was a Leviathan, some type of creature roaming the seas, some dragon, maybe it's still in the oceans, deep, darkest oceans today, I don't know, but we also see how God uses it symbolically of the devil. And when you remember the book of Revelation, the seven heads represented what? Kingdoms, kings, kingdoms, power, authority, because they had crowns on their head as well, okay, and I think, I believe I elaborated that I believe that had to do with, you know, being Babylon and then, you know, the Assyrians, or the Assyrians, then Babylon, but I also believe it contained Egypt when it comes to the seven heads. When it comes to seven kingdoms, I do believe the first one actually represented Egypt, okay. Now in Ezekiel 28, I just want to show you something else here, in Ezekiel 28 verse number 1, it says, the word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up. Now do you see that Ezekiel here is preaching toward the prince of Tyrus, or Tyre, to a man, to a king, a king with an empire, but he says here, the heart is lifted up and thou, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas, yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God. So hey, it says, yet thou art a man, okay, so he's definitely preaching against the king. But what really is interesting in Ezekiel, you can read this more in your own time, drop down to verse number 11, he continues there, he says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, so same man, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. So God's saying, you're beautiful. Verse number 13, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God, what? This king, king of Tyrus, has been in Eden, in the garden of God, in the garden of Eden? Well, it's definitely not speaking of a man any longer, is it? He continues, every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold, the workmanship of thy tabrets, and of thy pipes, was prepared in thee in the day that that was created, what? Tabrets, pipes, some musical instruments, you know, that's part of this body, of this person who walked in the garden of Eden. Verse number 14, thou art the anointed cherub, what? That cover, cherub, an angel, one of these angels that we read about in the Bible. No, no, no, it was a man that we were talking about. Well, as you can see, God just continues speaking about his pride, being lifted up, wanting to be like God, now speaks of this anointed cherub all of a sudden. So when did the transition take place? Well, see, this prophecy is against both the king and both this anointed cherub. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. That was upon the holy mountain of God that has walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. That was perfect in thy ways, from the day that I was created, till iniquity was found in thee, by the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned, therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Of course, God is preaching now against, so Ezekiel is preaching against the devil, against Satan, but he started the prophecy by preaching against the king of Tyre, king of Tyrus. What I want to show you here, brethren, or what I believe Psalm 74 is pointing toward us, is that the Leviathan, yes, while it can be a creature, it's an animal that lived sometime in the past, probably extinct now, that God used that illustration of the devil, and not just the devil, but people in authority, people with positions of great power, kings that have been influenced by the devil himself. So with all of that in mind, I know I've taken a bit of time to explain that, but I think we need to, in order to understand Psalm 74. So come back with me to Psalm 74, back to Psalm 74, Psalm 74, and verse number 13, because the first part is easy, thou didst divide the sea by thy strength, yes Lord you divided the Red Sea, in the past, you delivered us from enemies, who did you deliver them from? The king, king Pharaoh, and the armies of Egypt, right? Then thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters, because what happened? After the Egypt, after the Israelites came out of the Red Sea, God enclosed those waters and it destroyed the armies of Egypt. And God is using the destruction of that army as an illustration of breaking the heads of the dragons in the waters, because the dragon or Pharaoh would have been somebody under the influence of the devil, seeking to destroy God's people, God delivers them, destroys the army of Pharaoh, but as a double application, God also destroyed the attempt of the devil, that dragon, that leviathan, and his heads, and all those heads represent an authority where God can stop and destroy, you know, kings and kingdoms and protect his people from such powerful enemies. And so I think the Psalmist is reminding himself, that God, you've delivered us from kings, you've delivered us from Pharaoh, you've delivered us from the devil, it's like God can do it again, because this is the king of Egypt out against us again. Verse number 14, when it says, thou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gave us him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Again this could be a double play on the words. It could be, yes, that sometimes God just allows some creature to perish in the seas, and then people in the wilderness, they just find a freshly dead animal and they might use it for their meat, for their purposes to eat. This could be another illustration of, remember it was the chariots, the horsemen that were, you know, flooded by the Red Sea when they tried to cross and destroy the Israelites. And it could be other people in the wilderness when they saw all these, you know, weaponry and chariots and, you know, the clothing and weapons of war that people in the wilderness came in and took those things for themselves, you know, as spoils that, you know, God has destroyed the armies of Pharaoh. So it could be a play both ways in that sense. Verse number 15, thou didst cleave the fountains and the flood, thou driest up mighty rivers, the day is thine, the night also is thine, thou hast prepared the light and the sun. So that Psalmist is just praising God, you're the creator of all things. You've delivered us, you can help us from kings, the day is yours, the night is yours. He says in verse number 17, thou hast set all the borders of the earth, thou hast made summer and winter, you're the creator of the seasons, you know. So he's just reminding himself that, Lord, you're the Lord of all creation. Like you've got power over all creation, how can we doubt that you're going to deliver us now from this enemy? Like you can control waters and oceans, you can destroy Leviathan if you want, you know, and like it's kind of like he's encouraging himself in the Lord. Like Lord, I'm sure you're going to come through and help us again this time. Verse number 18, remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. Says Lord, can you remember, keep this in mind, you know what they said about you. You know when they came and infiltrated the temple and they took all the precious gold and all the things, you know what they said about you. You know how they mocked that you're not going to defend us. Because like, can you remember they said these words? Again vengeance belongs to God, it's saying Lord, can you just, you take care of it Lord. You know, don't go easy on them. You know, keep in memory the horrible things that they've done and said. O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked. Forget not the congregation of thy poor forever. So when he says, O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove, he's speaking of himself, he's speaking of the people. Because a turtle dove is a pigeon essentially, a dove. And we would say, you know, of course, you know, the poorer people, if they didn't have you know, bulls and goats to sacrifice, they could bring a turtle dove. It represents poverty, it represents humility, you know, as an object. And again, we saw earlier that the people started to humble themselves. They said, God, you are righteous. So, you know, I think he's applying the same principle is that the, you know, the Jews at this point are looking at themselves going, yeah, man, you know, let's humble ourselves. We have the prophet come in and tell us we need to humble ourselves before God, God has forsaken us. And the psalmist appears to be using that humility and using the illustration of themselves being a turtle dove. Like we're poor, we're lowly, you know, we're here to be sacrificed, you know, you know, while he continues there, you know, deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked. Don't allow us humble people to be destroyed by these wicked enemies that have come and upset us and, you know, cause us problems. First number 20, have respect unto the covenant, which of course God does. He created the covenants, but he's kind of reminding God, God, you know, where your covenanted people, like, remember your promises to us. Yeah, but there were both blessings and curse sins as well, according to that covenant. But anyway, have respect unto the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. So them as covenanted people, they're meant to have the words of God, they're meant to have the righteousness and the laws of God to live by. So it's trying to say, Lord, like, at least we're kind of okay. In comparison to the dark places of the earth, full of, you know, full of the habitations of cruelty. And sometimes we might have that reaction with God, when we feel like, yeah, Lord, we messed up by God, I'm still better than like, most people on the earth, like, I'm still your child. I'm under the new covenant, Lord. Yes, I messed up. Yes, I've sinned against you, Lord, but come on, Lord, please, you know, you know, you know my weaknesses, I'm still better than most people in the world. But of course, God's hand of chastisement doesn't come upon bastards, it comes upon his sons. And that proves to us that he loves us. Verse 121, O let not the oppressed return ashamed, let the poor and needy praise thy name. Arise, O God, lead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily. Again, he's reminding God, God, remember what they said, every single day, they kept reproaching you. Forget not the voice of thine enemies, the torment of those that rise up against thee, increase of continually. So it's what he's been bothered by all the horrible things the enemies are saying here about God, about their God, it's bothering him, Lord, don't forget what you said. Like when it comes to time to judge them, when it comes time to drive them away, Lord, reward them for the things that they've said about you, the horrible things that they've said about you. I hope you kept the finger in 2 Chronicles, we're almost done. Come back with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 12, 2 Chronicles chapter 12 and verse 11. It says here, And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, that's King Rehoboam, that he would not destroy him altogether, and also in Judah, things went well. Look, King Shishak caused a lot of problems. He took a lot of their wealth, a lot of their precious things. The temple does not look as beautiful as it did before, but at least King Rehoboam at least at this point humbled himself, tried to make things right, alright, I don't have the gold but we've got brass, we'll make the best of a bad situation. He humbles himself, he listens to the word of God, alright, and God turns away his wrath from the king, and things in Judah went well. You know, it turned out okay for Judah, it turned out okay for Jerusalem. You know, they were there to live another day, you know, God did certainly deliver them from the enemy. I took the title again from Psalm 74, verse number 9, there is no more any profit. And I don't know if that's the best title for this Psalm, but I just want you to remember the necessity for you to hear preaching from the word of God, that our bodies are his temple. God is doing an amazing work in each one of us, and you know what, all it takes is for us to go, Lord, I kind of like Egypt, I'm going to allow Egypt to enter my life, Egypt represents the world, and I'm going to let it do a mess. And you know, you don't realize that really it's not Egypt, it's not just the world, it's the influences of the devil, it's the influences of Leviathan. Leviathan wants to destroy that crooked serpent, okay, that dragon wants to come in and destroy your Christian testimony. The devil did not stop you from getting saved, praise God, he's trying to stop many people from getting saved. You're saved now, but he can stop you from living a Christian testimony, he can stop you from living a life that pleases God, he can cause your body to be corrupted by fornication, all kinds of wickedness. Reverend, take heed to God's word, take heed to preaching, and that's going to help you keep this temple of God clean and holy, okay, and without the influences of Leviathan, let's pray.