Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library

Gospel from Matthew Cain.

[0:01] If you have a Bible, I would love you to turn with me to the book of the Psalms, Psalm 75.
This is a little bit of an obscure reading, which is not my custom in a gospel meeting, nor do I think should be the custom, but I am purposely choosing it tonight.

[0:19] There is a well-known New Testament text that I would like you to think about as well, Romans 5 and 6. You could probably quote it with me, that when we were yet without strength or helpless, Just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
So if there is a helpless, lost sinner here tonight, well, this message of the gospel is great news for you.
Christ has died to bless you.
But notice the warnings in this passage as well. Psalm 75, we’re reading from verse two to the end of the psalm.
God says, when I choose a time, I will judge fairly. When the earth and all its inhabitants shake, I am the one who steadies its pillars.
I say to the boastful, do not boast.
And to the wicked, do not lift up your horn. Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak arrogantly.

[1:23] Promotion, exaltation does not come from the east, the west, or the desert, for God is the judge.
He brings down one and exalts another.
For there is a cup in the Lord’s hand, full of wine blended with spices, and He pours from it all the wicked of the earth will drink.
This is not a good-tasting cup. This is a cup of God’s judgment.
All the wicked of the earth will drink, draining it to the dregs.
Verse 10, I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

[2:05] I suspect a good many of you have seen some of the BBC Planet Earth video series.
They are fascinating.
You’ve probably at least seen the clip of the snakes chasing the iguana.
That will get your heart racing a little bit.
Or maybe the scene of some young lions that are hungry and they’re trying to chase down a giraffe.
I think that is absolutely lovely. The giraffe just flips off those lions like you would flip off a mosquito.
Beautiful. One of the outrageous scenes that I remember watching and I would love to watch again is the scene of the ibex fighting. The ibex is a goat species, a desert goat species that resides in mountainous areas in the Middle East and in North Africa. And the ibex is known for developing these huge horns that can extend like five feet long and they curve back. They’re massive horns, and the Ibex use those to fight each other. They’ll put their heads back like this, and then they’ll come and they’ll smash in to the opposing Ibex, if that is who they are fighting, and their horns crash against each other with amazing power.

[3:27] I don’t know if you noticed, I tried to highlight in our reading references to horns.
God says, don’t lift up your horn against heaven. He says, I’ll cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up. In the Bible, the horn is a symbol for strength, and victory, because that’s exactly what an animal like the ibex would use it for. The animal will use its horns to fight for top spot in the group against its rival males. It’ll use it in in self-defense. It uses it to fight. It’s a showcase of its own strength. God says, don’t lift up your horn against heaven. Don’t think that you could storm the gates of heaven like an Ibex against another Ibex. Don’t think that you could storm the gates of heaven and just sort of push your way in by saying, well, my parents go to the gospel hall. I mean, that, should give me a right to enter in, doesn’t it? Well, I think that’s a great blessing if your parents are part of the assembly, but that doesn’t make you saved.

[4:49] Or you might say, well, I know, I’ve memorized Isaiah 53. Fantastic, that’s a good thing for you to do.
The key thing is to believe it.

[5:00] Or you might say, well, I don’t swear and curse like my friends do at school.
I know I don’t sin as much as they do, and I’m actually a pretty decent person.
But if we’re arguing that way against God, it’s a little bit like us taking our horns and trying to push our way into heaven based on our own strength.
That’s a bad idea.
God says, don’t lift up your horn against heaven. Don’t think that you could be so silly.

[5:32] No, you wouldn’t be this silly. You wouldn’t be so silly to think that you could out-duel God and fight against God and overcome God.
And if you watch the video of the Ibex, you should do that. You should tell your parents that Mr. Matthew said, when you get home from school on Monday afternoon, you need some time to watch the Ibex fighting.
And when you see them fight, you could imagine that if one of those Ibex had lost its horns, it would stand no chance.
It would be absolutely decimated by its foe, because the horn is all it has for its strength.
Well, now God says, I will cut off the horns of the wicked.
Do you know what God is saying?
In your own strength, you can’t stand against God.

[6:29] In the strength of your own righteousness or goodness or purity, you’ve got nothing to go against God. He cuts off the horns of the wicked. He leaves them absolutely helpless.
That’s a good thing for you to realize because Romans 5 and 6 says, when we were helpless, when we had no strength, when we realized our horn was cut off, that’s just the right time, that’s the right understanding because Christ has died for people just like that.
And people that have no strength, people that would love to be saved and just can’t seem to figure it out, people that would love to know their sins forgiven and they’re trying and they’re working and they’re crying and they’re calling and they can’t seem to get it.
Listen, God has a word for you. For people without strength. For people that are helpless and ungodly. Christ has died for those people. That’s why the gospel is so precious. We are helpless sinners. That’s just the truth of the matter.
The good news is that Christ has died for such sinners. The reality is that we We are weak, we are without strength.
We have nothing that we can bring to God to impress God and boast against God.
We don’t have to. We don’t have to.

[7:56] Christ has met our need at the cross.

[8:00] We need to think about what Christ has done for us. We’re all accountable to God for our sins.
What we need is a sacrifice who has met the need of our sins because God is the ultimate judge.
In verse number seven, God is the judge.
And the fate of the world hinges not on man, but on God. We speak of actions that men and women do, that change the course of history.
And some of them do, sure.

[8:29] But not outside the control of the God of the Bible. Think about artificial intelligence.
And even its creators are a little bit scared to what this is going to do to the human race, we’re a little bit uncertain. It does create some uncertainty. It can be a little bit unsettling, but it’s not unsettling to God.
It’s not outside the control of God.
Before the name Oppenheimer became a popular name in the culture these days, our children knew about Oppenheimer because they read a book in school called Bomb, which is the story of the making, the race to build the atomic bomb in World War II.
It’s a great story. It’s a Newbery award-winning book, a simple read. It’s called Bomb.
And Oppenheimer, who helped to create that atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, 70,000 people died when that bomb first fell in 1945.

[9:34] The initial reaction of many Americans, understandably, whether they were just soldiers or politicians or regular citizens or the scientists, when they first heard of the bomb’s success, 70,000 people being instantly killed.
There is celebration. Understandably, we’re winning the war, but then some of those feelings turn to horror and fear. What have we done? What have we started? Today they estimate there are like 13,000 nuclear warheads in the world of much greater power than a bomb that was dropped in 1945 and with all of the war and the striving and the tension in the world through the 20th and 21st century, sometimes you might think it’s a wonder that humanity hasn’t destroyed itself.
But now verse 3 tells me why.
God says, I study the pillars. God’s in control. God’s in charge.
People think that they know better than God.
The people who think that they can out-duel God and outlast God and that they know more than God. They’re making the biggest mistake of their lives.
God is the ultimate judge, but I wonder if you sometimes think that you know a bit better than God.

[11:03] You think maybe you could run the universe a little bit better than God does.
You’ve got some ideas you’d like to suggest to Him.
Or you think you could run your life a lot better than God does.
Or you think that you could work out your own salvation a lot better than God might.
God, if you’re really as strong as you think you are, as you say you are, why haven’t you saved me yet?
Do you know what that sort of talk, that sort of thinking is like?
That’s just us lifting our horn against Heaven.
That’s our pride. That’s us boasting. And instead of lifting our horn against heaven and telling God what He should have done by now and what He should do next, instead of our lifting our horn against heaven, we should bow our knee before heaven. Say, God, You’re right. You’re right, and I’m wrong. You’re a.

[11:57] Savior and I’m a sinner. You’re a judge and I’m guilty. You’re my rescuer and I’ve got no other hope. You’re strong and I am weak. You’re pure and righteous and I’m a sinner.” That would be the right thing for you to do tonight. That would be the right attitude. That would be a right way to respond to the Word of God. Just to bow your knee to bow your heart before him and say Lord I know that you are right and I know that you’re righteous and I know that my sins deserve judgment but I know that the Lord Jesus has come for people just like that when we were without strength Christ died for the ungodly remember it is the heart of God to bless you God is the judge God is also the Savior that’s a lovely title of of God that you have in Titus, in 1 Timothy, in 2 Timothy, God, our Savior.

[13:01] His desire is to bless you, and so he gives you this warning that if you don’t repent and admit your guilt and your fault and your sin, then judgment comes.
But what he wants you to do is to turn and accept his Son and be saved.
So when Peter’s preaching in Acts 3, he calls on people to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus.
He says, remember, God sent his son to bless you, to bless you.
The Lord Jesus said, I did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world.
First Timothy two, God desires all people to be saved and to know the truth.
There is one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all.
God’s desire is to bless you and exalt you and lift you up to heaven with his son, Jesus Christ.

[14:05] But God is our judge.
And if you’re never forgiven of your sins, then you drink this cup of judgment of which he speaks.
God exalts one, and he puts down another.

[14:26] We want to exalt ourselves. We like to convince other people of how good we are and how righteous we are, and how much we deserve to be saved. We read here it says, exaltation, verse 6, does not come from the east or the west or the desert. It’s like somebody who’s looking all around trying to find, is there anybody around here somewhere that recognizes my greatness and how good I am? And we look at Instagram and we look on Facebook and we look on Twitter or we look in the mirror and we’re hoping somebody’s going to see just how good we really are.
God is the judge. God sees right into the heart. And we can put a big show on social media, but God sees right into the heart. And He sees sins. You need to be forgiven of those sins. He exalts one and he puts down another. Which will it be for you? Are you going to be lifted up by God or are you going to be put down by God? You remember that parable that the Lord tells in Luke chapter 18, the Pharisee and the tax collector. In the Pharisee.

[15:49] He’s lifting up his horn against Tevin. Oh God, you know how good I am. I hardly need to tell you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. You know how good I am, and I’m not as bad as this sinner over here. You know how much I give. You know all the good things that I do, and I’m thankful that I’m not as bad as other people. You, You know, God, how good I am.”.

[16:15] And the other man, he prays. You listen to his prayer. This is a prayer of salvation.
Now, he doesn’t look up. He doesn’t want to look up.
He knows there’s a holy God up there and he’s in his sins and he just looks down and he, And he says, God, you have to listen carefully, this is a short prayer, God, be merciful to, me, a wonderful person, no, he doesn’t say that.
God be merciful to me, a Christian’s child, no, what does he say?
God be merciful to me, a sinner.

[17:05] That’s who I am. I’m a sinner. I don’t have a fancy horn to impress God.
I don’t have a whole list of good deeds that I can push against the door of heaven.
I’m a sinner. And the Lord Jesus says, everyone who exalts himself, everyone who thinks like that Pharisee and lifts up his own horn, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. They’ll be brought, down. And everyone who humbles himself, who is honest about their sin, their weakness, their need, their helplessness, everyone who is honest and humbles himself, they’ll be exalted.

[17:54] God will save them. That’s what the text says at the end of Psalm number 75. I will cut off the horns of the wicked but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up and when I put my faith in the Lord Jesus in God’s mercy he counted me among the righteous not because of what I have done but because of what the Lord Jesus has done and he’s already exalted the Lord Jesus and he’s going to lift me up with him it’s gonna be great one day I’m gonna be in heaven with the Lord Jesus? Are you going to be there? I hope you’ll be there because otherwise you’re drinking this awful cup that he describes. He says there is a cup, there is a cup in the Lord’s hand, and it’s not a cup of clear spring water. He says it’s a cup full of wine blended with spices.
It’s a cup of judgment, and he pours it out for the wicked to drink, and they will drink it.
They won’t want to drink it, but they’ll drink it.

[19:05] When I was a boy, I used to listen at times at night. My father was in sales and he had this set of cassette tapes.
This was before the Johnny Seed era of CDs.
And he had a set of cassette tapes called The Psychology of Winning by Dr. Dennis Waitley.
I loved those. So I listened to them regularly. I don’t know how I got into this, but I was maybe 10, 12 years old.
And I would often listen to those as I went to bed at night.
If you started the lines, I could probably quote the lines to you from all of that.
And Dr. Dennis Waitley tells a story of when he was an Air Force pilot and he comes home to his home one day, his wife and daughter, and he’s coming there, pretty macho man, he’s got his Air Force uniform on, he’s carrying his helmet, he’s been flying a fighter jet for the day, and he comes home and his wife’s a little bit discouraged and he says, what’s going on? What’s wrong?
And she says, well, our daughter won’t eat her peas. She doesn’t like peas. Oh, come on!

[20:00] My daughter’s gonna eat her peas. No daughter of mine’s gonna refuse to eat peas.
Why don’t you just tell her to swallow the peas? Well, she won’t swallow them.
She spits them back out.
I’ll make her eat her peas.” So he goes in, she goes in, the mother goes into the living room, and he goes in the kitchen with his daughter there in the high chair, maybe two-year-old or something, and he takes a spoonful of peas, stuffs it in, and she tries to spit it back out.
So he holds her mouth closed.
I think this was their first child is my guess. He holds the mouth closed and he says, swallow, swallow those peas.
And she’s resisting and the pressure’s building and he’s holding it tight and her cheeks are getting bigger and bigger and you know it’s going to go one way or the other.
Either those peas are going down because this child needs a breath or else the peas are coming out and he’s determined that those peas are not going to come out.
He’s going to make her swallow it.
And he comes back out into the liver room covered in peas. And she says, what happened?
Oh, well, she doesn’t eat peas, that’s all, yeah, no big deal.
Can’t make her eat the peas.
But God’s a judge, And the wicked are going to drink this cup.

[21:12] And if you meet God on judgment day in your sins, you can’t say, no, I’m too bad, I refuse to drink. You’ll drink it. To the dregs, eternal punishment, separation from God forever. Worse than we can even imagine.
You know who the wicked are? You say, I’m not the wicked. The wicked are sinners that do not repent.
And they will drink that cup. Admittedly, I have the same wicked heart and I am not going to drink the cup of God’s judgment. Do you know why? Because the Lord Jesus has drank it for me. And in the Gospel of Luke chapter 22, the Lord Jesus says just before he goes to the cross, it’s the night before he’s in Gethsemane, Father, if you are willing, please take this cup from me.
Yet not what I will, but your will be done. If you want me to drink the cup, I will drink the cup.
And the Lord Jesus went to the cross, and when he’s on the cross, it’s like he drank a cup.
He didn’t really get handed a cup, but this cup symbolizes, just like the horn symbolizes strength, the cup symbolizes God’s judgment.
And when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, It’s just like he took the drink.

[22:37] But see, I’ve left a lot in there. When the Lord Jesus drank the cup of judgment, he drank it to the last drop. Drained it for me.
So I’m not afraid of meeting God and saying, will I have to take judgment for a little while?
Will I need to go to hell for a little while? Will I need to pay for my?
I have no fear about paying for my sins, because the Lord Jesus drank it to the last drop.
Took God’s judgment.
Sometimes we sing that on a Sunday morning. You’ve maybe heard it.
You’ve heard your parents sing it and you haven’t thought much about it, but it says, death in the curse, we’re in our cup, oh Christ, it was full for thee.
But thou has drained the last dark drop.

[23:26] It’s empty now for me. He drank it for me.
Listen to what the Bible says. Maybe this is the best way to put it.
Listen to what the Bible says. He was wounded, he was crushed for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquity. The Lord God has laid upon him the punishment of us all.
With his stripes, we are healed.
The punishment to bring us peace was upon him. He bore the sin of many.
First Peter two, he bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
1 Peter 3, Christ has once and for all suffered for sins.
The righteous one, for us the unrighteous ones that he might bring us to God.

[24:16] Now, the righteous one, the Lord Jesus, he has been lifted up, his horn has been exalted.
God raised him from the dead to tell you and me that what the Lord Jesus did on the cross was complete, it was wonderful, it was good.
He drank the last drop, and God raises him up, not just out of the grave, but all the way up to heaven.

[24:39] And now God says that He’s raised me up with Him. And it’s like I’m seated with Christ in heaven.
That’s a wonderful thing. It’s a great thing to be saved.
Wonderful thing to know your sin’s forgiven. Wonderful thing to know that I’m not relying upon my own horn, my own righteousness, my own strength to get to heaven. I am a weak sinner.
But when we were yet without strength, at just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Now, if you were here in the Spanish language meeting, I think that Johnny finished off his message by saying this, that salvation depends upon the work that Christ has done, but now you You need to receive that by faith.

[25:31] So listen to Ephesians 2. For by grace are you saved through faith.
This is not of yourselves. This salvation is not of yourselves.
It’s a gift of God, not of works, so that we don’t boast.
So we’re not boasting. We’re not lifting up our horn against heaven.
Receiving the Lord Jesus by His Word, by faith, knowing that what He’s done has satisfied God. And I’m going to be in heaven. I’m going to be in God’s kingdom, resting entirely upon the Lord Jesus, who drank the cup for me. And it’s His strength that will take me there. Don’t rely on your own strength. Trust in Christ. You can just bow before Him tonight. God, be merciful. To me, a sinner, This is the one that God will exalt.

Filed under: Conf Gospel, Conferences, cain-matthew