All right, Psalm 89, verse one says, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known my faithfulness to all generations. That sets the tone of the psalm. And so as we go through this, you might note that this is like the heading of the entire chapter. The mercies of the Lord and his faithfulness to all generations. Not just that generation, but to all generations. He goes on to expand this first verse with the rest of the psalm.

He says in verse two, for I have said, mercy shall be built up forever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. So out of the reach of man in the heavens, in the place of God's throne.

Verse three, I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed, this is the covenant, thy seed will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

Notice how much, and this is something I think that is worth noting now and at all times, but the Bible is written to the church. Have you ever noticed that? The Bible is written to the church, and so that's comforting, isn't it? God speaks in Scripture, and you see how he speaks of Christ to the church. He speaks of life to the church. He speaks of salvation to the church.

He says in verse five, the heaven shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee, or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?

So you can see in verse six he says who can be compared to the Lord, and now he's giving us several things in particular that no one can be compared to the Lord. And one of them is his strength, who is a strong Lord like unto him, and his faithfulness. There's no one who's faithful as him.

Thou rulest the raging of the sea. When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. That reminds us of the Lord Jesus when he was in the ship and he commanded the waves and the wind to be still. But it speaks of something more than just waves and wind. He says in verse 10, thou has broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain. Thou has scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. So this is in particular what he's talking about in verse nine, that the enemies raging is made quiet. God commands them to be still. That's his strength. even in their raging.

Verse 11, the heavens are thine, the earth also is thine. As for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. That reminds us of Colossians 1 where it says all things were created by Christ and for him.

Verse 12, the North and the South, thou hast created them. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand.

Now you can see that this declaration here is being given to the church, isn't it? And it's for the comfort, for the comfort of God's people.

Verse 14, justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In the light of thy countenance means in the light of God's face. and the mercy and truth and the justice and judgment he's speaking about that go before him are through, are the subject of this good news that he speaks about, the joyful sound that his people walk in. And they see these things enabled towards them from God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 16, in thy name shall they rejoice all the day, the people of the Lord. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted.

I was driving yesterday, and I drove by this herd of cattle, and they had these huge horns. I mean, they were like four feet on either side of the head. And I thought, that's an excellent picture of glory and strength. If you were to ask one of those cows, they would tell you, my glory is in my horn. The strength is in my horn. My horn's the biggest horn in the pasture. I can do anything because of these horns. You see, that's what he's saying. Thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. God's people boast in Christ and him crucified, don't they?

Verse 18, for the Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King, so God is our King. But notice, then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one who is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out of the people. So this is the way our King, the Lord, rules over his people through the one he's chosen, who is Christ.

Verse 20, I have found David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him, with whom my hand shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen him. God's arm, his strength, that we just read about, this mighty arm of the Lord, is the very arm that's going to strengthen the one spoken of here who is mighty, the one God has chosen and exalted, who's called David. And we're going to see in a few minutes that that's speaking of Christ.

Verse 22, the enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. The horn of the Lord Jesus Christ will be exalted in God's faithfulness and in his mercy. will be with him, and in his name the Lord Christ's horn shall be exalted, his glory.

I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry to me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation." No one could say that but Christ. Also, I will make him my firstborn. Again, that's Christ. higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him." So God made a covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ.

His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne is the days of heaven. So now he's speaking about the Lord's people, and they're called his seed. He says, if his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. So even though the Lord's people sinned, and who among them doesn't sin, and though God bring upon them chastisement, he will not take away his mercy, his loving kindness will not be utterly taken from Christ, which means that He won't take it from his people because that's the reason he died. That's the reason he advocates for them. He will be given this unfailing covenant for them and the blessings in it. If God were to fail in his covenant with Christ because of the sins of his people, what hope would we have? But because he promises here he will not fail in his covenant to Christ with his people, therefore even our sin cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Verse 34, my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips, Once have I sworn in my holiness that I will not lie to David. God doesn't lie. He can't lie. He didn't have to swear, but he does, and he does so for our comfort. His seed shall endure forever, and His throne as the sun before me." In fact, Christ's throne will never fail, even if the sun and the moon fail. He's showing us that as we understand things that have no change, that go on enduring day after day faithfully like the sun and the moon, much more so Christ's throne will endure before God. It shall be established forever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

But thou hast cast off. Now, from verse 38 to the end of this chapter, it seems like there's this huge contradiction to everything that went before. He says, but thou hast cast off and abhorred. Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant. But God said he wasn't going to do that. Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. He said his throne would endure forever. Thou hast broken down all his hedges. Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin. All that pass by the way spoil him. He is a reproach to his neighbors. Thou has set up the right hand of his adversaries. Thou has made all his enemies to rejoice. Thou has turned the edge of his sword and has not made him to stand in the battle. Thou has made his glory to cease and has cast his throne down to the ground. The days of his youth has thou shortened. Thou has covered him with shame, Selah.

Now, I want to just point this out at this point in the reading here, that these verses have always stumped me. I've always wondered what they had to do with. I knew they had to do something with the Lord Jesus Christ and his sufferings, but I wasn't quite sure. But I think I understand a little bit better now that from verse 38 through verse 45, if we understand in this Psalm that this is the church looking upon the sufferings of Christ and crying out to God considering all that God has promised concerning him and wondering why is it that it seems the very opposite is taking place. And so you can hear the cry of the church.

And in what follows here, I point that out because in the next verses from 46 to the end, we're going to see the Lord Jesus himself in prophecy and in his prayers in the days of his flesh now joining the church and praying. He says, How long, Lord? Will thou hide thyself forever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is. Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses which thou swearest unto David in thy truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants, how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people. That would be the Lord Jesus bearing the sins of his people. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed, that's Christ. He's speaking of himself. And verse 52 concludes the entire psalm with triumph. He says, blessed be the Lord forevermore, amen and amen.

So in this psalm here now, we're going to see, I want to give you just an outline of what I think we can use to guide us in understanding this psalm. And so in the first case, there's really three voices, if you will, that I see speaking in this psalm.

The first one is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says this in the first two verses. Notice he says, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations, for I have said mercy shall be built up forever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. This is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking of His God and Father. The Lord Jesus as our prophet, priest, and king, the one appointed, but specifically as our king, the one who stands for His Church, the head of the Church, speaking now in these two verses of the faithfulness, the mercies and the faithfulness of His God and our God, of His Father and our Father.

And then in the next verses from verse three, and all the way to verse, I would say all the way to verse 37. It is, I understand, the Lord speaking, the Lord Jehovah speaking here. And in this context, it's God the Father as the Lord Jehovah speaking. When we say Jehovah in scriptures, it's the triune God. But at times, it's the Lord Jesus and the Son of God. And at other times, it's the Holy Spirit, and at other times, it's God the Father. And in this context, it's God the Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, who made this covenant with his son.

So he says this in verse three, I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to David, my servant. Now, if you go through this and you look at what follows this, he says this promise, thy seed will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all generations, Selah. Understand that in this verse he's saying David had a son. It was David's seed. And he's speaking to David of his son. called his seed because he was born as the offspring of David, the son of David. And he says in verse four, thy seed will I establish forever, that would be Christ, the son of David, and build up thy throne to all generations. Yes, the throne of David, but not David in his own person, but David in the Lord Jesus Christ, his son.

So that Sometimes in scripture, like Levi was in the loins of his father Abraham when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. Remember that? And so, when David is speaking of Christ in prophecy, he speaks of Christ as his son, and scripture speaks of Christ as David, so that David, the promises made to David are fulfilled in his son, who is his Lord. And this is something that I think it can be confusing, but since we see the pattern in scripture repeatedly, we get used to it, and we're comfortable with it after a while.

And so one of the things I want to do tonight is I want to help establish how that this psalm is speaking of Christ primarily, even though David's name is used. Okay, so from verse four, verse three and four, and what follows all the way through verse 37, is speaking of the Lord. He says, the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. So here, he says, he's speaking about the Lord Jehovah. Who in the heaven can be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord? He's speaking of God, isn't he? He's speaking of the Lord God, Jehovah. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, the armies of heaven and the armies of the saints, who is a strong Lord like unto thee or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

So God is seen here as the Almighty, as faithful, it's His mercies, His faithfulness, and yet what we see is He has chosen, He has exalted, and He has established the throne of Christ. Because even though God is the King of saints, His kingship is realized only in His Son as Christ. Yes, He is the King, but He rules through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't see God the Father, but we do see His Son, don't we? Even in Scripture, we can't see God the Father independently of His Son, even as it is here. We're seeing the two as if we can only perceive the Father through the Son in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's something I think is important to see here.

But what he's doing in these verses that follow is he's extolling the greatness of God. And what we're learning through this psalm, because this psalm has to do with Christ and God's covenant with Christ for his people, and therefore it is a covenant with Christ and his people, because they're his seed, they're in him. Therefore, we can see that only in the covenant, only in Christ is God known and does God rule over his people. And this is the way God rules over his people by Christ in this covenant, in his mercy and faithfulness, in his justice and judgment, in his truth and in his mercy that is spoken of in this psalm. If you see that, I think you'll be able to appreciate the depth of this psalm a little bit more. I realize that we really can't understand the depths of it, but we can see something of the depths of it here in the fact that God is in Christ.

Remember that phrase. It's used throughout scripture, but we were just reading it this Sunday, last Sunday in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. What Christ did, he did by the will of his Father. He did the work of his Father. He was one with his Father. He did his Father's work. God was in Christ. The fullness of the Godhead is in the Lord Jesus Christ, the man. And he's the one with whom God has made the covenant, the one who carries out his father's will by his father's strength, revealing his father's mercies and his faithfulness. In fact, the triune God, the mercies and faithfulness of the triune God in the covenant God made with his son. Okay? So this psalm has a lot to do with the anointed one, who is Christ. Christ just means the anointed of the father. And it has to do with the covenant God made with him. And in that covenant, which was an eternal covenant, because he says forevermore and everlasting. In this psalm, he speaks about it as an everlasting covenant. In that covenant, God is going to give his people his mercies in faithfulness, and he'll do it in Christ.

Okay. He's a mighty God. He's a faithful God. He's a merciful God. He's a God of truth and justice and judgment. And he's all these things to his people for their salvation. He will not change. Okay. So that goes on until verse 38. And as I said earlier, from verse 38 through verse 45, what I see here is, imagine what it was like when the church on earth, in the days of the Lord Jesus, in his humility, in his humiliation, in his sufferings, in his death, in his prayers, in his tears, in his reproaches, in his beatings, in all that he suffered for his people.

Imagine them as the sheep, fleeing, being scattered, because God the Father had plunged the sword of His justice into the shepherd. Remember Zechariah chapter 13, verse 7, he says, smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. If you remember that, and we're going to read some New Testament verses to show you that, from verse 38, Until verse 45, you see then the cry of the church, as it were, in comparison to what all the blessings that God had promised, seeing Christ suffering this reproach, wondering, what is happening?

To all appearances, it seems like the opposite of God's promises are being done. But here's the comfort that comes here, remember? Verse one and two. What does he say? I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With thy mouth will I make known thy faithfulness.

So what we're seeing then up to this point in the overview is that God's faithfulness is seen in this psalm because in this covenant that he made with Christ, with his son as Christ, that he would fulfill for him to exalt him as king over his people in order to save them and to bring them to himself and to give them all the blessings in this covenant. In order for him to do that, he himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, had to come under the reproach of the sufferings of their sins in his own person.

And it would look like he was abandoned. It would look like he certainly was abandoned by his disciples and everybody else. And he was by himself when he purged our sins. But he was also, he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So it seems exactly the opposite of what God is saying here.

So you can see that the prayers of God's people, when they look at just the Outworking of the cross, you can see that they would be amazed. Christ was amazed. He said, my soul is very heavy and sorrowful. I'm amazed at this in the garden. Remember, he told his disciples. How much more than they, they were amazed. Peter, James, John, they were all amazed. They were terrified. And so that's what this part of the psalm is talking about here.

But what this teaches us then, is that God's covenant with Christ, because it will never fail, and because even the sufferings of Christ were part of that covenant. In fact, that's the way in which this covenant was fulfilled. that therefore everything in time and in history is the outworking of God's covenant with Christ for his people. And that's where this faithfulness that begins this psalm resonates and goes across the entire psalm.

Okay, and then the last verses from 46 through 52, I believe, are the Lord Jesus, in the days of his flesh, speaking to his Father as a man, in prayer, in total dependence upon him, pleading with him in interceding for not only his own deliverance, but his deliverance with his people, because if he's left in the grave, then his people will perish. And so God has to deliver him, and so he's pleading here for himself, but not by himself, not as if just for himself, but for his people with him, just like we saw in the previous psalm, Psalm 88. Okay, does that make sense? And then in the last verse of this psalm, he says, blessed be the Lord forevermore, amen and amen.

Now this is something that always seems to come at the finale or at the end of some of these psalms that speak of the sufferings of Christ. And I want to take you to Psalm 22, so you can see this in that psalm, which I'm sure you recognize as being a psalm of Christ in his sufferings. He says in verse one, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And you can read the rest of those verses through verse 15, which ends with my strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws, thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Dogs have compassed me about. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare at me. And they part my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture."

You see? You see what he's saying here? But notice how he goes on in this psalm. He says, in verse 22, notice how there's a change in Psalm 22, in verse 22. It's a change that goes from him being overwhelmed by God's affliction that came upon him, from that he's going to victory, and he's declaring that victory. He says in verse 22, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation of the church will I praise thee. You that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard."

You see? So this is the way, this is the pattern of the Psalms. And in this psalm it's no different because in the last verse he says, blessed be the Lord forevermore. What he's saying is he's wrapping up the entire psalm in a conclusion that shows this is God's wisdom. This is the way he not only in his wisdom, mercy, and faithfulness made this covenant by choosing one who was mighty out of the people and anointing him and exalting him as king over this people, but he would make him so through his sufferings, because it was by his sufferings that he would overthrow their sins, and death, and Satan, and his kingdom, and everything that opposed them. And God would justify them, and he would bring them to the Lord through those sufferings. And therefore, at the end of the Psalm, he's extolling, again, God's faithfulness, God's mercies, God's wisdom, that he would appoint one so mighty, so faithful, that he would be able to save his people from their sins by what he did here in this psalm.

Okay, I hope that helps. Now the first thing I want to do here is I want to look at how scripture validates that this psalm is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Luke. I could spend a long time doing this, but I'm only going to do a few verses. Go to Luke chapter 1. In Luke chapter 1, we're getting close to that time of the year when everybody wants to talk about the birth of the Lord Jesus. He says here in Luke chapter 1 and verse 30, the angel said to Mary, fear not Mary, For thou hast found favor with God, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest." That's the Son of God. And the Lord God shall give unto him," notice, the throne of his father, David. So the Lord here is identifying, clearly identifying Jesus as the son of David, but not just as one of the sons of David, but as the son of David. of whom scripture throughout was prophesying that God would give David's throne, and he goes on, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.

Now David was a king on earth and he ruled over the people of God who were called Israel, a political nation made up of people who physically descended as the posterity of Abraham. So the people who were in Israel were Jews, and their father was Abraham by physical generation. And they were in this nation called Israel. David ruled over that nation.

But the Lord Jesus rules over a spiritual nation who are the spiritual seed of Abraham. out of the Jews and out of the Gentiles. It says in Galatians 3, verse 29, if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise.

So the promises that God made to Abraham were not to his physical seed, not the heavenly promises, not the spiritual promises, That which is born of the flesh is flesh. There were fleshly promises made to Abraham. They've been fulfilled. If you look at the second to the last chapter in the book of Joshua, for example, the Lord says over and over again, everything that God said He would do, He has done. He's fulfilled it. It's done for you, nation of Israel. And that's when Joshua had delivered up Canaan to them.

And, but if you remember, well, I can't get into that right now, but here, notice, this son of David is not the son over a political nation called Israel or a physical, a descendant of people physically descended from Israel. Abraham, but of a people who are called the seed of Abraham after the promise, like Isaac, like Jacob, but not like Ishmael, and not like Esau. They were not, Ishmael and Esau, were not children of promise.

And in Galatians chapter four, in verse 31, let me read that to you. He says this about the believer. This is a believer. He says, now brethren, we, as Isaac, are the children of promise. That's Galatians 4, verse 28. We, we believers, he's talking to the Galatians, Gentiles who believed on Christ, we as Isaac are children of promise. And he had just said that verse that I quoted a minute ago, if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

So in Galatians 6, notice what he says. He says in verse 16, as many as walk according to this rule, notice, walk by faith according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." This is not that physical political nation. This is the spiritual Israel of God. This is the true Jew.

We are, he says in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 3, I'll read that to you also. I know that you probably know these things, but I want to make sure that you're convinced of this because it's so essential. Philippians 3, we are the circumcision, writing to again Gentiles. We are the circumcisions which worship God in the spirit. The Jews call themselves the circumcision. They call the Gentiles the uncircumcision. We are the circumcision, the true circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And he goes on to say, I used to be, I was a Hebrew. I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Pharisee. And guess what? Everything, in fact, according to the law, I was blameless. But everything that I considered gain for me, under that, as a Hebrew, as a Benjamite, as a Pharisee, as one who could keep the law, I consider all of that dung, because I don't want anything that is my own righteousness, but only to be found in Christ.

So the point here is that Psalm 89 was talking about not David, although it mentions David in the psalm, but the subject is David's son, who is Christ, whose throne God would establish forever, and who was also the son of the highest.

The one in Psalm 89, if you remember, he says in verse 26, he says, he shall cry unto me, thou art my father. My God, the rock of my salvation, and I will make him, he says, my firstborn. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. He's the firstborn of many brethren. He's the firstborn of all creation. He's the firstborn. He's the firstborn. That means he has the preeminence. It doesn't mean he was born as a son of God. It just means that from eternity, God established him as the first before all of creation. And before all those he would raise from the dead, Christ was raised, and he's the head of the church.

Okay, so you can see now, just from Luke chapter one, verse 30 through 32, the prophecy of David's son was fulfilled in Jesus, Jesus born to Mary, okay? So, and we can go on and on on this one. And this was something that the Jews had to be taught in the book of Acts. And I'll just mention the chapters.

In Acts chapter two, in Peter's sermon, God has made him both Lord and Christ. David did not speak of himself, he spoke of Christ. David's bones are still with us, they're in the grave. He's speaking of Christ. God has exalted his son. He raised him from the dead and exalted him to the right hand of God. That was the sermon. You crucified the Lord of glory. You didn't know the prince of life. And so that was Acts chapter 2.

In Acts chapter 3, after the healing of the lame man, Peter and John said, don't look on us. God has exalted his son. He's the one that God was talking about. And in Acts chapter 5, God has exalted Christ to be a prince and a savior to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. And in Acts chapter 13, Paul gives a sermon and he talks about Christ. In Acts chapter 15, in Romans chapter one, he's the son of David, after the flesh, but he's the son of God, declared to be the son of God by the resurrection from the dead. And so you can follow this through all of the New Testament. David is mentioned, and Christ is meant. He's the one spoken of.

In the book of Ezekiel, if I can put my finger on it, in Ezekiel chapter, Let's see. I think it is in verse 24, sorry, Ezekiel chapter 34 and verse 23. Let me read this to you. This is a prophecy in Ezekiel's time. Ezekiel was way after the life of David, way after David's lifetime. He says in verse 23, I will set up one shepherd over them. He shall feed them, even my servant David. Wait a minute, David was dead. And when Peter preached in Acts 2, David was still dead. This is in Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34, verse 23, I will set up one shepherd over them, he shall feed them, even my servant David, he shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David, a prince among them, I, the Lord, have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace. and will cause the evil beast to cease out of the land and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and shall sleep in the woods." He's talking about people called sheep and enemies, spoken of here as beasts, not being able to come against the sheep because of the shepherd. Read John chapter 10. But in the end of this chapter, Ezekiel 34 verse 30, thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God, and you, my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.

Okay, Jesus said in John chapter 10, I'm the good shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep. The sheep hear my voice. They hear me. They follow me. I know them. The Father has commanded me to lay my life down for them, and I must bring them. So this is the prophecy of Ezekiel fulfilled in John 10.

So you can see, though, but from Ezekiel 34, and verse 23 and 24 and 25 and so on. What you see is that God speaks of Christ under the name of David because we are to understand that David's son would bear David's name and he would fulfill the prophecies God made to David, which he made to David not because they would be fulfilled in David's own person, but because they would be fulfilled in David's son.

I hope that doesn't cause us to be troubled. But remember in Matthew, I think it's 21, where the people cried to the Lord Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. Remember what they said? Hosanna to the Son of David. That's the way they knew him. And that's a way of speaking of him as Hosanna to Christ. because they understood, through the Spirit of God, they were speaking that when the Old Testament spoke of David, it was speaking prophetically of Christ, who would fulfill the prophecy as David's son.

Look at Psalm 110. This might help a little bit. It should help a lot, but I know that we have trouble with these kinds of things, because we want it to just be plain. He's talking about Jesus somewhere in Scripture. Well, that's what he's saying through these things.

Look at Psalm 110. He says, the Lord said to my Lord, this is David, we know this is David's psalm because Jesus said in Matthew 22 that this was David speaking. The Lord, Jehovah, said to my Lord, Adonai, sit thou in my right hand. Now, I have two sons and four daughters, and I call my kids a lot of things, but I never call my son my Lord. You know why? Because they're not my Lord. But David called his son, my Lord.

The Lord, Jehovah, said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand. In other words, sit on my throne. Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. God is going to subject everything to Christ. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. That's the gospel. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. The gospel, will conquer, it will overthrow the kingdom of Satan by taking Christ's people out of Satan's rule.

And in Colossians 1.13 it says, God the Father has translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. the Son of His love. So again, this is all talking about Christ ruling. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. They love to have Christ ruling over them because He's so good to us. He saves us. He's our Savior.

In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. This is amazing. It's all spoken here of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know this is speaking of Christ. This psalm is quoted many times in the New Testament. Jesus himself used it to prove that he was David's Lord and David's son. All right, so that should help us immensely. That demonstrates for us, and also in the psalm itself, Psalm 89, the one spoken of is the Son of God, in verse 26, and He's the firstborn. And so it's proved that this is talking about Christ, the Son of God, in this psalm.

All right. So the other thing I wanted to point out in this psalm, we don't have much time, there's many things I'd like to point out in this psalm. One of the things I'd like to point out in this psalm is that it opens up here, look at verse one. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. Now I hadn't considered this, or at least I had before somewhat, but never as much as when I was looking at this in this psalm, singing. Do you see here the one singing? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the church. He's singing in this psalm. This is a song, isn't it? Did you realize that the psalms are songs Christ sings in leading the church? He's, you could say, the song leader, but I don't care for that term, but he's the one leading his people by teaching them His Father's will, His own relation to His Father, His relation to His people, the covenant God made with Him, and through that, the mercies of God, the faithfulness of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, that He would appoint someone so good and so able, capable as His own Son here to be our Savior. He's singing.

And you know when you sing, You're really happy, aren't you? I think I am. Sometimes people sing in sorrow. That's called the blues. But I like to sing when I'm happy.

Look at Zephaniah. This verse has always amazed me. And I'm going to let it amaze me one more time. And Zephaniah is before Haggai, however you say that name. Zephaniah, it also follows Habakkuk. In chapter three, and this is a verse you probably know well, but look at this in chapter three, it says, in that day, verse 16, in that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not. And to Zion, let not thy hands be slack.

You're drooping, you're discouraged, you're afraid, don't. Don't do it. Notice, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee, who would that be? Christ said that he would never leave us nor forsake us. Christ is in his church. He's in his people. He dwells in us and he is with us as a congregation. He's with his people. Where two or three are gathered, he's there. He's with his people. In them, with them, especially when they're gathered.

He says, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. I love the way it says that. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He doubles down, doesn't he? He will rest in his love. Nothing is going to upset him. He's completely confident in his love. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

He will joy over thee with singing. And I cannot imagine what it's like to hear the God of glory in the Lord Jesus Christ singing. But I long to hear it, don't you? I long to hear that.

Look at Hebrews chapter, we read this a minute ago in Psalm 22, but look at Hebrews chapter two. And I'm hoping to get through this by 7.30, but let's go there quickly. Hebrews chapter two, just want to direct you to this. He says in Hebrews chapter two, speaking of the Lord Jesus, he says, verse 11, for both he that sanctifieth, that's Christ, and they who are sanctified, that's his people, the church, are all of one, of one nature. They're of one captain, one savior, one Christ, one body. For the witch cause, he is not ashamed to call them brethren. They're his. They belong to him. They're his brethren. But notice more, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. There it is again. The Lord Jesus singing. I would like to hear him sing. And notice he says, and again, I will put my trust in him. This is Christ saying, I'm gonna put my trust in my Father, my God and Father. And again, behold, notice, I and the what? Children which God hath given me. These are Christ's seed. These are his seed.

What did it say in Psalm 89? Thy seed will I make to endure forever. Forever. This is what it means to be in Christ. We're his children. We were in Adam before we were born. When Adam sinned, we were in Adam. We were in him as physical posterity. And when we were born, flesh begets flesh. We were just flesh. But being in Christ, When we're born of Christ, we're born of the Spirit. We're in Christ, His redeemed ones, the adopted children of God.

But now look at Matthew chapter 26 before we finish this. Matthew 26, about the singing here. He says in Matthew 26, In verse 26, this is the last supper, this is the Lord's table. As they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and gave it to the disciples. He said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it. This is my blood of the New Testament.

What were we talking about in Psalm 89? A covenant. A covenant. A testament. Who's the testator? Who's the one who made it? The Lord Jesus Christ is the testator. How would it be put into force? Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15. He had to die. He had to die. The testator had to die or it wouldn't be put into force. Until the man who makes the last will and testament dies, his last will and testament doesn't do anything. But when he dies, then it goes into force. Christ died. But he didn't stay dead. He rose in order to administer the giving out of what he said in his covenant.

So he says, this is my blood. of the New Testament. I'm the testator, I'm dying, giving my soul, giving my life, in sacrifice as an offering for your sins, in sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor, and this makes the covenant, which is shed for many, not everybody without distinction, but for all in Christ, all of his children, for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, when? Until That day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.

And when they had, what, sung a hymn, or an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. They're singing. But what else is there? There's a promise. A promise that not only did they take of this cup then, but they would take of it after. He says after, when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. When would that be? It would be after he rose from the dead, after he rose and ascended and was exalted to administer the covenant promises to give to his people, which were fulfilled when he died. The way was made for all of those promises to be given, the promised blessings to be given to his people.

What were those blessings? The riches that are Christ's, everything that's his, and what are his. the riches of His grace, the riches of His mercy, the riches of His righteousness and of His life and of His glory, the riches of His Spirit given to us to join us in our spirit with Him, to know Him, the blessings of heaven, given to Christ were given to us because of His shed blood, because they were made to us in His covenant. And what happens here is that when Christ rose from the dead, people believe on Him because of the power of His Spirit. And that faith in Christ is what? It's eating and drinking of Christ. So that the blood that was shed and the body that was broken by faith, we take of Him who was crucified for us as our life. And we're eating it new because it's fulfilled. And we're eating Him and He is eating with us.

How? How is He drinking and eating with us now? Because just as He told the woman at the well, Give me to drink. And she said, I don't know what you're talking about. I can't give you to drink. Why are you talking to me, a woman of Samaria? He said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that speaks to you and says, give me to drink, you would have asked him. He would have given you living water.

And so the Lord Jesus, in giving Himself for us and giving Himself to us, is eating and drinking because that's all He does. He gives and gives and gives of Himself to God for us, to have us with Himself and to perfect us and conform us to the image of His dear Son. That's what the covenant is about. to bring many sons to glory. And so when a sinner believes Christ, not only does that sinner drink and eat of Christ, his body and his blood, but Christ himself drinks in satisfaction and in fulfillment, just as God is worshiped by us, and in our worship, God is glorified. So the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified and satisfied when we believe on him, the one who rose, who gave his life for us.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ that he's given himself in covenant for us that we now can partake of him and the fulfillment of it. He sings. And we want to hear Him. We want to hear Him in the Gospel, that song of His redeeming love, that song of His redeeming blood, and His Spirit sent to us to know these things in our heart, to live upon Him by faith, and sow, eat, and drink of Him, and join Him in this hymn, this hymn of His accomplishments, and His glory, and all of His mercies and faithfulness by this eternal covenant made in His blood. In His name we pray, amen.