Tonight we're going to begin
a new series in the book of Psalms. I don't know if I'll go through
all of the Psalms. I don't have a particular Psalm
tonight that I want to look at. I will refer to many in an overview. I want to give an introduction
to the entire book of Psalms tonight. I recommend the following
resource to you. Robert Hawker has a commentary
called Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary on the Old Testament and the
New Testament. And so in the Old Testament commentary that
he wrote, he has a commentary on the Psalms. I can highly recommend
it to you. If you have it, I encourage you
to read his commentary. As we're going through this,
if nothing else comes out of this study but that, that would
be a benefit to you. Because Robert Hawker, of all
the people I've read commenting on the Psalms, his is the sweetest. So I really can recommend Robert
Hawker to you. Robert Hawker, in opening up
the introduction to the Psalms, said, in his opinion, the Psalms
are the epitome of the whole Gospel. I think that's a good
way of describing it, the epitome, the highest, most exalted view
of the Gospel. And hopefully we'll see that
somewhat tonight as we consider what the Psalms are. In the Psalms,
what we find is a number of things. One of the things you'll see
in the Psalms that I think this is most endearing is that the
psalmist writes, he obviously is speaking in the first person
here in most of the Psalms, his prayers. For example, in Psalm
chapter four, hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness, hear
me when I call, When I call, oh God of my righteousness, it's
a very personal expression of his need for God and his prayer
to God. So whenever you meet somebody
and they, in their character, in their attitude, in their words,
in what they do, they endear themselves to you. If you think
about why you have that relationship, it usually is because that person
identifies with you in your own life. in your experiences, in
the things that you find essential and dear and near to you, things
that you find beautiful, things that you admire, are true of
that person that you meet, so that you admire them and you
want to learn from them, you want to know them. Well, this
is what the psalmist does. The psalmist writes in such a
way that it's as if we're reading from a favorite author, someone
who is very humble and identifies with us in our own experience. And to me, that's a very endearing
quality. And especially when we understand
who is speaking here. It's the Holy Spirit speaking
about this person in the Psalms. Now, most of the Psalms were
written by David, King David. But in order for us to understand
why God gave these, if you were to think about this from a purely
worldly perspective, you would think, well, you know, the Old
Testament people had these hymns that they would sing, and so
they recorded those hymns here in the Bible. It's far, far more
than that. It's more than just a bunch of
songs or a hymn book, as we think of a hymn book. This is a very,
very special collection of things written here under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God by the one who's writing. And in history,
the one who was writing was David, the king. Now, what is the subject
of the Psalms? Well, the subject, of course,
is that the Psalms were written to record for us the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. I say that in
summary with confidence because in 1 Peter, I'll read this to
you, in 1 Peter 1 and verse 10 it says this about how the Spirit
of God spoke in old times. He says, Of which salvation the
prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of
the grace that should come to you, searching what, or what
manner of time, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did
signify, when it testified beforehand, or he testified beforehand, the
sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. So
this is the guide to all of scripture. And we know that this is true
of the Psalms as well as the Law and the Prophets. And I want
to take you to a few places in scripture that bring this out.
Because we know that the Psalms are speaking of the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. Basically, we
could say it this way, the Psalms were written of Christ. And you
can find this as a direct statement from the Lord Jesus himself in
Luke chapter 24 and verse 44. When Jesus was walking in Luke
24 and verse 44, Jesus is walking with those two disciples on the
road to Emmaus after his resurrection. They didn't know him. But he's
writing, he's speaking to them and he says this in verse 44
of Luke 24. He said to them, these are the
words which I spake to you while I was yet with you. Not just
the two, but also his disciples. that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. And then he opened their
understanding that they might understand the scriptures. And
he said to them, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to
suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations beginning at Jerusalem." Here we have the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. Spoken of in somewhat
more detail there, Christ on his throne sends his apostles
and prophets and preachers into the world throughout time to
call sinners to repentance, to learn of the remission of sins
accomplished by his own shed blood. So that's what the Lord
Jesus himself spoke of, the Psalms. And you can also see that throughout
the scriptures, the Psalms are used in reference to Christ,
they're explained in reference to Christ. For example, I'll
take you to some obvious ones. In Matthew, chapter 22, the Lord
Jesus is talking again in verse 41. It says, while the Pharisees
were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They said to
him, the son of David. So the Pharisees are answering
a general question. Whose son would Christ be? They
said, the son of David. And then Jesus probes further,
showing them that they really didn't understand what was meant
by the scriptures when it described Christ. So he says in verse 43,
this is Matthew 22, verse 43. He said to them, how then, If he is son of David, how then
does David in spirit call him Lord, saying, and he quotes from
Psalm 110, verse 1, the Lord, Jehovah, said unto my Lord, Adonai,
sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. And here's the question Jesus
posed to the Pharisees, if David then call him Lord, how is he
his son? Now, it's true that he was David's
son, but he was also David's lord, and that's what they didn't
understand. And of course, they couldn't respond, they couldn't
answer that question. First, they didn't understand
it. Secondly, to give that answer would be to admit that the one
speaking to them was not only David's son, but their lord and
David's lord, because if he was David's lord, surely he was their
lord, because David was far greater than they were. So these verses
of scripture in the New Testament are just a sample of a few showing
that the Psalms were written of Christ, of his sufferings,
of his glory that would follow his sufferings. Let me take you
to a couple more in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 2, you
can turn there if you want to, Acts chapter 2 and verse 25,
it said, and Peter is talking in his sermon, he said, David
speaketh concerning him So David now, means King David, and when
he said he speaketh, he means from the Psalms. David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore
did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also
my flesh shall rest in hope. because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption." Now this is a direct quote from Psalm 16 verses 8
through 11. A direct quote. And in that psalm,
it was a psalm of David And David is writing and he uses these
words, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, thou wilt not suffer
thine holy one to see corruption. In verse 28 of Acts 2 he says,
thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt make
me full of joy with thy countenance. God would favor him. Verse 29,
Peter explains, by the Spirit of God, he explains the meaning.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch
David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is
with us unto this day, proving that what he said in Psalm 16
certainly did not refer to him directly. because he was dead
and buried, and he did see corruption. Verse 30, Therefore, Peter explains,
being a prophet, David was a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne,
He, David, seeing this before, he saw this by God's word to
him before that Christ would be raised up and sit on the throne
of David. He, seeing this before, spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. being by the right
hand of God exalted. His kingdom is not on this earth,
it's in heaven, and the throne of David goes far beyond the
throne in Israel, it goes right up into the right hand of God.
Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth
this which you now see and hear. The fact, the proof that Christ
was sitting on the throne of heaven According to Peter, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was that the Spirit of God was
poured out by Christ to enable Peter and the apostles to preach
the gospel in such a way that men of different languages could
hear in their own mother tongue. That was proof because it fulfilled
the Psalms that Christ was exalted and therefore he said, he, Christ,
has shed forth this which you now hear and see. Verse 34 of
Acts 2, for David is not ascended into heaven, but he saith himself
the Lord, to ascend means to not only rise from the dead,
but to be exalted to the place of glory and power. David is
not ascended into the heavens, but he said himself the Lord,
said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand." So David is referring
in Psalm 110 verse 1 of Jehovah saying to David's Lord Christ,
you sit on my right hand, until I make thy foes a footstool.
Therefore, here's the conclusion of Peter's sermon, let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus
whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Christ, the
Son of David, Christ, the Son of God, Heaven's Lord, the Glory
of God, the Lord of Glory, the Prince of Life, the One who rules
over all things because He accomplished our salvation. So there's many
things to say about this with reference to the Psalms. First
of all, David was a prophet. It's very important. David was
a prophet. When he wrote in the Psalms,
he wrote as a prophet. That means God spoke through
him. He spoke of something greater
than himself. He spoke by the Spirit of Christ,
as we read in 1 Peter 1, verses 10-11, of the sufferings of Christ
and the glory that should follow. Look at 2 Samuel. In 2 Samuel
chapter 23, David himself says this. In 2 Samuel chapter 23,
I'm gonna read from verse one. He says, 2 Samuel 23, one, now
these be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, said,
and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel said, verse 2, the
spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock
of Israel spake to me. And he goes on in relating to
us the words of God. He said, he that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. Who rules over men? Well, we think of presidents
and governors and mayors and things like that. David is speaking
of someone much higher than himself. It's true, whoever rules over
men must be just, but there is no one in the government that
I know who's just. There probably are some people
who are not totally corrupt, but it's a rare thing to find
a person of integrity in the place of power, because according
to the Proverbs, a gift perverts the judgment of the man who rules
or the woman who rules. So David's claim that he that
ruleth over men must be just is referring to someone greater
than himself, because he goes on in verse four, and he shall
be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning
without clouds, as a tender grass springing out of the earth by
clear shining after rain. He's referring to the fact that
when God sends a storm, like when he sent the flood on the
earth in Noah's day, and then God sent what after the storm?
The rainbow. The clearing of the clouds after
the flood of Noah's day revealed the rainbow, which was a sign
of God's covenant that He had made peace in the blood of His
Son and He would bless His people. He would never again destroy
the earth with a flood. And this is explained in Isaiah
54, how God said, He promised there that the mountains shall
depart, The hills shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace fail." That
the Lord would never take away the covenant of his peace. So
here in verse 4 of 2 Samuel 23, David describes as a prophet
the passing of the cloud of God's judgment and the springing up
of this tender grass out of the earth as clear shining after
the rain, and then he goes on to reveal who he's talking about
here, verse five. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered
in all things. And sure, for this is all my
salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
In his own case, it wasn't that his household was going to be
that household that God would bless in all of his children
on earth, but it would be the heavenly David whose household
God would bless. And so David was a prophet, that's
the first thing. Second thing here, we see that
David not only was a prophet, but God made a covenant with
him, and that covenant had to do with Christ, his son, sitting
on the throne, and not just the throne on earth, but the throne
in heaven, and ruling over all things, and for the forgiveness
of the sins of his people. So remember this, who is Christ? David's son. Who is David? A prophet, a shepherd, and a
king. Who is Christ? He's God's son,
but after the flesh, he was David's son. Therefore, as in David's
life, in David's experiences, in his office as a king and as
a shepherd, And in his words, all these things point to the
message that God has for us that he gave to David for his people.
And what is that message? It's Christ and him crucified,
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
So when we read the Psalms, read these words of the Psalms as
an expression of David as a prophet concerning Christ. concerning
Christ and Him crucified, concerning His glory. So look, for example,
look at several Psalms. You're probably so familiar with
them that it may feel elementary to point them out to you, but
it's not elementary. Look at Psalm chapter 22. Psalm chapter
22 is clearly and undeniably the entire psalm. All of it are
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross speaking to his
God as he as a man speaking to his God and as the son of God
has to his father as his father concerning all of the trouble
that came upon him by the will of God, because of our sins. This is incredible. Psalm 22
is a prayer of Christ on the cross. Listen, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? These are the words of David,
but not of himself, of Christ, and of Christ in his sufferings. And you can read through this,
and it's very precious to read through this. For example, let
me just give you one of these verses here. Maybe you haven't
considered it as much, but look at verse 20. This is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Undeniably, these are His words
and spoken here in Psalm 22 in prophecy actually fulfilled when
He was on the cross. Listen to His prayer because
it is a prayer. Verse 20, Deliver my soul from
the sword. my darling from the power of
the dog." He refers to himself as my darling from the power
of the dog. Why is he doing it this way?
Well, because the Lord Jesus as the Son of God and as Christ
as the man who is the son of David, is expressing here in
his prayer the heart of his father when he speaks of himself as
my darling. He's taking his father's perspective
of himself and praying from the will of his father concerning
himself to be delivered. There's no way to describe this
than to say that these are the words that conform precisely to the truth
and the will of God concerning His Son, none of us would ever
enter into our hearts, nor could we find these words to pray.
But God gave them to us in Scripture to teach us His will and His
work concerning His Son and why He was there doing this for us.
Now if you think about this, this is immeasurably comforting
because it reminds me of what it says in Romans chapter 8.
Look at Romans chapter 8. Remember, the Psalms are the
words spoken by the prophet David, for the most part, others too,
but mostly by him, of his Son after the flesh, of God's Son,
the Son of God, as the Christ of God, fulfilling that will
of God for his people. And as David, he was a shepherd. As David, he was a king. As David,
the Lord Jesus even, was a prophet, revealing God himself to them.
We're looking at Romans chapter eight. And doing all of this
concerning his own sufferings and death and his exalted, resurrected,
exalted, and glorious place as our king. In Romans chapter eight,
look at verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helps
or helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray
for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the one who searches
the hearts, he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the
mind, of the Spirit because He, Christ, makes intercession for
the saints according to the will of God. Look at verse 34 also. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. What is this saying? Well, we
know in our experience, most of the time, you don't know what
to pray. Do you? And when you think you
know what to pray, you pray it with such low intensity that
you could hardly dignify it as a prayer. But here in the Psalms,
the very pure truth of God is spoken by a man who knows the
will of God By the Spirit of God, He's revealing to us God's
will, and God's work, and God's glory in the prayers of the Lord
Jesus Christ here in the Psalms. And His prayers are prayers of
intercession, meaning that in His own experience in His lifetime,
He prayed them out of His own experience. Obviously, Psalm
22 was spoken by Christ from the cross. but he did not just
pray for himself, but he prayed for his people. And we wonder,
how is that? Was he thinking of them and not
of himself? No, he was thinking about his
own sufferings. He was clearly thinking about
that, because he prays, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? But you see, why was he suffering here in the first place? Because
he took us. He took our sins, He took us,
in our own persons, into union with Himself, so that we no more
suffered these things, but He suffered them for us. But He
suffered them as us, so that when He prayed, He was praying
not just as a man for Himself, but as a man with His people.
He was praying as they. should pray. But we can't pray
that way because we don't know how to pray and we didn't experience
it firsthand. But he did. He experienced it
perfectly and he knew the will of God perfectly and he expressed
it perfectly, exactly and precisely according to the very truth of
heaven, the Spirit of God speaking by him. Now, I say this to give
us some kind of an appreciation for the fact that the intercession
Christ is making for his people at the right hand of God is contained
here in the words of the psalmist. So when you read these things,
enter into the truth that these are Christ's prayers for His
people. He not only prays for them, He
prays as them, and He prays the will of God, and He receives
an answer to everything He asks. I think it's in Psalm 21. Let
me see if I can find it real quick. Well, I probably can't
find it just off the top of my head, but I was reading this
the other day. Well, in Psalm 2, he says something
similar. He says in Psalm 2, in verse
8, the Lord says to his son, he says, ask of me. Ask of me,
what do you want? Ask me, whatever you want. He said, ask of me and I will
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possession. You've heard kings say, go ahead
and ask me and I'll give you up to the half of my kingdom.
The Lord here says to his son, I will give you all things. Whatever
you ask, I'm going to give it to you. I'll give you the heathen
for your own inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for your possession. Everything is Christ. God gave
him everything. He put him in charge of everything.
So anyway, here, going back now, understand that the words of
the Psalms are the Spirit of God speaking through the mouth
of the prophet David, who in his own office as king and shepherd
of the sheep, because you know he was a shepherd of his father's
sheep in his youth, in his lifetime. But he was also the shepherd
of Israel. God gave him his own words. The Spirit of God spoke
by him. And Jesus said in Luke 24, Acts chapter 2, and many
other places in scripture, that these were the words concerning
himself and his sufferings and his death. So much so that when
he prays, he prays out of his own experience, in his sufferings,
in God's purpose to exalt him and his glory. And he prays not
only for himself, but as one with his people, so that his
prayers are an intercession to God for them. He sits on the
right hand of God in his own person, expressing from his own
heart their need. Think of it this way. And I was
thinking about this. You know somebody in your life,
maybe yourself, maybe somebody else, and that person seems to
always have a propensity to get into trouble. and they commit
the wrong thing, they do the wrong thing. As I said, maybe
this is you, maybe this is someone else that you know and love.
And you think, how could I help this person? What can I pray? What can I say
to God to help them? You sympathize with them, you
want them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you want them to
take his word and walk in the strength and in the comfort of
the gospel, And yet you can't do it for them. And so you tell
the Lord, you said, you know, here's the situation. I can't
do anything about this. And what do you do? You're pouring
out your heart. And your prayer seems so ineffectual. Your sympathy seems so small
in comparison to what is really needed in that case. But think
about the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees his people in all of
their sin, in all of their weakness, in the impotence they have to
do anything right, to understand the truth of his law and of his
gospel, everything in his will, in his mind, in his heart. And
what does he do? He himself, God made him for
them to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
He is their wisdom. In the Psalms, you hear him saying,
give me understanding, teach me thy ways, lead me, and all
these things. And God answered that prayer.
He is their wisdom. He is their righteousness. In
the Psalms, you hear him saying, oh God of my righteousness. And
he pleads for his people, for himself, and against his enemies. And he's always saying things
that he supports by saying, you know, Lord, that I'm holy, that
I keep your law and all these things. And you read the Psalms,
you go, I want to be that way, but it's just not true of me.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ praying for his people, arguing on the
basis of his own love for God's law. and God's mercy towards
him on behalf of his people. And you see the rich intercession
of Christ in the Psalms in our own nature, according to God's
appointment for his people to save them and to bring them and
to bless them and to give them understanding and to give them
all things for his own sake. What a blessing the Psalms are
in that way. Okay, so I hope that that gives
you just a very thumbnail overview of some of the precious things
that are written in the Psalms, and we could go through this.
I've touched on most of those things, but one of the things
that I think that troubles us when we begin to think along
these lines is that it raises a lot of questions, doesn't it?
Because when you start reading the Psalms, you immediately have
a difficult time assigning whatever is said there to the Lord Jesus
Christ, because a lot of things that are said there seem to only
apply to someone who is not holy, someone who has great need, someone
who's poor, someone who cries for salvation, someone who confesses
their sin, and someone who is just a man, right? We can find this. Just pick up
the Psalms and just start reading, and you'll find this. For example,
I just looked at this a second ago in Psalm chapter four. He
says, hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness, thou hast
enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. Why would, if these are the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ, why would he, of all people, need
mercy from God? Why would he call to his father
as, oh God of my righteousness? Because this is a key thing here. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, he's the son of God, but he's also the son of man. And
when Adam was made as the first man and stood in the garden for
us and fell, we fell in him. He obviously was a man. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the second Adam. He's the last man. So when he,
as a man, speaks of his relationship to God, he speaks of that relationship
as a man to his God in a way of a man who has a perfect relationship
with God. He never presumes. He never says,
well, you need to respect me. because of who I am, he speaks
to him, he says, have mercy upon me. Why does the Lord Jesus Christ
need mercy? Why would he call God the God
of his righteousness? Well, because as a man, as he
took our sins upon himself, he came under the full weight of
those sins. He owned them. And he felt the
guilt of them. He knew the shame of them. He
knew what the effects of those sins were in his relation, that
felt relationship that he had toward God, that separation that
he felt in himself. So there was always this relationship
of standing in the need, but that need was because he took
our need on himself. And so when he prays this way,
oh God of my righteousness and have mercy upon me, we have to
understand it as the Lord, as our mediator, he's laid his hand
on us. And He knows our need. He knows
our place because He took it. He Himself bore our infirmity.
He was a man of sorrows. He took our sicknesses. He bore
our transgressions. He did all these things as our
substitute, as our surety, and our mediator, as our advocate,
as our intercessor. And so, He's taking our place
before God because that was His place. It wasn't pretend. He really did take our place.
He really did bear our sins. He really was a man. He really
trusted God as a man. And so much so that all that
came upon him that causes us to doubt, that causes us to,
like when the devil tempted him, he kept referring, no, it's written,
man shall not live by bread alone. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He himself
was a man, the son of man. came from heaven and he fulfilled
the will of God as a man, but he did so with the infinite efficacy
of God. So here we have, O God of my
righteousness, have mercy on me. As a man, he's expressing
his own utter dependence on God. So when you read in the New Testament,
For example, let me take you to one of those places. I'll
take you to a couple of places in the New Testament, and we
could look at many, but look at this place in Hebrews chapter
five. Hebrews chapter five, he says, In verse 5 of Hebrews 5, so also
Christ glorified not himself to be made high priest. He didn't
assert himself, say, hey, pick me. The Lord picked him. But
he said to him, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place,
to the Son of God, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Okay, so he's the Son of God, right? And he's a priest after
the order of Melchizedek, who had an eternal priesthood, the
Lord Jesus Christ, an eternal priesthood like Melchizedek.
But notice in verse 7, "...who in the days of his flesh when
he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears, and where are those supplications and strong cryings
recorded? Well, in the New Testament we
find them, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying,
My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, but
not my will, but thy will be done. Here he's submitting as
a man. to the will of God, that's called meekness, that's called
trust, that's called obedience of submission in all things. He trusted that if God sent it,
it was good and right and according to his will he understood the
scriptures that it was for him to suffer for his people and
so he prayed with these supplications and prayers and strong crying
unto him that was able to save him from death and he was heard
in that he feared. Isn't that incredible? Here in
Hebrews 5, 7, God reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ, as a man
in the days of His flesh, offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and with tears to Him that was able to save
Him from death, and He was heard. He prayed to be saved from death,
didn't he? That's what it says here. And
God answered his prayer and delivered him from the grave. He never
saw corruption because he was that holy one of God. Notice
in Hebrews 5, verse 8. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered. That obedience of
submission to the will of God. of what it would take to fulfill
all righteousness for His people. He learned that through His suffering.
Verse 9, And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all those that obey Him. And that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here we see the manhood of the
Son of God as Christ acting for us as our high priest, as the
one who stood for us and prayed for us when he prayed for himself
to be delivered from death. So that's one place I wanted
to take you to. to show the same thing that we
read about in the Psalms, how he obeyed as a man, how he suffered
as a man, and did so for us. And the other place I had in
mind, it slipped my mind right now, and so... But throughout the book of Hebrews,
you can see this, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow, okay? So that's one thing I wanted,
oh, get back to the mysteries here. So when we think about
the Psalms as being spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
several things come to our minds, don't they? Things that might
trouble us about making that claim. How could this be spoken
of Christ? Well, we just read in Hebrews
5 that it's absolutely certain that it was spoken of him because
of his strong crying and prayers and tears to the Lord who would
save him from death. And those prayers are recorded
first in the Psalms and then he uttered them in his life. But some of those questions that
come up to us is how is it, how could the Psalms speak of the
Son of God who is the Holy One of Israel and the mighty God
who has all power and yet speak of him as one who confesses that
the Lord is his strength, or that he cried to God to save
him, because he clearly did. Look at, we just read this in
Psalm chapter four, but look at another psalm, for example,
Psalm 69. I'm just giving you an overview
here. We'll get into the details of individual psalms next time. Look at Psalm 69 and verse one. Here the Lord Jesus Christ is
praying. There's no question, absolutely no argument can be
made to deny this, that sound with scripture. This psalm, without
question, is of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a prophecy of him.
How do I know that? Well, throughout the psalm you
can see that. For example, look at verse nine of Psalm 69. For the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are
fallen upon me." Where was that spoken? In the New Testament,
in John chapter 2. It's a direct quote from this
psalm, and it was applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
verse 21 of the same chapter, Psalm 69 verse 21. They gave
me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink. Of whom was that spoken? It had
to be the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at verse 22. Let their
table become a snare before them, and that which should have been
for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened,
that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. This
is Christ praying against the reprobate. So these are clearly
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse one. Now that
we've established that this psalm undeniably is a prophecy of David
speaking the very words of his son, who is also the son of God,
his son after the flesh, the son of God in his divine character,
of what he would do in his sufferings and the glory that should follow.
Look at verse one. He prays this way. Save me, O God, for the
waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I am calm into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. That sounds like Jonah, right?
I am weary of my crying. My throat is dried. Mine eyes
fail while I wait for my God. How could the Lord Jesus Christ
have any separation, any sense of loss of the perfect and continuous
fellowship with his Father? Well, we saw it in Psalm 22.
Here he's praying the same way. Save me, O God. And then he says
this in verse 4, which is quoted again in John chapter 15. He says, they that hate me without
a cause are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. Here's the truth of it. Christ,
He didn't break the law that says, Thou shalt not steal. He
fixed the law that we broke when we stole. When we stole God's
glory in our heart and made idols. When we stole from our neighbor.
When we lust and covet all the time. When He restored what Adam
took away in the fall. Christ restored it for his people.
He did it at his own sufferings. Oh God, listen to verse five.
Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from
thee. When we make the claim, as we've
begun to do from the New Testament and from the words of David in
the Old Testament, that the Psalms were written of Christ and Him
crucified in the glory that should follow, it troubles us because
as we read through the Psalms, we come across verses like this
and we say, how could Christ, the Son of God, ever need to
be saved? How could this One who is God
and man ever have to say, I depend on God as my strength? Wasn't
He Almighty God? And how could He ever say, Lord,
Thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not? How could He
confess sins? And how could He do it so openly? in the public confession in scripture
so that all of history could read this transparent bearing
of his heart to his God and Father. These are my sins. How can he
do all these things? Well, again, the mystery is unfolded
in the Gospel. The Psalms are the epitome of
the Gospel. Christ for me. Us in Him. All that He did, He did not as
a private person, but as the head of His people. We were in
Him when He prayed. We were in Him when God answered
Him. We were in Him when He suffered and died and was buried. When
He rose again. When He ascended on high. When
He was exalted as King. We were in our King. We were
in our suffering Redeemer. We were in Him in all these things.
So even though we might have these questions that naturally
occur to us in our minds, how could Christ require the Lord
to be his strength? Wasn't he the Lord? Or why would
he cry to God to save him? Didn't he say himself, I take
my life, I lay it down, I take my life again? And why would
he ever confess sin? He was the holy, harmless, undefiled
Son of God. Well, we understand the answer
to these things when we see in the New Testament that Christ
died for our sins, according to the Scripture. He bore our
sins. It was for our transgressions
that He was bruised and our iniquities that He was bruised. That's why
it pleased the Lord. He got satisfaction. to His justice
in making Him the propitiation for our sins. So when we see
these things, what was a mystery to us, what seemed to be a charley
horse between our ears, when we read the Psalms and we interpret
them in the light of the Gospel, it becomes a glorious revelation
of the fact that our salvation is completely accomplished by
one who stood for us, and whose prayers are recorded for us,
and whose prayers were not only for himself, but for us, and
make up, comprise his intercessions for us, according to the will
of God, to save his people from their sins, and to destroy, utterly
destroy, and humiliate, and bring to shame his enemies. And so
it just highlights the fantastic nature of the Book of Psalms
for us, is that it speaks of Christ and His sufferings, and
His death, and His resurrection, and His ascension, and exaltation,
and His glory, and His intercession for us, and all that He did,
He did for us as our High Priest. It's amazing. Look at Psalm 45
just as another foretaste of what we're going to get into
when we look at these psalms in more detail. In Psalm 45 he
speaks this way, and I'll just read this psalm through and we'll
conclude with this psalm. He says in Psalm 45, my heart
is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things which I
have made touching the king. Who's the king? It's the Lord
Jesus. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. Now, this is written. This says
in the beginning of the psalm here, if you look in your Bible,
if you have a Bible that has this, and some Bibles leave this
part out, but it's actually part of the revelation of scripture.
Psalm 45, it says, So this is a psalm that was given to the sons of
Korah, who were the singers, and they were to sing this song.
Clearly it was given to them by the one, probably David, I'm
assuming it was David who wrote this. But listen, so, my heart
is indicting a good matter. This is the Spirit of God speaking
now. I speak of the things which I
have made touching the King, Christ. My tongue is the pen
of a ready writer. And here he opens up now. He's
speaking, he draws the attention of the church, Because the Psalms
were written for the church, for us to understand the heart
and hear the words of our Redeemer and His sufferings and His death
and His glory. in the promises of God throughout. Verse two,
here's the declaration to the church, speaking of Christ, thou
art fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into
thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee forever. What grace?
Remember when he preached in Luke chapter four, verses 18
through 21? He read from the scripture, he
says, this day is this fulfilled in your ears. that he would preach
the gospel to the poor and he would deliver those who were
in prison and set at liberty, those who were bound and so on.
He's the one whose grace is poured. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Verse three, he speaks of the king. Gird thy sword upon
thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. When
Christ came into the world, he was in weakness, wasn't he? But
when he was exalted at the right hand of God, he said this to
his disciples, all power and all authority is given unto me
in heaven and earth. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh,
O most mighty, with thy glory, the glory of his accomplishments
in our salvation and in thy majesty. His majesty is revealed in his
salvation, in his exaltation. Verse four. And in thy majesty
ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness,
and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows
are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people
fall under thee. And here it's quoted, this is
quoted in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8, but here is the place it's
quoted. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter,
or the scepter of thy kingdom, is a right scepter. Thou lovest
righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore God Thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Anointing,
that's Christ. Who is God? The one who sits
on the throne. Who does the psalmist, the Spirit
of God, the psalmist address here? Christ. He says, Thy throne,
O God. Under the sun he saith, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. And here he says, Therefore God,
thy God has anointed, here you see the Trinity, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God is God. God the Father who blesses him
is God. He has anointed his Son. In verse eight, all thy garments
smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces
whereby they have made thee glad. King's daughters are among thy
honorable women. Upon thy right hand did stand
the queen, gold of Ophir. Ophir was that place where the
finest gold was brought. Who's the queen? Well, who's
the king? It's Christ. Who then is the
queen? It's his bride, his church, his body, his people. In John
chapter 3, John the Baptist said that he stood by when he heard
the voice of the bridegroom, and the bride heard that voice
too, and he rejoiced at the bridegroom's voice. So this is Christ and
his people. The Queen of Ophir, dressed in
gold, the gold of Christ's righteousness. Listen to verse 10. Hearken,
O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear, for God also
thine own people and thy father's house. The Lord exhorts his people,
forget your own people and your father's house. Abandon all trust
in your own righteousness or in all the heritage you had as
a natural man and look to Christ only. So shall the king greatly
desire thy beauty. For He is thy Lord, and worship
thou Him. Every one of us are commanded
and exhorted here. Trust in Christ. His righteousness
is our beauty. Worship Him. Verse 12, And the
daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. Even the rich among
the people shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is
all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold.
finest gold, beaten out to the highest beauty possible. That's
the clothing we wear. And inside we have the Spirit
of Christ. Christ himself lives in us. Verse 14, we're born of
God, children of God, by birth. Verse 14, she shall be brought
to the king in raiment of needlework. The virgins, her companions that
follow her, shall be brought to thee. With gladness and rejoicing
shall they be brought. They shall enter into the king's
palace. Instead of thy father shall be
thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore
shall the people praise thee forever and ever. You see how
the Lord's Psalms speak of Christ and His glory and His people? It's all about Him. And it's
all about Him for His people. And to His God, our God, and
His God. Let's pray. Lord, we pray. that in our hearts we would admire
and be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ as our own King, our glorious
God and our Savior, so sympathetic, so able and having tender compassion
on us in our needs because He Himself endured and suffered
all that we could ever imagine and so much more. took our sins
and owned them as His, our obligations and our debts, and satisfied
and magnified the law of God and His justice, and declared
His name to His brethren, His people, and so brought them in
a train of glad worshipers who looked to their Savior and admired
their God, knowing that He has revealed in His Son and Lord
help us to see and love the Lord Jesus Christ who so openly confessed
His own needs and His own poverty and His own reproaches and His
own need to depend upon the Lord His God for all strength and
coming to Him at all times with supplications and praises and
all these things to not only teach us, but also himself to
pray in our place as our intercessor and advocate. And we know his
prayers were heard, and therefore, Lord, let us trust in him and
be thankful for him and come to you by him and to worship
him and to know you in him. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.