In fact, they're with me then
in Psalm 110. You know, we do in these Old
Testament pictures of Christ, Old Testament studies of Christ,
and this particular Psalm, seven verses long, you could not possibly
study about the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament and not
have to deal with this Psalm. This Psalm is mentioned One,
two, three, four, five, six times in the New Testament. In some
form or other. Before I get into the message,
I want you to look with me in Matthew 22. Let me show you something. Matthew 22, verse 44. This is what our Lord was dealing
with. And He even used this. But they
preached it in the book of Acts. It's all over the book of Hebrews.
About the Lord has sworn. You know, God sent him at his
right hand. But look what he said here in verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What thank ye of Christ? Well,
what a question. What thank ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? Is He God's Son? Is He Eternal? Who is He? They say unto Him,
Well, He's the Son of David. He's the Son of David. And after
the flesh, that's right. Then He asked them this question.
He said then unto them, How then doth David, by the Spirit, call
his own son, Lord, saying unto him, the Lord said unto my Lord,
sit thou in my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
If David then called him Lord, how is he his son? So that's where our Lord even
dealt with them over that. And you know the Old Testament
reveals our Lord Jesus Christ in promise. The first promise
in the Bible concerned Him. Genesis 3, 15 concerned our Lord
Jesus Christ. He's pictured all the way through
the Old Testament in types, in types and patterns. And then
when it comes to the New Testament, when it comes to Christ coming,
He came to this earth through the womb of a virgin and He came
in person. And this psalm here, and you
know that's what he says, thou shalt call his name Jesus for
he shall save his people from their sin. This was all said
that it might be fulfilled by the prophet who says the virgin
shall conceive and bear a son and thou shalt call his name
Immanuel. God's come to be with us. And
so, They are going to, if he's David's son, how's David call
him Lord? How's David call him Lord? And
I'll tell you what, this is a clear revelation of our Savior here.
Look in verse one. The Lord said unto my Lord, now
wait a minute. The Lord said unto my Lord, the Son, God said to the Son,
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said unto my Lord. And off we could just grasp a
little bit of the power of God's Word. When God said, the Lord
said, when God says something, that settles everything. God
said it. He said, God said. And that's
enough. All of the works of grace that
God's done in this world. You know how He done it? He brought
those works to pass by His Word. When He speaks His Word, He sends
His Word. That's how He does things for
people. And He always has and He won't change. And I tell you
what, my Lord Jesus Christ was that Word that came into this
world. Was that Word that was with God
and with Him was life and that life was the light of men. And
had not God spoken, and the scriptures tells us that in Bible's manners
in times past he spake unto the fathers by the prophets, but
hath in these last days spoken by son. And you know I, Lord
Jesus Christ, had not God spoke, had not God said a word, and
gave a word, we would not know if God even existed. We're not
going to be like everybody else that have a God of our imagination.
We'd riddle him out with a knife from our pockets. And when God
speaks, when God speaks, it ain't never gonna change. Look what
he said over in Isaiah 46. Look what he said over here in
Isaiah 46. Oh, listen. God says something,
he don't have to back up. I may say something and have
to back up. I had to back up Sunday morning. I told everybody
to go get them a chair. Next thing you know, they went
back there and taken them away from the tables that were just
piling them up. I'll tell you what, if you go
tell somebody to get something, say, that's the only ones you
can get. I had to back up. I had to back
up. But oh, look what our Lord said
here in Psalm 46. In verse 11, God said, he's going
to do what he's saying. My counsel shall stand, I'll
do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country.
Listen to this, now I've spoken it, I will also bring it to pass,
I have purposed it, and I will also do it. That's all God has
to do is just speak, and that's how He's done. He's spoken to
us, and He'll bring it to pass. Whatever He speaks, it'll come
to pass. You can mark that down. And oh, if we could just understand
a little of the power of God's Word, and His Word is powerful,
powerful. And David knew that the Lord
our God is one Lord. He's, you know, Deuteronomy says,
here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. The Lord our God
is one. David knew that. David knew that. And when he speaks here, he distinguishes
between the Father and the Son, the Father and my Lord. You know
why it calls him my Lord here? He said in Psalm 23, one, he
says, the Lord is my shepherd. He knew the Lord, God Almighty,
He knew the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ was His shepherd.
And He knew there was distinction between the Father and the Son.
And He understood that the Son that was going to be the one
that sat on His throne forever was was the Son of God Himself
that came into this world. He was His Redeemer. Thomas himself
said, when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and our Lord said, Thomas
said, I'm not going to believe He raised from the dead until
I can stick my hands in the side that was cut open, and until
I can stick my fingers where those nail prints were, I'm not
going to believe. I don't care how much you tell
me that He's been risen from the dead. About the time he got
that out of his mouth, the Lord Jesus stood before him. You know
what he said? My Lord and my God. And I'll tell you what, God sent
a Savior into this world, sent His Son to be our Lord, to be
our Savior, to be the only one that could do anything for us
in this world. And I'll tell you this, He said,
the Gospel starts in John 3.14, not John 3.16. He said, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. That whosoever believeth on him
shall have everlasting life. Then he says, this is how much
God loved these people. This is how much God loved his
people. This is how much God so loved
that he gave his only begotten son. That's why he was lifted
up. You want to know how much God
loves sinners? Look at that cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and
what he is of. Look at him bearing sin in his
own body on the tree. Look at him bearing the judgment
of God. Look at him bearing the justice
of God. Look at him bearing our sins
in his own body on that tree. Oh my, if God had the sinning,
and when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his
son, Made of a woman, made under the law. And all I want, you
know our Lord, they picked up stones to stone him one time.
And he says, I and my father are one. And they picked up some rocks,
they'd go throw rocks at him. No, they didn't pick little old
rocks up like we'd use. Like in a slingshot or something.
When they want to rock somebody, they took great big rocks. We're
just going to rock our Lord Jesus Christ one time. He said, what
good work, what good deed are you going to stone me for? He
said, we're not going to stone you because you're good and done
miracles. We're going to stone you because
you blaspheme. You make yourself equal with
God. They understood that. That whatever
he said, he said, I'm equal with God. Me and my father are one.
And they said, there's no way a man can be equal with God.
If he's God, he can. If he comes from God, he can.
If he's eternal, he can. He did it right. Oh yes, he can. Then look what
he says. Set thou my right hand, until
I make thine enemies thy footstool. Oh, how many times is this verse
of scripture been quoted? And you know what it means when
he says, set thou my right hand? That means that our Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished what he was sent to do. That means his work
is finished. That's what it means. It means
his work is finished. He finished what God sent him
to do. He said, Father, John 17, 4,
I finished the work that you gave me to do. I finished it. I finished it. And I tell you,
everything he come here to do, he did it. He did full and complete
Perfect salvation for all for whom he died there's no doubt
about that And I tell you what you know we said in John. I think
it's Hebrews 10 look look over here Hebrews 10 you'll love this
I'll quote this all time, but you know this is what we're talking
about This is the salvation that God said set that my right hand
and how many times did God say that after he by himself purged
our sin. What did he do? He sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high. But oh, here's what
we're talking about here. Hebrews 10 and 11. Oh my. No earthly priest ever sat down
in the tabernacle. You know why? Because his work
was never done. They suffered the lamb first
thing in the morning. And the last thing before Evening
they're offering a lamb morning lamb and evening lamb and every
time somebody had sinned they bring them Sacrifices to the
priest and the priest was just constantly shedding blood and
constantly taking going in and out going in and out of that
altar and Look what he says now verse verse 11 talking about
our Lord but this every priest stands daily he's standing and
Don't talk about nothing sitting down standeth daily ministering
and often oftentimes the same Sacrifices and this is what people
don't understand which can never take away sins but this man Every time I read that, it blesses
my heart, I tell you. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins, what did he do? He sat down. Sat down on the right hand of
God. What's he doing? Expecting his
enemies to be made his footstool. And listen to this right here.
For by that one offering, he hath perfected forever them that
are saints. Their sacrifice is their put
away sin. He has put it away once and for
all. And not only that, but make them perfect in the sight of
God. Huh? Oh my! And because our Lord Jesus
Christ sits on that throne, sits on that throne. He sits there
as our king, our priest, everything that he is to us, he sits there
and makes intercession for us and takes our case and cause
up before God Almighty and he don't represent us as ourselves,
but he represents us as himself. I tell you, you know, he ain't
got anything good to say about me in the presence of God. Now listen to what I'm telling
you. If Christ intercedes for me, he don't go up there and
say, now, he's a preacher, he studies, he prays, he's dedicated
this, he's done that, and he's done this other thing. If he
ever has to mention my name, all he can say was, Father, accept
him for my sake. Bless him for my sake. Bless
him because of my blood. Bless him because I died for
him. That's the only way God can do anything for us. And that's
why he says it's the right hand of God. And that's why we, there's
no sense getting upset about things in this world. He's doing
exactly, he's accomplishing God's will sitting at God's right hand
right now. Ain't that right? And every enemy one of these
days gonna be subdued. And oh my. And then look what
it says there in verse 2. It says there in verse 2. The
Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion and rule
thou in the midst of thine enemies. Now when he talks about Zion,
when he mentions Zion in the Old Testament, you know Zion
is the true church, the church of true Israel. Do you know Zion's
the church? That's the place where God dwells.
That's where it's on a mountain. And what then is when he says
that the rod shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion?
What is he talking about when he talks about that rod of his
strength? Well, it's the gospel of course. It's the gospel. And
how do we know that? Because of Moses' rod. When you find a rod mentioned
in the scriptures, The first time you find it mentioned is
Moses rod. Now what did Moses do with that
rod? He used it of God Almighty to send plagues and cause them
to stop. And I tell you he used that rod.
Do you know what he did? He parted the Red Sea with that
rod. He smoked the rock and water
came out of it with that rod. And the gospel is the thing that
God uses to pardon all the things that's against us. Since the
gospel, that's the strength of His power. He sends the gospel,
and I'll tell you what, it's out of Christ that the water
comes. And I'll tell you what, He wrought
wonders by that rod. And the Lord sends His gospel
to the church to call out His elect. Huh? Oh yeah. Salvation, you know
what it is? It's the result of gospel preaching.
That's the strength that God uses in this world. That's the
rod that He uses in this world. You know what it is? It's the
gospel. That's His power. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. And the Lord Jesus Christ reigns
over willing and unwilling. And I know this, but His gospel
truth His gospel truth is our full strength, where we get our
strength and it's the gospel that makes dead sinners come
alive. By his own will begat he us with what? The word of
truth. And all he told about the gospel
over in 1 Peter, he said it like this. about the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, being born again, not
as corruptible seed, but incorruptible. Listen to this, by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. That's how God saves
man. And then look what he says there
in verse three. Oh my, when he talks about the
midst of thine enemies, he's gonna save his people willing
and unwilling. Those are his enemies too. Then
look what he says. I may preach on this Sunday morning.
I was looking at some things about today. Thy people, I love
that, thy people. That's what the Lord called them.
He says, my people, my people, which are called by my name,
my people. He laid down his life for my
people. And look what he says, thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power and the beauties of holiness from the
womb of the morning that has to do with our youth. What does
it mean, in the day of thy power thou shalt be willing, huh? When
God uses the gospel as the power of God unto salvation, when He
sears the rod of His strength, the gospel, priests in the power
of His Holy Spirit, His people willingly, gladly, joyfully believe
from the day they hear it. Ain't that right? They really
do. Then, you know, He says, Thy
people. Here's a promise made to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy
people. Thy people. Who are them people?
He said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Thou
hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal
life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And I tell you, Ed,
thy people, those was the one the Father gave Him, thy Lord
Jesus Christ bought them with His own blessed blood, and then
He called them by His Holy Spirit. And then look at what kind of
position, what kind of, what He does for a person's heart
and soul. They shall be made willing. They shall be willing.
How in the world? I heard a fellow say one time,
said, I believe in free will. The only free will that you can
find in the Bible is free will offerings. You know that? And
I tell you what, if a man's got the will to come to Christ, he
didn't come on his own power, didn't come on his own ability.
No, no. You know what he says? They shall
be willing. Anybody here embracing Christ
tonight, the Son willing? We're willing, you know, Peter
said, Paul told the Thessalonians, we know your election of God.
How do you know it? Because you turn from idols to
serve the living God. And I tell you, we're willing
to turn from our idols. We're willing to forsake even
our own thoughts. We're willing to bow to the Lord
Jesus Christ as our prophet to teach us as our priest to make
a sacrifice on our behalf, and as our king to rule over us,
reign over us, and provide for us, and protect us against all
of our enemies. Huh? Oh my. And I tell you, not
only are we willing, we're extremely willing for Christ to reign over
us. We're extremely willing for Christ
to be our Lord. We're extremely willing for Christ
to be all in all of us. I'm telling you, I know what
I'm talking about. I tell you what, I'm more willing today
than I was yesterday. And if God lets me live another
ten years, or five years, or whatever it is, I hope by God's
grace I'll still, still be willing. Extremely willing. I tell you,
we... You know what bothers us about
as much as anything about ourselves? Is that we feel like we're not
willing enough! But yet it's in our hearts and
our souls, Lord, I'm willing! Do whatever you will, I'm willing! I'm willing. And I tell you,
we're willing to rest in Him, to set ourselves in Him, to say,
Lord, you're my all in all, and I desperately need you. And then
look at how these people are viewed in the sight of Christ,
in the sight of God. and in the beauties of holiness.
Oh my, what in the world? We ain't got no beauties of holiness.
With Christ we are. He told that infant, he says,
you're comely through my, you're perfect through my comeliness.
And I'll tell you what, when he talks about the beauties of
holiness, that means that Christ has arrayed us and put on us
His beautiful, beautiful garment of righteousness. Christ's righteousness. That's why we have the beauties
of holiness. We're not holy in ourselves,
but we are in Christ. And I've said this time and time
again, for people who try to be holy, when I first come down
here, that's what they call me, that little holiness preacher.
Little old holiness preacher, because that's preaching holiness.
I didn't know no better. I was dumb as a box of rocks. I wouldn't have known God from
a goat back in them days. But God had mercy on me and saved
me. And I found out that holiness is a state of being. You can't
be no more holy at one time than you can another. God can be no
more holy at one time than he can be another. And if we're
in Christ, and Christ is in us, then we're as holy as God is,
as holy as Christ is. We cannot be more holy at one
time than another. And I feel sorry for people that
run around here trying to say that they're holy and trying
to be holy. A lot of people think by the
way they dress that they're holy. Get them a long dress, get them
a bonnet to put over the top of their head, grow them a beard,
and get them a straw hat to put on top of their head, and wear
dark pants, and bolder shoes, and you're just so holy. Well,
holiness has nothing to do with outward appearance. Holiness
don't have nothing to do with how we dress. The only thing
that makes us holy, and I just read it to you in Hebrews 11,
14, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Holy,
holy, huh? That's why we're ready in Christ's
righteousness and his holiness. And then look how he numbers,
you know how he numbers his people? He says, thou hast the due of
thy youth. We always are ever young in God's
sight. And you know how much dew, how
much dew is on the earth in the morning. Wherever you go, if it's not
cloudy, there's going to be dew on the earth. He said, ever how
much dew is on the earth, that's how many people I've got. I'll tell you, we can't, we don't,
oh, if we just could really truly understand, oh, bless His name. Oh, what He does for us and how
He's done for us. Oh, and I'll tell you of His
power. Thy people shall be willing. Oh, they shall be willing. And
they're as holy, righteous as Christ Himself. And God views
us that way. And then look what it says here.
In verse 4, this is really something right here. The Lord hath sworn
and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Old Mr. Spurgeon said this is
the heart of this psalm and the very center and soul of our faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ, God swore
that Christ would be an eternal high priest forever. God swore to that. And I tell
you, when the Lord has sworn, he told Abraham because he could
swear by no greater, he swore by himself. And for God to make
us swear, for God to make us, you know, sworn to something.
It got to be the most solemn and sure matter which leads the
eternal God to swear. And then not only that, to say
the Lord hath sworn, that God hath swore, that God Almighty,
Jehovah, hath sworn. And then he says he will not
repent. That means he will not change. He cannot change. It's done and it's done forever. What is? Christ is a high priest
forever. Forever. It's done forever. He's our surety. He's our priest. He's our king. He's our only
mediator between God and man. Now let me give you a couple
of things here. Aaron and all his sons were just types of Christ.
But every one of them had limitations. They all had limitations. How
did they have limitations? Well, they were men. They were
men. That's why they were men. There
was many, many of them, but Christ is only one. They were men. He's the God-man. They were only priests. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is a king priest, because Melchizedek was the king
of Salem. They died, but our Lord Jesus
Christ lives. Their priesthood had a beginning
and had an end. But our Lord Jesus Christ, he'll
never have an end to his ministry. They offered many sacrifices.
He offered one. They offered animals blood. He
took his own blood and entered the holiest of holies by his
own blood. They ministered in an earthly
sanctuary, an earthly tabernacle. Our Lord ministers in heaven
itself. Their sacrifices could never
take away sin. He has perfected us forever.
And let's look over at Melchizedek. This is what we're talking about.
Look in Genesis 14. Genesis 14. When you read about Melchizedek
and his appearance, you'll see that Melchizedek's
office was exceptional. Exceptional. Nobody preceded
him. Nobody succeeded him. Look what
it says here in verse 17. They'd been out to a battle,
been out to war. And the king of Sodom went out
to meet Abraham. That's who he went to meet, Abraham. after his return from the slaughter
of Cheder Leomor and of the kings that were with him at the Valley
of Sheba, which is in the Kingsdale. Now listen to this, and Melchizedek,
king of Salem, that's where you get your kingship of Christ.
That word Salem means peace, brought forth bread and wine,
and he was the priestess of the Most High God. And he blessed
him and said, Blessed be Abraham of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth,
and blessed be the Most High God which hath delivered thine
enemies into thy hand. And Abraham gave him tithes of
all that he had when he got from that place. Now look at Melchizedek. He just appeared one day, Appeared one day, never appeared
again. The Scriptures tells us that
he had no, he comes up on the page of history just mysteriously
and nobody succeeded him. He mysteriously goes away, you
don't tell nothing about his birth, don't tell nothing about
his pedigree, don't say nothing about his death. And he blessed
Abraham. And he's called the priest of
the Most High God and the King of Peace. He was seen only once. But that once was enough. And
our Lord was made a priest by His Father. No one was before
Him. No one's coming after Him. His
order begins and ends with Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came
once into the end of the world, left His blessings, left His
blessings upon His believing people, and now He sits in glory,
using His own power and blood on our behalf. Oh, the Lord's
sworn, sworn. Now look what the last three
verses say. This is talking about judgment now. How He's sitting
on His throne now. He's sitting at the right hand
of God. He's sitting there. And look what He said. These
last three verses show the victory and the judgment of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he comes back to judge this world. The Lord
with thy right hand shall strike through the kings in the day
of his wrath. You know right now is a time of grace and God
is very, very long suffering. But he's also got a day appointed
of wrath and a vengeance. And I tell you what, nobody,
nobody will get by with anything. He'll descend from heaven and
he'll save his elect, take them to glory, and then on the day
of his wrath, he's gonna pour out his wrath, unmitigated wrath
upon this world and all the wicked on it. He says, thy foot shall
slide in due time. Then look what else he says.
He'll strike through kings in the day of his wrath. Oh, all
these kings, all these people that think they're something,
these mighty men, great men, get up and stand and make great
promises and great swelling words and great speeches and wear great
robes. He said, I'm going to shoot right
through them. Huh? I'm going to strike them.
I'm going to strike them. Right through them, right through
them, through the kings. And then look what he said. He's
going to judge among the heathen. And I tell you, when he gets
through, there's going to be dead bodies. Dead bodies. I tell you, there's already dead.
These are going to be twice dead, plucked up by the roots. And
look what he says. He's going to wound the heads
over many countries, over many, many nations. Wound the heads
of great countries. You know what happens when the
kings of the earth oppose the king of kings? They can't win. They can't win. My all nations
all nations one of these days Are going to yield to the Lord
Jesus Christ or else be crushed by him. There's no ifs ands or
buts about it He's going to ruin the heads of nations, and I tell
you man's got great big movements in this world He's going to destroy
their movements of this world, and he don't crush Satan's head
once and for all And all who will have Christ the Lord to
be their Savior, to be their Lord, to be their Master, to
be their King, they're going to be destroyed. No ifs, ands
about it. Then look what he says there
in verse 7. He shall drink of the brook in the way. Do you
know how calm our Lord is when He does things? You know, what
he's talking about here, Drake and the brook on the way. Picture
of a warrior going and he says, you know what, this battle ain't
nothing for me. I'm going to stop here and take
me a drink. I'm going to stop here calmly and take me a drink. He's sure of the victory. Oh,
he's got no big hurry. Oh, he's a warrior. He's going
to win so he can stop. He can drink some water, refresh
himself, because he's in no hurry. You know why? Because his victory's
sure. His victory's sure. Our Savior, our blessed, blessed
Master, our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, God over all, bless
forever. Amen. Lord, we praise you for
your precious word, the power of it. Lord, we need to know
more about the power of your word. Exercise your power over
us. We're willing to you to exercise
your power over us. Exercise your rights over us,
your power, your omnipotence. your grace, exercise everything
about us, everything you are over us. Oh Lord, we bow, bow
in our hearts, that's where we need to bow. Bow in our minds,
submit our minds, submit our hearts to you. Bow our minds, submit them to
you, your word, and our hearts to your worship. God bless these
dear saints now as they go their way this evening. And again,
we pray for those we mentioned before. God, please be gracious,
be merciful, and oh Lord, give grace sufficient for we know
you always do. In Christ's name, amen. upon Jesus, look full in his
wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely
dim. in the light of His glory and
grace. Well, good night.
About Don Bell
Don Bell is the current pastor of Lantana Grace Church in Crossville, TN.
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