Let us turn to God's Word and
we continue considering the 23rd Psalm, this most familiar of
all portions of the words of God in Psalm 23 at verse 5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth
over. We have previously in this particular
verse observed that divine provision that he's spoken of in the opening
clause, how that David acknowledges, Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. And then last time we considered
something of the divine anointing that he's spoken of in the middle
clause, Thou anointest my head with oil. And so this evening
I want to take up these final words of the verse in Psalm 23
and verse 5, and the last clause, my cup runneth over. And therefore to say something
with regards to the divine cup. The divine cup. And first of
all we observe how it is spoken of in terms of Christ. There
is that sense in which we have to recognize that this is Christ's
cup. There is a reference to Christ
here in the psalm. It is all verified in him. The psalm, as we've said previously,
is a messianic psalm. David, of course, is the human
author, as we're told in the title. It is a psalm of David. David was that young man who
was as a youngster a shepherd boy and he speaks of the Lord
here in terms of one who is the shepherd of the sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. Remember how in the book of the
prophet Ezekiel. We have that chapter in which
all of the false prophets in Israel are rebuked. God had provided His people with
those who were to be their shepherds. There was that threefold office. There were the the princes, how God established
the kingdom of Israel and set kings over them to be good rulers
to them, and then also of course there were the priests of Aaron
who were to minister to the people in the things of God, and then
also we see that there were those who were the prophets. And they
also were to exercise a pastoral ministry. But alas, all of these
men in their different offices repeatedly fell short of what
God had commanded. And so there in Ezekiel 34 we
see how God reproves these shepherds Son of man, prophesy against
the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel
that do feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks. And then we see how later God
goes on to give this promise that He will set up a shepherd
over them. In verse 23 there, 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 so on who is that one who is promised
spoken of as one shepherd, even my servant David. This is many,
many years after David had lived and died. It is speaking then
of David's son, David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is that one who is the great shepherd of the sheep. As he
says in the Gospel there in John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. And again he says, I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. And so here, in the psalm, we
see David is speaking of him that was to come, even the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is that true shepherd of the sheep. And he is that one, of course,
who is the anointed, As we observed last time, those words, thou
anointest my head with oil, do they not apply principally to
the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Christ is the one who is the
head, the head of the body, the church, and Christ is that one
who is the anointed, the very name Christ, speaks of him as
the anointed one, that's the meaning of the words. He is that
promised Messiah. He is the fulfillment of all
that was prefigured and foreshadowed in the Old Testament types. We
read of the sons of Aaron, the priests, in Psalm 133. The precious
ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
beard that went down to the skirts of his garment. Was Aaron, were
the sons of Aaron anointed as priests? Well, here is one who
is a greater priest, a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Thou shalt anoint Aaron
and his sons and consecrate them that they may minister unto me.
In the priest's office was the command that God had given to
Moses concerning his brother. But how much more is that the
case with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ as He comes to execute
His great priestly work, as He comes to make that one sacrifice
for sins forever. Not only is He the great high
priest, He is the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, the taker of
the way, the sin of the world. We're told there at the end of
John chapter 3, God give us not the Spirit by measure unto Him.
Oh, what a glorious effusion! What an outpouring of the Spirit
upon the head of the Lord Jesus Christ! Thou anointest my head
with oil, or as the Margin says, Thou makest fat my head with
oil. And so we see Him there at the
beginning of that ministry as we have it in John chapter 3,
when he, having been baptized by John, is anointed by the Spirit. The Spirit comes and descends
upon him in the form of a dove. And so we have those words, as
I say, at the end of John chapter 3, God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. That's the beginning of his ministry.
He's anointing for his ministry. but then now we come to the end
of that ministry where we read of this cup, my cup runneth over. What was the cup of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well does he not speak of that
cup when he comes to the end? There in the garden of Gethsemane
remember how they come to take him? Here is The betrayer, the
traitor, Judas Iscariot with a band of men, and he comes to
the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is Peter, bold Peter, impetuous
Peter, who has a sword and draws his sword to defend his master. But what does Christ say to him
in John 18 and verse 11? Put up thy sword into the scabbard.
Shall I not drink the cup which my father gave unto me." Oh,
this is the cup, you see. This is the cup that he's running
over. This is that cup that he had so much prayed over there
in the garden, in all the agonies of his soul, as we have it recorded
in the Synoptic Gospels, in Matthew, and in Mark, and in Luke, three
times. He utters those words, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from nevertheless not what I
will, but what Thou wilt. How He is submissive to the Father's
will, even as He contemplates that He must drink all that cup
and drink it down to the very dregs. He must drink that cup
to the bitter end, all the wormwood, all the gall as he makes his
soul that great sacrifice for sins. He says, my cup runneth
over, and it ran over, did it not, with agonies that came into
his soul. Look at how we read of him in
another of the Messianic Psalms, in Psalm 69. Again, a Psalm of
David, but speaking of his greatest son, speaking of the Lord Jesus,
he says, I think In deep mire, where there is no standing, I
am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. All his
cup is running over. Save me, O God, for the waters
are come in unto my soul, he says. His cup, it runs over,
it runs over with all the agonies that he must endure as he comes
to make that great sacrifice for the sins of his people. It
was a bitter cup. A bitter cup of a cruel death,
even an accursed death that Christ had to endure. Curse is everyone
that hangs on a tree. And Christ himself is made a
curse for his people. As he suffers, as his cup overruns,
with all of that dreadful wrath of God that must be visited upon
his holy soul, because he is the substitute for his people. But although a bitter cup of
a cruel death, it was also, we have to recognize, a blessed
cup. It was a blessed cup of satisfaction. And isn't that
the emphasis really here in this psalm? Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over, surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever." Doesn't it speak here of blessings,
of prosperity? isn't the cup that runs over
then one that speaks to us of how he is satisfied in all of
his awful sufferings there is satisfaction in his thirst Christ
could get nothing to drink but vinegar. That's what we're told,
is it not? There in the 19th chapter of John, in John's account
of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, as he comes to the end
of those sufferings, verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
said, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar. and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
hissep and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Oh, there you see upon the cross
he could get nothing but vinegar. But now, now he has such plenty
that he speaks here of how his cup is running over Oh, what
a glorious repast is this! Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup, he says, runneth over. He does not suffer in vain, you
see. This is the satisfaction. This is what makes it such a
blessed cup. He is not the promise given in
prophecy concerning the fruit of all his sufferings. What will
be the result of that death that he dies, that accursed death?
He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Or we can say, behold I and the
children which God hath given through me. The words initially,
of course, are spoken in relation to the Prophet Isaiah there in
the 8th chapter of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is speaking of
his own children and he sees the significance, the name that
he is to give to the child that the Prophetess bears him, Meir
Shalal Ashbas. It's a message, is it not, to
the king of Syria and the king of Israel? Behold I and the children
which God hath given me, says the prophet. They're for signs.
But those words of Isaiah chapter 8 are taken up by the apostle
in Hebrews chapter 2 and they are specifically applied to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so the prophet is speaking
of one far greater than himself. It is Christ who can say, Behold
I and the children which God hath given me. These are all
those that were given through Him in the eternal covenant before
the foundation of the world when the persons of the God had entered
into covenant. And there were a people chosen by
the Father and they were committed into the hands of his son and
so in the fullness of the time God sends forth his son made
of a woman made under the law to redeem that people and he does redeem them, he redeems
them by the sacrifice of himself and so he receives that ransomed
people He shall see of the travail of his soul. He does not die
in vain. He is satisfied because he does
not die in vain. In his death he answers all of
the just demands of the holy law of God. He satisfies the
divine justice. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, says the prophet, he shall see his seed. Oh, when his soul, you see, makes
an offering for sin, he sees his seed. He doesn't shed that
precious blood to no purpose. All those that Christ suffered
for, they must be saved. And now his cup runs over. Oh,
how his cup runs over. He sees the fruit of His sufferings.
This is the great truth, is it not, of a definite atonement
and a particular redemption. This is what satisfies Him. All
that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, He says. They were
given to Him in the covenant. And all that the Father gave
to Him, they must come to Him. They do come to Him. Why? They
had the purchase of His blood. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, he that cometh to me. I shall in no wise cast
out, he says. Maybe some are troubled even
tormented at the thought as to whether or not they belong to
that blessed company. How many find the great doctrine
of God's particular election of a people such a searching
truth They want to know the answer to that question, are they or
are they not of that blessed company? Am I elect or am I not? Well Christ says, all that the
Father cometh to me all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me and he that cometh I shall he know wise cast out. Here is
the test you see. We know not who they are that
the Father gave to him The secret things belong unto the Lord.
The things that are revealed belong unto us. The Lord knoweth
them that are His, those that the Father gave to
Him. We don't know. But here is the test. He that
cometh to me, He says. Here is the proof, you see. Those
who come are the ones that were given to Him. Peter speaks of
us needing to give all diligence to make our calling and election
sure. And he places the calling before
the election. How do we test whether or not
we're of the elect? Well, are we those who know anything
of divine calling? And what is the consequence of
that calling? Where there is that call, that
effectual call, there is the coming. And all that come to
me, says Christ, I shall in no wise cast out." And now the Lord
is so satisfied, His cup runs over. His cup runs over, there's
all that fullness of grace, that fullness of salvation, that atonement
that accomplishes a glorious end, even a blessed end, the
salvation of sinners. I say then that this cup is to
be understood in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was that
cup that he had to drink and it was a cup that was full of
sorrows. It was a cup that was full of
wormwood and gall when he made his soul the offering for sins.
But it's also a cup of satisfaction because he sees the fruits of
all those sufferings and he's well pleased. But then, in the
second place, we observe that it is also the cup that belongs to the believer. It's the Christian's cup. It's
the Christian's cup. As it is with Christ, so it is
also with the believer, is it not? As Christ's cup runs over,
so the believer's cup runs over. What a comfort it is for the
believer to know that his salvation is sure. It's a salvation that
is secured for time and for eternity in the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees in the debt of Christ
that all the attributes of God, they harmonize. and all those
divine attributes they come together on the side of the sinner. The psalmist says in Psalm 85,
mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. All the Lord Jesus you see by
that great work that he accomplished, his obedience unto death, even
the death of the cross satisfied all God's holy righteous justice, mercy and truth coming together,
righteousness and peace kissing each other. Now John speaks of
it there at the end of that opening chapter in the first general
epistle Remember what He says at the end of that chapter, if
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. All we are to come,
we are to acknowledge our sins. We are not to make God a liar.
We wonder God's truth should so come to us as to show us what
we are as sinners and then to make our confession. Ah, but
when the sinner makes his confession, what does it say? God is merciful
and gracious to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. He doesn't say that. It's a truth.
It's a precious truth. that God is merciful and God
is gracious, that God is ready to pardon sinners. Think of those blessed words,
that lovely passage at the end of the book of Micah. and we find such precious truths
in the writings of these minor prophets Micah chapter 7 who
is a god like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth
not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy he will
turn again, he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities
And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham
which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. Oh, God is merciful and God is
gracious. But it doesn't say that, does
it, when we read those words at the end of 1 John chapter
1. If we confess our sins it says
He is faithful and He is just. to forgive us our sins, even
God's justice and God's faithfulness to himself
and to all his holy character, all that God is is on the side
of the sinner. What a cop is this? Top lady
says, if thou as my discharge procured and freely in my room
endured the whole of wrath divine, payment God cannot twice demand,
first at my bleeding shortest hand and then again at mine. That would be so unjust for God
to demand another payment. when the payment has been paid,
and Christ has made the payment, when that cup of wrath so overran,
when he suffered so intensely in the depths of his being. Oh,
here is that, you see, that is such a comfort to the believer. The believer's cup runs over.
Why the believer sees here such a fullness of salvation, can
we not say with David if we are those who know the Lord and know
the salvation my cup runneth over my cup runneth over all
the fullness of it we read that passage in the 10th chapter of
1st Corinthians those lovely words the cup of blessing which
we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ all that
cup of blessing you see the communion of the blood of Christ. And we
have it there, of course, in that holy ordinance that we observe,
the Lord's Supper. And Christ says this cup is the
New Testament in my blood. That's how the Lord Jesus speaks
of the cup. That's the cup of blessing. He
calls it the New Testament And the words, the trend of Testament
there is really exactly the same word that elsewhere is translated
as covenant. The new covenant. In my blood. It is that covenant of grace,
is it not? Our Bibles are divided into those
two parts. We have the Old Testament. We
have the New Testament. And in the New Testament we have
the fullness of that revelation of that new covenant, the covenant
of grace. All this grace there in the Old
Testament, of course, there are those of the Old Testament saints
who knew the salvation of the Lord. Hebrews 11 makes that plain
to us. All those that died in faith. They trusted in Christ. They looked for Him who was to
come. But in the New Testament we have the fullness of the revelation
of that covenant. And Christ speaks of that new
covenant in my blood, and He's speaking of the cup, the cup
that we take at the Lord's Supper, the cup of blessing which we
bless, the communion of the blood of Christ. Now David, David the
author of the Psalm, knew that covenant. What does he say when
David comes to the end of his days there in 2nd Samuel 23 and
he views the scene, the situation in his own family, there's much
to grieve him. Though my house be not so with
God, he says. Not as he would have wished it
to be had the sword not departed out of his house The whole affair
you see with Bathsheba and his implication, his murdering of
Uriah the Hittite. God forgave his sins but God
took vengeance on his inventions. We see it in the history of his
own sons and children. Though my house be not so with
God, he says, Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things unsure, this is all my salvation and
all my desire." Oh, it is that cup of salvation, you see, that
we are to take. The cup of salvation. The New Testament, the cup He's
the New Testament, the New Covenant in my blood, says the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this is the cup that runs
over. It ran over for David. In spite of all that he sees
about him, all that brings sadness and grief and sorrow into his
heart, and yet he can say as he does in another of the Psalms,
Thou hast set my feet in a large place, He felt it, you see, God
had dealt so bountifully with him. Or he would take the cup
of salvation and he would call upon the name of the Lord. Here is that cup that runs over
then. It's all the fullness of salvation that God has provided
for his children. All that God has given them in
the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now at
times, alas, is it not a truth, friends, that we're so much straight
and in our own hearts we have such poor views of the greatness
of salvation, such narrow views of God. It's all our unbelief,
you see. It is that sin which does so
easily beset us. But sometimes we sing the lines
of dear old John Berridge there in hymn 897. What does he say? Oh, Lord, increase my feeble
faith and give my straight and bosom room to credit what thy
promise saith and wait till thy salvation come. Now we have to
ask God, you see, to increase our feeble faith to say with
one in the Gospel, Lord I believe, help thou my non-belief. We're
so straightened and yet there is such a fullness of salvation
in this cup. My cup runneth over. The cup is the New Testament,
the New Covenant in Christ's blood. But it speaks to us Not
only of the believer having that fullness of salvation that he
can drink draughts of, it also speaks, does it not, of the fellowship
of Christ's offerings. The cup that Christ drank, as
we said, was a bitter cup. It was a cup of sorrows. and
we see that so clearly the way in which he agonizes over these
things in the garden of Gethsemane and he says to his disciples
there in Matthew 20 and verse 22 are you able to drink of the
cup I shall drink of? or are we able to drink of that
cup? can you drink of that cup of
sorrows and that cup of sufferings to be identified with the Lord
Jesus Christ. There must be, you see, that
real living union. There is an eternal union with
Christ. We know that. And we've touched
on that. I am the children which God has
given me. There are those who are chosen in Him from before
the foundation of the world. They're eternally in him. But
though that eternal union must become a living union, an experimental
union. That's faith, is it not? But
what is his faith? Well, you know the passage there
in John chapter 6. Christ says, "...who so eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up." at the last day, for my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. Here it is, you see.
There's union, a living union between Christ and His people.
They eat His flesh, they drink His blood. The cup that runneth
over, it's that cup of sorrowings. as I identified with Him. I'm
crucified with Christ, says Paul, nevertheless I live. Yea, not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave Himself for me. He knew union with the crucified
Saviour. And what did that mean for Him?
He must be one then who would crucify the deeds of the flesh,
mortify the deeds of the body, living life now in Christ Jesus,
separated from the world and the ways of the world. This is
His desire time and again, that I may know Him, He says, that
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. Now, when we were considering
a couple of weeks ago that table that's spoken of in the first
part of this fifth verse, Thou preparest a table before me in
the presence of mine enemies. We read on that occasion there
in the account of Ruth and the way in which Boaz dealt so kindly
with her. You remember when she goes gleaning
in his field, they came back, she came back with her mother-in-law
Naomi, and we're told at the end of chapter 1 that it was
the barley harvest and they're gathering in there and she goes
and she gleans in the field of Boaz and Boaz inquires after
this damsel he's told her who she is and he deals so kindly
he tells his reapers to let some of the of the corn drop on purpose
that she might have more to glean And we're told how he reached
her parched corn and she did eat and was sufficed as she goes
and partakes of refreshments with his reapers. There is Boaz, he reached her
parched corn, it says, and she did eat and was sufficed. And I remarked on that occasion
that we're to see it there in terms of what we have in Leviticus,
the end of chapter 2, where we have the first fruits of the
harvest, that was to be brought to God as a meat offering or
a meal offering, the first fruits of the harvest. What were they
to do? They were to take green ears, green ears of the corn,
and it was to be dried by the fire. And this is what Boaz is
giving to Ruth. He reached her parched corn. That is those green ears associated
with the first fruits. Those green ears that had been
dried by the fire. He reached her parched corn.
And she did eat and was sufficed. Now, Boaz is a remarkable type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ descends from Boaz. Read the genealogy there in Matthew
chapter 1. The Lord Jesus in his human nature
is descended from Boaz. And Boaz is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what is it that that parched
corn speaks of? Remember, it's green ears. It's the beginning of the barley
harvest. It's green ears. All that greenness,
that freshness, it sets before us the Lord Jesus Christ in all
His holy innocence. He can say, even as He comes
to die, there in Luke chapter 23 and verse 31, where there
are those women who are weeping over Him, if they do these things
in a green tree. He is the green tree, you see.
There's such a freshness, such an innocence there, he's not
ready for sacrifice really. If they do these things in a
green tree, what will they do in a dry, he says. But he is
that one, you see, who is as the green ears dried by fire. He is that one who is the parched
cord. Now we have it here in the previous
Psalm, in Psalm 22, another Messianic Psalm. What does he say there
at verse 14? I am poured out like water, all
my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax, it is melted
in the midst of my bowels, my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into
the dust of death. Oh, the Lord Jesus, He was scorched,
was He not by the wrath of God? He was scorched by the wrath
of God. Oh, He suffered. Oh, He suffered as that great
substitute in the room and in the stead of His people. And we are to be those, if we
are His, who would desire to know Him and the fellowship of
His sufferings, Paul said. being made conformable onto his
death. There is a fellowship, you see,
in the sufferings of Christ. Does he have a cup, a bitter
cup to drink? Well, his people will also know
something of a bitter cup. They'll know something of suffering.
We sang of it just now in our opening prize there in that hymn number seventy thrice
comfortable hope that calms my stormy breast my father's hand
prepares the cup and what he wills is best and sometimes for
the child of God it is indeed a cup of sufferings unto you
Paul says to the Philippians unto you which is given in the
behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but to suffer
for his sake Oh, how the cop runs over, you see. Just as Christ's
cop ran over with sufferings. But what a blessing, friends,
to be those who are one with Him. What satisfaction He found.
He did not suffer in vain, He did not suffer to no purpose.
He sees the travail of all His sufferings. So too in the experience
of the godless. or they make more and more conformable
to Him. This is the way of God, is it
not? This is how God deals with us. How God weans us away from
the things of this world and conforms us more and more to
the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the believer's experience. He is to grow. He is to grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. how we have to look to ourselves,
how we have to examine ourselves, is this true of us? Lord, do
we know anything of that cup of salvation? Can we say I will
take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord
and ask the Lord himself that he would grant that that cup
might ever run over and over and over even to us or the Lord
grant then that we might be those who know something at least in
some measure what the cup of the Lord Jesus Christ is and
what it is to have a part and a lot in that great salvation
that He wrote. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us.