Turn with me to Psalm 110. We were here last week and we
looked at the first three verses and in them we saw the glory
of our ascended Lord. He finished the work of redemption. He was raised from the dead by
his father and is now ascended up into heaven seated on the
right hand of the throne of God. Now this is a psalm of David
concerning the glory of Christ. David saw this. He having the
spirit of prophecy sees our Lord and what he accomplished. Now
just to bring us up, I want to read the first three verses of
Psalm 110. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from the
womb of the morning thou hast the due of thy youth. And so the picture is, having
completed the work, having done all that was necessary to establish
the covenant of grace, the Father now, as he promised, sends forth
all the blessings, all the promises that are given unto us in that
covenant of grace. They now come forth so that the
people are blessed in Christ. We're blessed and established
in that covenant. We are made willing in the day
of our Lord's power. And so now we come up to verse
4, and what we're going to see here is the foundation of our
blessings. So above here, we see Christ
our King, and the glory of our Savior, and what he's accomplished.
And then we look at, what's the foundation? What are we standing
upon? What's our hope to have this
rejoicing in Christ Jesus our Lord? And the reason why this
is important is because Christ is the mediator between God and
men. There is one God and one mediator. between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus. That means this is unique. He's
unique. There's none like him. There's
not many ways unto the Father. There's not different paths that
we can come in different religions and still come unto salvation. There's one name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. He's the mediator. If he didn't do this, If he said,
no, I'm not going to do this, we'd be destroyed. We'd be left
in our sins. We would have no life, no salvation,
no hope. But because we are the people
of the Lord, because the Father gave our Savior, a people before
the foundation of the world, to be his bride, to be his church,
Christ loves us and he loves his people. He loves his bride
and so he came and laid down his life for his bride because
we fell in Adam. We are sinful creatures in Adam. We come forth speaking lies.
We come forth dead in trespasses and sins. We come forth with
no light and no life and no understanding of the true and living God. We
were conquered In Adam, we were brought under the head of the
serpent, under his rule, under his dominion, under his power. Fools in darkness, corrupt, ruined. Destroyed having nothing we're
told in Adam that is by one man Sin entered into the world and
death by sin and so all men died because all sin We're all sinners
We're all in that bondage and dominion in the body of death
in that body of sin under that dominion of sin and and and the
grave and Wickedness and the serpent were under that headship
by nature. And so Christ came, redeeming
his people, giving his life to deliver us from that bondage,
to put us to death to the law and that corruption in Adam,
and to bring us out of that into his body, and to have our standing
in Christ our head. I know the world says I'm not
a servant or in bondage to any man. Yes, you are. By nature,
we're in bondage to sin and death. We're in bondage to Satan until
Christ comes and delivers us from his authority and his headship
and brings us under the authority and headship of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so this is the foundation
upon which it rests. Let's read verse four. The Lord
hath sworn and will not repent. He will not change his mind.
Speaking to Christ, thou art a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. And so here it is, this is Christ
seated on the throne as our King, and this is Christ our Melchizedek,
our High Priest, the foundation upon which we hope and trust
that we shall stand before the true and living God being accepted
of Him. He came and sacrificed Himself
as our High Priest. to atone for the sins of his
people, to make satisfaction for our everlasting good and
salvation. We're told of this glorious union
of the king and priest in Christ. I'm going to read for you Zechariah
6, verses 12 and 13. And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts,
saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch. This is that
righteous branch, the branch of righteousness which is sprung
out of the root of Jesse. Say unto the man whose name is
the branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall
build the temple of the Lord. The people of God are the temple
of God. That's what Paul is speaking
of in 1 Corinthians 6. We're the temple of God. He dwells in us and makes known
to us the true and living God. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and
rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne,
and the counsel of peace shall be between them both, Christ
our King and Christ our High Priest. That's our peace, that's
our hope, that's our confidence. Now this Melchizedek, spoken
of here in Psalm 110, verse 4, and referred to by David, is
mentioned one time in the Old Testament. And it's back in Genesis,
chapter 14, in verse 18. And let's turn there. Genesis
14, and I'm gonna pick up in verse 17, just to give us the
context here. And this is a beautiful picture
of what Christ did for his people. We're told in verse 17, the king
of Sodom went out to meet Abraham after his return from the slaughter
of Chedor Laomer. and of the kings that were with
him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the Kingsdale. And so
here's this king of Sodom, and we're told up there in verse
two that his name is Bera. Bera means son of evil, and he's
coming out to meet Abram, and he wants to talk to Abraham.
Abraham just did what that king could not do. He was defeated
by Chedorlaomer, but Abraham went and defeated that king,
and brings back the people and all the riches, and this king
of Sodom, Bera, wants to talk to Abraham. He wants to make
Abraham his man. He wants to bring him, he wants
to enrich Abraham and make, bring him into league with himself,
with the king of Sodom. But before he can do that, we
read in verse 18, and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth
bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God.
And so before this king of Sodom could open his mouth, in comes
Melchizedek interposing himself. He put himself between the king
of Sodom and Abram. And he brings forth bread and
wine, which we know, brethren, is a picture of Christ, his body,
his blood, which was shed for us. He interposes with the body
and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And some men think he was an
actual man who's just a type of Christ. Others think this
is Christ. Regardless of whether you think
he is Christ or a type of Christ, it's a beautiful picture of what
Christ has done for us in coming between us and death, between
us and the headship of the wicked one, interposing with his body
and blood to deliver us, to bless us in him. And that's what Melchizedek
does in verse 19. He blessed Abram. And said, blessed
be Abram 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 Abram
gave him tithes of all. He declared there, reminding
Abram. We're never told if Abram was
waffling or wavering or anything like that. We don't know. But
before those two could speak, the king of Sodom and Abram,
This Melchizedek blessed Abram, reminding him, God has done this,
God has blessed you and delivered that king into your hand. And
Abram was strengthened with that bread and wine so that right
after this, the king of Sodom opens his mouth and says, you
can keep the riches, you just give me the people. And Abram
being strengthened said, no, I don't want nothing from you.
I'm not taking anything from you. And what is that a picture
of? What Satan did when he tempted Christ, he said, I'll give you
all the riches of the kingdoms of the earth. Just give me the
people. Just leave the people to me,
and you can have all the praise and all the riches of this world.
Just give me the people. And Christ said, no. No, I ain't
doing it. These are my people. This is
my church. This is my bride. This is my
body. And I'm giving my life for them.
And I'm taking them. I'm taking them. And that's the
picture there of Melchizedek. And that's who our Savior is,
who interposed his body, his blood to deliver us from death,
to deliver us from the grave, to give us life. himself and
so Paul writes of Melchizedek in Hebrews chapter 7 Hebrews
7 in verse 1 through 3 you can turn there because there's a
few verses I want to look at with you Hebrews 7 verse 1 for
this Melchizedek king of Salem priest of the Most High God who
met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed
him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being
by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem,
which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without
descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually."
And this, brethren, is our eternal foundation. upon which we stand
in Christ, being accepted of the true and living holy God,
and it's never going to change. As He is eternal, so is our salvation
in life. It is eternal, eternal, founded
forever in Him. Drop down to verse 15, Hebrews
7, 15. And it is yet far more evident, for that after the similitude
of Melchizedek, there ariseth another priest, who was made
not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power
of an endless life." What he's saying there is the Aaronic priesthood,
that priesthood through Aaron, what do they have to do? They
have to first sacrifice for their own sins, and then for the sins
of the people. And they all die. They all come
to an end, but not Christ. Christ didn't have to make any
sacrifice for himself. He made sacrifice for the people,
and it is eternal, forever. That's what the Lord is comforting
the hearts of his people with, to know this blessed truth in
Christ. For he testified, verse 17, Thou
art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, for there
is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before, for
the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. What the law could not
do, Christ did. He did the whole thing for us,
brethren, the whole work. He finished the whole work. For
the law, that is the law of Moses, made nothing perfect. It didn't
perfect us. It exposed what we are. It showed
us that we're all sinners before God. But it made nothing perfect. But the bringing in of a better
hope did. That perfected us. Christ. He's
our better hope. By the which we draw nigh unto
God. And it's sad today and throughout
history that so many people think that the way we draw near to
God is doing our best under the law. And men keep going back
to Sinai, and they keep going back to the law for a righteousness
to justify why they should think that they can come to God. Well,
I did my best under the law. Now I can come to God. I thought
that. I thought that I had to clean
up everything before I could come to God. If you wait until
you're better, you're never going to come at all. Never. We come now as sinners with nothing
in our hands on the ground of Christ, trusting Him, believing
Him, hoping in Him for all our salvation and righteousness. We don't trust what we have done,
our decision, our will, our works. We trust Christ. We believe Him. That's the hope of the believer,
resting entirely on the shoulders of Christ our God and Savior. Our mighty God, our wisdom, our
hope, our all, it's Christ. Believe Him. Trust Him to save
you from the coming wrath of God. Trust Christ. His body was
broken to make His people whole in Him. His blood was shed to
cover all our sins and to obtain for us forgiveness with the Father. We that believe are fixed forever
Christ and cannot be separated from Him. He's our head and we
are His body. He's the surety of His people.
We stand in Him forever, brethren. He settled the debt of every
account of them which now believe Him, who are revealed to be His
people through faith, through faith. And He's obtained a place
for us in His body, in that glorious inheritance which is given to
Him. we are all made partakers of that inheritance in Him. that he on the cross defeated
all our enemies which opposed us and were against us and too
mighty for us. Verse five, the Lord at thy right
hand shall strike through or wound kings in the day of his
wrath. Now, there's two things here.
First, we're reminded that there is an appointed day of his wrath. Currently we're in a day of grace. The door of heaven is open. That
door which John the Apostle looked up in Revelation 4 and said behold
I saw a door opened in heaven. That door is opened by Christ. He is the door. We come unto
the Father through Christ the way. He's the door that we have
entrance unto the father, being accepted of him in Christ. Today's
the day of grace. Hear him, believe him, fly to
Christ. He's the forgiveness of sins
for his people. He's the one who takes us into
the presence of God, our father, and to have peace and rest in
him. Fly to him. But one day, one
day, the bridegroom's going to come, and all his virgins are
going to go with him, and that door going to be shut. It's going to be shut and it's
not going to be open anymore. When men who rejected him realize
that then it'll be too late. Too late, that door shall close
and then shall be wrath and judgment upon the wicked. But these kings
also, right now for us brethren, signify all who stand opposed
to Christ. All who stand opposed to his
authority and his headship and his rule and his dominion. All those kings, what's an example?
What do I mean? Death is one of those kings. Death is one of those kings that
seeks to subdue people and drive them to ruin in fear and in terror,
trying to scramble to make themselves better and are afraid to die.
We see this in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. In verse 14 we are told that
he partook of our flesh made like unto his brethren, that
he might, it says there, he also himself likewise took part of
the same, that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is the devil. And look at this, verse
15, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetimes subject to bondage. Death is as a king in our thoughts. And we're afraid to die. There's
a lot of people who do a lot of good work, so-called, a lot
of works in religion, and trying to clean themselves up, and trying
to do what they think is right. But they're afraid to die. Because that king is still ruling
over them in fear. Because they're wondering, have
I done enough? Did I do enough to satisfy God? Did I do enough
to give myself salvation? No. No, you haven't, and I haven't
either, for this cause Christ came. Christ did it. You and
I can't do it. We can't defeat that king death.
Christ defeated him. Christ put him down. Christ struck
through the head, which means he crushed the head. He wounded
the head of that king and destroyed it. And so it is with all things
that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God, the knowledge
of Christ, are put down by the gospel of Christ. He destroys
it. He rips them up and shreds them
and destroys them. And the picture there, if you
look up that word, strike through or wounded, gives the sense of,
they use the example of a foot coming down and shaking off the
blood, having destroyed, having crushed it. Because that's what
Christ did. He crushed the head of the wicked one. And so it's
in that sense. And then verse six, Psalm 110,
verse six, he shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the
places with the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over
many countries. And so this is speaking of the
gospel which goes forth today, conquering and to conquer and
to subdue the hearts of the people, turning us from dead works, that
ministration of condemnation and that ministration of death,
turning us to the Lord. And it's the spirit of God that
does that so that we see he's turned us. He gives us his spirit.
He blesses us. He gives us life in Christ to
behold him, to believe him, to trust the Lord Jesus Christ for
all our salvation. And he subdues us, bring us into
his kingdom, rejoicing in him who is our head and our authority,
our, our all brethren. How does he do that? Well when
that last phrase there says he shall wound the heads over many
countries and that may also be written he has smitten the head
over wide nations over the great nations that head which is Satan
the evil one He's smitten that head. He's busted that head.
He's crushed the head of the serpent just like God promised
that he would do in the garden when he said, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, between Satan and the bride of Christ. I'll put enmity between between
you and her that was deceived by you, and between thy seed
and her seed, it shall bruise thy head. His foot will come
down and smash your head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
And he's going to shake off the blood of the serpent that he
crushed, because he's the mighty king. His sacrifice is perfect. He's our Melchizedek, whose sacrifice
is eternal, brethren. And so that rule of the evil
one, which kept the Gentile nations in darkness and in idolatry and
in wickedness, bowing down, worshiping stumps and trees and rocks and
vain idols, is all defeated. It's all defeated and put away
from his people. That rule is broken. So that
now the gospel goes forth. and delivers us out of that darkness,
opens the prison cell and says, sinner, come forth, show yourselves,
come into the light and see that God hath done these works in
you and praise him. And so Christ is that, he's the
word of God, which is the sword of God that comes and severs
that relationship, delivers us, cuts us out of that body and
brings us into the body of Christ. And so while today we still see
principalities and powers in high places resisting, and though
many seem to care very little for this truth and this word
of salvation, don't lose heart, brethren. Your King, your Savior,
is mighty. He has won the victory. Believe
Him. Don't be ashamed to declare Him
and to walk under the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the victory. He is our salvation. He is our
king. In him we have life eternal. Life eternal. All our enemies,
they are defeated kings. Their heads are crushed, whether
it's this flesh we're talking about, whether we're talking
about sin, whether we're talking about death and the grave holding
on. We can't deliver ourselves from
the grave. He does. He does. He raises us up. We're
his forever. Whether it's the devil himself
and any powers of darkness, they're all kings who have had their
heads smashed through by Christ. And that's why you hear and believe. That's why you confess Christ
and believe him, because the headship of the devil has been
crushed and broken. And you're brought under his
head. You're saved by Christ. You're his. That's why you believe. Cause you've been delivered from
that power of darkness and death. Paul said to the Colossians,
he said, he says that we were dead in the uncircumcision of
our hearts. We were dead, but he quickened
us. He gave us life blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances, which was against us. What does
that mean? Why was the law against us? Because
we are weak. We can't do it. We can't fulfill
the law. If there was a law that could
have been given that would have made us righteous, God would
have done it. But because there is no law that can make us righteous,
he sent his son to do that work, our mighty king and savior. And so he nailed that to his
cross, and we're dead to it. We died to it. We're satisfied.
The law of Moses is not our husband. Christ is our husband. And by
him, we bear fruit. By him, we are righteous in and
by him. And he has spoiled principalities
and powers and made a show of them openly. He shamed them in
public, putting them down, triumphing over them in it. So believe him. The debt that we owe has been
paid. And so march under this gospel. Don't be ashamed to tell others.
Be confident. Rejoice. You are a son and a
daughter of the King. You that believe him. You have
all. All in Christ. It affirms the fearlessness of
Christ our King. It affirms the faithfulness of
Christ our King and Savior. It says in verse 7, He shall
drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift up the
head. The picture there appears to
be that brook Kidron which Christ crossed over with his 11 disciples
when he went into the garden of Gethsemane that night in which
he was taken. And he crossed over that brook.
And that brook Kidron is a filthy, polluted brook. It was black. It was black. Supposedly, as I understand it,
the sacrifices of the temple drained down there. That blood
and that death drained down there into that brook. It was a place where they processed
the olives and all that overflow and rotting stuff would flow
down in that black brook. and he crossed over that brook
and what it signified is that he accepted that cup. The father
put the cup in his hand and he took that cup of our wrath for
our sin willingly himself because he knew what lay on the other
side. He knew that Judas knew where he would be. And it says
that he went forth over that brook. And then when Judas came
with the men, he went forth and he met them. He approached them
head on negotiating the release of his disciples. He said, let
these go. I'll go with you willingly and
he would and he did that and was led away as a sheep to the
slaughter as a lamb to the slaughter our Savior went willingly laying
down his life for his bride that he should be our head, our authority,
to deliver us once and for all from the enemy. He drank of that
brook. He drank of the cup of wrath
down to the dregs of it, those little bits that are at the bottom
of it. He drank it all, leaving not
so much as a drop for you and I to taste. He bore it all for
us, brethren. And being found in fashion as
a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." That shameful death of the cross for
you and I who have no hope in ourselves but have been given
every hope and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what He did for us. God hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. had no understanding of, he never
partook of sin. He never sinned and grieved the
Lord the way we do and know what we've done, but he was made sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him and have life in him and fellowship with the true
and living God in him forever, forever, brethren. therefore
father shall lift up the head the head our head the Lord Jesus
Christ raised him up so that we know in him we have life just
as he was raised up so we shall be raised up from the dead because
he did the will of his father perfectly he didn't draw back
he didn't say I don't want to do that He went forth and did
that work which needed to be done to save us, brethren. Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven
and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for your mighty and glorious salvation, for what
you've accomplished for us, Lord, in doing the whole work necessary
for our salvation. You've settled the debt. You've
paid the price. You've delivered us from that
death, from every king that exalteth itself against you, Lord. You've
destroyed them all, and you've given us a new heart, and given
us your spirit, and given us life in Christ our Savior to
see, to behold, to believe, these things which are declared unto
us and revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. Lord, thank you
for your grace and mercy in him and this salvation in him. It's
in Christ's name that we pray and give thanks. Amen.