Good morning, brethren. Let's
be turning to Psalm 110. Psalm 110. I want to begin by reading this
Psalm with you. We're going to begin in verse
1. Psalm 110, verse one. 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. The Lord hath sworn
and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall
strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge
among the heathen He shall fill the places with the dead bodies.
He shall wound the heads over many, over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in
the way. Therefore shall he lift up the
head. So this is Psalm 110. Psalm 110. And if someone could just help
that door to close. So this psalm, it describes the
glorious triumph of Christ over His enemies. This psalm is describing
the glorious triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ over all His enemies,
and that's good news for guilty sinners who look to Christ because
His enemies are our enemies, and He's defeated them. This
is His triumph. It concerns His resurrection
from the dead. It concerns His ascension to
the Father. It concerns His session at the
right hand of the throne of God. And as you read this psalm and
you look at it, there's a noticeable difference that we see here in
how the Lord triumphs over the heart of his people. How he triumphs
over the heart of his people and how he triumphs over all
his foes. There's a difference. There's
a difference in what we see the Lord do in his people as opposed
to those who are not his people. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians
2, verse 14 through 16. He said, Now thanks be unto God,
which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. What savour do we have? It's
the savour of Christ in preaching the gospel wherever we go. Regardless of the people that
are there, regardless of the company, we preach the gospel
and it's a saver of Christ. For we are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. Whether
sinners hear and receive that word and are blessed by that
word and come forth, Or sinners reject it and refuse to hear
it and say that man will not reign over us. There's a saver
of Christ regardless. To the one we are the saver of
death unto death and to the other, the saver of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things. When you've spent any time ministering
in the Lord, and I'm speaking to all of God's people, You see
there that we are insufficient for these things. We're insufficient. None of us can stand here and
boast of ourselves and what we are and what we've done. Christ
is sufficient and he's all our sufficiency. And so the joy and
gladness of the Lord's people here is that Christ's reign shall
never end. It shall never end. That means
that the hope that you sinner, that hope that you build on Christ,
trusting that He's all my righteousness, that's never going to be pulled
out from underneath you. It's never going to change. You
that I've built on Christ have a sure everlasting foundation
provided for you graciously by God in His Son. And He's drawn
you, as we'll see, He draws you to build on Christ by the Spirit,
by the Spirit of His grace. And so that hope you have in
Him, it will never come to an end. It'll never come to an end.
There will never be a different thing for you. It is everlasting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your standing before Almighty
Holy God will not change. The script's not gonna be flipped
on you. You're never gonna be ashamed
or confounded. You're accepted of the true and living God in
the one whom he sent, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a comfort
to us who are sinners and have no righteousness of our own and
are trusting everything, trusting Christ in everything and trusting
everything to him, even as the father trusted everything for
your good and your salvation to his hand. And so we rejoice
in this, but his enemies dread it because his reign is everlasting
and it shall never change for them either. It shall never change
for them either. They'll never rise again. And
so the accomplishments declared here in this psalm, it rests
entirely on the head and shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
God, our savior, our champion, our friend, our husband, our
all. He's everything, brethren, everything. And as a crown of his glory,
When this psalm is glorifying Christ, Psalm 110, glorifies
the Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrection, his ascension,
and his session at the right hand of the throne of God. It
glorifies him, and it sits, that crown sits on his brow, and that
brow is found in his humiliation. When he humbled himself and was
made like unto his brethren, and came as a servant, the servant
of God, to do all the will of God that we might be brought
unto God in perfect righteousness and holiness, accepted of Him. This humiliation, it's accomplished. He's accomplished all this work
in his redemption of his people on the cross. And to see that,
look at verse seven. Verse seven again. He shall drink
of the brook in the way. Therefore shall he lift up the
head. And that's describing his glorious
redemption work. This is what preceded, this redemption
of his preceded his resurrection. It precedes his ascension. It
precedes his session at the right hand of God. And it was when
he crossed the Brook Kidron at the end of his life. It's when
he crossed that brook Kidron and went into that garden to
face the enemy, to face the enemy for his people. This is what
it says in John 18 verse 1 and 2. When Jesus had spoken these
words, when he was testifying to his disciples in chapters
13 through 16, and he prayed his high priestly prayer, he
went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where
was a garden, into the which he entered and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted thither with
his disciples. And so this brook that's being
spoken of here in this psalm is referring to this brook, Kidron,
that Christ crossed, went across, knowing that the enemy knew and
that he was going to meet that enemy and face him and accomplish
the redemption of his people. And in all these wonderful, glorious
triumphs, his exaltation would follow his humiliation there
at the cross. It says in John 18.4, Jesus therefore
knowing all things that should come upon him went forth. He went forth and said unto them,
Whom seek ye? Here comes Judas with the band
of his men, having received his 30 pieces of silver. And he takes
these men and these officers to arrest Christ. And Christ
goes forth. He went forth to meet them, to
face the enemy for the salvation of his people, to negotiate their
release, and to go willingly. to be led willingly to that cross,
to be crucified, to obtain our eternal redemption. This is that
brook. This brook was a filthy brook. It was loaded with pollutants
and all kinds of filthiness, and it pictures what we are by
nature. Our filthy nature, our filthy
sin, It pictures what we are in ourselves which Christ took
unto himself to make an atonement, to redeem his people by the death
of himself, being made sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ did this for
us. When he crossed that brook, It
showed that he accepted that cup of wrath which the father
purposed for him, the drink for his people. He accepted that
cup and he went forth triumphantly as our king, facing the foe that
would defeat us that we couldn't conquer or overcome, and he overcame
the foe. and then this all that follows
so this is like a this verse seven here is like a bedrock
upon which all his triumph all his glory is built and rises
up to the glory praise and honor of his name now a lot of people
they identify some verse in this psalm as being the most critical,
the most pivotal of this whole psalm. For Charles Spurgeon,
he said verse four was the heart of the psalm. He called it the
very center and soul of our faith. And he says that because it declares
that Christ is eternal. His reign, his priesthood, his
kingship, Our high priest and king is an
eternal high priest and king after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek had no beginning.
Melchizedek had no end. He had no father or mother. He
just was. He just was. And just like Melchizedek,
Christ is eternal. So there's a great hope for us
who rest our hope in Christ. Luther, Martin Luther, called
this psalm the crown of all the psalms. And he said in verse
5, He said it's a wellspring, it's a treasury of all Christian
doctrines, understanding, wisdom, and comfort, richer and fuller
than any other passage of holy writ. Why? Because he looks and
sees Christ seated on the throne at the right hand of his father
as our mediator. And so all things are accomplished
by him. And so this is a glorious, triumphant
psalm declaring Christ's exaltation, declaring what he accomplished.
And for me, my eyes just drawn in amazement and wonder at that
lowest verse, that bottom verse, that last verse of the psalm
upon which all these other verses are built, they're resting on
the fact that Christ is the Redeemer. Christ redeemed his people. Christ
paid the price for our sins that we should go free and live in
Christ forevermore, rejoicing in what he's done for us. Therefore,
shall he lift up the head. Therefore, our savior was raised
again from the dead because he pleased the father well in all
things. He did exactly what the father
sent him to do. He accomplished it. So with that
introduction, let's go to verse one. Verse one, the Lord said
unto my Lord, or Jehovah said to my Adonai, Jehovah said to
my Adonai, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. David here in a spirit of prophecy
heard Jehovah speak to the Lord Jesus Christ, heard him speak
to his Lord. This great man, David, bowed
to Christ and confessed that this one who should come from
my seed is my Lord. He's my Savior. He's my King. He's the one whom the Father
gave everything into his hand for my good, for my redemption,
and for yours. It's for the people. David heard
him say, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. And his hearing there, what we
see in that is, this is how all of us hear and have a knowledge
of who the true and living God is. He speaks. He speaks. Without the word of God, you
and I would have no understanding of the true and living God. Had
God not spoken, we would not know him. We wouldn't even exist
if God had not spoken. We'd have no part in him and
no knowledge of him. God said, let there be light,
and there was light. And so our God spoke, and that's
how we know. And we receive light and understanding
from the word of God, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And we're told that word was
made flesh. God manifest in the flesh and
dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the
only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. This is how we know God. He speaks. And his voice is Christ, the
Word of God. And he reveals and manifests
who the true and living God is. He's the one who makes known
to us. As he said to Thomas, have I been with you so long,
Thomas, and still you don't know me? He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father. It's Christ, the Word of God,
who reveals the Father to us. He's the one who makes us to
know who the true and living God is. And so God speaks and
he manifests himself to our understanding through faith revealed in us
by his grace and power. So then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. That's why we come. That's why
we gather together to hear his word because this is how God
speaks and how he reveals himself to the hearts of his people.
To answer and address the questions of your heart. to teach you,
to comfort you, to settle you down in Christ, to sit us at
Christ's feet, to look to Him and to hear Him, to be fed and
nourished by the bread of heaven, to be comforted and taught of
Him, to be turned from our wicked works and our foolish ways and
to be turned again to the true and living God. And so don't
forsake the word of God, Because this is how God reveals himself
and manifests himself to his people. And it says that God
set him at his own right hand. And the reason why Christ was
set at God's right hand is because he obeyed the Father perfectly
in everything he sent him to do. He came as the servant of
God to accomplish our redemption. Philippians 2 verse 7 through
9 says, but he made himself of no reputation. the Son of God,
the eternal Son of God, came in the flesh, making himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. And so this is speaking of what
he did as a servant of God to obtain our redemption, to obtain
the forgiveness of our sins of his people, and to give us light
and life in himself to know the Father. And so having accomplished
that, he ascended to the Father and is in session now at the
right hand of the throne of God. That's what it means in session.
He's ruling and reigning. The doors are open. The door
of heaven is open. Like John, who looked and saw
a door open in heaven, that's what it's saying. Christ is in
session. He's there now, seated at the right hand of God, at
the right hand of the throne of God, ruling and reigning.
He took the book. He's worthy. None of us was worthy.
That book was sealed. But when he came, all those seals,
boop, boop, being undone and open, because he's implementing
the will and purpose of God in heaven and in earth. He's doing
it now, and he's making known to us that mysterious purpose
of God, of what he purposed to do for his people, whom he gave
to Christ before the foundation of the world. And now it's being
made known through this glorious gospel, publishing what Christ
has done, declaring what our Lord has done. and rejoicing
in him. And so verse two, verse two,
here's these blessings going forth for the people of God.
Psalm 110, verse two, the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength
out of Zion, rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. And it's
a beautiful picture there. of our Savior, who as a shepherd,
as a king, he rules with his scepter, and it's a scepter that
gives life. It's a scepter that destroys,
it's a scepter that gives life, and to his people, he gives life. And if need be, he'll chasten
us, and he'll correct us, but it buds life, just like Aaron's
rod that was separated from a tree, so to speak, but it budded, it
brought forth life. That's what Christ's rod does. It gives life, and it works life
in his people, and he does it right in the midst of his enemies,
showing that he is sovereign, that he's in perfect control,
that they have a will and they want to do certain things or
don't want things, doesn't matter. Christ is going to do what Christ
is going to do because he is the king, and he's ruling and
reigning right now. doing as He wills, according
to the will of God, and as it pleases Him. And so, whatever
needs to be brought to pass, He brings it to pass according
as it pleases Him. In His time, perfectly, in spite
of His enemies, He's in sovereign control. Look to Christ. Rest in Him, sinner. Believe
Him. Come to Christ. Lay down your
enmity, your weapons, your words. Look to Christ. Believe Him.
We cannot stand before God in our own works, in our own person,
we cannot approach unto God. God the Father sent His Son for
that very purpose, to bring His people in grace, by His Spirit,
to lead us into the presence of God and be accepted and received
of Him. And this church to us here, who
are weak and poor, and sinners in need of his grace, though
we be surrounded by our enemies, the Lord his God is with him
and the shout of a king is among them. We have the presence of
the Lord Jesus Christ in our midst and the shout of a king
that strikes fear in his enemies and speaks words of life to his
people to encourage you. to comfort you, to care for you,
and to provide for you in showing you that He's everything. Don't
be turned away and look to this world. This world is falling
apart. It's destroyed. It's ruined.
It's going the way of the world. It's full of sin and darkness.
But Christ is your light. And Christ is keeping you. And
Christ cares for you and is bringing you He's bringing you in His
Son, in His power, in His Spirit. Christ our Lord said, all power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Believe Him. He's ruling
right now on the throne. And we see these blessings manifest
in His people, who they are, verse 3. 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. I like how it says it in the
margin. More than the womb of the morning thou shalt have. the dew of thy youth. It speaks
of of his resurrection power, his eternal power and what he
works in his people, how he raises us from the dead, how he gives
us life in himself. We're not working life by this
old man of flesh. This is not an old life. This
is a new life brought in us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this we see first that the
that there's a people that the father gave to the son. All right,
thy people, thy people shall be willing. There's a people
whom the Father gave to the Son. John 17, six says, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. And just as we see that pattern
worked in the disciples there, so he works that same life in
you that believe this day. We didn't save ourselves. We
didn't get ourselves saved. We didn't make a decision for
Christ by our power, by this flesh. We believe Christ. We
call upon him. We confess him. We do believe.
And we do cry out to him for mercy by the grace and power
of God given to us through the gifts and blessings of Christ,
who accomplished our redemption and rose from the dead. And when
he was raised from the dead, he led captivity captive and
gave gifts to men. giving us faith and life in himself
and what he's done. And so there's a people given
according as God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. He's done it. And the second
thing we see from verse three there is that his people are
made willing. We are made willing because Christ's
redemption purchased for us. He purchased us and he has obtained
life for us so that we do live. We are born again. We are delivered
from death and darkness. That enmity which is in us by
nature is removed by his grace and he draws us by his word and
power and by his spirit in life, into the light of Christ, to
see that all our works are wrought in God. They're accomplished
in him. They're obtained for us by his
grace. And we're given a new spirit and a new heart so that
we do come forth presenting our bodies as living sacrifices to
the true and living God. We were made to want to know
him. We're given a hunger and thirst
for him. And He does lead us, and He does teach us, and He
does keep us, and He does separate us from this world, and He does
turn our hearts and minds to look to Christ. And as you go
by His rod, He's teaching us, and He's keeping us. He's pulling
us back sometimes, He's directing us over here, and He's providing
for us so that through these trials and difficulties and temptations,
we're learning our need of Christ. We're learning that we need him
both now and forever. He's everything for his people. And third, this occurs for them
in the day of Christ's power. The standard of the gospel is
lifted up. The banner is raised so that
we see it and are drawn to him. Isaiah 1110, in that day there
shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of
the people. It's a flag. It's a banner. It's
a beacon set up, raised up. Here it is. Here's life. Gather
here, the way an army would gather to that flag when they're rallying
to that flag to regroup and get ready for the next wave of the
battle. So the Lord raises us up, raises up the light, raises
up Christ, who said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men
unto me. And he raises that up through
the preaching of the gospel. Come to Christ. Hear his life. He teaches us of the Father.
Look to him. Look to Him and He works that
power and life in His people who are drawn to Him. And we
come to him in that power and grace of the true and living
God. From the womb of the morning,
thou hast the due of thy youth. He raises his people from the
dead. We're made new creatures by the
Lord, and we serve him in newness of spirit, in the new man of
his grace. Not the old man under the letter
of the law, but in the newness of his grace and power. He does
that. He works this, he draws his people
again and again. Now verse four, the Lord hath
sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. And it speaks to what God has
made Christ to us, our eternal mediator after the order of Melchizedek. You know, Melchizedek only comes
into the scripture one time in Genesis, one time. We don't know
who he is, where he came from, why he appeared there, but we
do know because we saw how that he interposed himself. When Abraham had that great victory,
and had that been me, I probably would have been extremely proud.
and boasting, like, did you see what so-and-so did, and did you
see how he came upon them, and we defeated the enemy, and we
did that, and we got all the people and all the goods back?
Well, the king of Sodom was going out to meet Abraham, and was
going to talk to him about being in league with him. And I think
his name is Bezor, king of Sodom. King of Sodom. And I think that
means son of evil. Or he is. He is an evil, wicked
man. I mean, just look at the people
that were in his city. Wicked, wicked men. Filthy, vile, wretched
creatures. And he's going out to meet Abraham
and wants to be in league with Abraham, this great man who had
defeated those kings, which he himself couldn't do. But he defeated
those kings. And in comes Melchizedek, who interposes right between
the two, puts himself right in between them. And before that
wicked king could open his mouth and persuade Abraham, Melchizedek
brought the bread and the wine, a picture of the body and blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Abraham ate that bread and
wine and Abraham was strengthened and grounded. and refreshed again,
and being reminded of the true and living God who is his God,
whom he is joined unto, and he's strengthened and nourished with
Christ, the blood and the body of Christ, the bread and the
wine of Christ. And then, after that happened,
that's when the king of Sodom opened his mouth and said, hey,
let's be in league, and you can do this, you just take all the
goods, just give me the people, Just like the devil like y'all
give you the world Jesus if you'll just bow down and worship me
you can have the whole world just give me the people and Christ
said no No, and so Abraham was strengthened that same way. Nope.
Nope you I don't want nothing of yours You keep it all I don't
I don't need that which is yours. And so he was strengthened by
Melchizedek. Well Christ is our Melchizedek and he's eternal
Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forevermore He does
not change He does not change. Now, let's just read. Well, in proportion as his will
is effectual in the hearts of his people, who are made willing
by his grace, so Christ executes the same authority and power
in the wicked as he does in his willing people. All right, so
we saw what he does in his people, to the glory and praise of his
name, and now we see what he does to the wicked. Verse five
and six, the Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings
in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen.
He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. Some think that
means hell should be full of the wicked. He shall wound the
heads over many countries. So not only does our Lord speak
peaceably to his brethren, but he commands his word so that
the wicked are made fearful, scatter and run. And then they
try and regroup, and they come at him, and they try to overthrow
his rule and power, but they shall not prevail. The battle
is won. Christ has already conquered
all his foes. The head of the serpent is crushed
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and now it's just the outworking.
It's just the finalization of everything Christ accomplished
in his redemption. He's just being worked out before
our eyes and he's calling his sheep in and saving them because
he's not willing that any of his people should perish, but
that all of his people should come to repentance. and to life
in him. And John 1633 says, these things
I've spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the
world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world. And so the enemies of Christ
rage and boast and fight against the Lord, but they've lost the
war to him who is the king of kings and the Lord of lords.
Sitting right now in session, reigning and ruling, over heaven
and earth according to the will of God his Father who gave it
to him into his hand to do it. He's doing it now, brethren.
Amen.