All right, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn back with me to Psalm 45. Psalm chapter 45. And I've entitled this message, The Majestic
Ride of Christ. The Majestic Ride of Christ. Our text will be found in verse
4. And in thy majesty, ride prosperously. because of truth and meekness
and righteousness, and in thy right hand shall teach thee terrible
things." We've been studying that passage in John that says,
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And we've gone over the The meaning
of the word Christ, it is the anointed one of God. He that
believeth that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed of God, the one
and only one who has fulfilled all the Old Testament types and
shadows, and especially these which are summed up in these
three offices of prophet, priest, and king. Now, we went over that
Christ is our high priest. He is the offering for sin. And we went over that he is the
prophet of God, and by him the gospel is preached to his people. And now we have dealt with Jesus
Christ as King, and I've chosen this passage of Scripture to
deal with that. I believe it's one of the best
ones that relays this message to us, that Christ is King. And God here says, My heart is
indicting a good matter. It's overflowing with a good
matter. And this good matter is touching
the King, His King, His Anointed, His Son, Jesus Christ. And he says this in verse 2,
that He is fairer than the children of men. We went over this last
week, this verse here, that Jesus Christ is the fairest of all
His creation because He is both God and man. He is the fairest
among men. He is the only man without sin.
It says into His lips is poured grace. His lips were full of
grace. His lips were like honey, dripping
for the strength and nourishment. It's like that honey that Jonathan
ate in the wilderness. It gave him strength to overcome
his enemies. His word is like honey. It is
nourishing. It is strengthening to God's
people. And he said this, Thou art blessed
forever. God bless you forever. What does
this mean? All blessings flow from this
cave. All the spiritual blessings are
in Christ Jesus. And because of our union with
Christ, All of those blessings flow to us from Him. He is blessed forever. In verse
3, we read of His call to war. Gird on thy mighty sword, gird
on thy sword on thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with thy glory and with
thy majesty. Here Christ is called to war
against His enemy. He is called to destroy all the
enemies of God's people. Christ, with the sword of righteousness
by His own obedience, has come into this world to obtain righteousness
for His people. And by the sword of His justice,
God's justice has slain Him and satisfied the justice of God
at So, the first thing I want us to see this morning, look
at this. He said, and he that is called
to war over his enemies, now God has called him to save his
people. That was his purpose. Now then,
we see the result, the purposed result of his warring. He says this, and in thy majesty,
ride prosperously. I want you to see this, first
of all, that Christ has ridden prosperously. That Jesus Christ
came into the world as God's mighty king and warrior, and
all that God purposed him to accomplish, he did accomplish. This is a prophecy. Ride prosperously. And when Christ came, I want
you to see this, he did ride Prosperously. He did ride prosperously. This was the decree of God for
his success. Prosperously. Victoriously. Successfully. That's how he should
ride. And this victory that Christ
accomplished over sin, over death, over Satan, and over the law,
I want you to know this was not by chance. His victory was purposed
of God. It was a purposed victory. And
this battle He has won was won before it even started. Before
it even began. Before Christ ever came into
the world. This victory in the eyes and
mind of God was already won. Was already won. It was purposed of God that Christ
should come and defeat His enemies. God here declares the sure success
over all His foes. He prescribes this for His warrior,
His King. Ride prosperously. Ride victoriously. Ride successfully. And Jesus
Christ, the King, He has come in His majesty. He said, in thy
majesty ride prosperously. This is talking about His beauty,
His honor, His glory, His righteousness, His holiness. Did He not come
in the beauty of holiness? Did He not come in a righteous
nature? In a majestic nature? Though
He had no money. Do you realize this? Everywhere
Christ went, Everyone looked up to him. He was majestic in
everything he did. He was glorious. They couldn't
help but notice it. He said, Which of you convinces
me of sin? Not a word could be spoken against
him. He was honorable. He was majestic. I remember the Pharisees, they
said, Never a man speak like this man. Now this was his enemies.
This was his enemies. They even noticed his majesty. You remember when they came for
him in the garden of Gethsemane with all the swords and spears
and staves? And he said, We've come for Jesus
of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And they fell
backward and bowed themselves. Why? He was riding in majesty.
He was majestic. He rides with his mighty sword
and has ridden in the chariot of prosperity. Look over at Psalm
47. It says in Psalm 47, O clap your
hands, all you people, shout unto God with the voice of triumph,
for the Lord Most High is terrible. I tell you, He's terrible, He's
fearful before the lost men of the world. He is a fearful God. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. But to us, this word terrible
means reverence. We who believe in Christ, we
reverence Him. He is a great King over all the
earth. We know this. Christ reigns supreme. What does it say? He shall subdue
the people under us. All his enemies, the people,
his enemies, he will subdue and put under the feet of his elect. And the nations under our feet,
and he shall choose our inheritance. What is our inheritance? God
said, I am thy exceeding great reward. What is thine inheritance?
Forgiveness of sins, pardon of sins, eternal life. And what
is this? This should cause every believer
to clap his hands and rejoice. Why? Because He has subdued our
enemies under us. He has subdued all our foes. Believer, this should be always
our heart. All that God prescribed him to
do, he accomplished. By his mighty hand, he has cut
off the head of the serpent. He has destroyed the works of
the devil. Christ, as our mighty Savior,
has accomplished and removed all our sins that separated us
from God. He, by his own hand, did that. He did that. He bore our guilt under the justice
and wrath of God and satisfied the law in the stead of all his
saints. Therefore, this is what the king
says to you and me who believe, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you. Lo, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go,
I will come again and receive you unto myself. Don't be afraid, rejoice, because
he that is purposed to ride against our foes has ridden prosperously. I know this, when the law said
to us, Thou shalt, what did our nature say? Our nature said,
We will not. When the law said, Thou shalt
not, what did our nature say? We shall. Yet God in grace and
mercy towards such rebel sinners has sent by His love His own
Son, the King, to accomplish our salvation. The text is telling
us that the King who has His sword upon His thigh is ready
for battle He will come and ride in majesty, and He will ride
prosperously, because it was determined of God. Even so, Jesus
is a prosperous King, and His ride upon this earth as Savior
of His people. He did not fail. He did not fail. He rode victoriously
as a mighty King. Christ, our Redeemer, did not
fail, but was successful in the salvation of His people. Isaiah
42 and verse 4, I believe it is, said, He shall not, what? Fail, nor be discouraged. That's one thing about Christ,
you never see Him discouraged. He was never discouraged. He
was always triumphing over our enemy. In Matthew 1, verse 21,
it says he shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. John 6, verse 39, says, Of all
the Father giveth me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again at the last day. Romans 9, verse 26, And all Israel
shall be saved. And all Israel. shall be saved. Now, friend,
does that sound like the defeated Christ of this generation? I'll tell you what, no. Our Christ
is victorious. Christ has been victorious, and
what is the result? God hath exalted Him, and given
Him a name that is above every name, that every knee shall bow."
You got that? Every knee shall bow to this
King. God has decreed it and it will
take place. Look at the masses who will not
bow now. They soon will bow. They soon
will bow. It is my heart's desire that
God even would cause us all right now to kneel at the feet of this
victorious King. This victorious King. God has
exalted Him. There is a man in heaven. Look
at verse 7 even of your text. Go back to your text in Psalm
45, look at verse 7. Thou lovest righteousness and
hated wickedness, therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness. Where? Above thy fellows. Where
is he? He is above us all. He is king. He is risen. Behold now by faith the risen
victor, Jesus Christ. He is the anointed of God to
be king. He has come, and I'll tell you
this, He has ridden prosperously. That's the gospel, isn't it?
The gospel. I remember that track that's
out there, Do and Done. If your gospel is do, your gospel
is not the gospel. If your gospel is done, that's
the gospel. Why? God decreed it right there
on your page. It says, ride prosperously. And he has ridden prosperously. You believe on Christ. You believe
on Christ. Isn't that how you see him, a
victorious Savior? I see him as a king. Lord, a
king of kings and Lord of lords. Now then, let me ask you this,
you that believe on him, you that know this of him, How is
it that you have seen Him as King? While others in your generation
go around seeing a weak, effeminate Savior, one who is trying to
save but has no power to save, how is it that you see Him as
He is, King, victorious? How is it you have come to believe
on Him and bow to Him? who has ridden prosperously,
has come in time and ridden prosperously upon your heart. It's because
He has come and conquered you. He has come and conquered you. And
that's the second part I wanted to see. Christ has ridden prosperously. He, by His righteousness and
by His blood, has accomplished the salvation of His people.
He was prosperous, victorious. The Scripture says that He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. In Hebrews 9 and verse 12 it
says He obtained eternal redemption. for us. He's obtained it. He's victorious. That reminds
me of Revelation when He said He took the book. When no one
else could look on the book, no one else could take the book,
nobody could look on the book. But Christ, the slain Lamb, He
took the book because He is the victorious King. He took That's
what the man said, Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the
king, hath prevailed to take the book. And because he hath
prevailed, I know this, he shall prevail. He shall prevail on
the hearts of all his elect. Now we who have been prevailed
on, we who have been conquered by him, we know the standard
of God. The standard of God is holiness. That's the standard. You know
what the minimum to get into heaven is? Holiness. The minimum standard is perfection. If you want to know how to obtain
acceptance with God, you must be as righteous as Jesus Christ. You must be. If any man is to
be accepted, he must be as holy as God is. His righteousness
must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
It must be perfect righteousness. We know this, too, that it's
impossible. We know that is impossible. We are all born in sin and unable
to do anything by nature but sin. And so Paul says, The Scripture
hath concluded. I don't care what man concludes.
I don't care what man says. The Scripture hath concluded
all under sin. All under sin. There is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands
it. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Therefore, Paul said in that
same chapter of Romans 3, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the deeds of the
law is what? The knowledge of sin. How do
you know sin except the law said you shouldn't lie, you shouldn't
steal? The law that is written in your
heart. So then, we are all under sin,
incapable of becoming holy. Well, you say, Pastor, didn't
you say Christ was successful? Didn't you say he pleased God
and rode prosperously to accomplish? Yes, he did. He rode prosperously. I'll tell you, he was successful
to redeem only those he came to redeem. He came to redeem only those
that the Father had given him. He was successful. He was victorious
in redeeming his elect. He accomplished all that they
needed for the acceptance of God and salvation. But He did
not accomplish this for all men. Jesus did not redeem the sins
of every one of Adam's race. Listen, if He did, there would
be no hell. Every man, woman, boy and girl
that ever lived upon the face of the earth, if Christ died
for them, they would believe. and they would be saved. Why?
Because he's prosperous in everything he does. He was prosperous. It was never God's purpose, and
it was never Christ's work to redeem all of mankind. Go to Romans 8. Go to Romans
8. I can take you many scriptures. Let's just look at this one. You that have bowed to Christ,
you that have been conquered by Christ, Paul here says, you
know something. You that believe on Christ, you
know something. He said, we know. We know that all things work
together for good to all men without exception.
Is that what it said? Nope. To them. To them. Well, who are them? Them that
love God. You love God? Well, that depends. That depends on this second part.
If you really love God. A lot of men say they love God.
But how do you know if you really love God? To them that are called
according to His purpose. Now, if you've been called according
to His purpose, you love God. And then we know that all things
work together for you, good for you. Now, who are those called
according to the purpose of God? For whom He did foreknow. Not
what he foreknew, but whom he foreknew. What did he do? He predestinated. He did also
predestinate. To what? Be conformed to the
image of his Son. To be made holy. That was God's
purpose. For those he foreknew, he predestinated
that this should take place. That they should be as holy as
his Son. Why? that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren, that he might have the preeminence. You
know, the firstborn had the preeminence. The firstborn inherited everything. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
what did he do? Them he also called, and whom
he called he also justified, and whom he justified he also
glorified. Notice, who love God are called
according to His purpose. What's that purpose? That we
should be in the image of Christ. But what is our experience? By
nature we were not born in the image of Christ, were we? By
nature we were born in the image of Adam, nor did we love God. But to all that Christ came to
redeem, He did redeem, therefore they shall be called they shall
be justified, and they shall be glorified. This is the grace of God to call
every chosen, redeemed sinner to be conformed to the image
of his Son. Believer, let us then pray that
God, who has ridden prosperously, will even come now and ride prosperously. You who have believed, you understand
why you believe? It's because he has ridden prosperously
over your heart. He has come and conquered your
soul. He has come and given you what
you needed to be accepted of God. Holiness, righteousness,
atonement for sin. That which he already accomplished,
now what does he do? He comes and riding, he gives
it to his people. He applies it. He applies it. And it's my desire right now
that he would. If there is a sinner who has
not been conquered by Christ, it is my desire that he would
even now ride. That he would now even shoot
the arrows of his gospel into the heart of his enemies. and
causing them to fall in conviction under his feet. And he by his
grace would raise them. So then, you that have been called
to see Jesus Christ and his prosperity, I want us to look now and see
the grace of God that has come to prosper in our hearts. How
this has come to prosper in your hearts. How is it that he conquered
me? How is it that he rides prosperously? First of all, I want you to see
he rides upon the chariot of the Holy Spirit. A young Jew has come now in the
power of the Holy Spirit to conquer you. The day that Jesus Christ
ascended victoriously into heaven. What did He do? He did what He
promised. He sent His Spirit into the world. You remember, it was manifested.
by the tongues that they were given. The apostles were given
the ability to speak in other languages that they didn't know. And they were preaching the gospel,
and this was an amazing thing. How is it that every man hears
the gospel in his own language? They were astounded. And you
know what Peter said? He said, This is what the prophet
Joel said. This was prophesied beforehand. He said, "...it shall come to
pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit
upon all flesh. And your sons and daughters shall
prophesy, and young men shall see visions, and old men shall
dream dreams. And on my servants and on my
handmaidens will I pour out in those days my Spirit." This is the means of salvation
to his servants is to pour out his Spirit upon our souls. Friends, there is no salvation
that comes apart from the Holy Spirit of God. This is how Christ
rides into the heart of his people, by the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Spirit. In 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse
13 it says, But we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation, listen, through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Sanctification of the
Spirit. There is no life without the
Spirit. Remember what he said to Nicodemus in John 3. He said,
You must be born again. No man can see the kingdom of
God. No man can see the king except he be born again. No man. You'll never bow to Christ
except the Spirit of God quicken you to life. He said, The wind
bloweth where it listeth, you can hear the sound thereof, but
you can't tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone
that is born of what? The Spirit of God. The Spirit
of God. Now a person can know all he
wants to know about election and redemption. You may even
believe Christ is successful. But unless you're born of the
Spirit of God, You have no life. How many academic Calvinists
are running around with no spirit? No life. They got all the knowledge
in their head. They can spout it out in their
catechisms. But really have no life and love
for Christ. In Romans 8 and verse 9 it says,
But you are not of the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be
the Spirit of God dwell in you. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. Do you have the Spirit of God?
When Christ rides prosperously in the hearts of His people,
this is how He comes. He comes by the power of the
Holy Spirit. And when the Spirit comes, the
Spirit of God dwells in every one of His elect. He comes and
gives them life. He comes and implants in them
a new nature, a holy nature. Now then, how do you know that
the Spirit's written prosperously in your heart? How do you know
if you have the Spirit of God? There's a bunch of people running
around speaking gibberish that say they have the Spirit of God.
They say, well, that's my evidence. I'm speaking in unknown languages.
Some say, well, I've been baptized. That's my evidence. Some say,
well, I've ate in the Lord's Supper. That's my evidence. Nowhere in Scripture is that
the evidence of having the Spirit of God. You know what the evidence
is? Faith in Christ alone is the evidence of life. That's the only evidence that
we have is, do you believe on Jesus Christ? Do you rest solely
on Him? Are you trusting Him in your
works? Faith is the evidence. And so
when the Spirit of God prides, this is how we know He's there. Faith. Faith only comes by the
Spirit of God. I like this. In Galatians 4 and
verse 6, Paul says, "...because you are Son." Because you are sons, God sent
forth His Spirit of His Son into your hearts. You see the order? You were sons before God sent
forth His Spirit into your hearts. But because you are the sons
of God, adopted eternally by the Father, redeemed by the Lord
Jesus Christ, because you are sons, what's the result of that? God sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. Only sons of God
do that. Only sons of God can cry out
to their Father in faith, trusting in Christ. A man has faith in
many things, but unless he's born of the Spirit of God, he
cannot have faith in Christ. People speak so lightly of faith
as though it's something you can do, any man could just do. It's so simple. Just act upon
your will and you could have faith. Christ said faith is not
so simple. As a matter of fact, faith is
impossible for you. John 6, verse 44, Jesus says,
No man can come unto Me. Anybody ever misunderstand that?
Is that too high of a language for anyone? Everybody can understand
that. No man can come unto me. No man has the ability to believe
on me except, I'm thankful for divine exception, except the
Father which has sent me draw him. And I will raise him up at the
last day. As it is written in the prophets, they shall all
be taught of God. Therefore, every man therefore
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father," what does he
do? He comes to me. You come to him? How did you
learn that? God taught you that. The Spirit of God came into your
heart. He rode prosperously. And now you believe. Now you believe. If you have
believed on Christ, if you have received Him, this is the evidence
that God has taught you by His Spirit. And it's because God
has drawn us to Christ. And this calling, I want you
to know it is irresistible. It is an irresistible call of
the Spirit of God. As a matter of fact, in Ephesians
chapter 1, Ephesians 1, verse 18, it says,
"...the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us who believe according to the
working of His mighty power." How is it you believe? According
to the working of His mighty power. You believe because He
rode prosperously. You realize this, that every
man Christ intends to save, He will save. He will. The Spirit of God will come to
each of them, and they shall believe on all that the Father
giveth me," does this sound majestic enough for you? "...all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me." And here's another majestic
point, "...him that cometh to me I will never cast out." The
king said that. The king said that. And we found
that to be true, haven't Do you suppose at any moment
that Lazarus could have resisted the voice of Christ when he called
him from the dead? I'll tell you what, if there's
any man that would probably want to resist, it would have been
Lazarus. He was in heaven. Anybody want to come back? Do
you suppose that he wanted to come back? No. But it didn't
matter, the king called him. Sure it is with us. When the
king calls a man to life and faith, there is nothing that
man can do but believe. I remember this one lady, she
came into our church and she gave a good definition of faith
one time. She said, you know what, I was listening to the
message and I was an unbeliever when I started listening. But
as I listened, I could not help but believe. That's a good definition
of faith. You just can't help but believe. This morning, can you help breathing?
It comes pretty natural if you've got any health at all, it comes
natural. And if you're sick, you sure want it. But I'll tell
you this, it comes natural to us to believe. Therefore, when
Christ rides upon his chariot, the Spirit is his chosen means.
Now then, let me quickly go over this. I want you to see the three
horses that pull the chariot of the Spirit. The three horses
here that pull this chariot. that makes Christ ride prosperously
are this," look back in your text, "...and in thy majesty ride prosperously
because of truth and meekness and righteousness." These are
the three horses that pull the chair to the Spirit. You know
the first one that comes out? The first one that leads the
pack is truth. The horse of truth leads the
Holy Spirit's train. This is in reference to the gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The work of the Spirit is supernatural.
He quickens the dead sinner to life. He creates a new nature
and gives us faith. This is something that none of
us can do of ourselves. But it must be done in the power
Isn't that correct? You that are quickened, that
was done by the power of God. And no man knows God but the
Spirit, and the Spirit will only use one means by which to quicken
dead sinners, the truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ. He will not use dreams. He will
not use angels or visions. He will not even use creation.
He will not use man's reasoning or man's wisdom. He will not
use emotional experience. But only the preaching of the
gospel is the chosen means by which the Spirit conquers His
people. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians
1 verse 17, Christ sent me not to baptize. That does not diminish
the importance of baptism. Baptism is an ordinance that
Christ gave. But Paul said, that is not my
primary mission here. My primary mission is to preach
the gospel. Preach the gospel. How? Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made none effect. If I use my
wisdom, and try to manipulate you by my wisdom or earthly wisdom,
that makes the cross of Christ none effective. It's not going
to work. It's not going to be used. For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish, what? Foolishness. What is it
to you who are called? It is the power of God. That's
your experience. The preaching of the gospel is
the means God chose. It's the means God used on you. Now why did he do it? As it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of the
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by what the world calls foolishness, by the
foolishness of preaching to do what? Save them that believe. Why is preaching the means? It
pleased God. I don't need any other reason. Do you need any other reason
to hear it? No, because you who are saved know this is the power
of God. This is the means by which the
Spirit of God rides into the heart and Christ conquers his
people through the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, so
then faith cometh by what? Hearing, and not just hearing
anything, the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. Therefore we are not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believes it. Now to those of you who perish,
this is foolishness. Is that not right? Why are the
churches of God not full? Because preaching is foolishness. It doesn't make sense. Why stand
up there? Why sit there and listen to a
man preach the same message Sunday after Sunday after Sunday? Because
we don't have any different messages. We got one message. It's Christ
and Him crucified. Why? It's foolishness to them
that perish. To those who are outside of Christ,
they have no love for this, no desire for this. But to you who
are saved, you know this is how He conquers. You know this is
how He conquered you through the truth. And notice the gospel of Christ
is called truth, and therefore any gospel that is not true is
a lie. If you were to take a nice glass
of water, clear, pure, and you were to take one drop of poison
and put it in the glass. Now the water is 99.5% pure. Would you drink it? No, it would be death. And so
it is with the gospel. If it is not 100% Christ and
Him crucified, it's poison. If it leaves any glory for you,
it's not the truth. If salvation is all of God, if
it is accomplished all of Christ, it is applied by all of the Spirit
of God, it is kept by the power of God, Then it is 100% truth. Anything less, Paul said, let
that man be accursed who preaches any other gospel. The second
horse is meekness. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. Is that not an humbling
message? This message of the truth is
very humbling. It abases man. How does the Father
then draw us by this gospel? Is it by thunder of Sinai? Is it by the law? Are you drawn
by the law when you read the law? Is that something that draws
you? No, it's fearful. God doesn't draw us by the law,
by the thunderings of Sinai. He doesn't draw us like some
animal. Taken by the reins, you girls,
you ride horses, you take that bit and you just pull it this
way and you pull it that way and it leads that horse wherever
you want. That's not how God draws us. He doesn't put a bit
and bridle in our mouth and draw us that way. It's not like an
animal. That's not how the Father... Go to Hosea chapter 11. See how
God draws you. See how God draws you. He draws you in meekness. Hosea chapter 11. It says in verse 4, "...I drew
them," talking about Ephraim, "...I drew them with cords of
a man, with bands of love. And I was to them as they that
took off the yoke of their jaws and laid meat unto them." When
Christ came to you, is it not that He took off the bridle?
Took off the yoke? He didn't put a yoke. He didn't
put a bridle in your mouth. He took it off. He took off the
yoke. The lost believe serving Christ
is a yoke, don't they? But we who serve Christ, we see
that He has taken off the yoke of sin, guilt, and set us free. And that freedom causes us to
want to serve Him. He drew us with cords of a man,
with bands of love. That's how He draws men, with
love. And He lays that meat, Christ,
His flesh and blood before us, and we eat. In the previous chapter
of this in Hosea, Ephraim was likened unto a heifer, a heifer
that plowed wickedness. But God does not draw His children
with cord of a cattle, lead them like some dumb animal, but He
draws them with love and grace. He draws us not against our will,
but gives us a will by which we are made willing. He gives us a new nature by which
we come. His people, Psalm 110, verse
3, shall be willing in the day of his power. He draws us in
meekness. He says, The Lord hath appeared
unto me of old, Jeremiah 31, 3. Yea, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I gone
thee. When Christ rides prosperously
into your heart, it's love that draws you. It's His grace that
draws you. But grace, when it is displayed
in the precious person and work of Christ, who is meek and lowly
in heart, he takes off the yoke of self-righteousness and law, and I'll tell you this, no one
ever pushed me to Christ. That's what religion does. They
try to push you into Christ. They try to get you to make a
decision, get you to do something. You didn't have to get me to
come to Christ. Matter of fact, I ran to Christ. I ran to him for refuge. Did
you? When he rode prosperously in my heart, I fled to him, willingly,
desirous. And I'll tell you, the effect
of his meekness makes us meek. Isn't that right? The effect
of the meekness and grace and love of God in the sinner's heart
causes us to be meek. Therefore, we preach the gospel
in meekness and humility. You know, I can't look down on
anyone. If I do, it's because of self-righteousness. We must preach the gospel in
meekness, knowing this, that God is able to save any sinner. He is able to save any sinner. That's why we preach to everyone.
Now, the third thing is the Spirit of Christ always is drawn by
the horse of righteousness. This word sums up the gospel.
Righteousness. Righteousness. Over in Revelation 19, verse
7, it says, Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him.
For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made
herself ready. How is it you've made yourself
ready? Isn't that by the power and grace of the Spirit of God?
Yes. And how is it that she is made ready? And to her was granted
by the king that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, and the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Everyone who believes in Christ,
you have been given, granted to wear this robe of his righteousness. You that have been conquered
by the Spirit of God, you gladly by faith adorn the righteousness
of Christ in your hearts. You long to live out that righteousness
even as you live in this world. You long to be righteous in everything
because He's made us righteous. Believer, behold, the joy of
this thought, this righteousness, that is without spot and blemish,
belongs to us. Therefore his saints only desired
to be found," what? "...in his righteousness." Paul
said, I count all things but done, all things but done, that
I might win Christ, I might be found in his righteousness, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. We only
want to be found in His righteousness. If you've been conquered, I know
this, you only want His righteousness. You only want to be cleansed
by His blood. You only want to serve Him. You
only want to honor Him. You only want to be found in
Him. That is the evidence of His conquest
of our hearts. And listen, this is not a one-time
thing. This is a constant, perpetual thing. We always long to be found
in Him. We always long to serve our King. Why? Because He has ridden prosperously. He has accomplished our salvation
by the sacrifice of Himself. He has ridden prosperously by
the Spirit of God in our hearts. He has ridden in truth by the
preaching of the gospel. He has ridden in meekness and
drew us with love and grace. He has ridden in righteousness,
and now we are clothed in His righteousness. Are you not glad to serve such
a King? I'll tell you. I wouldn't give two cents for
the Christ being preached today in modern religion. Just wouldn't
give two cents for him. Poor guy, he's riding in defeat,
longing to save men but can't. Did that sound anything like
that? No. Gird on thy sword, O thou most
mighty, and in thy majesty Is that the Christ you believe
in? John says, that's because you were born of the Spirit of
God. You're born of the Spirit of God. I pray God will bless
this to you. Let's be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, I do pray that you would bless
the message even according to your mercy. I pray that Christ, who has ridden
prosperously, would even do so today. conquering the hearts
of men, subduing the old nature of sin and implanting the new
nature of Christ in the sinner. And Father, that you would by
grace arouse the new nature in us, stir us up, that we should
love you and serve you and honor you as you are our King. I pray
that you would do this for Christ's Amen.