All right, Psalm 72, and I want
to pick up right where we left off in verse six. In verse six
of Psalm 72, it says, he shall come down like rain upon the
mown grass as showers that water the earth. Now, it's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ here is
compared to a rain coming down on the grass and showers that
water the earth. And it also says in verse seven,
in his days shall the righteous flourish. and abundance of peace
so long as the moon endureth." So, here again we have a simile,
we have a comparison of two things. We have Christ who is compared
to rain coming down and this rain falls on the grass and we
know what happens when rain falls on the grass. Around here in
California, it's dry except in the winter months and the grass
turns brown and it's just dead looking except where there's
irrigation. Then in the winter time, as soon
as it rains, you can't keep the weeds down. The grass just springs
up and is green everywhere. So that's the way we know it
in the physical world. And the Lord says, this is the
way the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be. He's going to fall
like rain on the grass, on the earth. And then he says here,
in his days shall the righteous flourish. So we know this is
talking about Christ himself coming down. And the time when
he came down, of course, was when he came into the world.
He came into the world by the will of God to accomplish his
father's will. He accomplished that will, and
having accomplished it, he sent his Holy Spirit into the world
to attend the preaching of the gospel, to enable his apostles
to understand and to carry that gospel into all the world and
they did and therefore because of them we who are Gentiles have
heard and have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1st Timothy
chapter 3, I quote this verse often but I'm going to read it
to make sure I get it right. In 1st Timothy chapter 3 and
verse 16 he says He says, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. So godliness is a mystery until
God makes it known. And the godliness that he's talking
about here is what follows. This is the godliness. God was
manifest in the flesh. That's Christ. God himself, the
Lord Jesus Christ, was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
Spirit. The Spirit of God justified Christ
when he raised him from the dead, proved that he was the Son of
God, that he had his Father's will and words and he fulfilled
it, and justified his people when he justified him. It also
says he was seen of angels. So the angels whom Christ created,
who are the servants of Christ for the heirs of salvation, as
it says in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14, they saw him. And you can imagine what they
were considering, what they thought when they saw the Lord of heaven,
step from his throne and become man, and as man, fulfill his
own law and to answer for all of the sins of all of his people
in order to bring them to God, to make them holy, and to present
them without fault and without blame before God in that holiness
and that righteousness which he worked out. The angels saw
that. They saw him rise from the dead.
And then it says he was preached to the Gentiles. That's what
I'm referring to. That's the coming down like rain
on the mown grass. Christ came down. He fulfilled
God's will. He ascended back to heaven. He sent the Spirit of God, the
Spirit of his Father, his own Spirit, into the world to enable
his apostles through the wisdom he gave to them, of himself and
of the gospel and of the scriptures to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. That was God's promise. That
was his covenant that he would save his people out of every
nation. And then it says in the last phrase of 1 Timothy 3.16,
he was believed on in the world. And that's all part of this mystery
of godliness that the Gentiles who heard the gospel of Christ
and therefore heard of Christ from Christ in glory they heard
him and they believed him and also says he was received up
into glory. Now this is talking about not only the apostles who
saw all this before Christ was received up into glory but also
what happened following that being received up into glory.
In Psalm 72, he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ coming
in this way. And so he compares it to the
grass receiving the rain and the earth receiving the rain
and the effects that it has on the grass on the earth. And that
is that it flourishes. It comes up and it grows abundantly. And that's what happened. It
says, in his days shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace
so long as the moon endureth. So I want to read to you a passage
from Hosea chapter 6. In Hosea chapter 6 and verse
1 it says, come and let us return to the Lord for he hath torn
and he will heal us. He has smitten, and He will bind
us up. After two days will He revive
us. In the third day He will raise us up." Obviously, this
is talking about God's people. It's also talking about the two
days in which they were yet unrevived and then on the third day they
were raised up. And so this is clearly speaking
about in prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ and his people with
him. When the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died, was buried
and rose again the third day, his people were given the same,
they accomplished the same work in him that he accomplished.
So that his work in saving his people, they also did that work
in him. We died. We died with him, we
were crucified with him, we were buried and we were raised again,
and now we live to God because he lives. That's the message
of the gospel. And so it goes on, he says, we
shall live in his sight, this is Hosea 6 verse 2, and now verse
3, Hosea 6, then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord.
And that's what happens when the Lord saves us, we follow
Christ. His going forth is prepared as
the morning. He shall come to us as the rain
and as the latter and former rain upon the earth. So the Lord
Jesus Christ, as it says in Psalm 72, and here now also in Hosea
6, comes as the rain, and this rain comes to the Lord's people. He says He shall come to us as
the rain. So the grass and the earth in
Psalm 72 is being compared to the Lord's people upon whom Christ
comes as rain on the earth and on the grass. And they flourish
because of that, because they died with Christ and rose with
Christ. And that's the wonder of this. And then it says, they shall
return to the Lord. It says, he has torn us, he will
heal us, he has smitten us, and he will bind us up. How did the
Lord tear us and smite us? And how did he heal us and bind
us up? How shall we return to the Lord our God, and when shall
these things be?" Well, how he did this tearing and smiting
was in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our death to sin and our resurrection
to God is by our union with Christ in His death and in His resurrection. His death was our death and His
resurrection is our resurrection to eternal life so that we live
to God because He lives to God. He's the resurrection and the
life and all who believe on Him have been raised to life. It
says in John 5 24 Jesus said whoever believes on him that
sent me has already passed from death to life. So there's a resurrection
that has happened there. And when shall this occur? Well
this scene is fulfilled from Psalm 72 when the Lord Jesus
Christ came down like rain, when he fulfilled the judgment and
righteousness that God gave him and that was for our justification
and our life, and his life, our death, and his death, and our
resurrection, and his resurrection, as it says in so many places
in the New Testament. For example, in Colossians chapter
3 it says, if you then be risen with Christ, Or he says, Christ
who is our life. So those are just a couple of
places. And Jesus said in John 14 verse 19, because I live,
you shall live also. So when these things were accomplished
is when he executed the judgments and the righteousness spoken
of in the first few verses of this psalm. So when he comes
down to us, he comes by his Holy Spirit in the preaching of the
gospel declared to us when he declares his glorious achievements
by the will of God. All of that refers to Christ
coming to us. And the thing I like to think
about is that whenever Christ comes to us, he comes to us in
all that he is. He doesn't come partially. He
comes to us in His fullness. And so when the Spirit of God
comes to us in the Gospel, and we receive Him by faith, we're
receiving Christ in all of His fullness. And that's why it says
in Colossians 2 that we're complete in Him. And all the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in Him, and we're complete in Him. This
was also spoken of, this coming down like rain, was also spoken
of in 2 Samuel 23, when David, near the end of his life, he
says in 2 Samuel 23 verse 3, the God of Israel said, the rock
of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just. Now that's a general truth, but
it's specifically true of the Lord Jesus Christ. He rules over
us. And that's why in this Psalm,
Psalm 72, it opened up with this prayer to give him God's judgments
and righteousness for that purpose. He says, David says in 2 Samuel
23, he must be just ruling in the fear of God. And then he
goes on in verse four, he shall be as the light of the morning. Now, the light of the morning.
The Lord Jesus Christ clearly is the light. He said, I'm the
light of this world. And we know he's the light. Second
Corinthians chapter four, it says that God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. He is the light. He's the light
of his people. He's the light of the world.
He's the light of God. And so it says that in many different
places. In Luke chapter one, for example,
Zacharias was prophesying, and he said that through the tender
mercy of our God, the Dayspring from on high has visited us.
The Dayspring would be the one who appears in the morning, the
Son of Righteousness. Malachi chapter four and verse
two says that. He's called the Son of Righteousness.
And so Zechariah in Luke chapter 1 spoke of him as the day spring
from on high. He said he would give light to
them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide
our feet into the way of peace. And that is what is spoken of
here in Psalm 72, in his days shall the righteous flourish
and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. So we see
that, we see the consistency, the consistency throughout Old
Testament and New Testament scripture, referring to Christ as the one
who would come down as rain on his people, that they would be,
though God had smitten and torn them, that he would raise them
up with Christ because Christ answered for them. He was delivered
for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. So all of this is true of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we see now in this psalm,
we see how God's, the prayer of the psalmist, inspired by
the Spirit of God, represents the prayer of the church, that
God would do in Christ and by Christ for them all that he intended
to do and purposed and promised in this psalm. One other text
of scripture in the New Testament is 2 Peter chapter 1. There's
a familiar verse of scripture there, and I want you to see
this because I think we tend to focus on the things that are
familiar and we miss some of the things that are not quite
so familiar. In 2 Peter chapter 1, The familiar
verse is verse 21, it says, the prophecy came not in old time
by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. So that's proof that all of scripture
was breathed out by God, the Holy Spirit. But in verse 19,
the same chapter, just before that, he says, that he's referring
to the transfiguration of Christ. Peter says, we also have a more
sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well that you take
heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day
dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. So the day dawns
when, from Scripture, Christ is seen, who is the day star,
and he arises in our hearts. And so we need to think about
that, that we need to give this earnest attention to Scripture,
because Scripture makes us wise unto salvation. in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this salvation that's in Christ is the day star. Christ is the
day star. He arises in our hearts, and
that's by the Scriptures too. So all of this can be taken together
to see how God does this One of the lessons that I want you
to take away from this is also this fundamental truth from scripture
is that God makes himself known to us in Christ as our savior
from our sin. And that means that we can't
know Christ unless he first shows us that we're sinners. And we
can't come to God unless we come as sinners looking to Christ
alone. And this is such a fundamental lesson that I think that we miss
this. We can't teach others the gospel unless God teaches them
that they're sinners. And we can't teach our children little cute songs unless we also
teach them that they're sinners and that Christ is the only Savior
of sinners. That's when the day star rises
in our hearts. And so we need this. We need
God to teach us this. And we're like the grass. We perish. But the gospel is
from the Word of God, which doesn't perish, and that's what endures
forever. And so we need God to teach us
of Christ and Him crucified. So that's important here. Let me go to the next page in
our notes. So, when Christ comes down in
the Gospel by His Spirit, when He's preached to the Gentiles,
and His work is made known to us for our eternal salvation,
then under the Gospel, God's elect, who in Christ are righteous,
flourish like grass and they bear fruit to God. That's the
message here. We bear fruit because of the
Gospel preached to us of Christ and His work. He did the work,
the fruit comes when we hear and believe Him. And so when
the Lord reveals Himself to us, the shadows are pushed away.
The Old Testament was all the shadows. The Old Testament was
the thunderously dark clouds that gathered together because
of our sin and God's justice and wrath. The Old Testament
contained the Gospel, but it was veiled, because not until
the New, looking back on the Old, did we see so much of the
Gospel there. So, you know, it didn't occur
to us when we read, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,
or that God declared Abraham to be righteous, not by works,
but by faith, looking to Christ. And that David said that God
covers our transgressions and our sins and that's justification
without works. And that Moses said that we're
not to look to our works but to Christ who descended and ascended. for our salvation, as he says
in Deuteronomy 30, which is explained in Romans chapter 10. So all
these Old Testament patriarchs, Abraham and Noah and Abraham,
it doesn't matter who they were, even Moses and David, Isaiah,
Habakkuk, all these men were telling us, but we just couldn't
see it until the New Testament explained it, that we're saved
not by our works, but by grace because of Christ's work. looking
to Him. And so that's the gospel, isn't
it? And when it comes down, it so
rejoices us that we're amazed that we couldn't see it before.
But it's God's way of revealing to us our sin and helplessness
and that Christ is all to God for us and He becomes all of
our hope and our light. Okay. In Psalm 72, verse 8, it
says, He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from
the river unto the ends of the earth. See that? He, Christ,
shall have dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the
ends of the earth. So this is talking about a geographically
universal dominion. And what that means is not that
every square inch of the earth is going to be a place where
there are gospel believers, but it means that in every nation,
And throughout the world, all of the Gentile nations are going
to hear, and the Lord's elect in those nations are going to
be brought to Christ. So it's going to be according
to His will. He's going to be able to bring His people to Himself. No one will prevent Him. Luke
15 talks about the shepherd. who goes out to find his one
sheep that's lost, and he goes out and he searches for him until
he finds him. Then he carries him back, puts that sheep on
his shoulders and carries him back to the fold. And then as
the woman who lost a coin in the house and swept the house
with a candle looking for that coin until she found it. And
in both cases they rejoice. All of heaven rejoices because
the Lord found his sheep. And in the same chapter, there's
that account of the prodigal son. The father brings in and
sets before him the fatted calf, which was the preaching of Christ
and him crucified, and covers him with his own robe and puts
the ring on his finger and the shoes on his feet to teach us
how God saves his people from the foolishness of their own
self-righteousness and sin, as the prodigal son represents.
So all these things are to teach us that Christ will find his
people. He must have them. He must bring
them. He's not going to fail. And we're
saved. Each one of us who believe on
the Lord have been saved because he is successful. My people,
it says in Psalm 110 verse 3, shall be willing in the day of
his power. Okay. So here he has dominion
from sea to sea. It means all things are put under
Christ. And the prayer of this psalm
has been fulfilled in that he has dominion. It says in Acts
chapter 2. Verse 33, that he being by the
right hand of God exalted. This is God's power. This is
not just a passing glance. This is the right hand of God
has exalted Christ and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost has shed forth this which you do now see and
hear. David is not ascended to the
heavens for he said, David said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit
on my right hand till I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God made that
same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." That's
who the psalm was talking about in Psalm 110, and that's who
Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.
All power, Jesus said, in heaven and earth is given to me. Therefore,
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. That's what
he's saying. All the world, meaning from sea
to sea. In verse 8 of Psalm 72, into
the ends of the earth. All right, the next verse in
verse nine of Psalm 72 says, they that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust.
Now we know from Philippians chapter two that every knee is
going to bow to Christ. And that actually began to be
revealed throughout scripture. But in Isaiah 45, the Lord Jesus
Christ himself said that. He said, look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there
is none else. And he goes on in that same location
in Isaiah 45 to talk about how every knee was going to bow to
him. So we know this is speaking of Christ. We either bow to Him
now by the grace of God, or we bow to Him in judgment and face
the judgment of God in ourselves. And what a terrible thing that
would be, to face God in judgment where He portions out to us what
we deserve. No one can stand in that day.
Christ's people willingly and gladly bow to him. Don't you? When you're a sinner and you
have no hope in yourself. It's easy to be glad that God
has put all that He requires on the shoulders of His Son for
sinners. That makes us never so happy. And we don't look anymore
for something from ourselves, but we always look to Christ.
And that takes the stress off, doesn't it? That God would do
this for us, that He would do it all in Christ, and that He
would do it so thoroughly that it would be all sufficient that
nothing would be left out. We are complete in Him. We have
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. He's our
wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.
And these are all things that God has done in Christ. And it's
phenomenal that He has, by doing the will of God and offering
Himself, has forever sanctified His people by His own blood.
Hebrews 10, 10 and Hebrews 13, 12. And that he perfected forever
by his one offering of himself, all that God gave to him in Hebrews
chapter 10 verse 14. And that was all in fulfillment
of his everlasting covenant. The verses that follow Hebrews
10, 14. So all these things are phenomenal. So we gladly bow
to him, don't we? We freely confess that Jesus
is Lord, and we're so glad that he is Lord, that he has the sovereign
power to do everything in his will to save his people. By himself
to the uttermost, Romans 5.10 says, if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, his reigning
life and power. So we're very happy that He's
the Lord, and we freely confess Him as the Lord, and our only
Savior. We don't have anyone else. We're happy to confess
ourselves to be nothing in Christ, to be all. Aren't we? I am. I'm happy to confess that, even
though I know that it's mixed with unbelief and doubt and all
sorts of sinful things going on inside of me, yet I know He's
still Lord. And I'm just a sinner, nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. That's what we confess. So when, I mentioned this I think
last time, when we see him, it says in 1 John 3, chapter three,
verse one and two, we'll be like him. We know that's true at the
end, but even now, when we see the Lord Jesus Christ, we're
like him. And that being like him now causes us to submit to
him. In faith, we trust him only. And we're glad that he gets all
the glory. So that's all. Remember the demoniac
in Mark chapter five, when he saw Jesus, he ran to him, he
fell at his feet. He says, what do we have to do
with you, son of God? the Son of the Most High. And
of course, those were the demons talking, and Jesus commanded
them to leave. And then that man was sitting
clothed in his right mind before the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't
you glad that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to cast out a
legion of devils from a man? Because that's what it takes
to save each one of us. And so we're happy of this. But
all who refuse, it says here, they that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.
So the enemies are incensed that their righteousness doesn't count
for anything. And they're angry, and they're
envious, and they hate him. And this is why the Lord was
killed. It was for envy that they crucified
Christ. They envied him that God would
be so happy with him and not with them in their own righteousness.
Remember the older brother of the prodigal son when his dad
was so good to his younger brother who had been so profligate in
his lifestyle? And his father had so warmly
and graciously greeted him and threw his arms around him and
kissed him so much and did everything for him, seemed to reward him. He did, he rewarded him for coming
home because it was his own hand that brought him home through
that sending him away and the entire account there. But the
older son, why are you doing this? I've
served you all these years and you didn't do anything for me.
So he had a heart of a legalist, didn't he? And so we see these
contrasts in scripture. Cain was envious of Abel, so
he killed him. And this is what's happened throughout
history. All of those who are incensed
against Christ hate Christ and hate his people because the Lord
would so justify them for Christ's sake. That's why the Pharisees
were so angry. whenever they saw a publican
or a harlot coming to Christ, and he received them, and then
he talked to the Pharisees and the scribes as they were, as
proud, self-serving religionists. And that's what the Lord has
to do. He has to humble us, doesn't he? So then it says here, the
ends of the earth, obviously that refers to the Gentiles and
Christ's dominion is over all these, both those who bow to
him now and those who shall bow to him later. It says in verse
10, Continuing this line of seeing Christ in his dominion, he says,
the kings of Tarshish and of the isles, the islands, shall
bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall
offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down
before him. All nations shall serve him.
So here, once again, we have the same theme being continued.
And this is just a prophecy, or not just, it's not merely,
but it is a prophecy of the salvation of the Gentiles. The islands
in scripture are used to refer to the Gentiles. It says in Isaiah
42 and verse four, speaking of Christ, he shall not fail nor
be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth and the
isles or the islands shall wait for his law, which means the
gospel of course, the law of liberty, the gospel, the law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. the gospel by which we're
saved. This is the way Christ rules
over his people. He says, my yoke is easy and
my burden is light, because the gospel tells us of a law that
has been fulfilled, a curse that has been taken away, and God
who has been satisfied and glorified in the obedience of Christ unto
death. So the islands refer to the Gentiles. They are not just
all of the people on the islands, not every island, and not every
person on those islands, but all of the elect on those islands. They are the Gentiles. God foretold
he would call them by the gospel, and that Christ would send his
servants from his exalted throne, and that they would hear and
be saved. And they are all those, as it says in Joel chapter 2,
all those whom the Lord our God shall call, you see. And I want
to read that verse of scripture to you in Acts chapter 2. In
Acts chapter 2 and verse 39, notice the way this is spoken
of here. This is right after Peter preached
the gospel and all those who heard it and that believed were
like 3,000. But here he says, In verse 38, Peter said to them,
repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you. So see now how it's
worded. The promise is to you and to
your children, And to all that are afar off, meaning like the
islands and the nations, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call. You see that? As many as, that's
a common phrase used in the scripture, as many as the Lord our God should
call. I want to read, since I'm on
that particular phrase, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, listen to this. 1
Corinthians chapter 2, he says, unto the church of God the letter
of 1 Corinthians was written, unto the church of God, which
is at Corinth, notice, to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus. Because they were in Christ,
God made them holy by Christ. He said, I sanctify myself that
they might be sanctified in John 17, 19. But here he says, to
them that are sanctified, set apart by God in Christ, chosen
in him. redeemed by his blood, called, he says, saints, which
is another way of saying the sanctified ones, with all that
in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
both theirs and ours. Who are they who call? The called. The called call. That's what
it says here. The church of God at Corinth,
sanctified, called, and they call. That's what he's saying
here. The Lord calls them, therefore
they call. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. I'm going to see if I can find that real quickly
in Joel, because it's such an important prophecy. It's quoted in Acts chapter 2,
so we know it has to do with the same thing, the calling of
these people who heard the preaching of the gospel. In Joel chapter
2, In verse 32, it shall come to pass that whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord, notice it's not those who were
born to Abraham or those who were born to the Gentiles, it's
those who call. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be delivered or saved, for in Mount Zion,
that's a reference to the church, and in Jerusalem, another reference
to God's people, shall be deliverance. That's where salvation is. It's
in the church. That's the mother of us all.
Remember in Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother of us
all. He says in those places, Mount Zion in Jerusalem, we've
come to Mount Zion. We've come to the new Jerusalem,
the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem. there shall be deliverance
or salvation as the Lord has said and in notice the remnant
That's the small part, whom the Lord shall call. So in all these
cases, we see that it's God's choice. It's God's call. We can't
save ourselves. We can't bring ourselves. We
won't come. We're like sheep, lost. We're
ruined. We have, as I read last time,
Hosea 13, 9, we've destroyed ourselves, and yet in our King,
in Christ, is our salvation. Okay, going on here. in verse
12 of Psalm chapter 72. Psalm 72 verse 12. For he shall
deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also and him that hath
no helper. Okay, so those who call are the
poor and the needy. Now, I want to point out a scripture
to you in Isaiah chapter 66, if you want to look at that. Isaiah chapter 66, this is something
that you probably are familiar with it. I just saw this again today.
In Isaiah chapter 66, verse 2, he says, for all those things
hath my hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord,
but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and
of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word. This is the man to
whom God looks, him that is poor, of a contrite spirit, and trembles
at my word. Now, I want to use Psalm 34 to
further or amplify this. In Psalm 34, he says this. He says in verse 14, depart from
evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the
Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cry.
The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off
the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry,
and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near or nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart and saves such that be of a contrite
spirit." Here, back in Psalm 72, verse 12, he shall deliver
the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that has no
helper. This describes God's people again,
doesn't it? They have no help. except in
Christ. And so the Lord helps them. And
who is this contrite and broken-hearted, helpless, poor, and needy person? Well, this is the way God deals
with us. He is smitten, He is torn, He'll bind up, He'll heal
us. Remember Hosea 6? So, you see
how the Lord works in His people. He brings them like that lost
sheep. We've all gone astray, and he
has to come and get us. So the publican who cries, God,
be merciful to me, the sinner, or the blind Bartimaeus, Jesus,
son of David, have mercy on me in all these cases. If you will,
Lord, you can make me clean. But that heart that comes by
the grace of God through the operations of the Spirit, through
the gospel preaching, that heart itself is just a reflection of
what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ himself when he bore our
sins. Because never was someone humbled and made low as he was
for our sins. And so he has a deep a connection,
a deep empathy. for the one who says in his heart,
I'm nothing. Why would God look upon me? I
have no cause in myself for any confidence whatsoever. That's
exactly the way the Lord himself was made to be when he trusted
his father. He had no, he couldn't bring
anything except what God, he was entirely dependent upon God
for all of his deliverance. And that's why he prays this
way in the Psalms and throughout scripture. So that's what's being
talked about here. God's people, as Christ was,
only He pre-eminently, were humbled because of our sins. And yet,
in that Humiliation into which we're brought because of our
sins. We're given this grace to look up to Christ Look unto
me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God there's
none else And so that I see that in this verse the eyes of the
Lord See his people. He hears them when they cry.
They're righteous. This is the evidence that they're
his they cry they call and they call because he calls them and The righteous don't have anything,
and I like this. I like this. I think Scott Richardson
must have said this, but I can't say for sure. I've heard it from
somebody else. Someone asked the question, is Christ enough?
And that's important to know, isn't it? Because all that a
poor sinner has is the gospel that Christ saves sinners. Is
that enough? Is Christ really enough? And
the answer to the question is, he is enough if he's all that
you have. You see, that's what's being
talked about here. The poor have no helper. The needy have only
need, and they need the Lord to be all of their supply. All right, verse 13. He shall
spare the poor and needy. He shall save the souls of the
needy. Again, he's talking about the Lord's people. Without a
doubt, Christ shall save His people and He shall spare them
because He did not spare His Son. You see, if God gave His
Son up and delivered Him up and did not spare Him, then He's
going to give everything for them and everything to them.
He's going to give them all things with Christ. That's the promise
of God. And so he spares his people. It says in Malachi, he
says, they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and
the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought
on his name. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare
them, as a man spareth his own son that serves him. What a promise. God wrote a book of remembrance
for his people and he will spare them even as he spares his own
son who serves him. That's talking about Christ,
isn't it? What a blessing that is. Now Psalm 72 verse 14. He shall redeem their soul from
deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us. He was made a curse
for us. He has redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. That's how he redeems
us, isn't it? He bought the church. He purchased
the church with his own blood. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. There was nothing he held back.
He gave himself to have the church. What a blessing that is. And so because he does that,
he shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious
shall their blood be in his sight. In Psalm 56, it says this in
verse 13, thou hast delivered my soul from death, Wilt not
thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in
the light of the living? Do you ever think of verses like
that when sin weighs so heavily upon you? Iniquities prevail
against me. As for our transgressions, he
shall purge them away. Psalm 65, verse three. But here
he says, thou hast delivered my soul from death, Won't you
deliver my feet from falling? He will, won't he? That I may
walk before God by faith in Christ in the land of the living. So
this is the promise of Psalm 56, verse 13. And then in Psalm
72, verse 15, he says, and he shall live, talking about Christ,
and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also
shall be made for him continually, and daily shall he be praised.
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who lives. He died, but
though he died, he lives. And because he lives, we live.
Isn't that the promise he made to his people? Because I live,
you shall live. But here it says, to him shall
be given the gold of Sheba. If you understand this Sheba
to refer to Gentile believers, as the Queen of Sheba was clearly
a Gentile. Jesus spoke of her when he was
talking to the Jews in the New Testament. He says that the Queen
of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but a greater than
Solomon is here. Remember that? So he's talking
about how the Gentiles come to hear Christ, even though those
proud Jews didn't. But I want to read here what
John Gill said about this particular phrase. John Gill says this,
this is to be understood spiritually of the exercise of faith upon
Christ and every other grace which is as gold tried in the
fire and which as it comes from Christ is given to him again. So you see, understand the meaning
now of this phrase here. It says, to him shall be given
the gold of Sheba. In other words, our faith is
like gold. God, just as a gold refiner purifies
the gold by heating it up to get the impurities to come to
the top and remove them so that what's left is just pure gold.
So God tries his people under trouble in their lives. And then
under that trouble, what do they do? They look to Christ, they
cry, they make their supplication, they trust less and less in themselves
and more and more heavily lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
his gospel. They find such a strong need
to cling to the Lord Jesus Christ that everything else becomes
less and less important. So that's the process of being
refined under trouble. And so, what is that? Well, that's
the refining of the believer's faith in Christ. And how do we
come to God? Well, we come to Him with that
same faith that He gives to us and every other grace that He
gives to us. It's like the gold. God gives us these graces from
Christ to come to Christ with the grace of faith in Christ. And that's what John Gill, I
think, is aptly pointing out here. But notice he says in this
verse, verse 15, he says also, prayer also shall be made for
him. Now, that's a funny way of talking about it. It seems
wrong that we would pray for Christ. Is that really what's
meant here? I mean, I can understand that
He would pray for us. That's plainly revealed. He makes
intercession for us according to the will of God. He understands
the mind of the Spirit. He sits at the right hand of
God. He also makes intercession for us, as it says in Romans
chapter 8. But do we pray for him? Well,
the answer, obviously, according to this verse, is yes. And in
what way do we pray for him? Well, we pray that God's will
concerning Christ would be done, don't we? Isn't that consistent
with the Lord's prayer, thy will be done? Whatever you want, Lord. Do your will. Remember David
in 2 Samuel chapter 7, when Nathan came and told David all the wonderful
things that God was going to do? I'm going to build a house
for you. You said you're going to build
me a house. No, I'm going to build you a house, the Lord said.
And I'm going to make your son sit on the throne forever. And
David, he just sits down and he says, Lord, Do as you have
said. That was his conclusion to all
that Nathan said from God. He just said, Lord, do as you
have said. Whatever seems good to you, do
it. And that's exactly what God's people, that's what faith says,
isn't it? Do what you have said. And that's what he's saying here.
God's people, in this Psalm, agree with the Spirit of God
in the prophecy that Christ would be exalted for their salvation.
And they're simply saying here, Lord, do what you've said. Exalt
your Son. Save us from our sins. Save us
to the uttermost. All right, I love that understanding
of it here. And then in verse 16, it says,
There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of
the mountains. The fruit thereof shall shake
like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass
of the earth. Again, we have this notion of
grass flourishing because this handful of corn in the earth.
Now, what is this handful of corn? Well, remember what Jesus
said? He spoke of his death in John
12, 24, when he said, except the corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, what happens?
It brings forth much fruit. He spoke of his death. He spoke
of the results of his death, that his people would be saved
and much fruit would be gathered in to his kingdom. Speaking of
his people, like fruit being gathered in. We are the Lord's
harvest. At the end of time, he's going
to send forth his angels and gather his wheat into his barn,
his people, the harvest. He planted them through the gospel. He planted them in the earth
and they are his seed. And so he's going to bring them
to himself. And he's the one who first had to die in order
to bring forth that fruit. And The result of that, it says
in this verse, of that corn in the earth, that handful of corn
in the earth upon the top of the mountains, is the fruit shall
shake like Lebanon. Well, what is Lebanon in Scripture?
Well, it's this massive forest of cedar trees, these huge trees.
And what happens when the trees, when the wind blows amongst those
trees? Well, you've been in a forest
where the wind is blowing. What it sounds like is this huge
noise created by the wind, doesn't it? These massive trees. My son lives in a little mini
forest of Douglas fir. The trees are like 80 feet tall.
And when the wind blows, it's like, you can hear this. And
it's a little intimidating, isn't it? Well, this is the rustling
of the harvest of the wind of the Spirit of God as loud as
trees in Lebanon making this noise. And so this is the result
of the Spirit of God moving upon his people through the gospel
and this tremendous noise of response in praise and worship
to God because of the gospel coming to his people as to this
forest Only in this case, it says, the fruit shall shake like
Lebanon. The result of Christ's death is this harvest of souls,
which when the Spirit of God blows, makes this wonderful sound
of the result of that, which is the Lord's people. Okay, all
of this is consistent, right? You see the rain coming down,
the islands waiting, and all this. Now we got a little bit
longer here, he says in verse 17, his name shall endure forever,
his name shall be continued as long as the sun, men shall be
blessed in him. Clearly, we're blessed because
Christ gave himself, right? This is the message of this psalm,
is that because Christ was chosen, Remember, as God saw David, he's
a man after my own heart. God saw his son, he's a man after
my own heart, and chose him. He laid help on one who was mighty.
And because Christ so humbled himself, therefore he was exalted. Because of his grace, he humbled
himself, therefore he's exalted. And by his grace, he rules over
sin and death for his people. He endures. His name shall be
continued as long as the sun and moon. Men shall be blessed
in Him. All nations shall call Him blessed."
Wonderful Savior. The Gentiles throughout the world,
the elect Gentiles and Jews throughout the world all praise and honor
Christ. And then in the last verse, well
not the last verse, but the next to the last verse in this psalm,
it says in verse 18, In verse 18 it says, blessed be the Lord
God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. That's
our Savior. He doesn't do anything that's
not wonderful. That's His name, wonderful. And it says in verse
19, and blessed be His glorious name forever. Let the whole earth
be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. The prayers of
David the son of Jesse are ended. When this is fulfilled, That's
the answer to the prayer. That's what David is saying here.
And it's fulfilled because God has exalted his son. And you
can read in more detail in this in the notes that I sent out
if you want to. It's in the email that I send out with the Zoom
meeting. All right, let's pray. Lord,
thank you that you save your people. for the name, for the
glory of your son. And thank you that you have made
your glory known in the Lord Jesus Christ, brighter than the
brightness of the sun. Thank you that he rises like
that son of righteousness, like that day star in our hearts,
by the power of your Holy Spirit sent down from him who reigns
on high to give us his salvation, to give us his faith in him,
And because of this faith, this fruit of the Spirit of God in
us, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, peace and
joy in believing Him, and this is the result of your work. And
therefore, the Spirit of God produces this fruit to Christ
and to His death in our salvation, and it's more prominent more
impressive than even the wind that made the trees of Lebanon
sing as it blew upon them. For the renown of that forest
that the Lord Jesus Christ gets even more honor and praise. Thank
you that the faith that we bring to come to God by Christ alone,
that's the faith that you give to us and that you refine it
and purify it and you're praised because of it. It's all your
work, just as we are too. And we know the giver is greater
than the gift, the creator greater than the creation. And we ourselves,
saved by the Lord, is all to his name and to his glory, who
must be exalted above all. our Savior and our Lord Jesus
Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.