Okay, Psalm 45. Let's read through
this psalm together. My heart is indicting a good
matter. Now, the heart here is an indication
that this is coming from the inmost being of the psalmist,
who presumably is David. And because it's coming from
his heart, and because of the subject here about Christ, We
know that this is inspired by the Spirit of God, besides the
fact that God says in his word that all scripture is given by
inspiration of God. And in 2 Peter chapter 1, the
Apostle Peter says we have a more sure word of prophecy, which
is the scripture. even more sure than that experience
he had with James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration
when they saw Elijah and Moses and Jesus transfigured before
them. Only Jesus was transfigured, but in any case, this is a psalm
inspired by God. So it's true of all scripture,
but it's really important for us to remember that, because
as we read this, the subject matter here is most precious. It's most precious to God, it's
most precious to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is most precious
to His people. All right, so with that as an
introduction here, let's read on. My heart is indicting a good
matter. I speak of the things which I
have made touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. Thou art fairer. Then the children
of men, grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God has blessed
thee forever. This is a most gracious text
of scripture. We saw last week in Luke chapter
4 that Jesus is the one spoken of here. He read from the scripture
and he was reading from the scripture there in Luke chapter 4 and verse
18. He said, the spirit of the Lord
is upon me and he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor and many other things. to heal the brokenhearted, the
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty the captives,
and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Now those things
were given by the Spirit of God to the Lord Jesus to preach.
and to do. And he said that anointing, that
was the anointing here, and that's what is being spoken of here.
Grace is poured into his lips. And we can think about all the
gracious words the Lord said to his people. Remember what
he said, I find this most endearing. Remember what Jesus said to the
blind man who was brought to him? For example, in Mark chapter
10, when Bartimaeus was brought to the Lord Jesus, And he asked
him, Jesus asked the blind man, what do you want me to do for
you? Remember Solomon, when God made
him king after King David, and he prayed and he asked the Lord
for wisdom, and God gave him not only wisdom, but riches,
because he didn't ask for riches, he asked for wisdom. You see,
when we open up our heart by God's grace and ask Him for the
thing that is on His heart to give to sinners, that shows a
relationship of a sinner dependent upon his Savior, a resonance.
that is produced by the Spirit of God between the sinner and
his Savior. And there's nothing more glorious
than that. It brings glory to God. It thrills
the hearts of sinners. And so the blind man said, Lord,
that I might receive my sight. And so we say, do you ask me
to ask what I will? And what do we pour out? Lord,
that I might have my sins forgiven, that my sin might not rule over
me, that you might dwell with me in your very presence, that
you might conform me to your image, that you might show me
your love in the height and length and breadth of it. So many things
pour forth from our heart according to the will of God given to us
in the gospel. So here the grace is poured into
the Lord Jesus' lips. It's in his heart. But he was
enabled as a man to preach the gospel. Let's go on, verse 3.
gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with thy glory
and thy majesty, and in thy majesty ride prosperously because of
truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach
thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh
and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces whereby they have
made thee glad. King's daughters were among thy
honourable women. Upon thy right hand did stand
the queen in gold of ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider,
and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty. For he is thy Lord, and worship
thou him." People ask to prove how you know Jesus is the Lord,
that he is God. There you have it, in this text
of Scripture, in verse 6 and here, we're commanded to worship
the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's called, O God, by the Father,
when He says unto the Son, He says, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. He says in verse 12, and the
daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. Even the rich among
the people shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is
all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the
king in raiment of needlework. The virgins, her companions that
follow her, shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and
rejoicing shall they be brought. They shall enter into the king's
palace. Instead of thy father shall be thy children, whom thou
mayest make princes in all the earth." So the children are made
princes. I will make thy name to be remembered
in all generations, therefore shall the people praise thee
forever and ever. Now, to understand this psalm
in overview, I want to consider two verses of scripture with
you. Well, actually many verses of scripture, but I want to point
out a couple just at the outset. Look at the book of Hebrews in
chapter one. This psalm is clearly speaking
about the king and about his bride, the king's, the queen. In Hebrews chapter one, he echoes
these, this, when he says this in verse three, and he says,
who being the brightness of his glory, this is talking about
the son of God, who being the brightness of his glory, the
glory of the father, and the express image of his person. There's nothing, you can find
no difference between God the Father and God the Son in who
he is and what he, in his nature and in his character and who
he is as God. There's no difference, he's express
image. And he says, and upholding all things by the word of his
power. Everything is upheld by the word
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he, now this is the one,
listen now. When he had by himself purged
our sins, what happened? He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. As a result of accomplishing
our salvation, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took His place
on the throne of God, on the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty on High. Sitting on the same throne, He
says in Revelation chapter 3, He sits on the throne of His
Father, with His Father on the same throne. There's one throne
of sovereignty, it's the one on whom God sits. God the Father,
and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So this is the first
verse. His majesty, His majesty, He
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Christ is
sitting in His majesty. Why? Because He purged our sins. When He finished that work, He
sat down, the work was done, our sins were purged, God's will
was accomplished, Christ was perfected as the captain of our
salvation, we were sanctified, we were perfected by His one
offering which He made, and that was done, that perfection, that
sanctification was an eternal sanctification by that one offering.
All right, so that's the first verse. Notice here that His being
revealed by God, being enthroned, exalted, given all honor, all
blessing, was a result of His work as our Savior. Now look
at Philippians chapter 2, the same thing is taught there. These things are real plain,
but they are very, very important. He says in verse 5, Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. What a stoop. and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." I think that's one of
my favorite scriptures. Obedient unto death, humbled
himself, obedient to death, and that death, that obedience, and
that death was the death of the cross. Verse nine, wherefore
God, this is a result of that, wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Do you see that? How beautiful
that is? It says forth the majesty and
the glory and the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ as a result
of his obedience unto death, which he accomplished out of
his own will, his Father's will and his own will, when he willingly
made himself of no reputation, took the form of a servant, and
as a man and a servant, he willingly and obediently went to the cross
and laid his life down for his people. And then I'll take you
also to Daniel chapter seven, Daniel, the book of Daniel chapter
seven. And this verse is the prophecy
of what happened when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended. It's the ascension, it's speaking
of the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ when he went up
into glory. Notice it says in Daniel chapter
seven and verse 13, I saw in the night visions and behold
one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven. Remember
when he went up into the clouds? He came with the clouds of heaven,
and He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near
before Him. This is the ascension of Christ
when He went up into glory. Do you hear it? I mean, this
is coming to His Father as what? The Son of Man. Oh, this reveals
to us this great mystery, which without controversy is a great
mystery. that God was manifest in the flesh, and he was justified
in the spirit, he was seen of angels, he was preached on, believed
on in the world, and then received up into glory. That's what it's
talking about here. The one who is God, the son of
God, became man. He remained God, but he became
man. And as man, he fulfilled the
will of God. All the will of God. and he was
enthroned, he was exalted and extolled above every creature. That man, the one for whom God
prepared a body, in that body he accomplished the eternal will
of God, and then he, in the human nature that God created for him,
forever joined to himself, the nature of his people, the seed
of Abraham, that he became one with them in that nature, then
He ascended into glory. And God the Father received Him,
they brought Him near, and here's what He says in verse 14, Daniel
7, 14. And there was given Him dominion
and glory. and a kingdom that all people,
nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom,
that which shall not be destroyed." This is the Lord Jesus. And now
turn to Revelation chapter 21. I'm reading these texts of scriptures
to you because they explain very clearly from a New Testament
perspective What happened when the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
our salvation, obtained our eternal redemption, and then ascended
to heaven and was enthroned and sat down on the right hand of
his father as God and man, the mediator between God and men,
the one God exalted because of his obedience unto death, gave
him all the glory all of the glory that he had with his father
because he accomplished the will of God as the God-man. Notice
in Revelation 21 and verse, let's see. In verse 9, there came to me
one of the seven angels, this is the apostle John, there came
to me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full
of the seven last plagues and he talked with me saying, notice
what he said, come here, come hither, I will show thee the
bride, the lamb's wife, the lamb's wife. Now the Lamb is the name
of our Savior. That's His title because He gave
Himself for our sins. He offered Himself to God. He was made an offering for sin. His soul was made an offering
for sin. He became sin. who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He is the Lamb
of God slain from the foundation of the world. His blood was ordained
to be the price of our redemption, and that will of God was ordained
before the world began. All these texts of scripture,
I could cite them to you, but I'm just telling you them by
referring to them without giving you the reference here. But notice
here, the Lamb's wife, the Lamb's wife. Notice how God identifies
our relation to Christ as the wife, and the wife of the Lamb. Now the Lamb, obviously, is the
substitute, the one who bore our sins, who redeemed us to
God by his own blood. Revelation 1.5 says, unto him
who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Revelation 5.9 says, they sing
a new song, worthy is the lamb that was slain. He has redeemed
us to God out of every kindred. tongue, people, and nation by
his blood. He redeemed us by his blood.
So these things teach us the relationship of the people of
God to the Lord Jesus Christ as their sin-bearing substitute
who gave himself in life and death, shed his blood to wash
them from their sins. That in itself, his accomplishments,
you must understand there is no greater achievement There
is no greater achievement in all of eternity. There never
will be an achievement greater than that. Secondly, there's
no nearer relationship between any created being and God than
that relationship. The relationship of wife, of
bride, to the Lord Jesus Christ is the nearest relationship.
To God the Father, we are made children. To Christ, we're brethren. He calls his people his sister,
his love, his spouse in the Song of Solomon. So these things just
drip with sweetness to the child of God, the one who is a sinner,
who needs salvation, and he finds from God's own mind from His
own will and His own will accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, the
greatest tenderness of affection and eternal love that could ever
possibly be revealed or accomplished in all of eternity. Christ and
His people made one pictured by the relation between a husband
and his wife. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. These things are just beyond
our grasp, really. And if it weren't for this physical
relationship that a husband and wife have together, which is
the nearest relation on earth, then we see, we wouldn't really
understand Psalm 45. But notice in Psalm 45 now, Not
only do we see this near relationship of the wife of the Lamb, the
wife of the Lamb, but we also see here that this relationship
is spoken of on the occasion of exalting and seating Christ
on the throne of glory because he accomplished the work to save
his people. He loved the church. and gave
himself for it. He loved the church. He loved
his people. He loved his wife and his children,
it says in Exodus 21 verses 2 through 6. He would not go out free. He loved his master. He would
serve him forever. And all these things are just
dripping with the the love of Christ for His people. And this
is revealed to us in Psalm 45 on the occasion of Christ being
exalted by His Father. Now this is very important because
what we see here is that in verse 1, my heart is indicting a good
matter. I speak of the things which I have made touching the
King. King, meaning he's exalted now, he's reigning because, Philippians
2, he made himself of no reputation, he laid aside his glory, he veiled
himself in flesh, he took on the form of a servant, and as
a servant, in our nature, fulfilled all that God required to save
us from our sins by his obedience unto death. Therefore, God has
highly exalted him, given him a name above every name. He's
the king, he's the king. And so that's what he's speaking
about here. The glory and the majesty of the king, the one
who gave himself for our sins and his love for his people and
that love that compelled him to give himself for our sins,
he has accomplished that love. He has set it forth now, and
the Spirit of God in this psalm is raising up the King and His
Majesty, set before the church as the one God has exalted, that
she might see and understand the love of Christ, which passes
knowledge. and know the love of God in Christ,
the height, the depth, the length, the breadth, and so be compelled
in love to Him. Be persuaded in faith and compelled
by love, His love to her, to love Him. And that's what this
psalm is speaking about, the glories of Christ having accomplished
our salvation out of love to His Father and to His people.
That is the good matter here. My heart is indicting a good
matter. I speak of the things which I've made touching the
king. My tongue is bubbling up, boiling over, fluttering about
like a ready, a writer whose pens has such velocity that it
just goes forth writing out the things of the spirit of God.
Notice verse two. Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips.
Therefore God has blessed thee forever." God blessed him forever
because he accomplished the will of God and he spoke to his people
of God's own word. He says in his prayer in John
17, I have made your name known to my own, my disciples, these
men you gave to me. revealed them to you them your
word and they have received it because I gave it to them I Gave
it to them. They received it. So he goes
on here verse 3 He says gird thy sword upon thy thigh. Oh most mighty Now Christ here
is seen as the mighty one who has a sword, and it's on his
thigh, and you get the picture of a mighty warrior going forth
to battle. And the battle here he's going
forth in, he says, go with your sword upon your thigh, oh most
mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. I've never been to a
procession where they had royal people in it, but you've probably
seen them on TV. In England, in the UK, they have
this royal family and so on. You know all about the kings
and queens and so forth. And they have these parades and
these processions where they go through. And of course, the
soldiers are dressed to the T. nothing out of place, everything's
in order, the attendants, the regals, they got as much as they
can to show their majesty, don't they? Here Jesus Christ, the
procession of the Lord Jesus Christ being taken up to glory
and given a kingdom with all dominion and power, he has a
desire. And what is his desire? The king's
desire. It's twofold, really. First of
all, it's to bring his people into his own presence so that
they can see his glory and they can be with him. Remember, he's
prayed that in John 17, verse 24. Father, I will that they
also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. In the
presence of the king, in all of his regal glory and majesty,
It can't be really seen unless God gives us grace to look upon
Him. But we're going to be in his
presence and see his face and to see his glory. And then the
second thing that the king desires is to subdue all of our enemies
under our feet. Remember in the book of Esther,
when Queen Esther and Mordecai were asked by the king, King
Ahasuerus, what do you want to do? Whatever you want, write
it down. I'll sign it. I'll put my seal
to it. Put the king's seal on it. Make it happen. Do whatever
you want. And their request was, well,
this is what we want. We want all the enemies of the
Jews to be put to death. And Haman and his family, first
of all, his sons were hanged on the very gallows that Haman
intended to hang Mordecai on. And that's the second part of
Christ's desire, is to subdue all his enemies, to humiliate
them, to silence them, to send them away from the presence of
his queen and his people, and to actually bring them and to
bow before her feet. And this is incredible. In Romans
chapter 16, look at this if you want to, or I'll just read it
to you. In Romans 16 and verse 20, he says this. A couple of
scriptures on this. He says, the God of peace shall
bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. You see that? So right
there in scripture, you see that one of the main goals Christ
has is to bring Satan and to subject him under his people,
under the feet of the church. Isn't that funny? I mean, it
is funny in a good way. He's gonna humiliate Satan and
his kingdom. And in Revelation chapter 13,
he says, let's see if I can find it. He says, I want to bring
them, I'm not gonna find it unless I rifle through my notes, but
he says something like this. He says, I'm going to bring those
to bow before you and to know that I have loved you. that I
have loved you. Oh, here it is in verse nine.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say
they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them
to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have
loved thee. All right? There's a twofold
expression of Christ's love. First, he saves us from our sins. He brings us to himself. He sets
us in his presence and we behold his glory. Second, he brings
all of our enemies under subjection to our feet. He makes them know
that he has loved us. Isn't that great? That's wonderful.
Remember the woman in John chapter 8? Her enemies brought her. She
was guilty into the presence of Christ. And they set her there
in order to try to prove that Jesus was opposed to Moses and
God's law. But instead of being opposed
to it, he was there to fulfill it. So he stooped down and he
wrote on the ground what sent them away in shame and silence
and showed them their guilt and silenced them. And he stood up
and he told the woman, he says, Where are your accusers? And
she said, no man, Lord. And then Jesus Christ, the God
of glory said, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Remember now, this is the Lord
Jesus Christ, not only man, but God himself. Neither do I condemn
thee. God himself. Our mediator does
not condemn us, and he speaks not only for himself, but for
God in that statement. No one can condemn those Christ
died to save. No one can condemn them because
they're God's elect. Read Romans chapter eight, verse
33 and 34. All right, back to Psalm 45. So he says this, gird thy sword
upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and majesty. The
Lord Jesus Christ has a sword, it's his word. The word of Christ
goes forth with uncontested victory. He will accomplish his will by
his word. Everything is upheld by the word
of his power. How much more the one who reconciled
us to God by his death, not just his bare word, but his own death. Romans 5, 10. If when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
much more being reconciled by his death, we shall be saved
by his life, the king, the ruling, reigning, majestic, almighty,
all powerful king, the almighty God. OK, so his sword is going
to accomplish his will. Nothing can prevent it. Nothing
can impede it. Nothing can redirect it. It will
accomplish His will in every area. And so He says, O Most
Mighty. And then He says, Thy glory and
Thy majesty, because it's the majesty of our Savior that burst
forth to the eyes of our faith when we see His work completed
by Him. And because of that work, all
of our enemies are absolutely overcome. When he says by himself
he purged our sins, that's an example of it. He absolutely
put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. In Psalm 21, which
we went over before, but look at Psalm 21, I'll remind us,
remind you of these words. He says in Psalm 21, verse 1,
the king, here we have the king again, the king shall joy in
thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation, how greatly shall
he rejoice. The king, he rejoices in the
strength of the Lord of Jehovah. And in his salvation, he greatly
rejoices. This is all of his work. This
is his power, is to save his people from their sin. Now look
at verse five, Psalm 21 five. His glory is great in thy salvation. Honor and majesty hast thou laid
upon him. Isn't that just Philippians chapter
two all over again? That's what he's saying here.
In your glory and in your majesty, ride prosperously. Gird your
sword upon your thigh, O most mighty. And then in verse four,
which I was about to read, he says, in thy majesty, ride prosperously
because of truth. and meekness, and righteousness,
and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. In everything
the Lord Jesus does, he is prosperous." Remember Joseph? Everything that
was put into his hand prospered, whether it was with The first man, I'm trying to
think of his name right now, the man whose wife tried to accuse
him falsely, he was Potiphar's wife, tried to accuse Joseph
falsely. Joseph didn't do anything wrong.
Everything he did for Potiphar prospered. And then when Joseph
was put into prison, everything he did for the prisoners committed
to his care by the prison keeper, that prospered. And then when
he was taken out of prison and put under Pharaoh, everything
he did prospered. So the Lord Jesus Christ, everything
he does prospers in thy majesty and ride prosperously because
of truth and meekness and righteousness. What the Lord Jesus Christ said
and what he did was truth. It wasn't a pretense. It wasn't
a shadow of something. It was the actual accomplishment
of God's truth. and it was done in meekness and
there's nothing that endears Christ to us more than in his
meekness. We as sinners can come to the
Lord of glory and we can beg him We can implore Him, we can
pour out our needs to Him and our sins, and we can look to
Him who told us that He Himself is the Savior of sinners. And
this was His desire, is to give Himself to save His people from
their sins. And so we come to Him that way,
His meekness and righteousness. Everything that He does in truth,
He does in righteousness, especially and even the forgiveness of our
sins. It was a righteous forgiveness.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, righteous,
to forgive us our sins. Okay? So he writes prosperously,
because of truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right
hand shall teach thee terrible things. In verse 5 he says, Thine
arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby
the people fall unto Thee. As I mentioned, those two things.
First, Christ saving His people and bringing them to Himself
to see His glory and to be with Him. And second, to defeat and
to subdue their enemies under their feet. Whatever He intends
to do by His Word, He accomplishes by His Word. His Word is effectual. You hear that word all the time.
I like to think of that word. It just means God does what He
intends to do. Whatever he intends to do gets
done. That's what he is. His word is effectual. Whatever
he intends to do, whenever he speaks, he accomplishes it, and
his intent is fulfilled when he speaks, even before he speaks,
when he determines it to be done, which was from eternity. So all
of God's works are already done in his will, and therefore it
can't be changed. God will not change his work
or his will. And though he says in Isaiah
55, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It
shall not return to be void without accomplishing my will, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereunto I send it. Just like the arrow. Have you
ever seen someone stop an arrow in flight? No. It goes right
through their hand, their body, everything. It just pierces it.
In Christ, arrows are sharp, and they're sharp in the enemies
of the king, and they all fall under him. Not one of them shall
be left. Let me read this to you in Isaiah
chapter 54. This is a comforting, very comforting
text of scripture. In Isaiah 54, no weapon, verse
17, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Every
tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. See, this is the people of God
condemning their enemies. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord. And their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. Can anything be more glorious?
God, the Lord Jesus Christ is not going to allow any weapon
against his people to prosper. Their righteousness is of him.
They are going to silence every enemy. The king's arrows are
sharp in the hearts of his enemies and they are going to fall under
him. He says, In Psalm 45, again,
verse 6, he says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The
scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. We know that that's
quoted in Hebrews 1, verse 8, where it says, Unto the Son,
he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. It's clear
that this text of scripture is speaking to the Son of God and
calling Him, referring to Him as God, okay? So, He is the Son
of God. It calls Him God here. Thy throne,
O God. So the Son of God is God. And He is God forever and ever,
as it says here. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. And He's the Sovereign. And His sovereignty is forever
and ever. He's the one who sits on the
throne. In Psalm 90, verse 2, it says, Before the mountains
were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. He's the eternal God, God the
Son, and He rules His kingdom with a righteous, sovereign rule. His scepter is a righteous scepter,
a right scepter. Whatever He loves, He does, and
it's right. Whatever He does is right. Salvation of sinners is therefore
right. He loves to save sinners. He loves to save the poor and
the needy, the guilty and that vile and the helpless, and to
make them, to wash them from their sins and to clothe them
in His righteousness. Bringing many sins to glory is
right. It's right in His eyes. God is
seen in what He did, in His glory, God is seen by the forgiveness
of our sins. So when we go to the throne,
we should go boldly through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because what He did is all of our salvation and it's right.
All right, the next verse we read here. Thou lovest righteousness
and hatest wickedness, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Let's see. Okay, I'm just gonna read through
that one. And I've said most of the things
that I was gonna say there, so I'm just gonna go right on to
verse, Well, let me just make this one comment here. He has
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows in
verse seven. From everlasting, God determined
to exalt his son above everyone else, even above every person,
every creature, every devil, but especially above all people.
Above thy fellows, is that what it says here? Above thy fellows,
above everyone. As the son of man, he is exalted
above all. In all things, Christ must have
the preeminence, whether it be in his life, or in his death,
or in his ascension, or in his glory, his reign, his rule. Everything,
he has the preeminence. And the Spirit of God loves to
exalt Him, just like the people of God love to see Him exalted.
We love to see Christ exalted, don't we? One of the reasons
that we like to see Christ exalted is because if He is exalted,
it means that He by Himself accomplished all of our salvation. And it
does not depend on me at all. He accomplished it all. He therefore
gets all the glory. Our glory When we're glorified
in our resurrected bodies to be made like His body, it will
be the glory of Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. It won't be because of anything
we did. It will be because of Christ's glory given to us as
His people. He says in verse 8, all thy garments
smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces
whereby they have made thee glad. Everything about Christ smells
good to God. And God made us know and love
Him as the sweet fragrance of God. Not only does He smell good
to God, but when the gospel is preached, it says that we ourselves
are made a sweet savor of Christ because we're the ones that God
has saved by Him. That's in 2 Corinthians chapter
2 where He says we're a savor of life to life. God smells the
life of His Son in the salvation of His people. And our love to
Christ and to His people we know is because of His love to us
that He makes known to us the same fragrance that he smells
when he smells Christ offered up as a sweet-smelling savor
to God is the same fragrance that God smells when we as believing
sinners love Christ. Let me read this to you in Ephesians
chapter 4. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption. Let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, has forgiven you." Now, if we forgive, it doesn't
give us any merit, but we're given this privilege to forgive
as God has forgiven us for Christ's sake. He says in chapter five,
verse two, walk in love. Notice, walk in love. As Christ
also hath loved us. So he holds up Christ to us.
As Christ has loved us, walk in love towards one another.
And has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet-smelling savor. And this is fragrance to God.
Christ's sacrifice for sinners, giving himself in love for sinners,
was a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God. And God says, now you
forgive as God forgave you for Christ's sake, and you love as
Christ loved you. and gave Himself for us, because
His offering was a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God. You see how
God finds His people in the same way that He finds His Son, because
they are not only clothed in His righteousness, but Christ
Himself lives in them? And how sweet and how fragrant
Christ crucified is to God, and to every sinner granted that
faith to see and embrace Him. And how sweet-smelling we are
because of Christ to God. We're a savor of life to life.
All this stuff in verse 8, thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes
and cassia out of the ivory palaces. The palaces is the palace of
Christ, the King. The palace where the king reigns,
heaven, at the right hand of God, because he finished the
work of God and overcame our enemies and delivered us, then
he's exalted. And the throne is his, the throne
of God is out of the eternal purpose. That's the palace where
God reigns, out of the ivory palaces, the throne and the eternal
purpose of God in Christ. This is out of that ivory palaces,
he says, whereby they have made thee glad. And we can go on here,
and we need to stop because of time. But if you can get some
sense here of the situation that this psalm is written in, Christ
exalted. Christ victorious by his saving
work. Christ lifted up to the eyes
of his people that they might see his glory and they might
know the love of Christ. and knowing His love, they might
know the Father by Him, and the love of God the Father for them
who made them His children by Jesus Christ, the sons of God."
It's incredible. It's incredible. We're going
to see later in the psalm that we're clothed in the garments
of the King, His salvation and righteousness. White linen, clean
and white, so glorious. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your word. It speaks of things eternal,
things that are mysterious, beyond controversy, and yet true, and
that shall surely come to pass. In our experience, we shall be
with the Lord Jesus Christ and see him in his glory, and then
we will be like him, and how thankful we will be. We long
for that day, Lord. Our bodies are declining. The
world is spiraling. It seems out of control. We know
that you have it all in control, but to our own sense and judgment,
it seems that men have run completely wild in their sinfulness, and
our own hearts, too, would be running that way were it not
for your grace. So we pray, Lord, attach us to
the Lord Jesus Christ by sovereign, immutable love, and let us never
depart from him. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.