Good morning to everyone. Take
your Bibles, turn with me to Psalm 110. 110. The first three verses give us the
gospel, sort of in a nutshell. The last few verses tell us why
we need that gospel. Psalm 110. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness from
the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord has sworn and will not
repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall
strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge
among the heathen. He shall fill the places with
the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over
many countries. He shall drink of the brook in
the way. Therefore, shall he lift up the
head. Our Heavenly Father, We thank
you for all the wonderful works that you've done among the children
of men. Through your son, Jesus Christ, who you have set to be
Lord and Master of all, who has already decreed that
one day all your enemies will be your footstool. But we're
so thankful, Lord, that thy people are made willing in the day of
thy power, that you, as a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, made the offering, presented
the offering, was the offering, and satisfied God our father who demands justice. We confess to you that we were
the enemies of God, rebels, vile sinners, who had no interest in the things
of God, who would not come to God, who had no knowledge of
God, who were sinners before a holy
God, and yet you chose us. How can it be that such wonderful love would
be shed abroad in our hearts? We're thankful, our Lord Jesus. We praise and honor your name,
and we proclaim to all that thou art worthy of all the praise
and honor and glory forever and forever. This morning we come to you as
a needy people. Father, we need your help. We
want to worship you in spirit and truth, but only as you meet
with us in our midst will be able to Have the liberty and
have the power and the boldness to worship our Lord. Meet with
us, we pray. Father, we pray for those of
us who are hurting. We think of Kathleen. We hear from last evening that
she was getting better. Father, we pray that you would
continue to be a help to her, her strength, her comfort, and
her encouragement, and ours as well. Father, we pray that we
know that if you will, for Peggy and for Kathleen and for others,
that you could just take these things away from them. just like
you did the leper when you said, I will be thou clean. But Lord, if it's not your will,
may we rest on the strength of your grace that is made sufficient
to all of us. There are those of our family
and friends and maybe some here in the congregation that need, all of us need, to
hear the gospel today. Father, give me power, liberty,
to speak the gospel, to praise and honor and glorify Jesus Christ
who died on the cross for us. And if it be your will, may one
of your sheep hear your gospel. And may they hear your voice
say, follow me. And may they follow. Lord, we give all the things
of this service and of ourselves to you. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? The son of man that thou visited him. Who are we to ask
any of these things of you? And yet, You've loved us. You'll not forsake us. Where
two or three are gathered, you said you'd be there in the midst.
Thank you for being here with us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn with me again, please, to
Psalm 110. We'll start there. Psalm 110. The gospel is illustrated in
so many different ways in scripture. It's all one gospel. It's all
one truth. But so many different illustrations,
and we have here before us another one. In the first three or four
verses here, an illustration of the gospel of God's grace,
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, all of us are
sinners. All of us have sinned in Adam. He was the rebel, and when he
fell, we fell with him. As in Adam all die. And before
that, long before that, God chose a particular people to be his. In his love, in his grace, and
in his mercy, he chose a particular people. Psalm 65 verse 4 says,
blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach
unto thee. God chose and God caused. God chose the eternal fact. God caused the effectual fact. He brought us to Himself. And our Lord accomplished that
salvation that the sinners in Adam, whom had been chosen, God
had accomplished their salvation long before the world ever began. Somewhere in eternity, God the
Father, God the Son, God the Spirit agreed and purposed to bring
salvation to these particular people whom God calls his sheep,
his people, his bride, many other terms that are used, his church. And Jesus Christ accomplished
that salvation by substituting himself for them. He became a
man. And that body was prepared for
him for one reason, to be the offering for sin that these people
needed. And when he offered himself as
the offering for us, he took care of sin, the whole sin problem. When he died on the cross, God
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. When He died on the cross, He was made to be sin and God's
justice poured out His wrath on that sin, His Son, His body, until all that wrath and all
that sin was consumed, bled for, redeemed, paid, put away, it's
all done. And then God calls His people. He
calls them by His grace, by His mercy. Would to God that God
would call His people today. I pray that He will. that God
will call his people to himself today. And as long as you have
breath, and as long as you hear the preaching of the gospel, there is a possibility that God
will speak to you and say, come unto me, follow me, I'll give
you rest. You see, Paul said to Timothy,
of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It's all in a
person. Jesus Christ. It's not in the
acts you do. It's not in the acts I do. It's
not in the wants we have. Some people say, well, one of
these days, one of these days, how do you know? It's not up
to you. God has purposed in eternity
before the foundation of the world. It's not one of these
days. As a matter of fact, he said,
today is the day of salvation. This is the day which the Lord
hath made. And if you look in the context
of Psalm 118, where it says, this is the day that the Lord
hath made. You'll see that was the day that Jesus Christ gave
himself for us. Not only did He call us, but
in eternity past, Jesus Christ our Lord was made surety for
everyone, every individual of His people. For everyone. Now if that isn't comfort, I
don't know what to tell you. If that isn't the gospel and
comforts your heart because you know God has done it all, God
has brought it to fruition and effect, it's God that worketh
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. If that's
not comfort, I don't know what is. Our Lord said it this way,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I don't know why it's cast out. Now that's pretty comfortable,
isn't it? It doesn't rest on me. It doesn't rest on you. And so we come to this passage
in Psalm 110. And it says, the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. An evident fact. The enemies of God will be made
his footstool. That's an evident fact. And we're
all the enemies of God. I'll prove that to you here in
just a little bit. And then he says, the Lord shall
send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. All judgment is given unto him.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. When it's God's good pleasure,
when it's God's will, his power will be displayed and God's people
will be willing. Well, it sounds like he's going
to make us into robots. No, he's just going to make us
willing. He's going to show us who he
is and that's all we're going to want. We're going to want to see his
face. We're going to want to know all about him. We're going
to fall in love with him. You know what I'm talking about
when you fall in love? I fell in love with Peggy the first
time I ever saw her. I saw those eyes and that smile,
and I was smitten. And I talk about her in a good
way. I talk about her all the time. And we tell each other how much
we love each other. You know, it's a blessed time.
It's a blessed time. But there's a greater love that
I have. And that's of my Lord. Who loved
me from all eternity. Whose love is complete. Who will
love me to the end. Whose love is forever. And I tell him I love him. This
morning he's told me several times how much he loves me. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness from
the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn and will
not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
the Prince of Salem. That's what Melchizedek means,
the Prince of Salem, the Prince of Peace. That's who he is, the
Prince of Peace. There are other passages that
are recorded throughout the scripture that lend to us these ideas. Peter was preaching in the book
of Acts, chapter, as a matter of fact, his first message. after
the Spirit of God came upon him and those people that were with
him in the upper room. And he repeats this, until I
make thine enemies thy foes thy footstool. And that's where I
get the title of my message this morning, foes to footstools. The Lord said to our Lord, sit
thou on my right hand. Isaiah said it this way, the
heaven is thy throne and the earth is thy footstool. And it was speaking in reference
to the temple and the Lord told David the same thing. What house
will you build me? Where's the place of my rest? The writer of Hebrews said, the
Lord spoke to our Lord, sit on my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. From henceforth, he was expecting
to his enemies be made his footstool. But the Psalmist David changes
in a couple of verses throughout the Psalm in a slight way, but
in a great way, in the gospel way. Psalm 99 verse 5 says, exalt
ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy. Psalm 132 and verse 7, we will
go into his tabernacles, we will worship at his footstool. As I was thinking about all those
passages and this passage in Psalm 110, I thought, well, seems like there's two footstools. There's one at the throne, and
I'll show you that here in a little bit. And there's one at the mercy
seat, and I'll show you that one in a little bit. And the
more I thought about it, the more I thought, well, no, there's
not two footstools. There's just one. It's not the
throne. It's not the mercy seat. It's
the person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits on the throne, who sits
on the mercy seat, and there's a footstool before each one. This indicates the sovereignty
of God, his lordship. He is too great, he says, to
be confined to a little space. And yet he was great enough that
he confined himself to the body of a man. God with us. Emmanuel. He is so great that He can dwell
with His people. Not only dwell with His people
as they meet together, but He can dwell in you. And isn't what
Paul says right? Christ in you, the hope of glory. Heaven is where His throne is.
The earth is the place of His footstool, which teaches us how
insignificant we are. The biggest thing Isaiah calls
us in Isaiah chapter 40 is a grasshopper. The smallest thing he calls us
in Isaiah 40 is less than nothing. Now, how can you be less than
nothing? Well, that's God's Word. That's what He said about me.
I'm less than nothing. I'm a nobody. I'm so low that even nobody doesn't
describe me. How insignificant man is. And
yet David says, what is man that thou art mindful of me? And the
son of man that thou visiteth him. You see, all of us are enemies. All of us are foes. All of us
will become his footstool. Those who are called to approach
unto God will worship at that footstool. And it's an evident
fact that not everybody worships at that footstool. But I will
be glad to be the footstool of our God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ, and let his feet rest on me if he can show me mercy. And he has. Men are the enemies of God. Romans chapter 8 verse 7 tells
us that we, the carnal mind is at enmity with God. We're the enemies of God. We're
not subject to the law, neither indeed can be. We're the enemies
of God in Romans chapter 8 and verse 7. We're the enemies of
God in Colossians chapter 1. Look at that with me. Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 and look
at verse 21. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now have been reconciled. We were the enemies of God. The
sheep of God at one time were his enemies until he made it
effectual in their lives. And the interesting thing to
note is that from all eternity, I was the sheep of God for whom
he died. And for all eternity, he was
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. For all eternity,
my sins have been taken care of. Every one of them. When God
looks at me, as the song was presented to us, when God looks
at me, He looks through His Son. And as He looks through His Son,
He sees no sin. God has given me a new nature,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And as He looks at that new nature,
it's nothing but righteous, just like Him. The problem is this new nature
lives in this body, this body of flesh. When you look at me, you're going
to see all kinds of problems. When I look at myself, I see
even more because I know more about me than you do. And yet he made me a child of
his. I'll gladly be his footstool. He can rest his feet on me. I'll
gladly be that footstool. I was an enemy, a foe. I'll gladly
be that footstool. Now those that he calls here
in Psalm 110, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool, the poles to the
footstool. Many of those, many in our world have been reserved for mercy by no merit of their own. There's not anything that they
can claim and they can't claim God. They can't go around saying
God loves everybody. They can't go around saying God
died for everyone. What's not true? Absolutely not
true. If God loved everybody and his
love goes all the way to the end and his love was forever
from eternity to eternity, there'd be nobody lost. There'd be nobody
go to hell. And if he died for all the sins
of everyone in the world, then God would be unjust to send a
man to hell, wouldn't he? But our God is righteous. He's
not unjust. He's a God of justice. Look at it with me in Romans
chapter 9, verse 18. I'm not telling you, most of
you, anything you've never heard before. I'm just telling you
the truth again. Because it isn't the truth that
sets a man free. Romans chapter 9. Look down in
verse 18. Let's start with verse 16. Speaking of election in Romans
chapter 9, God says, So then it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he pardoneth. See, it's all God. That's what
God is doing. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. Go over just a few books to Ephesians
chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. We'll begin with verse one in
Ephesians chapter two. While you're turning there, let
me just say, you either bow before the Lord now, as God calls you, or one day
there's no escaping. You will bow before Him. You will bow before Him and be
His footstool. You'll be like the folk in Revelation
who ran, who called for the mountains and rocks to fall on them to
hide us from the face of him with whom we have to do whom
we can see the Lord Jesus Christ sitting on his throne. Hide us,
but there's no hiding place. And that's what I think Paul
is telling us here in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1. And you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of the
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, don't you like it? But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us. Now the us is not
everybody in the world, read chapter 1. God's chosen, God's
people. He loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
are you saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Jesus Christ. For by grace are you saved. through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained,
that we should walk in them. Wherefore, remember, that ye
being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who were called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens, enemies,
from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, and without God in this world. But
now, something's happened. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ,
for he is our peace. Now in the same passage we read,
whom he will. You'll have mercy on whom he
will. It says, whom he will, he hardeneth. But if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them, lest they should see the light of
the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's all of God's will, God's
good pleasure, what He desires, what He has purposed. There's that footstool at the
throne. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles. Second Chronicles Chapter 9 Second Chronicles Chapter 9 Solomon is building his palace
on his throne. This is that Solomon that had
the two ladies come before him holding a baby. One of them said
it was mine, the other said it was mine. They both had a baby
the same night. One had rolled over on her baby
and smothered it to death. And she stole the baby out of
the arms of the other lady. They came before Solomon. And
Solomon, in his great wisdom, said, give me a sword. Tell you
what, we'll just divide the baby in half and give them both half.
And one woman said, oh, no. Oh, no. Don't kill the baby. Just give the baby to her. And
Solomon said, that's the mother. That's the mother. In his wisdom at his throne. And as he's building this throne
in chapter nine, verse 17 of second Chronicles. Moreover, the king made a great
throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. And there
were six steps to the throne with a footstool of gold, which
were fastened to the throne and stays on each side of the sitting
place and two lines standing by the stays. Twelve lines stood
there on the side, on the one side and on the upon the six
steps, and there was not the like made in any kingdom. At his throne he put a footstool.
Solomon being a type of Christ, and we becoming all of his enemies
were going to become his footstool, I was thinking about that. Solomon
had a footstool put right at the bottom of his throne. Why
did he do that? Everybody he was going to use
his wisdom to pronounce judgment to had to come to that place. One of these days, God in his
wisdom and everyone that he will pronounce judgment to, depart
from me, ye worker of iniquity, I never knew you, are going to
come to that footstool. And when they come to that footstool,
he's going to pronounce judgment on them. If you're going to wait
that long, that's too long. Achan was caught with the accursed
thing. You remember that? Achan, as the children of Israel
were beginning their conquest of Canaan. The first city that
they were to conquer, everything in that city was to belong to
God. Not a thing was to be taken for
themselves. But Achan got the wedge of gold,
the wedge of silver, and the Babylonian garment, and he hid
it in his tent. And God said, through Moses,
when Achan was found out, Moses said, what have you done? Why
have you taken the accursed thing? Give God the glory. And after he said that, Achan
and his whole household were destroyed. Give God the glory. When you bow before that throne,
the only thing you're going to be able to do is give God the
glory. You are right. You are just. You are perfect. You are holy. I deserve this. I give you the
glory. I deserve to be his footstool. When Joshua was making the conquest,
five of the kings hid themselves in a cave. They found them. They brought them to Joshua.
And when they brought them to Joshua, Joshua had them lay down
in front of him, put his foot on their neck, and killed all
five kings. on the necks of all the enemies
of God. I'm not trying to scare you,
I'm just trying to tell you the truth. Because there's a greater
truth. There's a mercy seat. There's
a mercy seat that God would, in His blessed will, call you
to Him now. And you could bow before that
mercy seat. And I would bow at that mercy
seat. I would allow Him to put His foot on me and be His footstool
if He'll show me that mercy that only God has. Some people think, well, I just
take my chances. Well, let me tell you that God
said, He knoweth them that are His. Does He know you? Some say, well, one of these
days I'll let Him be Lord. Well, I'm going to tell you something,
He already is. You won't let Him do anything. He's God and
He does whatever He wants to in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of this earth. No man can stay His hand. Well, I'll just do the best I
can. That'll be good enough, won't it? No. Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us. Back years ago, when I preached
false doctrine, I used to tell everybody, well, make him lord
of your life. That's a lie. You won't make him anything.
He already is. And how can you and I, who are
dead in trespasses and sin, have God do anything? Where does that leave us? There's the footstool of His
throne. There's the footstool of the mercy seat. Let me show
you that one. Turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 28. 1 Chronicles chapter 28. Now this
is David. David wanted to build the temple. God wouldn't allow him. God said,
your son will do that. So David said, all right, I'll
get all the material together. I'll get the designs together.
I'll have it all set up and all Solomon will have to do is build
the glorious temple for Israel. In 1 Corinthians chapter 28,
verse 2. Then David the king stood up
upon his feet and said, Hear me, my brethren and my people. As for me, I had in my heart
to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the
Lord and for the footstool of our God and had made ready for
the building. David again, a type of Christ.
He's going to build the mercy seat. or have the, he's got the
design for the mercy seat. And the design includes the footstool
at the mercy seat. That's where I want to be. That's where I want to be. Because
that's where the Father rests. He rests in His beloved Son.
That's where He put His name in God our Savior Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's where He shows His glory
as He glorifies His Son at the cross in death for His people. That's where He brings many sons
to glory to be with Him. He's not satisfied. Well, God
is always satisfied. That's a bad statement. He wanted
more just like his son. So what did he do? He made more
just like his son. Bringing many sons to glory,
the captain of our salvation is doing and has done. The Pharisees stood in the temple,
the publican over in a corner somewhere away. The publican said, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. He smote upon his breast. This
old flesh is my problem. Sin is my problem. I need the mercy of God. God,
if I don't have your mercy, I have nothing. I'll never have anything. And he bowed and begged for mercy
at the mercy seat. He was over in the corner. That's
where I picture him, somewhere in the shadows. He wasn't even near the mercy
seat of the temple. But I'll tell you one thing,
he was near the mercy seat of God, Jesus Christ. Because he
said that man went down to his house justified. The just God had justified him
The other guy that was there proclaimed all his accomplishments. Look what I have done. Look what
I have been doing. And I'm surely not like that
old publican standing over there, that tax collector which everybody
hates. He's a thief. I'm not like him
at all. He proclaimed his accomplishments. He complained his superiority
over others. but not over God. He stood before God in his own
merits. And you know what Jesus said
about him? Nothing. He bowed before that throne and
God said, there's nothing to you. The publican bowed before
that throne and he said, Christ in you. That's the difference. The thief on the cross, he had
a very similar experience. He confessed himself as the sinner,
the enemy of God. He said, we justly hang on this
cross, but this man has done nothing amiss. He recognized
something about this man. Then he confessed him as Lord.
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And he could
only beg for the Lord's mercy. Remember me. He had no proof
or assurance that God would. He just said, Lord, remember
me. But then he got it. He got that
assurance. Today thou will be with me in
paradise. Today. There's the assurance.
You're going to be with me. Today if you will harden not
your heart. Today is the day of salvation. If you confess me before men,
I'll confess you before the Father. If you're ashamed of me before
men, I'll be ashamed of you before my Father. These two thrones
are one person. Either we bow to the Lordship
of Jesus Christ and say, He is Lord, Lord of all. Or we don't. Either we bow at the mercy seat
of Jesus Christ and beg for the mercy of God. Or we don't. He's either going to confess
us or not confess us. He's either
going to be ashamed of us or not be ashamed of us. Not on
who you are, but on who Christ is. Our Lord is the mercy seat. He is the propitiation for our
sins and not for ours only. He's the atonement. He's the
satisfaction. He's the one who humbled himself. Now may we worship at the mercy
seat the Lord Jesus Christ and have this only one hope. Christ died for sinners. Christ
died for the ungodly. I have that hope, don't you?
That's the only hope I can have because that's all I am. and he'll give us eternal entrance
into his kingdom. We're talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ, our substitute, who laid down his life, willingly
sacrificed himself. He was the only sacrifice acceptable
to God. He was made to be sin for us
who knew no sin. The father meted out his justice
on his son, and his son satisfied the father in justice. that he may show mercy to his
people. You see, as our high priest,
he brought the offering. He is the offering. And his offering
made atonement for the sins of his people. Therefore, I will gladly be his
footstool. I'll bow to his lordship. He can pour contempt on all my
pride and make me hate my pride. He can destroy all my self-righteousness,
but all I want to do is beg for His mercy. At His feet, the mercy
seat. Beg for His mercy in His face
on the throne. King of kings, Lord of Lords, I need your mercy. And you know
what he does? He renews them every morning.
Every morning. He shows me how merciful and
how great and how wonderful he is. He delights in Let's stand together. Turn in our hymn to Psalm 118.