Psalm 72, a Psalm for Solomon. Give the king thy judgment, O
God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall judge
thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The
mountain shall bring peace to the people and the little hills
by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the
people. He shall save the children of the needy and shall break
in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long
as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. He shall come
down like rain upon the mown grass as showers that water the
earth. In his days shall the righteous
flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river
unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles 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. For he shall
deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath
no helper. He shall spare the poor and the
needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem
their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood
be in his sight. And he shall live, 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. 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. His name shall
endure forever. His name shall be continued as
long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him. All nations
shall call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed
be His glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled
with His glory. Amen and amen. The prayers of
David, the son of Jesse, are ended. And so this Psalm for
Solomon, and as we said indeed in David's
mind he's speaking about Solomon but the greater purpose God has
in the giving of this psalm is to make mention of him who Solomon
is but a type and a foreshadow you remember that David was desirous
of building the temple the Lord told him that he couldn't because
he was a man of war that he had shed too much blood And he said,
but your son will build. And Solomon, whose name means
peace, he is a king of peace. Solomon reigned over a kingdom
of peace. The Lord, Scripture says, is
the Prince of Peace. And so there are many, many types
that are seen clearly in Solomon as he is a picture of Christ. Of course, there's a lot of contrast
in ways in which he's very unlike Christ and very much a man. And the Lord would demonstrate,
I believe in Solomon, what the wisdom of man is. Now we think
of Solomon as being the wisest of men, and yet Solomon became
an idolater. I mean, you know, those two things
don't seem to go hand in hand, do they? But that's how men think. Now you often see around Christmas
time, you'll see these little cards and things that say, wise
men still seek him. And of course it's a play on
the thing of the wise men, you know, seeking the Lord. But the
reality is that's not a true statement. Because the wisdom
of men, in the wisdom of men, men despise the way of Christ.
Wise men, as men know wise men, don't seek the Lord. Because
they figure they got it all figured out. And just like Brother Al
was pointing out, they think that the gospel is kind of foolish. It's an offense to them. Oh,
that's silly. I mean, whoever heard of a God
who would choose people and pass others by, would create some
for the purpose of destroying them. Now, what kind of a God
would do such a thing, is that? Oh, keep silence all created
things, and wait your Maker's nod. My soul stands trembling
as she sings the honors of her God. And so, you know, life,
death and hell and worlds unknown hang on to His firm decree. All things are in the hand of
the Lord. What can a man do? What can a man say? You know,
if a man doesn't like the things that God does, who's he going
to go complain to about it? What can you do about it? Paul
said, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it? Why shall it make me thus? I
mean, we must, by the grace of God, be brought down to that
same place Job did that says, Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. I mean, I can't give you good reasons why God does
all the things that he does, but I know they're all good reasons. And I certainly won't bring him
into question about it. I mean, who are we to bring God
into question about anything? Give the king thy judgment, so
God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. The Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world as a perfect man without sin. Now Adam was created without
sin, was he not? I mean, he wasn't created as
a sinner, but he was created as a man. And he was created
as a man with the propensity to sin. And he's accountable
for his sin. And what can any man say about
that? Did sin occur by happenstance? Did the Lord say, oh man, I've
messed up now. Here's Adam, he's sinned. No,
the Lord had a purpose in the creation of the world. And whether
you like it, and maybe you don't like the way to say this, but
the sin of Adam was as much ordained as was every other thing in the
world. Otherwise, something would have
been out of the control of Almighty God. Now you can go shipwreck
on such a thing as that. And what men often do is they
get to thinking that, well, because everything's in the hand of the
Lord, then I just, it don't matter what I do. Well, that's a foolish
place to go. Because the Scriptures amply
says, don't do this. If you do this, this is going
to happen. And men are fools that disregard the commandments
of God. And would despise the way of
God. But the Lord came into the world
as a perfect man without any propensity to sin. When the Scripture
says that He was without sin, it doesn't just mean that He
did not commit any sin. It means that there was no thought
of evil in His heart. See, He didn't need the Ten Commandments. When the Lord Jesus came into
the world, He didn't need the Ten Commandments. How do we know
that? Because the law is not given to a righteous man. It's
given to the lawless and the disobedient. See, the Lord gave
the law because men are sinners. Christ came into the world as
a righteous man. And He had one desire, and that
was to fulfill the will of His Father. And everything that he
sought to do was that. Me and Adam were just the exact
opposite of that. Looking for a way to go contrary
to it. And when the opportunity arose,
guess what? That's what he did. because that's
what he is by nature. But give thy king thy judgment,
so God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. The Lord
Jesus Christ has come into the world as a perfect man, righteous
in all of his ways, in all of his thoughts, and in all of his
doings. And he is that one who shall
judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. Now
the Lord judges right judgment. Now, anybody that pays much attention
to what goes on up in Washington knows for a surety that there
is no such thing as righteous judgment in the earth. Because
it doesn't make any difference who you are or what party you're
from or whatever. It doesn't make any difference.
The law just exists in their mind as something to promote
their own agenda and they'll do whatever they can either side,
both ways, to do whatever they want to do. And it's not like
one side is so good and the other side is so evil. The Lord put
evil men in these places. What did He say He'd do? And
that's exactly what He did. And we see it played out. But
the Lord Jesus Christ is a righteous judge. And He judges with exact
righteousness. Some people take comfort in that
when they think about their own way and they say, man, I'm glad
that the Lord is going to judge right and we're going to get
what we, you know, what's coming to us. Well, brethren, you've
got the wrong idea about what righteousness is. You're like
either the Democrats or the Republicans. You know, you think this is righteous
or that's righteous. But see, the righteousness of
God, it doesn't have anything to do with that. You know, it's
so far exceed that. And every man who reads that
he will, the Lord will give righteous judgment ought to tremble in
fear. That one day he will stand before that righteous judge.
And dear brethren, if you think that you're gonna stand there
on your own before a righteous judge and not be condemned, then
you don't understand the righteousness of God. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. But men think, well, my sin is
not quite as bad as so and so. I mean, I might not have done
right, but I didn't act like Jeffrey Dahmer or Hitler or,
you know, I didn't act like Donald Trump or Adam Schiff. I mean, I was
better than them. It doesn't make any difference. You know, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. And to stand before Almighty
God as one who is giving out righteous judgment in our own
self is to perish. He shall judge thy people with
righteousness and thy poor with judgment. Now fortunately, He
knows that we are dust. And in His mercy, he does show
mercy to those who are the objects of his mercy. Now, that's a funny
way to say that, isn't it? But that's what he said. He said,
I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will harden
whom I will harden. Now, does that sound good to
people? I mean, really. Now, just on the face of that,
the Lord says, I'm gonna show mercy to whom I will, and whom
I will, I'll harden. You know, naturally, the natural
man says, well that does not sound fair. I mean, that is not
right. What about man's free will? Well,
what about it? I mean, whether a man believes
in free will or not, mercy is the sovereign will and right
of Almighty God to do with His own as He sees fit. And He shows
mercy to some. Oh, by the grace of God, I desire
to be an object of His mercy. There's not a thing in the world
I can do to cause myself to be an object of mercy. But the Spirit
of God works in the sons of God with a desire to be the objects
of mercy. See, the righteous men of the
earth, they don't necessarily need mercy, they just want justice.
Because they figure what they're doing is right. They don't figure
there's any need to be worried about mercy if they got justice. But oh the Lord, He's the one
who gives the poor. He deals with the poor with judgment.
because he said blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven and the judgment of the poor and the judgment of
the wise is two different things because the Lord judges the poor
with the same judgment but the poor he makes provision for see
the poor are those whom the Lord came to save he came to save
sinners He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. The poor are the sinners. The
poor are those who don't have anything to bargain with with
God. Rich men are those that figure
they're going to be all right. I tell the Lord, like my old
neighbor said, I just tell him I always tried to do what was
right. Now what a lie that was. You never always tried to do
what was right. You never known anybody that ever always tried
to do what was right. You might have messed up and
done what was right every now and then. But you know, most
times it was in contrast to what you really wanted to do. But the Lord, He does judge the
poor with righteousness, just as He judges the rich. He shall judge thy people with
righteousness, thy poor with judgment. He gives mercy. mixed
with judgment because he makes provision not to overturn the
law but to fulfill it. The mountain shall bring peace
to the people and the little hills by righteousness. He shall
judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of
the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. Now that
is judgment. That is justice. And he said
he would do that, that he would hear the sighing of the needy,
he'll save the children of the needy and break in pieces the
oppressor. For they shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon
endure throughout all generations. See, those who are the poor and
the needy, who've been shown mercy, they'll fear God forever. But the natural man, he doesn't
fear God. He thinks God might be his buddy.
Or he thinks God will do, you know, if Grandma gets sick, he
can go to the Lord and the Lord may heal Grandma. Or he may help them get that
bank loan. do something, you know, He'll
do something good for them. They believe that. Men believe
that. You know, it doesn't take much to get people to believe
that. I mean, to tell folks, now if you'll go and you'll send
me fifty dollars, the Lord will bless you. It doesn't take much
to convince a man of that. Why? Because he already believes
such stuff as that. He believes he can influence
God. He believes there's a way in which he can cause himself
to appear before God in such a way that the Lord will grant
his wish like a genie in a bottle. But the Lord hears the cry of
the needy and breaks in pieces the oppressor. And they shall
fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all
generations because he works in them, both the will and the
do of his good pleasure. And the people of God shall fear
him forever. he shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass as showers that water the earth. Now, you
know, I was thinking of this one. I don't know why this came
to my mind, but he shall come down like rain upon mown grass.
Have you ever seen dead grass sprout? Now, I know that it really
wasn't completely dead, but it was mowed down I've seen hay
before that was baled up in a bale, and as far as you could determine,
it was dead. I'm talking about like coastal
Bermuda hay. But I've seen a bale of hay get wet, and in the right
situation, and that stuff starts sprouting again. And if you looked
at it, you'd say that stuff's dead, it's away, just dried out.
But just like the Lord sent the prophet to the valley of dry
bones, the Lord said, let it live. And just like the rain
upon dry grass, upon the mown grass, it shall flourish according
to the good pleasure of his will. And none can stop it. And no
man can explain it. He shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass as showers that water the earth. Oh, how
precious is the blessing of God. to those that wait upon him.
Now you know the scripture says that rain falls on the just and
the unjust. And quite often it is, there's
two ways you can look at that. Now if you wanted to do something
and you have this event planned and it rains, you say, oh man,
it rained. Well, the rain fell on the just
and the unjust. And then on the other hand, when
it's dry and parched, And you say, oh Lord, send us some rain.
And it rains, the rain falls on the just and the unjust there.
You know, if it's a blessing or a curse, as men might look
on it, it doesn't make any difference. It's in the hands of the Lord
and He is the one that sends it down. Now, the people of God
are the only ones who can really rejoice in that. Because whether
it rains or whether it's dry, Our times are in the hands of
the Lord. And we might complain in the
flesh, but we rejoice that even if it never rains again in all
of our crops, though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither
shall the fruit be in the vine, though the labor of the olive
shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat, yet will we praise
the Lord. What a glorious thing. How does
a man come to a place like that? Can a man just decide to be like
that? I mean, can a man rejoice in
everything going wrong in his life by nature? Only as the Lord is pleased to
come down like that rain upon the mown grass. That's the only
way. As showers that water the earth.
That's the only way that that happens. What a glorious thing. What a wondrous God we have. The righteous shall flourish
in the abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He
shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river
unto the ends of the earth. hate to place labels upon things,
but the pre-millennial view, and I don't usually get into
all this kind of stuff, but which is so common among men in their
line of thought, says that there's coming a time when Christ will
reign in the earth. And they're too late. They're right. But they should
have been back with Isaiah and Ezekiel and all of that because
the Lord does reign in the earth. He has the kingdom that the Scripture
speaks about that He would come and establish. He has established. It is established. It is not
a kingdom of flesh and blood. It's not a kingdom that comes
by observation. It's not a kingdom that men can
go and see a king seated on a throne somewhere. But he is a king nonetheless
over his kingdom because his kingdom is a mediatorial kingdom.
And he said that the kingdom of God is in your midst when
the Pharisee is asking to show it to him. He said it's already
here. You just don't know it. You have not seen it. He shall
have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the
ends of the earth. Now, David is writing this in
prospect. He said, He shall. But we see
it as it has gloriously been fulfilled and we said, He reigns. Our God reigns. And He has come
to establish His kingdom and He has triumphed gloriously in
the establishment of that kingdom and has put down all opposition. We are not waiting for a day
when He is going to put down all opposition. He already has. They just don't know, some of
them don't know it yet. But He has, He rules and He reigns. They that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents,
and the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall confess." The Lord said that
He had a people of every kindred, tribe, and tongue in the earth.
I believe that that's, I don't know there's any place on earth,
now there may be like one village somewhere you might go and find,
you know, a believer, but I don't believe there's any place on
earth that you can go in the present time where there is not
somebody of that nation who rejoices in Jesus Christ. He has a people scattered here
and there. According to the good pleasure
of his will, dear brethren, And He has gathered His people, and
He is in the process of gathering His people. The kings of Sheba
and Seba shall all forgive. All kings shall fall down before
Him. All nations shall serve Him.
They shall. They have. They are. He turns
the heart of the king, whether He wills it or not. They are
not a king on earth. They did not do exactly what
the Lord told them to do. Saddam Hussein, he didn't ever
take a step that the Lord didn't guide his feet. Now was Saddam
Hussein a wicked man? He sure was. Does the Lord destroy
wicked men? He sure does. He sets men up
just like Pharaoh. What did he say to Pharaoh? Why
was Pharaoh raised up? One reason. He said, I have raised
thee up that I might demonstrate my power in the earth. or raise
up it was not a problem in the white house is it because he's
a you know the greatest man uh... ever lived or is this wonderful
person or something else now don't rob the wicked man and everybody else that would
occupy that place is a wicked man the lord raised him up because
it pleased him and when the time comes i don't know if it'll be
in a few months, or if it'll be in four years, or if it'll
be halfway through, or I don't know, but there will come a time
when the Lord will put him down. And what can we say to these
things? Except to fall in worship, and we will worship. All nations
shall serve him, they presently do. For he shall deliver the
needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
Oh, what a glorious Savior He is. He shall deliver the needy
when they cry. You know, that's the most wonderful
thing. When we preach the exalted Christ and the reigning Christ
and the Christ who has purchased the redemption of His people,
we know this to be an absolute fact, that if there is a sinner
who's crying out for help, The Lord will hear
you. There's never been a man who's
ever perished calling upon the name of the Lord. Never been
a sinner who died seeking mercy. It's never happened. It can't
happen. Because the Lord hears the prayer
of the needy. Now there's plenty of folks that
have prayed prayers and preachers have told them, well you prayed
the prayer so everything's great. who didn't have any idea what
they was even doing or thought or had. But I'm telling you this,
when the Spirit of God moves in a man's heart to cause him
to see himself as a needy sinner before Almighty God with no help
and no hope in himself, and he cries out to God for mercy, the
Lord will hear him. How do I know that? Because he
would have never got in that shape if the Lord hadn't brought
him there. You see, the Lord doesn't play
games with people. Those that desire to know Him, they'll know
Him. He said, If ye seek me, ye shall
find me. Him that knocketh to Him, to
Him it will be opened. Because the Lord is full of mercy
and kindness. His grace covers the seas. And
His love for sinners has been demonstrated, dear brethren,
as He poured out His lifeblood on Calvary's cross. to show that
He is a just God. Because He will not overturn
the decree that the soul that's in it shall die. But He fulfilled
it. Because Jesus Christ went to
the cross of Calvary with the sins of His people laid upon
His back, and He paid the price for them. Absolutely. And of all which the Lord has
given Him, He will lose none. They belong to Him. And He loves
His people. And His people are those who
are the off-scouring of the earth. They are those who are considered
to be the weak and the beggarly, the poor and the needy, the hopeless,
the helpless. Yes, Christ is the Savior. I think it was Fanny Crosby that
wrote a hymn that said, Pass Me Not. Hear my humble cry, while on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Oh, he never passed
by. He didn't pass by that woman
with the issue of blood. He didn't pass by a blind Bartimaeus
as he sat by the highway side begging. And he said, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy And the most wondrous thing that
we recorded in the Scripture, the Scripture says the Son stood
still. He heard the cry of a sinner.
He heard the cry of a needy man. He heard the cry of a blind man.
And He met His need. And He is that same One today
of whom we preach and declare. That One who rules and reigns
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
Who saves sinners. Glory to His name. What a wonderful
Savior is He.