The Lord is surely gracious and
kind in guiding our steps in whichever way it is. You know,
when the prophet came to the widow who had lost her son, and
he asked, Is it well with thee? And she said, It is well, even
though it wasn't well. as far as men were concerned,
but it was well, because her confidence was not in the thing
that she could do, or anything she could bring to pass, but
her confidence was in the Lord. And she knew that all would be
well, and all is well. And that's the most difficult thing for
us to come to grips with, as we face our troubles and trials
in this world, is that all these things are meant for our good.
You know, because we don't always really believe that, do we? You
know, when a man's in the midst of his troubles, he's not thinking
about all these things are good or working for his good. Right
then, he's dealing with the with the problem. But it is the times
of refreshing which are sent from the Lord is when he gives
us opportunity that we might reflect and look at the hand,
his hand of mercy that's been upon us throughout the course
of our lives. And he brought us exactly through
the things that we've come through for the purpose of bringing us
to where we are at the present time that we might praise him.
You know, I'm amazed every day when I think of things that happen
and people get all upset about this is happening and that's
happening, but you know, you look at the world situation,
I mean the world's like a powder keg. I mean, just think how,
if these things were all just a chance, all this business that's
going on over there in the Middle East and all that, I mean, just
in a heartbeat, all that can erupt into a major, you know,
conflagration of all sorts of things could happen, and it may.
That may very well happen, that may very well be what the Lord
sets forth to do, but it is a glorious and comforting thing to know
that it doesn't matter how many ships are blown up, or what happens,
that all of it is in the direct control of a God who turns the
hearts of kings whether so ever he will. Now, people get all
upset about who the president is or who the president's gonna
be or all of these things. It doesn't make any difference
who the president is. Now, you know, I say that in
the overall thing. Now, I'm worried about who the
president may be, you know, as a man, but then when I get to
thinking about it and I say, well, really now, you know, the
heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord. and whoever he puts in there
is the one I want to be in there. I mean, do you want somebody
else in there other than the one the Lord's going to put in
there? I don't. I mean, you know, may the Lord's
will be done. May He be praised in all these
things, and may we learn what it is to trust Him in all things. You know, a man that says, I
always trust the Lord, he's telling a lie. Because it's not in the
heart of a man to always trust the Lord. It's the blessing of
God when a man is called to trust the Lord. You know, that is a
blessing. That is THE blessing. See, we
don't trust the Lord in order to get a blessing. It IS the
blessing of God when we trust the Lord. Oh, that He might give
us grace to trust Him. And we will be filled with the
blessings of God if he is pleased to do that. So we're in Psalm
45, and we had looked down through the verse five last week. It says, thine arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. The Lord is able to take care
of His enemies and He will do so. Who is this that cometh from
Edom with thy garments from Basra? He that is mighty in strength,
mighty to save. But wherefore is thy garments
red? He said they are red with the
blood of my enemies that I have trodden down under my feet. The Lord did accomplish the redemption
of His people, but He has also accomplished the destruction
of His enemies. He's led captivity captive. He
has made a show of them openly. He has destroyed those who would
stand against Him. Now, they don't know it yet.
In great measure, the world goes on as though they can do whatever. Linda and I were talking this
morning about A little simple thing like what the date, you
know how calendars we've always used, it's always been, the time
has been divided up in B.C. and A.D. B.C. before Christ and
A.D. and O'Domini in the year of our
Lord. Well, of course there's a move
afoot to You know, do away with that, I mean it's already being
that way in some places and some different avenues and they're
doing it in the, I forget what it is, CE I think it is, it's
the current episode or something like that. Anyway, that's how
we do the time now, you know, because we want to remove that
all mention of Christ out of it. But you know, I've often
thought, isn't that an amazing thing that time itself, insofar
as we're concerned, is divided over that momentous event that
Christ would come into the world. That's not just something men
dreamed up, that's just the way that it is. Because the Lord
said in the beginning of the book of Hebrews, God who at sundry
times and in divers manner spake in times past. Now what are the
times past? That's B.C. Okay, half in these
last days, that's A.D. spoken under us by his son, by
whom he created the world. And so, you know, whether men
like it or not, or whether they want to give him glory in it, it doesn't
really make a whole lot of difference, does it? Because he is ordering
all things according to the good pleasure of his will, and he's
able to take care of his enemies. Now, he says here, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Thy love is righteousness, and
hate is wickedness. Therefore thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Now who could
that be speaking of? That same one. Because in the
same chapter, if you look in Hebrews chapter 1, it begins
with those very words. Hebrews chapter 1, if I can get
over there, verse 8. Well, let's begin reading here,
it says, being made so much, verse four, being made so much
better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And again, I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all
the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of
fire. But, that's one of the biggest buts that's in the scripture.
But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God. is forever and
ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
And so, let there be no doubt that whether men divide the passing
of time up into B.C. and A.D. doesn't make any difference.
The Lord does. And he plainly says that Christ
is this one of whom the psalmist spoke many years before it was
ever recorded. And you know, I'm sure that when
David penned these words, he didn't have the same understanding
of that that we do. Because see, he didn't get the
opportunity to read Hebrews. He didn't get the opportunity
to see. what it was that the Lord was doing, but his confidence
was in this one of whom he spoke. Thou lovest righteousness, and
hatest wickedness. Therefore God thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. That is, the
Lord Jesus Christ was the most blessed man who ever lived upon
the face of the earth. The Lord was with him because
he is the Lord. Now here again, you know, we
get into these things and when we talk about how that Jesus
Christ was in the earth and the Father sent Him, and yet the
Scripture says He's the everlasting Father. Now, how can a man understand
that? You can't. I mean, it's just,
I don't care, you can read every book every man has ever written
on the subject of what they call the Trinity, which the scripture
does definitely speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost. And I'm not opposed to using that terminology if you
want to use that terminology. But how can a man ever begin
to comprehend how it is that He who created the world could
send His Son into the world made in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin and never cease to be God and yet be perfect man. I can't comprehend it. I defer to all the wisdom of
all great men, but I will always defer to the Word of God when
it describes who Jesus Christ is. And He is God of very God,
but it says here, Thy throne, O God, is forever. Jesus Christ rules and reigns
as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the Sovereign
God. And he says here, He hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows, for thou lovest
righteousness and hated wickedness. Now see, that sets him apart
from all other men, does it not? Because he is a perfect man.
He hated wickedness. You don't hate wickedness, you
kind of like it. We don't like to admit it, but
we do kind of like it. And he loved righteousness. Now
we like a little bit of righteousness, but you can carry it too far.
I mean, when it starts to hinder us a little bit from our natural
pursuit, the natural man, he kind of balks at righteousness,
does he not? He says, oh no, you know, that's
a little bit, you're being a little too righteous there. But the
Lord Jesus Christ loved righteousness and hated wickedness. And he
was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. He
came to do his father's will, and he delighted to do his father's
will. Now see, you and I do the father's
will, but we don't sometimes delight in it. Jonah did the
father's will. When he was riding in the belly
of the fish across the sea, he was doing the father's will.
But he wasn't happy, I can guarantee you that. because the Lord didn't
want him to be happy. He wanted him to be in the fish's
belly. And he brought him there for the purpose of bringing Jonah
to a place of knowing who God is. And he said, Lord, the salvation
is of the Lord. Lord, help me. And so it is,
but the Lord Jesus Christ delighted in righteousness and hated wickedness
and he was blessed of the Lord with great joy who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross. Now can you imagine
that? For the joy that was set before
him. A joyous thing. Now greater agony has never gripped
the heart of a man as he poured out his soul unto death before
the Lord, and he sweat as it were great drops of blood. Never
has a man been in such agony, but yet at the same time never
has a man ever rejoiced to do his Father's will as the Lord
Jesus Christ did, for did he not say as a man, nevertheless,
Father, thy will be done. because he was a perfect man.
And he was a man who trusted the Lord with all of his heart
and all of his mind, and his joy was in doing the Father's
will. What a glorious thing. The oil
of gladness above thy fellows, and all thy garments smell of
myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces whereby
they have made thee glad. Now this is such beautiful language. I don't think there's another
book in all the earth that can begin to match the poetic beauty
of the Bible. And I don't know if you've ever
read any of the other books that men purport to be scriptural
type books, like the Koran, for instance. But if you want to
read some gibberish, go read that. I never have been able
to read the whole thing. I think Al read through it, didn't
you? But I couldn't make it. I said, heck with this, I ain't
wasting my time. Because after I read a little
bit of it, it's nothing. I don't understand it. I mean,
I don't, you know, I hear these people, they talk about all the,
what a glorious thing it is, and it's nothing. There's nothing
in the Koran like this, that speaks of the glory of God, the
beauty of Christ. It's not there. All thy garments
smell of myrrh and cassia out of the ivory palaces. Can you
imagine a palace made of ivory? I mean, that would, I mean, you
know, ivory has always been considered a very, a valuable commodity. And of course today, it's outlawed
to even have it. You're not supposed to have any
ivory. Today, I mean, people do have it, but I mean, you can't
import ivory. It's not legal to buy and sell
it. So it is a precious thing. But
one of the things about ivory is the whiteness of it. That's
one of the things that's a beautiful to look upon. And the ivory palaces
describe that place from which the Lord Jesus Christ has come
into this world. He came out of there. There's
a song, we have sung. It's in the hymn book, I believe.
Out of the ivory palaces into a world of woe, only his great
eternal love made my Savior go. And so it is here. that the Lord
has come out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad.
King's daughters were among thy honorable women, upon thy right
hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Now Ophir as a country
or a region, I'm not sure exactly, but it's mentioned 13 times in
the scripture. And 12 times out of the 13 times
that it's mentioned in the scripture is connected with the gold. Now
evidently, Ophir was a place where they had some fine gold. Because every time you hear Ophir
mentioned, it's speaking about the gold of Ophir. And so it
is that that's the finest of gold. And he speaks here of the
queen in gold of Ophir. Now who's the queen? If the Lord's
the king of heaven, who's the queen? is his bride, that one whom he
loves, that one whom he has made heirs and joint heirs of his
own, that one upon whom he has bestowed all that he possesses,
that one whom he loves with an everlasting love, the Queen. You know, we, of course, men
always try to take things too far and mess things up and whatnot,
but just think of the glory and the beauty of what it is to sit with the king bedecked in the
gold of Ophir that he has mined and brought to us, and to be
clothed in the garments with which he is clothed with. You
see, he's pleased with the garments. It says right here, whereby they have made thee glad
thy garments, they have made thee glad. Well, what did he
do with his garments? His garment of righteousness,
his robe of righteousness, what has he done? He placed it upon
the queen. You see, the beauty of the queen is because of the
glory of the king. We have no beauty. except that
which is His. We're with Him. What a glorious
thing. Hearken, O daughter, and consider
and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. Oh, think about these things.
Don't forget about all of these Other things, the Lord said that
He came into the world not to bring peace, but to bring a sword
to set the heart of the father against the son, and the son
against his father. In other words, He came to make
a division. When the disciples came to Him and said, Your mother
and your brothers are outside, as if he would just rush out
and see what they wanted. He said no. He said you are my
brothers and my mother. He said he that doeth the will
of God is my mother and my brother. He said he loved He thought not
only on his natural relations, but he thought on that which
was his by the gift of God. And so ought we, as we are taught
in the Scripture, to consider him. Forget thine own people
and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty. The king will greatly desire
thy beauty. Now you know that's an amazing
thing. We sing a a song that it's written by Isaac Watts and we are a garden walled around
chosen and made peculiar ground and there's a verse in that that
says he is well pleased to smell our poor perfumes and I often
think of that you know the Lord is pleased with us even though
what do we have to bring to Him. Not a thing in the world. I mean,
there's nothing that we could bring to the Lord that would
enhance Him in any way, and yet He says, I am pleased. This is
my daughter, my spouse, that one whom I love with an everlasting
love. So shall the King greatly desire
thy beauty, for He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him. He shall
greatly desire thy beauty, because what is the beauty? of the sons
of God, it's that which He has bestowed upon us. He has given
it to us. And He delights in the beauty
of the Son. For He is our Lord, and worship
thou Him. Who else would we worship? I
mean, why would we worship anyone else? And the daughter of Tyre shall
be there with a gift. Even the rich among the people
shall entreat thy favor. Oh yes. You see, all men desire
the favor of God, do they not? I mean, as long as it will benefit
them. But you see, the Lord will give
his favor to those whom he loves, even though the kings of the
earth will line up to get the favor of God, even ungodly kings
and presidents or whatever. They'll stand by and want somebody
to pray for them. Now that's a good thing. I'm
not against it, but it's just pointing out that the kings of
the earth entreat the Lord for favor. I mean, a man in a foxhole,
when the bullets are flying over his head, he's entreating the
Lord for favor. Now, when the shooting stops,
he might forget about that and go on about some other deal. All men entreat the favor of
God in some fashion. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. See, the Lord has cleansed His
people within and without. Now, that doesn't mean that we're
not still sinners, just like we've been since the day we were
born. But what it does mean is that the work of God is not an
external work, but an internal one. Because you see, He gives
us a mind and heart to trust Him. To know that the satisfaction
of the Law is in Christ. Our conscience is made void of
offense in Christ. Now when I look at the Law, I
tremble. And if I had to go into the presence
of Almighty God, knowing what I know about the Law and knowing
what I know about myself, I would have no hope whatsoever. But
dear brethren, by the grace of God and according to the faith
of God's elect, I can go into His presence with a clear conscience,
knowing that Christ has died for me. And I know this, that
if He has not paid the price for my sin, I'm done for, I have
no hope, but my hope is Christ. That's the place when we trust. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. The Lord has wrought a work in
the hearts of His people to cause them to believe Him. Now sometimes
that faith is small, is it not? Sometimes it's almost non-existent. But I believe this is a true
thing, that the man whom the Lord has performed a work in,
he must trust Christ. He can't do anything else. He's
compelled to do so. And he will do so. He'll cling
to Christ when all else has gone past. And it doesn't make any
difference what somebody might come along and tell him, well,
this is a better deal. He doesn't want a better deal.
He wants Christ. But she's also, her clothing
is of wrought gold. Oh, you know, isn't it amazing
how gold is such a precious commodity to men? Why is that? I mean,
the Lord just made it to be precious to us because it really, why
is gold any more precious than lead? I mean, Why is that? I know there's all kinds, well
it's a more rare metal and all this kind of stuff, but really
and truly now, come on, let's just say there's the same amount
of lead in the earth as there was gold, lead wouldn't be, people
wouldn't want lead, why? There's an intrinsic beauty in
gold, is there not? It's an amazing substance. I
forget how thin you can actually, what do you call it? Mash it, I can't think of another
word. But you can make gold as thin
as a molecule of gold, I believe I read somewhere. That it can
be rolled out to that. I don't know, I mean there may
be other metals that can do that, but it's an amazing thing. Hey,
you could take a little bit of gold that you could hold in your
hand probably, and you could cover the dome of the Capitol. I mean, it's an amazing substance.
But you see, when John was given the vision of heaven and he saw
the street, now I want you to remember this, there is a street
of gold that is spoken of in the book of Revelation. There
are no streets of gold because there is only one street And
he walked among men, and he said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Why is there one street of gold?
Because it's Christ. I mean, does gold have any value
in the court of heaven? I mean, some people talk about,
oh, well, we want to see the streets of gold. Gold's the only
way John could explain to you what he saw. But you see, that's
gold like you've never seen because he said it was clear as glass. Gold is clear as glass. Now,
can you imagine that? That's like apples of gold in
pictures of silver. Can you picture that? I mean,
can you imagine that? That's just a beautiful thing,
is it not? It's a way to describe something that's indescribable,
actually. And so it is that the king's
bride, the queen, the one whom he loves with an everlasting
love, he is clothed with garments of gold. The most precious thing
that man can consider belongs to us. May the Lord help us.