Let's begin our service this
evening looking at Acts chapter 2. Acts, the second chapter. I'm glad to see Gene feels up to
be with us tonight. You're probably not throwing
that fastball just yet, but maybe it won't be long. I'm glad to
see you're feeling well enough to be here. Alright, Acts chapter
2. Let's begin reading in verse
22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.
Him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should be holding of it. For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, and
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore
did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also
my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to seek
corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou
shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren,
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto
this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and
knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne. He seeing this before, spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in
hell, the grave, Neither his flesh did see corruption. This
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended
into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.
But all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. We'll end our reading there.
Let's turn now to number 32. Number
32. All praise to Him who reigns
above, In majesty supreme, Who gave His Son for men to die,
That He might men redeem. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. His name above all names shall
stand, Exalted more and more. And God the Father's own right
hand, Where angels all stand, Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Redeemer, Savior, Friend of men,
Once ruined by the fall, Thou hast devised salvation's plan. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. His name shall be the Counselor,
The mighty Prince of Peace. Of all earth's kingdoms conqueror,
His reign shall never end. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Turn one page over, 33. We'll sing this to the tune,
I love thy kingdom Lord. It says stand up, doesn't it? If
you feel like standing up, go ahead. If you're not able, don't
worry about it. I'm sure there's others too. Stand up and bless the Lord,
ye people of His joys. Stand up and bless the Lord your
God with heart and soul and voice. above all praise, above all blessing
high, who would not fear His holy name, and laud and O'er the living flame, From His
own altar brought, To touch our lips, our minds inspire, And
wing to heaven our thought. God is our strength and soul
and His salvation power. Then be his love in Christ proclaimed,
With all our ransom powers. Stand up and bless the Lord,
The Lord your God, the Lord. Now, if you would open your Bibles
to Psalm 110. 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 should wound the heads over
many countries. He should drink of the brook
in the way. Therefore, shall he lift up the head. Thank God
for his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our great majestic God and our
heavenly father, how thankful we are to be able as just children
of the dust to be able to call the God of heaven and earth our
father and to come into your courts with praise and to come
before you in prayer and thanksgiving. Father, how thankful we are.
Sinful men and women such as we could never be your children
if it weren't for your grace, your adopting, redeeming, regenerating
grace. And Father, we're thankful. And
Father, I beg of thee as you've given us this opportunity to
meet together and worship, that tonight you would enable us to
worship you in spirit and in truth. Enable us to have a true
worship service. We've gathered here to gather
out of the many different walks of this world on a cold night
to worship you, to seek your face. Father, bless us, we pray. Meet with us. Enable us to hear
the message prepared, hear the message that you would have us
to hear of Christ our King and to leave here rejoicing in His
matchless name, trusting His person as all of our salvation,
looking to Him for our all. And Father, we thank you that
you're God. We thank you that you rule over all, that nothing
can even for a moment delay your eternal purpose for your people.
And Father, we pray that that not just be doctrine to us, but
that we truly rest and rely upon our Father to rule all things
well. Father, we pray this especially
for our loved ones, our friends here who are in difficult times
of trial and trouble. They're hurting, they're sick,
they're facing uncertainty and so many difficulties, Father,
which seem to us at this time of year to be especially harder. Father, be with them, we pray.
Give them a fulfillment of your promise that you'd not leave
nor forsake your people. We pray that you'd heal if it
could be thy will, that you'd provide a way out if it could
be thy will, but Father, above all, give us your presence. Don't
leave us to ourselves. Don't leave us alone, but be
with your people. All these things we ask and we
give thanks in that name, which is above every name, the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now have a special in song by
Isaac Floyd. Thank you. Silent night, holy night All
is calm, all is bright Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
Holy infant so tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep
in heavenly peace Silent night Shepherds quake at the sight
Glory stream from heaven afar Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia
Christ the Savior is born. Christ the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night. Love's pure light Radiant beams
from Thy holy face With the dawn of redeeming grace Jesus, Lord,
at Thy birth Alright, now if you've got Psalm
110 marked, hold your place there. I want you to look first at Matthew
chapter 22. I titled the message this evening,
Christ's Right to the Throne. Isaac just saying that the Lord
was Lord, King in his birth. But what is it that gives him
the right to the throne? Our text this evening, Psalm
110, about all the old writers would tell you that it is a messianic
psalm. A messianic psalm is a psalm
that speaks of Christ the Messiah You know, I think, I don't know
what the right word, I think it's a little odd that they pick out
some Psalms and say they're Messianic Psalms, because I'm here to tell
you, every Psalm is a Messianic Psalm. Every Psalm speaks of
Christ. Every Psalm primarily is Christ
speaking, speaking through the Psalmist. They're not, it's not
primarily David speaking or Moses, whoever wrote the Psalms, primarily
it's Christ speaking. And if you'll read those Psalms
that way, Looking first for how this is Christ speaking and how
it's speaking of Christ, you'll get a much greater blessing from
the Psalms. And I know, and I've been preaching
through it, so let me tell you, I know that's easier to see in
some Psalms than others, but it's very easy to see in our
text this evening. Brother Henry said of Psalm 110,
he said, to look into this Psalm is to look into the face of Jesus
Christ, to see the person and the work of Christ. And our Lord
himself gave us commentary in Psalm 110 in Matthew chapter
22, beginning in verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? They said unto him, the son of
David. Now you know these men, they're the Pharisees, the scribes,
they studied the scriptures and they gave, I think I would be petrified
for the Lord to ask me a question. And maybe they were somewhat,
you know, concerned, but they thought for a moment and said,
no, I know the answer to this one. He's David's son. And you know,
you can say something that is true and your answer still be
wrong. That's right. Their answer, what
they said was true, but the answer was wrong because they're wrong
on Christ. You know, they were looking for
the Messiah, but they were looking for the Messiah who would only
be a man like David, who would only set up an earthly king like
the kingdom, like David did. That's what they were looking
for. They weren't looking for the God to come. They were just
looking for a man to be a descendant from David. They were not looking
for a savior from sin. They were looking for an earthly
king. See, they gave an answer that was true. But it was wrong
because they're wrong on the person of Christ, the work of
Christ. And, you know, we can do the
only reason I point that out is we can do the same thing today.
You can pick a myriad of examples, but the one that immediately
came to mind is the law, the use of God's law. Now, it's a
true statement that if you keep the law, you'll be righteous.
True statement is a true statement. If you keep the law, Almighty
God will accept you if you do. And if you keep the law, you
will never die. And we ought to keep the law.
You know, we ought to keep the law. We ought not sin. All those
things are true statements. But they're wrong. If you're
using them to look for righteousness, if you're looking for a way of
salvation, that is not why God gave the law. If you're trying
to keep the law in order to be righteous, in order to make God
happy with you, I mean, that's a true statement. You're saying
something that's true, but you're wrong. You're wrong about the
meaning of the scriptures. You're wrong on Christ. The purpose
of the law was to make us look to Christ, to depend upon Christ,
to see our need of Christ, not so that we could keep it and
make God happy with us and like we didn't need Christ. See, the
meaning of the scriptures is always trust Christ. That's why
I said every psalm is a Messianic psalm, because they're all telling
us to trust Christ. Trust him to be your savior,
because you can't get rid of your sin. You can't cleanse yourself
of your sin. Trust Christ to be your righteousness, because
you can't keep the law. So the Pharisees gave an answer
that was true, but they were wrong, because they were wrong
on Christ. And this is what the Lord shows,
verse 43. He saith unto them, How then
does David in spirit call him Lord saying the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit down on my right hand. Do I make thine enemies
like footstool? If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? Ooh, there's a question. And David's Lord is God. The Lord would have gotten no
argument from the Pharisees about that. David's Lord is almighty
God. Then how can David's God call
somebody else God? That's what the Lord's asking.
And they couldn't answer that question. Verse 46 says, And
no man was able to answer him a word. Neither durst, neither
dared any man from that day forth ask him any more questions. They
knew they'd met their match. And I tell you why they couldn't
answer this question. It's a mystery. This is a mystery
to the natural man. This is the mystery of the Trinity.
Part of the mystery of the Trinity is the person of Christ. He is
both God and man. Without controversy, the Apostle
Paul said, great is the mystery of godliness, that God was manifested
in the flesh. Now look back at Psalm 110. The
Savior tells us this Psalm 110 is written about him, his person,
his work, and his throne. I want to look at this psalm
and see if we can't learn something about Christ, our King, who sits
upon the throne. And I want to do it by answering
this question with four or five points when I answer this question.
What right does the Lord Jesus Christ have to sit upon the throne?
He's sitting upon the throne. My question is, what right does
he have to sit there? Well, number one, Christ has
the right to sit upon the throne because the Father appointed
him to sit there. Verse 1, Psalm 110, the Lord said unto my Lord,
sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And I love how David here writes
that the Lord said unto my Lord. When David talks about the father
saying something to the son, he said, God said to God. That's the mystery of the Trinity. The father is God. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He is the Son of God. He is God. And the Holy Spirit
is God. So when the Father speaks to
the Son, it's God speaking to God. Now David believed, and
he knew something about the Trinity. And I know today, living on this
side of the cross, we know more about, if I can say the word
more, we see more clearly Christ's work of redemption than David
did because it's finished now and it's recorded in God's Word
for us to read. But now the Trinity is as much
of a mystery to us as it was to David because we just can't
know any more about the Trinity. I mean, how can you understand
one God in three persons? But we believe it, don't we?
Just as surely as David did. Our God is one God, yet three
persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And all three have a
vital work in the redemption of God's elect. And you can never
say that one of them is more important than the other. You
can't say one of them is more God than the other. You're either
God or you're not. And Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God.
And God the Father appointed God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He appointed him to be the Savior of his people. The Father elected. He chose the Son to be the Savior.
Isaiah 42.1 tells us that Christ, the Son of God, is God's first
elect. He's God's elect in whom the
Father said, my soul delights. Christ was God's first elect.
He chose Him to be the Savior. But the Father, in the exact
same way, who rules over all, He chose His Son to sit upon
the throne of heaven. And He chose His Son to rule
everything. The Father told His Son, You
sit right here on my right hand. You sit right here on the throne
until I reveal that everything in creation is under your feet. Now that ought to bring God's
people so much comfort. The father told the son you sit
right there on the throne ruling everything until I make it obvious
to all of creation you rule over everything. Nothing happens without
your permission. Now I know right now it does
not appear that all enemies are under Christ's feet, doesn't
it? I mean, it looks like the powers of evil are running wild
in the world, but they're not. They're under his feet. And the
father will reveal that to all of creation one day. See, the
father, he's God the father. He has the right to choose who
to sit on the throne, doesn't he? Christ rules because the
father gave him the throne. Then that's the way it's going
to be. And it's right. God's people are happy that it's
that way because the father never makes a mistake. And I don't
want to go on from this till I point this out. This is a verse
we've heard and we've read so many times, but stop and think
about this for a minute. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
You think how wonderful it is that the Lord condescended to
let the likes of you and me eavesdrop on a conversation between God.
You think about that. We're sitting here tonight by
the Spirit, you know, moving David to write this, to be able
to listen in on a conversation between the Father and the Son.
And He allowed us to listen in to this conversation so that
we would know the Lord Jesus Christ is God who reigns over
us. He reigns. And He reigns. The Father let us know, the Spirit
let us know that Christ is the one who reigns over everything.
He let us know that for our redemption, for the salvation of his people.
And he also let us know that for the comfort and the assurance
of the hearts of his people. Christ rules over everything,
over everything. His rule can never be terminated. Well, then the salvation of his
people is secure. He, nobody can stop him from
his purpose. His purpose is to save his people,
but nothing can stop him from doing it. And they're eternally
secure in him. Nobody will ever be able to pluck
God's people from the hand of the king who reigns supreme. So he, he has the right to reign
because the father appointed him to the throne. So here's
the second thing. Why would the father give the
throne of glory to his son? Was it just nepotism? I mean,
I used to work for a company. A man started this company, built
up a wonderful, that actually happened to two companies I worked
for, built up a beautiful, I mean, strong, healthy company, and
he got ready to retire. Well, I don't know, I mean, I
don't know, did he pick the very best person for the job, take
his place? I don't know. But you know who got the job?
His son. His son. I don't know if that's best or
not. I don't know. Is that what God the Father did?
No, sir. No, much more than that. Here's
the second thing. Christ has the right to the throne
because he has come and saved his people out of this world.
Verse two, the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of
Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Now, who or
what is this rod of God's strength that he sends out of Zion? Zion
is the church. There's a rod going forward out
of the church. What does this mean? Well, about every writer
that I read says it's the word of God that the church preaches. They say that the word is the
power that God uses to save his people. The word preached is
the power God uses to save his people. God uses his word as
a rod that breaks the hearts of his people. And the same time
it breaks the hearts of his people, it gives them a new heart. He
uses that rod to save his people by revealing Christ to them.
Now, look at at Isaiah chapter 11. I'm certainly not going to
argue. There's nothing wrong with the with him saying that.
But I think more specifically, this rod of God's power, his
rod, the power to save is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Isaiah 11, chapter one. And there's
a come forth a rod. This is the way he's talking
about the same rod that David's talking about. There should come
forth a rod of the stem of Jesse and a branch should grow out
of his roots and the spirit of the Lord should rest upon him.
The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord and shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And
he's not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall
he judge the poor. and reprove with equity for the
meek of the earth. He shall smite the earth with
the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips. So he
slay the wicked. Now, you know, this is talking
about when God's son was made flesh. He is that rod, the branch,
the stem that came from Jesse. He's the man that descended from
David. Christ came into the world as
God. God in human flesh come to save
his people from their sin. And I'm sure that this is here
is speaking of the person of Christ, because David says, rule
thou in the midst of thine enemies. He doesn't tell the world, you
know, the written word you. He's speaking to a person. He's
speaking to Christ. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Now, I say all that, but you
know what? You can't separate. Christ the
incarnate word, from Christ the written word. When Isaiah talked
about the breath of his lips, what was he talking about? His
word. His word. When we preach the
word of God right, you know what we're doing? We're preaching
Christ. And that's God's power to save
his people from their sin. The Lord Jesus Christ came forth
from the Father, came to this earth on a mission to do the
Father's will. And it was the Father's will
that Christ please him, do all of his pleasure by obeying the
law for his people and make them righteous through his obedience
to the law. Christ would represent his people and he would make
his people righteous as their representative by his obedience,
just like Adam was their representative and made him sinners by his disobedience.
Christ made his people righteous by obeying the law for them.
And it was the Father's will that Christ take the sin of his
people away from them and put it away by His sacrifice so that
the sin of God's elect would be gone. And by that sacrifice,
the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth and plucked them out,
saved them out of this world. To us, it may seem like it's
going to be a long time. To us, it seems like it's been
a long time since creation. But to God, it's just going to
be a few days, just such a short time. And He's destroying this
world with fire. And Christ came. Plucked his
people out. He came behind enemy lines and
he saved his people. He plucked them out of the clutches
of sin and of Satan. And right in the middle of this
hostile world, he saved his people from their sins. Now look at
Hebrews chapter 1. And it was then, when the atonement
was made, when the sacrifice was done, when Christ had done
everything the Father sent him to do, the battle was over, the
wars won. Then the father said, sit down,
sit down here on the throne, sit because the work is finished.
Hebrews 1 verse 1. God who at sundry times and diverse
manners spake in time past into the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,
who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he had by himself purged our sin, when the sacrifice was
complete, what did he do? Sat down on the right hand of
the majesty on high. He sat down on that throne because
he earned it. He earned the right to sit there
by a job well done. He saved his people from their
sin and he earned the right to be king. All right, thirdly,
back in our text, Psalm 110, Christ has the right to the throne
because His people willingly and lovingly bow to Him as our
King. Verse 3 says, 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 due of Thy youth. Now Christ rules as
the Sovereign. He always does as He pleases
and He answers to no one. There's not a Congress. There's
not an oversight committee. He answers to no one. Nobody
ever has the right or the power, the ability to question God's
sovereign will. Nobody has the right to ask him,
what are you doing? Nebuchadnezzar learned what the
Lord's capable of doing to you. If you don't think, God doesn't
rule over you. I mean, that's a shining example.
This is the absolute monarch. Thankfully, it has pleased that
king. to rule His people in such a
way that they want the Lord to rule over them. They want to. Oh, they want to. That's a demonstration
of the sovereign power of God. And it takes the power of God
to do this now. God's elect are not born willing subjects of
Christ. They're not. Brother Todd and
I were talking today, talking about when we were growing up
in New Year's Eve services. And Brother Henry, you know,
had those things at midnight. We talked about, you know, at
midnight. And oh, some of the preachers seemed like they preached
for like two hours and you're so sleepy. Two shining examples. God's elect are not born into
this world willing subjects of Christ. There are two fellows
on the phone there that were not born into this world having
any interest in Christ the Savior. None whatsoever. God's elect
are born in this world just like every other son of Adam. Hating
Christ. Loving sin, loving self, and
hating Christ. They're under the power, the
prince of the power of the air, just like all the other children
of disobedience. But, oh but, but, they belong
to God. No, David says they're thy people. They're people that belong to
God. They belong to God because God
the Father chose them to be His. He picked them out of Adam's
race and said, they're mine. That one's mine. They're mine. And
He chose them to redeem them. They belong to God because Christ
died to redeem them. He died to pay the ransom price
to set them free. And when Christ died, when He
shed His blood for their sin, He purchased them. Not only did
He put their sin dead away, He did, but He purchased them. Lock,
stock and barrel, they belonged to Him. He paid the price. And
they're not their own. They've been bought with the
price. The price of the blood of the Son of God, they belong
to God. But they just don't know it yet.
So you know what God does. God the Holy Spirit comes in
power. He comes to these rebels who
are born hating Christ, who have no interest in Christ, and he
takes the preaching of the Word of God, the preaching of Christ,
the rod, the powerful rod God uses to give life and faith.
And he comes in power, and he gives them a new heart. He didn't
change that old heart. He gives them a brand new heart.
And that heart does love Christ. That heart has an interest in
Christ because that heart needs Christ. That heart believes Christ. That heart surrenders to Christ
willingly, surrenders to him and willingly begs him for mercy. The psalmist says, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. What day is that? It could be the gospel day. It
could be this day the gospel is being preached. But for each
one of God's people, there's a day. There's a day. See, this thing's not left up
to chance. No, no. And we preach here every week. By God's grace, we preach Christ
here every week. This is the gospel day. But God's
chosen you. The son's died for you. God's
appointed a day. That you're going to hear. You're going to be sitting there.
You're going to think it's a day just like every other day. There
you are, dead. Sitting there, dead. No interest.
You're stinking in your sin. And the Lord's going to pass
by. And he said, today. Now is your time of love. I say,
and do you live? And you live. You live. It's the day that God's appointed,
the day that God's appointed for the gospel to be preached
and believed. And now they belong to God. The
father chose them, the son died for them, and the spirit dwells
in them. They're the temple of the living God. They belong to
God. You're not your temple. You're God's temple. The Holy
Spirit dwells in you. You belong to God. And you who believe know
exactly what I'm talking about. You might not know the precise
day. Maybe you do. Some people do.
Most people don't. I do not know the day the Spirit
came to me and said, Leo, I don't know when that happened. All
I know is I grew up hearing the gospel. In my heart, I hated
it. It seemed to me like I was just
indifferent to it. It's like, yeah, yeah, we got to get through
this so we can go, you know, do whatever. But then there's
a day and you think, well, I know I didn't used to
believe that. I know that I used to be indifferent to this, but
not now. Now I believe. Now I can't not
believe. I used to try to believe him
and couldn't. And now I can't not believe him. What happened? The Holy Spirit came and made
you willing in the day. The day that God appointed for
the Spirit to come and give you life. And give you faith in Christ. And now, you see Christ. You see His beauty. He has the
dew. That's what the dew of youth.
The strength of youth. It's beauty. And He never grows
old to you now. Christ always has the dew of
youth. He's always fresh and new and
powerful to you. and he'll never grow old. He
eternally has the due of youth. He's never going to grow old.
He's never going to have to quit ruling and turn the throne over
to somebody else. And you wouldn't have it any
other way. That's the evidence the Spirit has come in the day
of His power and made you willing. And when He gives His people
life, His people have the due of youth too. They'll never grow
old and they'll never die because they have eternal life. Now,
the body's still going to die. It's got to die because sin's
in it. It's either got to die or it's
got to be changed, doesn't it? Because sin's in it. But when
this body dies, ain't no big loss. Your family, you know,
they're going to be sorry. They lose your fellowship and
being able to talk to you and stuff. But for the believer,
the death of this body is no loss at all. Matter of fact,
it's all gain, isn't it? It's all gain. Because that new
man, born of God, is going to leave this clay prison and go
be with the Lord forever. And he's never going to grow
old because he has eternal life. Now, said all that to say this,
here's the third point. He ruled. Christ has right to
the throne because he makes his people willing. The one who gives
his people life, the one who gives the dead eternal life and
gives them a new nature that loves Christ the King and willingly
bows to him, Jonathan, that's the king. That's the fellow ought
to be king, isn't it? The one who makes his people willing.
All right, fourthly, Christ has the right to the throne because
he is God's high priest forever. Verse four, the Lord has sworn
and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now look over Hebrews chapter
five. Just like the father chose Christ
to be the king, He also chose, he appointed Christ, his son,
to be the high priest. Hebrews 5 verse 4. And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God. Nobody takes the
honor of being the high priest unto himself, but he that is
called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another
place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications, was strong, crying in tears unto him that
was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared.
Though were he a son, yet learned he, he experienced obedience
and he brought in obedience to his people by the things which
he suffered. And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him,
being called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek."
See, the father called Christ, the father called his son the
high priest forever. He appointed him to be the high
priest forever. Now, what does this mean that
Christ is a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek?
He was not after the order of Aaron. Aaron's sons became the
high priest after him. That's the order of Aaron. What
is it to be a high priest after the order of Melchizedek? Well,
the Lord Jesus Christ is so glorious in his person. He's so unique. There's nobody else like him.
He couldn't be a high priest after the order of Aaron. He
didn't come from the tribe of Levi, number one. He comes from
the tribe of Judah, but he can be a high priest after the order
of Aaron because he's so much better than Aaron. So there has
to be someone else. And that's where Melchizedek
comes in. Now, to me, there can't be any doubt at all that Melchizedek
is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. You remember when
Abraham met Melchizedek? It was after the slaughter of
the kings. Abraham went down there. He rescued his nephew
Lot from all those heathen kings that had taken all of them hostage,
you know. And Abraham won a great battle
that day. And Melchizedek the priest of
the most high God, the king of Salem, king of peace. He met
Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings. And this, this
priest, the priest of the most high God, you know what he did?
He didn't offer a lamb as a sacrifice because after Abraham's victory,
you know what he did? He brought forth bread and wine.
He brought forth the bread and the wine that pictures the broken
body and the shed blood of Christ's sacrifice. This is the Lord Jesus
Christ, a pre-incarnate appearance. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
so glorious that he had to be the high priest after the order
of himself because nobody else would do that. That is what is
the high priest after the order of Melchizedek. I'm sure that's
what that means. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's eternal priest. Well, then there's no need to
ever replace him, is there? He's never going to get old.
He's never going to die. He's eternal. There's no need
to ever replace Christ as the great high priest, because after
Christ came and offered himself, there's no more need to offer
any sacrifices, is there? What was the job of the priest?
It was to offer sacrifices. Well, if Christ offered the sacrifice,
it ended all sacrifices. There's no more need for another
priest, is there? He's the eternal high priest. Now remember, Christ
earned the right to sit on the throne when he'd offered himself
as a sacrifice to put away sin. Well, since there's no more need
to offer any other sacrifice, then Christ has the right to
sit on the throne forever. He sat down when the work was
finished. Well, he's never gonna have to
get up and do more work, because by one offering, he perfected
forever them that are sanctified. You see, this is why I want us
to see that Christ sitting on the throne, Christ the Savior
sitting upon the throne of glory. That's our assurance of salvation. He cannot fail. He cannot fail. Fifth, Christ has the right to
the throne because he has defeated every enemy. Back in our text,
Psalm 110, verse 5. 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 should wound the heads over many countries.
Now, this is one of the myriad of verses. How many thousand
verses? I don't know. That clearly should
put an end to the thought that God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. You know, Jesus is this kind
of hippie looking guy, you know, just goes around in the fog and
just loves everybody. You know, he wouldn't hurt a
flea. That's not what this verse is saying, is it? Now the Lord
rules his people. He rules his people with the
rod, the rod of his word, the rod of his mercy and his grace. But the Lord rules his enemies
with the rod too. It says here it's the rod of
his wrath, the rod of justice. The Lord is going to strike through
some people in the day of his wrath and his wrath will destroy
them, will eternally damn them. That's what's going to happen
to everyone who refused to believe on Bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our God has enemies. And whoever He is that's an enemy
of God is an enemy of His people, too. They hate God. They hate
you believing. But you just rest in this. No enemy of Christ will
ever prosper. Ever. I mean, you know, they
might look like it for a time. You just wait. God's going to
take care of them. You wait. on the Lord to handle
this situation. From his throne, you wait with
this assurance. The enemies of Christ can never
damage you. They can't damage you. They can
hurt you, but they can't damage you. The Lord might permit them
to touch your body. That's happened many times over
history, hasn't it? But they can never touch your soul. They
can never take away your salvation. They can never separate you from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, the Lord. The worst
they can do is send you from this world to go be with Christ
forever. And that's gain for the believer.
That's the worst that they can do to you. But you know what? In the day of judgment, they're
an answer for that, too. The Lord said to those who were
on his left hand, those who were workers of iniquity, he said,
you didn't visit me in prison. You didn't clothe me. And what
he meant is you didn't do it to Lisa. These my little ones
you didn't. I mean, he says you didn't you just didn't help my
people. What's he going to do to him when they actively hurt
him? Now, they're going to have to answer for that, too. God's
going to they're not going to prosper. They'll be eternally
destroyed. Now, the one who has many enemies,
but not one of those enemies can ever defeat him. That's who
should sit on the throne. He has the right to. And then
last, Christ sits on his throne, ruling in absolute ease. He's
never threatened. Verse seven. He shall drink of
the brook in the way. Therefore, so he lift up the
head. Now, the picture that David is using here seems to be one
of an army general. And there's been a battle and
the enemy has started to retreat and he's chasing the enemy. He's
pressing the issue. He's not going to let him get
away. He's hot on the trail, I mean they're just right there
for him to destroy. He's hot, he's thirsty, he's
tired, but he's not going to quit. He's not going to take
a rest, he's not going to even stop to get a drink to quench
his thirst. He does not have time right now. He's got to defeat this enemy.
He's got to do it right now. But when the battle's over and
the enemy's put away, that warrior's going to come and he's going
to drink. He's going to refresh himself at the brook in the pleasure
of complete victory. He's not going to bend down there
to drink, wondering if the enemy's got a sniper out there trying
to get him. They're all defeated. He's going to drink in complete
victory, the pleasure of complete victory. Well, that's a picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was so intent. He was so focused
on doing his Father's will that he wouldn't even take time to
rest. He would not take time to refresh himself. He said,
I must be about my father's business. I must. The business of the salvation
of his people is so urgent. He cannot stop. He can't stop. He's just going to pursue it. He's going to pursue after the
glory of his father and the redemption of his people. He's going to
pursue after his bride and redeem her. He's not going to quit until
she's saved. He kept pressing. He kept pressing.
He would not rest. He just would not rest until
he hung his head and cried, it's finished. And he gave up the
ghost and he died. And that only happened because
the great transaction was done. And they took him down from the
tree and laid him in the tomb of a rich man that they just
had to borrow for three days. Because three days later, He
would lift up his head. After drinking from the brook,
he drank. And he enjoyed all the fruits. He enjoyed the pleasure of complete
victory. He enjoyed the pleasure of the
complete redemption of his beloved bride. And then he ascended back
to the Father. Mike, what was left for him to
do? Sit down here on my right hand. I make thine enemies thy footstool.
You sit right here, hence I bring all your bride home to be with
you. Oh, aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful? I want us
to be a leave here tonight thankful that no one but the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior, sits upon that throne. May God be pleased
to make us bow to him now. Maybe right now, maybe today
is the day. He comes and makes us willing
in the day of his power to bow to him. I'm mighty thankful he
reigns, aren't you? Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this precious, clear portion of your word that you've enabled
us to look into tonight. How we thank you for the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior, the one who came with the power to
redeem and redeemed his people. He would not quit until he redeemed
all of his people from all of their sin. And now he sits enthroned
in glory, ruling and reigning, bringing all of your purpose
to pass in the redemption of your people, calling all of your
people to himself. Father, how we thank you. And
we pray, Father, that you bless your word. Bless your word to
your glory. Bless your word to the hearts
of your people. Father, as In your sovereign
power, you're calling your people, you're bringing them to yourself.
Father, I pray that you bring us, bring people of this congregation,
of this community, bring us to your feet. Bring us to make us
willing in the day of thy power. Bring us to Christ, we pray.
And Father, we pray you do it for your glory. It is for our
good. It is for our redemption. It
is for our forgiveness. But Father, for your glory, for
your great namesake, Save your people here, we pray. It's in
the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and
our King, that we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's turn to number 87. 87 will
stand as we sing. The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing Joy
to the earth, the Savior reigns Let men their songs employ, While
fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, Repeat the sounding
joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows
grow, nor thorns defest the ground. He comes to make His blessings
flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found. Far as, far as the curse is found
He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations
prove the glories of And wonders of His love. And wonders of His love.