Alright, let's open our Bibles
again to Psalm 72. I titled our message this evening,
One Greater Than Solomon. Now you'll notice in this title
it says it's a psalm for Solomon, or a psalm of Solomon. This is
David's prayer for his son Solomon, and it may have been, some people
think it was his prayer upon his deathbed. They get that from
verse 20 where it says, the prayers of David the son of Jesse. are
ended. And while we know that David,
in a sense, was speaking of Solomon, who would be the king after David,
David also knows that he is prophesying of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the son of David, who is king of kings. That's the one who
will sit upon David's throne forever. David is speaking of
both. Solomon did truly become a great
king of Israel, didn't he? But the reign of Solomon and
the glory of Solomon pales in comparison to the reign and the
glory of Christ our Savior. Just like a birthday candle,
you light it and hold it up, pales in comparison to the glory
of the Son. Solomon and his glory pales in
comparison to Christ, the Son of David. And David, look over
at Psalm 97. This thing about Christ reigning
and God reigning, David talks about it often. And he tells
us that God reigns over the whole earth. His dominion is unquestioned. And this is not something that
we ought to apologize for. This is not something we ought
to feel bad about. God reigns. We ought to give
thanks. The earth ought to be thankful.
Psalm 97 verse 1, the Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice. Let the
multitude of isles be glad thereof. I heard a man recently preaching
on the internet and the content of his message was very, very
good. But he kept just kind of being
apologetic that God reigns and we're to bow to him. No, that
ought not to be something we apologize for at all. The Lord
reigneth. Be thankful, be thankful. And here the day before the Thanksgiving
holiday, I thought it would be good for us to see five truths
about the reign of Christ. Christ the King that will make
us give thanks that God reigns. I plan, Lord willing, to cover
the first 11 verses tonight and the rest of these verses in the
next one or two Wednesdays after that, but I don't see any way
you'd cover this chapter and do it justice in one sitting.
So we'll look at the first 11 verses and see five reasons that
we'll be thankful that God reigns. And the first one is this, we're
thankful that Christ is the King of righteousness. Verse 1, David
says, give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness
unto the king's son. Now, when David says give the
king thy judgments, O God, what he means is give Solomon the
right to rule. The right to rule as king. Now,
the right to rule over Israel passed from David to Solomon
because Solomon was his son. But Solomon wasn't David's only
son. Another one of David's son, Adonijah, He tried to take the
throne even before David had died, and he nearly did it. He
got the priest with him, he got Joab, the army with him, he nearly
took the throne. But do you know Solomon ended
up reigning? Because God gave Solomon the right to rule. Because
God rules over all. So David's asking God to give
Solomon the right to rule, and he's also asking God to give
Solomon the wisdom to rule. And the Lord certainly did that.
They made Solomon the wisest man to ever live. So David's
talking about Solomon, but David's prophesying about one greater
than Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has the right
to rule. He rules and he's got the right
to rule. The father hath committed all
judgment, all rule to his son. And the Lord Jesus Christ should
rule it. He's the only son of the father. The rule automatically
goes to him. He should rule. Christ has every
right to rule. And here's why we're thankful
he rules. He's got the wisdom to rule well. The father has
put all wisdom in his son. Paul told us in Colossians 2
verse 13 that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. It's all in Christ. So much so
that His name is wisdom. Christ is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This is the righteous,
wise ruler. He has the right to rule. And
the Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous King. He is the righteousness
of God. Now the Father more than just
gave His Son righteousness, Christ is the righteousness of God revealed. It's all revealed in Him. So
much so, His name is Jehovah Sid Kennedy. He is the Lord,
our righteousness. I want you to look at what Christ
the King has done. He's got all the power. He's
got all the right to rule. He's got the righteous rule.
He can do as He pleases. And look what He's done as the
King. He's made His people righteous. Christ the King reigns to execute
righteousness for his people and in his people. Verse two,
he shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with
judgment. Christ will judge thy people
with righteousness. When he judges, he will give
an accurate verdict for everyone. And the verdict for all of his
people will be not guilty. They'll be innocent. because
he has made them righteous. He's made them innocent by his
sacrifice for them. Christ is the advocate for the
sin of his people, and he is the propitiation for the sin
of his people. So they're all innocent. That's
the only verdict that he can pronounce. Now, they didn't make
themselves righteous. The king executed righteousness
in them and for them. They didn't make themselves righteous.
David says they're poor. They're poor in spirit. They're
so poor they're spiritually bankrupt. They don't have any righteousness.
But Christ, He executed righteousness in them. He made them righteous.
He saved them by His power and by His grace. And His people
are thankful. You see, salvation in Christ
displays every attribute and glorifies every attribute of
God. Here, we're just talking about
wisdom and righteousness. God displayed His wisdom by showing
the way He could save His people by making them righteous. God
is so wise, He made it right for Him to save sinners because
of the obedience of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ made
them righteous. See, God in His wisdom made it
right for Him to save His people from their sin and be merciful
to them. And if you're poor in spirit, that'll make you thankful. thankful that he is the king
of righteousness. Second, we're thankful Christ
gives his people peace. Verse three, the mountains shall
bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness.
He should judge the poor, the people. He shall save the children
of the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. Now,
you know, David's reign, his reign was, was full of wars and
fighting. David was constantly fighting
somebody, wasn't he? Solomon's reign had none of that.
Solomon's reign was marked by peace on every side. And I'm
pretty confident Israel was thankful. Well, I'll tell you what, one
greater than Solomon is here. It's Christ, the King of Peace.
He's the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace. Let me
show you that in Isaiah chapter 32. See, this is the what must come
from the king of righteousness. It's peace. Isaiah 32 verse 17. And the work of righteousness,
the effect of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever where there's righteousness.
there must be peace. Christ gives his people peace.
But there's one greater than Solomon here. Christ does a whole
lot better than giving peace among nations. Christ gives peace
with God. Christ gives his people peace
in the heart, which is a whole lot better than peace with other
people. Christ gives peace in the conscience. If you've ever had a guilty conscience,
you'll say, A quiet conscience is priceless. Somebody who believes
in Christ, whose faith and hope and confidence is in Christ,
has a quiet conscience. Their conscience is quiet because
there's no sin left to bother them. Christ took the sin of
His people away. There's nothing left undone that
would bother the conscience. The conscience is not worrying,
oh, something else needs to be done. Christ has already done
it all. He accomplished it all. It is
finished. That quiets the conscience of
the believer. And the conscience of the believer does not fear
the judgment. Because Christ has made peace
for us. How? By the blood of His cross. Through this righteousness. He
made peace for us through the blood of His cross. The blood
of Christ took away the Father's wrath. Because the blood of Christ
blotted out the sin of His people. That's why the apostles said,
there is therefore now, right now, no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus. Solomon's reign was marked by
peace. But the very moment Solomon died, that brought an end to
peace in Israel. Fighting began almost immediately. But Christ is the one greater
than Solomon. His death didn't bring an end
to peace. His death brought in everlasting
peace for his people. And David gives us a picture
of that with these mountains. You know, sometimes people think
we'll have peace if we can just get up in the mountains. You
know, people, that's why there's people up in the hermit. You
know, just love to get up there in a map. I could just build
me a little cabin and get up in the mountains or nobody ever
bothered me. You know, I wouldn't see anybody. I'd have peace. Maybe there's something to be
said for that. I don't know. But we think the
enemy can't get me there. Or maybe we think If I just have
the strength, the strength of faith, just the strength of a
mountain, nobody will ever be able to attack me because I've
got this great strength. But you know, you don't have
to be a great, strong mountain to have peace with God. Peace
in Christ is so full, it's so complete, even the little hills
have it. The little hills who are helpless
in themselves, the little hills who can't stop anybody from coming,
they'll have peace because the righteousness of Christ has been
given to them. Even the little hills are clothed
with peace because the smallest, weakest believer is clothed in
the righteousness of Christ. See, that righteousness always
brings peace. And there's peace for everyone
who's in Christ. He gives peace to his people
and he destroys every enemy. There's no enemies left to have
any fighting with. It's all gone. See, anyone who's
righteous, anyone who's been justified in Christ, they have
peace with God because their sin has been put away in the
sacrifice of Christ. And that's our greatest enemy.
You know, we get all bent out of shape about enemies of other
countries and people who hate us and cause us so much grief,
but our greatest enemy is our sin. And God's people have peace
because Christ put their sin away. Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God because Christ took the sin
of his people away. God's people have peace on every
side. Now, I'm not painting a picture
of the life of a believer that's inaccurate. This life is full
of trouble and storms and heartache and trials and affliction that
bring so much pain we can't believe the weight of it. But you know
those things do not take away the believer's peace. In the
end, those trials that hurt so much, in the end, you know what
they bring? They bring more peace. They bring
us more peace because when the trial's over, this is what the
child of God has learned. I can count on Christ. I can
count on Him to bring me through what I can't go through. I can
count on Him to deliver me when I can't deliver myself. I can
count on Him to comfort my heart in the most unimaginable sorrow. I can count on Him. I can trust
Him more fully. So in the end, that trial brings
an increase of peace, not a decrease of it. The believer has peace
on every side because of Christ, our King, and we can be thankful
for that. All right, thirdly, we're thankful
that the reign of Christ has no end. Verse five, they shall
fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all
generations. And in verse seven, he says in
his days, so the righteous flourish in abundance of peace so long
as the moon endured. Now, nobody can take the sun
and the moon away. When God spoke the world into
creation, He hung the sun right where it is. He hung the moon
in its orbit right where it is, and there they've stayed ever
since. And there they will stay until
God burns this creation up and creates a new heaven and a new
earth wherein dwells righteousness. We never have to worry about
the sun and the moon not being there, do we? It's just a given
because God put them there. How absurd to think that the
sun is going to go out and we're all going to die. It's not going
to happen. I'm telling you, it's not going
to happen. How much more absurd is it to
think that the reign of Christ is going to end? Now I know he's
taken care of of everything up till now, but this situation
looks so bad, it's out of control. That's just absurd. The reign
of Christ will never end. See, there's one greater than
Solomon here. The reign of Solomon had to come
to an end. I mean, as wise as Solomon was,
as great as his rule was, Solomon was just a sinful man. His reign
had to end because he had to die and return back to his earth. But the reign of Christ will
never end. See, Christ has the right to
rule. The father gave him that right
and nobody can ever take it from him. He has the right to rule
forever. And furthermore, Christ bought
the right to rule. The Lord Jesus Christ brought
in everlasting righteousness through his sacrifice for his
people. So his righteous rule can never end. He'll never quit
making his people righteous. There'll never be an end to the
peace that he gives his people. See, the father sent his son
to this earth with a job to do. He got the job done. Now, what
was the job he came to do? It was to save his people. The
angel told Joseph he shall save his people from their sin. And
he did just that. And that's his right to rule.
He bought it by saving his people from their sin. Now, saying the
reign of Christ will never end. It means a whole lot more than
what Christ just sits on the throne forever. He'll always
be doing his will forever and nobody can ever threaten his
reign. That's true, but we're saying more than that. Christ's
eternal reign means that the salvation of his people is eternally
secure. If Christ died for you, You can
never lose your salvation. Never. Not as long as He's on
the throne. And He's always going to be there.
So your salvation in Him is secure. Well, 2,000 years ago, Christ
died to redeem His people from their sins. How do you know He's going to
do it? Here, 2,000 years later, how do we know He's going to
do it? Because Christ reigns. He reigns eternally. And His
rule guarantees the salvation of His people. He said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come unto me. How can you be so sure? Because He rules to make it happen.
He rules to draw His people to Him. And all who come to Him,
no one will ever be cast out. Because He reigns forever. That was true from the day of
Adam up until today, up until the day that Christ returns.
God's grace will reign in every generation. Verse five, at the
end of verse five says that as long as the sun and moon endure
throughout all generations, every generation of man is going to
experience regeneration by God's grace. every one of them. Because
God has a people from every generation. I don't care how sinful that
they are. I'm starting to sound like an
old man talking about how much worse that the world is today
than when I was a young man. I don't care how much worse we
think it's getting. I don't care how many new ways
man makes up to rebel against God. I don't care how many new
sinful things man calls righteous. I don't care. None of that matters.
God's people shall be saved. God's going to save a people
out of that wicked generation because God's grace in Christ
will always reign supreme. And I'm telling you, That makes
me thankful. I mean, it just makes me glad. Behold, don't look at the world
around you. Don't look at how wicked it is.
Behold, look to the Lord. Behold, the Lord's hand is not
short and it cannot save. Neither his ear heavy that it
cannot hear. Behold God, his power to save
is undiminished because God is sovereign. And as far as I'm
concerned, That's a mighty good reason to give thanks. I'm thankful.
Then fourthly, we're thankful. God gives his people life. Verse
six says he shall come down like rain upon the mown grass as showers
that water the earth. Now the mown grass means grass
that has been cut down real short or eaten down short by the sheep.
It's been cut off and it's going to die unless it gets some water.
Now listen to what Spurgeon said about this verse. Nobody talks
like this today. I love the way he wrote this.
He says, every crystal drop of rain tells of heavenly mercy,
which forgets not the parts plain. Every crystal drop of rain tells
of God's mercy, individual mercy to his people. It always finds
the parts plain. God's mercy drops always find
his dry parts people. and it always gives life. It
always refreshes and strengthens God's people. See, the cut grass,
that represents God's people. Behold, the people are grass.
God's people are nothing more than grass. Soon, it's gonna
wither and die. And the only way we can live
is if God gives us life from above. He's got to give us water
from above. We've got to be watered with
Christ, the water of life. It can't be religion. Now, it
can't be ceremony. It can't be things that make
this flesh feel good. We must have Christ. Give me Christ or
else I die. That's what the cut grass says.
So you're not going to find any refreshing in man's religion. Man's religion, all it does,
it just causes a bunch of motion. And you know what a bunch of
motion in the dirt does? It just kicks up a dust storm.
And there's no refreshing in that. Intellectual preaching
that tickles our imagination. Preaching of man's works that
appeals to the flesh, the self-righteousness of the flesh. All that is is
a dust storm that chokes off life. It can't give life. It
just chokes life off. And that kind of preaching is
never going to give spiritual life and it's never going to
revive and refresh God's people. Everybody here knows how refreshing
that just was. I probably all made you thirsty,
and I'm sorry, but you know how refreshing that just was. Imagine
how you feel if you drank a great big old glass of dust. That's what it is to your soul,
sitting under a false gospel. It just puts you in a dust storm,
and there's no refreshing there. And that's why we always and
only preach Christ. I know this. Y'all come in here
with many different needs from different situations in life. Some of you know the Lord. Some
of you don't. But I got one message for everybody.
It's God's grace in Christ. That's the message that saves
the lost. And that's the message that refreshes
the souls of weary saints. See, just preach Christ. Just
preach. When you're reading the scriptures,
just look for Christ. When we preach, just preach Christ. Don't try to get results now.
Don't worry about the results. You know, we're not getting the
results we want. Don't worry about that. Verse
7 tells us the righteous are going to flourish. The righteous
will flourish when they're watered with Christ, the water of life.
Just preach Christ. The righteous will flourish.
It's just like a flower. has flowers all over the place,
you know, and sometimes they start to look a little dry and
droopy. I think, ugh, that thing's dead.
That thing's going to die tomorrow. There's no hope for that thing.
And she says, oh, I forgot to water my flowers. And she goes
out and waters them, and it amazes me. Just a short time after,
I swear that plant is standing straighter than it was. It's
more colorful than it was. It's just, it's the effect of
water. It needed the water, didn't it?
That's the effect of preaching Christ on God's people. They
just stand a little straighter. They've just been strengthened
a little more, a little more colorful. That's the effect of
preaching Christ to His people. Aren't we thankful to have a
place we can come where the gospel is preached and hear Christ and
be refreshed in Him? Now, I know drinking that water
just made everybody here physically thirsty. But I got a question
for you. Are you spiritually thirsty?
Is anybody here spiritually dry? Are you just so dry? Friend,
come to the water. Isaiah 55. Come to the water. I'm preaching to you the best
way I know how. Come to Christ, the water. Isaiah
55. Listen, everyone that's thirsty,
come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Come have it freely. And here
it is, verse 10. For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give
seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth. Just preach the word, it shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
For you should go out with joy and be led forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills should break forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead
of the thorns shall come up the fir tree. Instead of the briars
shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for
a name, for an everlasting sign, that should not be cut off. That's
the effect of the water falling from heaven. Now, if you're dry
and you're thirsty, come to the water, come to Christ. He's the
king who gives life to his people. And then lastly, we're thankful
that Christ's dominion is everywhere. Verse eight, Psalm 72. 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 king of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall
fall down before him. All nations shall serve him."
All nations everywhere. Now, if I had been living in
the days of Solomon, I can tell you where I would have wanted
to live. I would have wanted to live in Solomon's kingdom.
Wouldn't you? I wouldn't have to be an important
person. I just would have been very, very happy to have been
a servant in Solomon's house because the Queen of Sheba said,
your servants are rich. Your servants are happy and blessed
to be around you and hear you talk and hear your wisdom. I
would have loved to have lived in Solomon's kingdom if I lived
in that day. But if I'd been born in another country, I lived
in another kingdom. I couldn't take part in the blessings
under Solomon's rule, could I? I'd have been under the dominion
of some fool somewhere, not under the dominion of Solomon. I read
a book recently about a family who lived in Berlin during World
War II. They did not support the Nazis
at all. They're outspoken about it and
they suffered a great deal for it. And a matter of fact, what
they did was they helped spy for the Russians. And they were
awful happy when the Russians came in and defeated the Nazis.
Oh, they were so happy. But they ended up living on the
wrong side of the tracks. They got stuck in East Berlin. And just their suffering just
continued and continued. Now, there was peace. There's
prosperity in the West. But they couldn't take part in
it. They had no blessing from that because they were stuck
in the east on the wrong side of the tracks. Now, like I said,
I would have wanted to live in Solomon's kingdom. I'm telling
you, there is one greater than Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ. And more than anything, I want
to be in his kingdom. I want to be in his body. But
how do I know I won't be on the wrong side of the tracks and
be left under my own dominion? How do I know I won't be left
outside of His kingdom? Let me give you two words of comfort.
Number one is this. Don't worry that you're going
to be stuck on the wrong side of the tracks. Christ came to save people from
the wrong side of the tracks. That's who He came to save. And
second, don't worry that you're going to be stuck outside of
Christ's kingdom. Christ's rule is everywhere. Everywhere there's
a where. Christ rules. Christ rules from
sea to shining sea, from the river to the end of the earth. You can't live outside of his
dominion. And rebels from everywhere are
going to come bow. Poor rebels from out in the wilderness,
they're going to come bow. Kings and queens from other countries,
they're going to be humbled. They're going to come and they're
going to bow and they're going to bring gifts. This prayer here
of David's for Solomon was fulfilled. The Queen of Sheba came bringing
gifts, didn't she? Everyone, everyone is going to
bow to King Jesus. And I'm thankful. Aren't you
thankful? Now I want us to consider what
Christ has done in His sovereign, all-reaching rule that reaches
everywhere to everyone. This is what he's done with his
right to rule. He gave himself as a sacrifice
to save his people from their sins. That's what the elements
of this table represent. The bread represents Christ's
body broken, crushed under the wrath of God for the sin of his
people. The wine represents the blood of Christ that came out
of his body as his body was thrust under God's wrath, His blood
flowed out. And it's that blood that wasn't
offered to you and me. It was the blood before the Lord.
It was the blood taken into heaven itself to make atonement for
the sin of His people. That blood procured forgiveness
for His people. Christ gave Christ the King,
who could do as He will, gave Himself as a sacrifice to put
away the sin of His people and bring his people to God. I can't
think of a better way to begin our Thanksgiving holiday than
observing the Lord's table, thankful for his sacrifice. It's something
I thoroughly enjoy doing before we go to our tables tomorrow
to eat, to come dine richly at the table of our Lord. All right,
Wayne, you may, if you would, distribute the bread.