The time I stand to preach, I'm somewhat, I say somewhat anxious, I'm very anxious. I appreciate the reading of the scripture, my word shall go forth out of my mouth, shall not return to me void, but accomplish the thing wherein to I send it. It is my prayer tonight that God would cause this word to comfort you who are his own people. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Here's the comfort that the Lord hath received of Christ's hand double for all your sins. So I pray God would bless the message tonight to you, and I do ask that you pray for me as I desire to preach it.

Take your Bibles and turn with me to Psalm 110. Psalm 110. Title of this message, God's Promise to Christ. God's promise to Christ. Scripture says, 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 due of thy youth. The Lord has sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. He shall wound the head over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way. Therefore, shall he lift up the head."

God's promise to Christ. Now, every believer in Christ of necessity must go through many trials, many afflictions. It is of necessity. We are put through difficulties and trials, and at times our trials become much more than we can bear. Often our trials push us to the point of despair. It causes us to have such anxious thoughts as to even believe that I have any interest at all. John Newton wrote, tis of point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? This struggle is common with us. And this is because the old man of sin still abides in every believer. Yes, we are given a new heart, a new nature, a new love, wherewith we believe on Christ, we trust in Him, we long to be with Him, we long to serve Him. I don't know of any believer that longs for less faith. Anybody want less faith? Less love? No, we want more faith. We want more love.

But because of the old man of sin, we are often overwhelmed with unbelief. God has given us His Word to comfort us. Now, I want you to understand that. It's vitally important for us to understand. Comfort does not come by circumstance. You cannot find comfort in a circumstance, in a situation, in a providence. Because even the best of providences are fleeting. And then where's your assurance? It's gone.

I reminded this, our congregation, Tim James said this to me, he said, the moment you look for assurance, you've lost it. But I'm thankful that my salvation doesn't depend on my assurance. My feelings, my thoughts, it depends on the word of God. The promises of God are my total foundation upon which my soul is built and not how I feel or what I think. If I went by how I felt, I wouldn't be standing here. Sitting right there, I wanted to go out the back door. That's how I feel. But I'm not dependent on how I feel. My promise, the promise that I have is the Word of God.

Luther said it. Feelings come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. Nothing else is worth believing except what? The Word of God. Nothing but the Word of God is worth believing. So as we struggle in ourselves, the comfort that we have is the promises of God. But I want you to understand the foundation of the promises of God are not dependent upon us. This is the joy of the gospel that the dependent, the foundation of God's promises, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, pardon, peace with God, heaven, joy, love. Faith, meekness, temperance, all of the fruits of spirit, they are promised to us, but they are not founded upon us. They're founded upon God's promise to Christ. And then those promises come from Christ to you. They're promised, all the promises of God are in Christ, are given to Christ. That's where they're at, right?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Where? Where are all these blessings? They are in Christ. They were given to Christ. In Galatians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul says in verse 16, He said, Now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. Now listen. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ. See, the promises were made by God to Christ. And then only then are they given to you and me through Christ. They're founded on him. And because of him, all the promises of God are yea and amen, where? In Christ. They're not a yea and amen in my feelings or my thoughts or my situation, my circumstance. That's fluctuating always. But this is something that doesn't move. Christ's son. And they immediately said, David's son. And he points into this scripture and says, how then Could he be David's son and David's Lord? I couldn't answer that question. But we know that. We understand that by the grace of God. We know this, that he was David's son and David's Lord because he was God manifest in the flesh. The Son of God was manifest in the flesh.

So this is the promise that he should be king, that he should come down from heaven and become a man. My Lord. My representative, my king. Why? Because God made him my king. So here Jehovah extends the promise to the son, sit thou at my right hand.

When was this given? When was the promise of God to Christ that he should be king? When was this given? It was given the same time he was the son of God. Remember David said this in Psalm 2, he said, I declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. When was that day? When was he the son of God? From eternity Christ was the son of God. And so this decree also is an eternal decree. God determined from eternity to make Christ king.

And so an eternal covenant, he says, sit thou at my right hand. And consider that. Could he sit at the right hand of God and not be victorious? God had already determined that he would be king and not just any king. He would be a victorious king. that He would sit down, which means it'd be done. This was already decreed. Your salvation was already determined to be done before it was done. That was an eternal decree. Before there was ever a sinner, God made Christ the Savior. He made Him your Savior. He declared him to be your king, you the belief. This is the promise. See how this comes down? Your foundation of your salvation was laid in eternity when God said to Christ, Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

God, the Father from eternity, purposed that he should have the scepter in his hands that the Son, Jesus Christ, and he set him up to be this. Go to Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs chapter eight. And look at verse twenty two. The scripture here speaking of Christ as the personified wisdom of God, he said, the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old, the word possessed means begotten. Again, he's speaking of his eternal sonship. When was the work of God? When was the beginning of his work? Can you? Again, we're using human language to describe eternity. We can't fathom and understand. There was no real beginning of eternity. They said, well, that's when I was begotten. I was begotten of him, I was his eternally begotten son. And notice this, and he said, I was set up from everlasting. from the beginning or ever the earth was. I was set up. This is speaking of his office. He was set up to be the Christ, determined to be the king before there was anything.

So, friends, the Jesus that I'm speaking of, he is no less than God. He is the Son of God. John says this, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the scripture says that all things were made by him, and there was not anything that was made that he didn't make it. You know what that means? That means he's king. He's king. But then the scripture says something different. Now, as creator, he's naturally king. Isn't that right? You don't need a decree. He's king by default. He's king. He's sovereign. He made everything. What's his purpose then of being set up? He was set up. This speaks of his office as king. that it was covenanted by the father that the son should be made a representative man and thus become a king over his people. He was determined to be. Isn't that awesome that he was determined to be your king before you ever knew he was king? You came in this world, had no idea he was king. God had determined your salvation. See how settled this thing is? This thing's been settled long before the world was ever made. Your salvation was settled.

Now why do we think then it's dependent on us or how we feel or what we think? And yet we do. We do. It's foolishness, isn't it? It's the utmost arrogance of pride to think I have anything to do with this thing. God determined him to be my king. He determined and set him up to be my savior. And therefore, Jesus Christ, who was anointed king, came into the world as a man. And when he was born into this world, what did the wise men say about him? They said, where is he that is born king? No coronation needed. We didn't come to coronate him. We come to just acknowledge. that he was born king. Why? God had made the decree from eternity. Sit thou at my right hand. And so when he came in the world, he was king. He was born king.

And yet, consider the lowly estate our king took. Consider the low estate that he who was king Became servant of all. Became subject. To men. And his own law. And by doing so, my king was earning my righteousness. When they lifted him up on Calvary's tree and they crucified him, it was my sin that nailed him there. It was my sin that caused his suffering. And never a king loved so much that he willingly took our sins in his own body on the tree. and suffered the full measure of God's wrath for us and died a king. He was born a king. You make no mistake, he lived a king and he died a king. And God proved it. Now this text was fulfilled the day that Jesus Christ ascended, rose from the dead and he ascended into heaven where he is now seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, ever living to make intercession for his people. He is King.

How foolish is it for the religion to tell you to make Jesus your Lord? This is how this is how depraved man is, that they believe somehow by an act of will they can make Jesus King. That's what those people on John 6 wanted to do, didn't they? They said, hey, let's make him king. Oh, no, I'm already king, he said. I don't need you to make me king. No, he's already my king.

Now, why is he my king? Because God made him my king. Now, what in the world could I do to undo that? My king is seated on the throne and he's ruling all things after the counsel of his own will. Make no mistake, these men aren't ruling anything in this world. Christ is ruling everything. My king is seated on the throne.

Now then the second thing I want you to see this, he was not only decreed to be king, he came as king, he lived as king, he died as king, and he rose again as king. He is seated now as king. But I want you to see this, that my king from eternity also was given a people. What good is a king without people? Now, religion tells you, yeah, he's king, but he's not quite sure who his people are. What kind of king is that? No, it's a mockery to say he's king. But not be sure if he has any people. What does this text say? Verse three, thy people. You see, my king has a people. And they're his people. They belong to him. They're his people. God decreed him to have a scepter and God decreed him to have a people. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."

Now, I want you to see three things about God's people. Three things about God's people. First of all, they are a people given to Christ. They're given to Christ. Secondly, they are a people purchased by Christ. And thirdly, they are a people conquered by Christ. Now, listen. You want assurance? Here it is. This is what his people are. Look, I'm one that's been given to him. I didn't give myself to him. God gave me to him. And then he purchased me. And then by an act of power and divine grace, he conquered me.

First of all, he was given a people. Scripture tells this is just simply election. Simply, that's what it means. It's election. Election is not complicated. When people say, oh, that's just too complicated. No, you don't like it. That's just all there is to it. Election is not complicated. God had a people, chose a people before the world began. Very simple sentence. Then he gave them to Christ. Christ became responsible for them, and Christ saved them. They're His people.

2 Thessalonians 2, 13, We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because this is the cause of our thanksgiving, because God hath from the beginning chosen you. To what? To salvation. Now God chose you to that. When? Before the foundation of the world. From the beginning. When is the beginning again? Eternity. Means through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth. We'll get to the means in just a minute. And these people were chosen and given to the king. And we just quoted that from Ephesians 1 a minute ago, how that all the spiritual blessings that are in Christ Jesus, according, he said, as God hath Chosen us in Christ our King Before the foundation of the world purpose that we should be holy. That's why he chose you that you should be holy And without blame Without blame it's what he chose me for Chose me that I should be holy without blame In love, now here's the motive, in love, having predestinated us according to the adoption of children, here's the means, by the king, by Jesus Christ, unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted. Where? In the king, in the beloved.

And so Jesus was appointed by the Father to be my King, and He was given a people to be their surety. That's what a king is. A king is responsible for his people. He's responsible for their care, their protection, and everything. They're totally dependent upon a king. We're not a nation that sits under a king, but most of the world, for almost history of the world, every country is sat under a king, good or bad. But how good is our King? How strong is our King? And our King became responsible for our salvation.

I like that in Isaiah 9 and 6. It says, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And listen to these words. The government shall be upon his shoulders. What are you saying? He's King. And the government, the responsibility of the kingdom rests solely on the shoulders of the King. And what is his name going to be called? Wonderful. That's his name? His name's Wonderful. Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Why? He was given to people.

Now, remember in John chapter 6, those people who wanted to make him king, and he left them. He left. That's just amazing. Those disciples, he said, boys, get in the boat, we're leaving. And he went up in a mound and prayed. And anyway, those people followed him. They didn't understand why he left them. And he said this. In John 6, 36, he said, I said unto you, you have seen me, and yet you believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Well, who's going to come to Christ? Now, you pay attention. All that the Father gave him. Not one less and not one more. And when they come, how are they going to be received? By the King.

And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Why? For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me. He doesn't leave it to your imagination what that will is. I'm thankful the Lord knows how simple minded we are and how forgetful we are, that he's very plain in his speech. This is the father's will. That of all he had given me. I should lose how many? None. Now, how many will he lose? None. Why? He's king. He's king. You see, the king is never discouraged. You understand that? You and I get discouraged. We see people come, they enjoy the gospel for a little while and they leave. We're discouraged. We see that we're so few and we're what? We're discouraged. Nobody else is coming and we're discouraged. He's not. He's not in the least bit discouraged. He's not. He does not fail. Why? Because all that the Father gave Him will come to Him. Don't worry about that. Don't worry about it.

You remember what He said in John chapter 10? He said, I lay down my life for a very specific group of people, the sheep. The sheep. And He said this, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. And I give unto them eternal life. Not They merited eternal life. No, I give them eternal life. As a king making a decree, I give you eternal life. And no man shall pluck them out of my hand. Listen, for the Father which gaveth them me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of his hand. You that believe, are you not his people that have been given to him? We're given. We were chosen in him and given to him. Therefore, the responsibility of our salvation is dependent on who? Him. Only him. Only him.

Secondly, he has purchased his people. Look at that, it's verse two. He said, The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Now Christ's people who were given to him from all eternity, whom he promised to be their king and redeemer, were not a willing people. We had no desire to bow to him as king. Matter of fact, we were his enemies. You see, the people given to Christ were not friendly to him. They were enemies. We were enemies. The carnal mind is what? Enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. When we were in Adam, we all died. Therefore, we were born rebels, haters of God. Scripture said we were born dead in trespasses and sin, and having our conversation in time passed according to the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature what? Children of wrath, even as others. That doesn't mean we were children of the wrath of God. We were children of wrath toward God. We were haters of God. That's who his people were, haters of God.

Therefore, it's impossible for us to save ourselves. Impossible. It's astounding how blatantly arrogant religion is to think that man can possibly save himself. I think it's a testimony to depravity. Natural religion, works religion, free will religion is a testimony to total absolute depravity. I think the illustration of the Good Samaritan, remember that man came from Jerusalem down to Jericho. He was going from God toward a cursed city. Isn't that a picture of us? By nature, we were going from God, running as fast as we could from God to hell. The scripture says that man fell among thieves, and they beat him, and they robbed him, and they stripped him, and they left him half dead. Isn't that what we were when we were born in this world, half dead? Had physical life, half dead, spiritually dead. And you remember those two passed by, the Levite and the priest passed by. And they saw him. They went down there and they looked over at him and they bent down and examined him. Why couldn't they touch him? Because the law forbid it. If they touched him, they themselves would be contaminated. See why the law can't save you? The law can examine you and say, man, you're pretty bad. Boy, that crack in the skull looks pretty bad. But I'm going to walk over here. Can't do anything for you. The law can't help you.

But notice who came. The good Samaritan, which is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is able to bend down and find the wounds, pour oil and wine Can you get any more picturesque than that? His blood and the spirit poured in to the wounds and he binds them up himself, puts him on his own beast, carries him to the end. Isn't that what he did? Put us on his own shoulders and carried us to Calvary? And then what? He leaves us with the spirit. The innkeeper is a picture of the spirit and he pays him. He said, look, here's his debt. That's what He did for His people. He paid their debt. When? When did He pay your debt? Did He pay your debt after you believed? No. Scripture says that He died even when we were yet sinners. Why do we doubt after we've come to faith in Christ now that He would leave? Wait a second, he died before I ever came to him. And now that I've come, how should he ever cast me out? And yet we do, we think of that.

Our Lord Jesus Christ paid the full debt, became responsible for our sins and bear our sins in his own body on the tree. But how did he do it? How did he do it?

Now, listen, this king, our Lord Jesus Christ, is a just and holy king. He is a just and holy king. Look what it says about our king. He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. He shall wound the head over many countries. You know what this says about my king? He is holy and just.

My king says this, the soul that sinneth it shall die. Christ, the king, shall judge all men and those not found in him. Those who were not given to him and those who were not redeemed by him shall be eternally cast out from all the mercies of God into everlasting hell. And the writing on the wall shall be eternal. Thou are found wanting. He that believeth not shall be damned. Those words will be written in eternity for all who are outside of him.

Well, how then can he redeem me, seeing I'm just as worthy of hell as they are? Look what he says in verse seven. This is how he's going to do it. The king shall drink of the brook in the way. What is this brook? It is simply the Brook Kittron. You remember David when he was exiled. The scripture says when David was exiled, he crossed the Brook Kittron and his people. And the Brook Kittron was not a flowing stream of water. It was a sewer. It was where the blood and the dung from the sacrifices flowed from the temple. It flowed down in the brook, Kittron. It's where the king, I'm trying to think, I think it was Josiah, he burned those idols and he cast the dust and ashes of those idols in this brook, the brook Kittron. It was a vile place. And you know what it says of our Lord and King? He says he shall drink of the brook in the way.

The only way to redeem his people is to bear their own sins in his body on the tree. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came into this world, he to die for our sins, he drank our sins dry. To where there was none left. And as our redeemer, He suffered the full measure of our sins before God. And what was God's decree about his purchase? What did God say? The scripture says, by his one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. All those given to him, he purchased them. There he is, he bought them. And notice this, his people will be conquered. There are conquered people. Go back to your text. Look at this. Thy people shall be willing when? In the day of thy power.

I told you we were not born willing. We were born willing to go our own way. We were born willing to serve God in our own capacity. But no man by nature was willing to bow and believe on Jesus Christ. You know why? Because Christ said that. He said, no man can come to me. With the simplicity of the gospel, every freewill denomination should close the doors. Just simple. This is simple. It's not complex. No man can come to me. Except I'm so thankful for that Except what? Except the father which has sent me draw him This is what is saying in the day of thy power you that believe why do you believe? Well you believe because first of all you were given to it second of all he purchased you by his own blood and You came into this world and he ruled over you even though you were his enemy. And in the day of his power, the day of his love, he came to you with this gospel and you by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the grace of God, you believed.

Why in the world are you still here? Why do you come here? Week after week after week. Why are you so despairing about your sin? Why are you so despairing about your state, your standing before God? Why is this bothering you? Because He called you. And the only reason you're here is because the King has conquered you. And you can't do anything else but believe.

And what will you do with your unbelief if you could? You'd get rid of it. I'm so thankful that He put His foot on the neck of my stubborn will. and gave me a new heart and made me willing. And I'm still willing. Are you still? You know, it's kind of foolish when you ask a believer, are you willing to believe? What, are you touched in the head? Oh, my soul. I despair of my unwillingness. I hate it. I despise myself because of

But to God, I would just hold fast to him at all times. But to God, I had more faith and not less, more love and not less. Why? He's conquered me. I'm his. I'm his. Oh, but the joy of this, he's mine. He's mine. Is this your confession? Is he king by eternal decree? Are all the promises of God in him? Were all the promises of life and heaven and forgiveness of sins given to him? Promise to Him? Well, then they're promise to you who were put into union with Him. From eternity, they were yours. They were yours in Him. And in time, He bought every one of those promises. He earned every single promise. He earned it.

Where were you? Where were you when he earned... I like when he asked that about Job. Where were you? He asked Job. Job had a lot of complaints. I don't know. I identify with Job about that complaining business. But when God comes to us, he says, where were you when I made all this? What did you have to do with it? What do you have to do with it now?

Now, we confess that Jesus Christ is all. What does that mean? It means this, that He is all. God made Him king. God, in an act of grace, gave me to Him. He redeemed me. He conquered me. And guess what? He keeps me. I don't keep myself. Who? My King. Who? Who shall in thy presence stand and match omnipotence, unfold the grasp of thy right hand and pluck the sinner thence? Who? Name Him. Name the providence, name the circumstance, name the occasion, name anything that's going to remove you from Him. No. Our promises are sure where? In Him. And as long as He sits on that throne, my salvation's sure.

May God bless you.