The book of Psalms 110. Psalm 110. A grand total of seven verses. You didn't think I had it in
me, did you? Seven. Psalm 110. If I remember correctly,
this psalm is dated roughly a thousand years or so before the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet it is one of the most glorious
statements concerning our Savior to be found anywhere in our Bibles. If I mistake not, it is one of
the most quoted psalms in the entire New Testament. That's
remarkable that God would use the New Testament writers to
draw from this psalm in declaring to us person, the glory, and
the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, before we start
to read, we have to understand at the very outset two words
that are in the very first phrase of Psalm 110, verse 1. You have
the word Lord twice. Now, for most of you, this is
review, but you need to be reminded of this glorious truth. The Old
Testament translators had no other way to tell us that the
two words LORD in this phrase are not the same word in the
original Hebrew language. Therefore, their meaning is different.
The first one is in all capital letters, L-O-R-D. The second one is simply capital
L and then lowercase letters O-R-D. Here's what they mean. When Lord is capitalized in all
of its letters, it means the Lord God Jehovah, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, the divine three in one. This word Lord is a statement
referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Messiah, yet he is
the God-man. He is as much Jehovah as the
Father or the Holy Spirit. But what is so striking about
the use of it in Psalm 110, you can find a similar instance of
this in some other places in our Bibles, the most memorable
of which that comes to my mind is the second Psalm. But look
how it opens. The Lord said to my Lord. The Lord God Jehovah said to
David's Lord, the Lord Jesus. Now you have to get this in your
mind. This is a difficult psalm to
understand until you could read it a thousand times and these
things not ever appear to us. Most Bible reading is done so
casually So carelessly, we don't even notice how words are spelled
or what kind of letters are used and a thousand and one other
things that escape our understanding because we don't pay attention
to what we read. But this is a fabulous statement. Jehovah God is speaking to God
the Son, the Lord Jesus. And David calls this second Lord
his Lord. This is David's Lord, the Lord
Jesus. Sit you, the Father says to the
Son, sit you at my right hand until I make your enemies your
footstool. When on earth could this be?
When? When the Lord Jesus ascended
back to glory. He proclaimed twice, recorded
in the Gospel of John chapter 17 and chapter 19 verse 30, that
the work of redemption was finished. He said it is finished. So the
father says to the son upon his return to glory, sit on my throne
at my right hand until I make all your enemies your footstool. And every son and daughter of
Adam is Christ's enemy. Yes, I meant that. When we are
converted, when God saves us, He must conquer this old me and
make me in Christ a new me. And the rest of my days there
will be war between my new nature and my old nature. And you can't
change that. You can say it isn't true. You
can act like, well, I just won't act like it exists. Well, you'll
find out. If you've lived any time at all
as a believer in this world, you know exactly what I'm saying.
So the father says to the son, sit at my right hand until I
make your enemies your footstool. Verse 2, the Lord, as it's spelled,
all capital letters, the Lord God Jehovah, shall send the rod
of thy strength." Who is thy? Your strength. Whose strength? He's speaking to Christ. It is
Christ's strength. Jehovah shall send the rod of
Christ's strength. From where? Out of Zion. Through and by the Lord's people.
God does His saving business by using sinful instruments of
men to proclaim His truth, to bear witness to the truth of
Christ and of the gospel. The Lord God Jehovah shall send
the rod of Christ's strength out of Zion. Notice the punctuation
after Zion. Here's what that means. He is
saying to the Lord Jesus, Rule you right smack dab in the middle
of your enemies. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Our text this morning will be
verse 3. So I'm just going to read it, if I can do that. I
may not be able to. This is one of the most wonderful
statements anywhere in the Bible. God promises God the Son, Your
people, Your people, How can He call them His people and we're
still a thousand years away from Christ coming? Well, if you go
a thousand years further back than this, you could still call
them His people. How come? Because they've always been His
people. They were given to Him in that eternal covenant of grace.
And you can't go further than that. There's no end to eternity
in either direction. I know in our minds we get confused
and we say, well, you can't use language like that. Well, how
are you going to speak about it then? You have to say something
in order to explain yourself. But it's before time ever was
that Christ had this people. And He's here promised that His
people shall be willing in the day of not their power, not the
preacher's power, in the day of Christ's power. Now when is
that? Plain and simple. It is the gospel
day. That's the day of Christ's power. When His gospel is truly proclaimed,
there ain't no telling what God will do with it. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Look at these terms. In the beauties of holiness,
from the womb of the morning, you have the due of your youth
that you is Christ. He is ever young. He exercises
dominion and power over all things today as much as he did in the
book of Acts on the day of Pentecost. If our Lord were to purpose to
do so, he could save everybody under the sound of the gospel.
His hand is not short that it cannot save. He's not weaker. He's Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He cannot change. God can't become
less, just like He cannot become more. You have the due of your
youth. The Lord has sworn, spelled how? All capitals. The Lord has sworn
and will not repent. I won't start on that. The only
people that need to repent are sinners. God doesn't need to
repent. The Lord is sworn and will not
repent. This is an everlasting decree,
saying to the Lord Jesus, you are a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. The Lord at your right hand,
these words spoken directly to Christ and the word Lord there
is referring to him. The Lord at your right hand shall
strike through kings in the day of his wrath. The heart of the
king is in the hand of the Lord. He turns it whithersoever he
will. He shall judge among the heathen,
the nations, or the Gentiles. He shall fill the places with
the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over
many countries. I do not know what verse 6 means.
Verse 7, he shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall
he lift up the head. The drinking of this brook in
the way seems to have some reference to when Christ left Jerusalem
on the night he was to be betrayed and arrested. After the Lord's
Supper had been created at the Passover meal, they crossed this
brook that runs through part of Jerusalem called Kedron, K-E-D-R-O-N,
sometimes spelled C-E-D-R-O-N. And it says that as he passed
this brook, he drank this water. which you have never witnessed
in all your days, water as filthy as ran in this stream. It carried
all the filth and the blood of all the sacrifices, and they
were so many in number that you and I cannot fathom them. And
this was not one day, it was every day, day after day after
day after day. So when he drank of this brook,
it's not some pure crystal stream of water. It's drinking the cup
of God's wrath against our sin. That's what this verse is speaking
about. Christ shall drink of the brook
in the way, therefore shall he lift up the head. We're going
to work on verse 3. Verse 3. Now before we begin to do that,
may we pray. O Lord God of the Bible, the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come to this blessed
and holy portion of your word this day with fear and trembling
lest we misrepresent what your word truly says. Lord, we need
help from above. We long to see this verse demonstrated
in unmistakable fashion in our generation. We've never seen
such in all our days. Oh, we've seen revivals, so-called. We've seen big meetings. But
sadly, in just hours and days from such an event, Life in that
part of the world is exactly where it was before, unchanged. What men called being saved was
simply a sham. Lord, if this gospel that we
are to proclaim is to prosper in this day and in this hour,
it must be a divine work. We plead the blood, the righteousness,
and the merits of our Savior, for we have none apart from him.
Lord, direct our minds and our thoughts in this humble, out-of-the-way
place. It would please you to take up
your own cause in our souls this day. What a day this would be! Lord, this preacher is not anything
or anybody, but Christ is everything. our all. Honor Him. Lift Him up. We pray in His dear
name. Alright, we begin in verse 3.
Let me read that verse one more time. This is Jehovah speaking
to the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah of God. And it is
a direct statement to It's not describing what was said to him,
it is actually what was said. Thy people, Christ's people,
shall be willing in the day of Christ's power to be accompanied
with these statements in the beauties of holiness having to
do with this mystery from the womb of the morning. Then a final
promise in that verse made to the Lord Jesus. Remember this
was made when? At His ascension to glory. You have the due of your youth. God is ageless and timeless. He's all-powerful. He cannot
ever be any less than that and there is nothing more than that.
This is true in all parts of His being, in every aspect of
His character. All right, the first thing, we
have a promise that is made to the Lord Jesus regarding His
own people. They're called His people, thy
people. So they're already His people, yet they have to be brought
to know, to love the Lord Jesus while we walk this earth in human
flesh. You can't know this before you're
born into this world, and you can't know it after you've left.
If you did not know it beforehand, you will not know it then. It
has to be between the cradle and the grave. Thy people shall
be willing. Yes, but aren't His people already
willing? No, not according to this book.
It everywhere proclaims the exact opposite. So this promise then
has to do with time. There is a set time. And I speak literally concerning
every last one of Christ's sheep. It is an appointed hour when
God meets us in the gospel of Christ. Let me give you one I'm
going to try to turn just as little as I can, but I never
do that as much as I want to do it. But if you don't want
to turn, you just hang on to Psalms. But I want to turn to
Matthew 9. I want to show you in the simplicity
of the Gospel account how the Lord Jesus goes about calling
His people. In the day of His power, His
people are said to be willing in the day of His power." Here
is, to me, one of the greatest examples in all the Bible, and
it's because of the brevity of words contained in the statement.
Now, the writer of this gospel, Matthew chapter 9, is one of
the apostles. And he's going to tell us when
Christ called him in power, and he's going to do it as if he's
not speaking of himself. Now his other name, his Jewish
name is Levi, and he's sold out to the Romans and is collecting
taxes for the Romans. So he's, you know, he's such
a well-loved man. Everybody hates him except his
buddies, the publicans and the wealthy. But look at this now. Here's a man collecting those
very taxes on this very day, and our Lord Jesus walks by and
hears what he says. chapter 9, verse 9 in Matthew. And as Jesus passed forth from
there, he saw a man, he knew the man's name, he knows all
of his people's names, a man named Matthew sitting at the
receipt of custom. And our Lord said to him, follow
me. And look how he puts it in the
third person, and he followed Let's see, I've lost my place.
And he arose and followed him. He doesn't say, and I arose and
followed him. He calls himself he. I think
that's absolutely just beyond beautiful. It's just glorious. There was no debate, no argument. Well, if you'll give me time
to think about it, not any of that. Why? Because it was the
day of Christ. Now if he possessed that when
he walked this earth in human flesh, don't you think he still
has that same power today? All he has to do is issue the
command. A team of horses could not keep
us from coming if he issues that glorious command. See, there's
a promise having to do with time. shall be willing in the day of
your power." The day of your power. Now any day can be the
day of His power, but it's the day that God has purposed from
the beginning to save a particular sinner who was given to Christ
in the covet of grace in old eternity. All right, the second
thing, if you're still in Matthew, if you haven't left, if you have
I can quote this one to you probably. Matthew 1.21. Here's the second
thing. This promise has not only to
do with a certain day, that is a time, but it has to do with
a people. This promise made to the Lord
Jesus is made concerning a people. And here it is spoken of in verse
21 of Matthew 1. And Mary, she shall bring forth
a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. For, because he shall
save," whom? His people from their sins. Not everybody. His people. His people. Oh, I believe Christ
died for everybody. Well, that hasn't got a thing
to do with it. Your opinion about that is worth the same as mine,
which is nothing. He died for everybody, and everybody
is not saved. What good does it do to say He
died for me? No, I'm telling you, for whomever
He died, He must have those people, and He will. He has, He is, and
He will have them until the end of time. And when He has the
last one, there's no reason for this world to go on any longer.
All right, the third thing about this promise in verse 3 of Psalm
110 has to do with His people in regard to their willingness,
their willingness. You can find these words in John
5, verse 40. Our Lord said to His hearers,
many of whom were the Pharisees and religious leaders, He said
simply these words, You will not come to me that you might
have life. And that statement belongs to
every son and daughter of Adam. It is a universal statement. By nature, apart from grace,
we will not come to Christ. He goes on to say, let another
come in his own name. You'll hear him. You'll come
to him. Just like all the, whatever you
call them, these people that claim to be representing God
and they're just representing themselves and their interest
and their money. We'll come to somebody like that.
But we ain't coming to the God and Christ of the Bible until
God brings us. That's me, you, and anybody else. There's just no difference. One
of the most picturesque examples in our Bibles is found in Luke
19 where Zacchaeus is up the sycamore tree. Remember that?
Our Lord got there, stopped, right under that tree, looked
up and called Zacchaeus by name. He knows the name of his sheep,
and they know him once he reveals himself to them. He said Zacchaeus
come down. He's another publican. When he got to Zacchaeus' house,
he's having a supper in honor of the Lord and his disciples.
Our Savior made this remark in verse 9 of Luke 19. Today, salvation
has come to this house. God saved that man. And He saved
him on a particular day, at a particular time, and in a particular place. And that's how God still does
business. One more statement about this
promise that's made to Christ concerning His people. You need
to look at Psalm 110, verse 3, just for a second. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power, first of all this
statement, in the beauties of holiness. Some people think that
because the gospel is free, it must be cheap. I tell you that
God does nothing cheap. He takes no shortcuts. His divine
justice, His holy law, His hatred of sin is well served in our
substitute who hung on the cross in our stead. God is honored
and glorified by saving poor sinners through His Son, the
Lord Jesus. And that's not all. in the beauties
of holiness not only means that God's attributes are satisfied,
you can find a wonderful description of these things in Psalm 85 verse
10, but it not only means that God's attributes are fully provided
for, infinitely more so than any other possible consideration
that could be made from any other method of grace, and there is
no other method of grace. But the other thing is that the
Lord Jesus is then made to His people the righteousness of God
in Christ. Christ makes His people righteous.
He takes their sin. He gives us His righteousness.
And God is honored and pleased and His justice even takes the
side of the sinner and says, payment God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding shirt, His
hand, and then again at mine. God will not let you pay a debt
twice. Christ has paid your debt. It's
paid and it's paid forever. And if He hasn't paid it, you'll
punish in hell forever and ever as a result. You might ought
to seek Him. The second phrase in this statement,
Psalm 110 verse 3, is the one that follows that one. From the
womb of the morning. It seems to be a reference to the dew that falls
at times in the morning. It's noiseless. You don't see
it until it's already formed. You don't hear it. You can't
explain it. You can't tell where it came
from. That's how it is with the day of Christ's power and His
people being willing. It is a mysterious thing. Hey, how about reading one more
Scripture with me? Luke chapter 17, I think it is. I got to thinking
about this Scripture and mulling it over a little bit. Luke chapter
17, verses 20 and 21. Now this is
talking about from the womb of the morning. That is that when
God does a work of grace, We can be standing by that very
person in whom that work is being done and not have a clue, not
a clue that anything is taking place. Oh, but preacher, I remember
coming down the aisle and kneeling at the altar. That was bogus. That was emotionalism. If you're
hanging on to that, you need to stomp it in the ground and
get rid of it. That ain't grace. That's a high-powered
preacher getting you to do what at any other time you'd have
had better sense than to do. I know I've been there, I've
done that in both capacities. When God performs a miracle of
grace in the soul of a sinner, it is not visible to human eyes. I'll read it to you straight
out of the book. Verse 20, Luke 17. And when Christ was demanded
of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered
them and said, The kingdom of God comes not with observation. You can't see it unless you're
in it. You can't see it. Neither shall they say, Lo, here for behold, the kingdom of God,"
I know the King James says, is within you, and it is in a sense,
but it's far more than just being in us. This can also be translated,
in the midst of you. Right smack dab in the middle
of these people. who demand to know when the kingdom
of God is going to come. And our Lord said it's already
coming and you can't see it because it comes not with observation.
My dear friends, spiritual things do not come clothed in human
nature. You can't see it. When you go
home, look and see if you can find your soul. And we all know
Well, I can't remember which side it's on, but I think I've
got a heart. Some people say I don't. But I think it's in
here somewhere. But I could get a book on anatomy
and I could find out. But you can't do that in spiritual
things. This is the kingdom of God and
of his Christ. And it's everywhere present,
all over this world. One more statement. I'll have
to hurry. Psalm 110, the very last phrase,
the Lord Jesus is declared to have the due of His youth. The due of His youth. Most believers, including myself,
do not really believe that statement. Even in people who know better,
We often contemplate what we could do differently that would
have a better showing than what we're doing. Curtis was talking
about that this morning. And if you'll admit it, you'll
say the same things cross your mind. But I'm here to tell you,
it's not up to us. It's not our doing. Salvation
is God's work, Father, Son, It behooves us to pray that God
would visit this place, and this whole world for that matter,
with an outpouring of His gospel under the power of His Spirit
to bring sinners to Himself. But I can't promise you that
He will. He will in His time and when
it's time. God's never late, never, never
late. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the
womb of the morning. You have the due of your right
own, right own in majesty.