Pray with me, please. Gracious and merciful Father,
Lord, we pray that we might realize and see by the eye of faith,
by glorious person, as both God and man in one Christ. We pray,
Lord, that we would behold thee in this psalm, just as you are
so sweetly described, fairer than the children of men, we
would behold Your grace, not only poured into Thy blessed
lips, but continually dropping as the golden drops of the honeycomb
for Thy people. And then, on seeing these wondrous
things, we pray, Lord, that our souls would go out to You, go
out to You in the most fervent of desire, and then Jesus would
kiss us with the kisses of His mouth. We praise You, Lord, that
an almighty warrior You have brought our proud, stubborn,
and rebellious hearts to submit to Thy power. Have you not made
my stiff knee to bend before Thee? Do I not this day own Thee
for my sovereign, my King, and my Redeemer, my lawful Lord? Let it be, dear Lord, with all
of Your people, for that is Your work. And we praise You for it
in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Open your Bibles, if you close
them, please, to Psalm 45. We'll be looking at each verse
of Psalm 45 today. This psalm is a psalm of gospel
grace and truth in which the Redeemer of His church is celebrated
in prophecy as the husband and conqueror of His church. And
the church is also beautifully set forth as being married to
her Lord and adorned with His grace and His comeliness. But
the title of the psalm is the first thing which speaks to us
and demands our attention. It says that it's written to
the chief musician upon Shoshanim, for the sons of Korah, Maskil,
a song of loves. The last phrase of this title
says that it is a song of loves, and that's exactly what it is.
It's about the love of Christ to His church and about the church
for Him. The word shoshanim means roses
or lilies, which reminds us of what Christ said about Himself
in Song of Solomon 2 and verse 1 when He said, I am the rose
of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. So then in verse 1 of
Psalm 45, the psalmist begins by saying, My heart is indicting
a good matter. I speak of the things which I
have made touching the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. This person, this person who
is writing this psalm, is introducing himself and he tells us that
he is under a divine teaching. His heart is so full that is
ready to burst in His readiness to speak of a good matter. It
is a good matter that He is ready to speak, because only God is
good. And the psalmist is speaking
of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who is God, come
to save His people from their sin. The writer of Psalm 45,
as he feeds on Christ, is feeling like, Elihu, who said in Job
32, verse 9, as he began to speak of the things that God had taught
him, Behold, my belly is as wine which has no vent. It is ready
to burst like new bottles. The psalmist is ready to speak
to us of Christ, who is the chief good and who is good for us because
the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news to sinners. As the
angel said to the shepherds in Luke 2, verses 10 and 11, announcing
the birth of Christ, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you
is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord. And that is a good matter. Jesus Christ is good. And may we all see Him so that
we may desire Him. And so the heart of this psalmist
is full. It's full to running over with
the glory of Christ Jesus. And he is ready and anxious to
put into words the love of Christ for his people and their love
for Christ. And then to tell us about the
truth of Christ concerning his person and his work in the salvation
of sinners. So in verse 2, the psalmist begins
his description of Christ as though he's speaking to Christ,
speaking to Christ Himself. He says, Thou art fairer than
the children of men. Grace is poured out into thy
lips, and therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Nothing
can be more beautiful, I think, than this bold and abrupt way
of speaking. The prophet began with a strong
desire to speak of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords,
and about those things that God had put in his heart to say.
But just in the moment, it seems that he was about to speak these
things. It was as though the glorious person of Christ himself
appeared before him. And so he instantly begins to
look to Christ and speak of Christ, the glories of Christ. as though
he were standing in front of Christ and speaking to him as
he describes Christ to us. And what a marvelous description
it is. The psalmist first describes the glories and the beauties
and the astonishing loveliness of Christ's person. Although
to a carnal eye, there was no beauty to desire him, because
his visage was so marred, more than any man's, and his form
more than the sons of men. Yet to a truly enlightened eye,
Christ is the King of kings in his beauty, and he is fairer
still as the glorious mediator, the head and the bridegroom of
his church and people. Jesus Christ is more beautiful
than all of the children of men. We are born, but Jesus Christ
is the only begotten son of the eternal God. We are children
of the dust, but thou art the Lord from heaven, the psalmist
says. We are darkness, but Thou art light. We are empty, but
in Thee dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily." And in
the Father's view, Christ is so greatly beloved, so truly
glorious, that grace was poured out into His lips. Think about
that, the psalmist is saying. Grace is not only in Christ's
heart because of the holiness and the purity of His person,
but grace is poured out into his lips, so that like honey
it may drop down onto his people and be forever communicated to
all of his redeemed in an endless stream of very suitable blessings
here now and in glory hereafter. Well might the church therefore
cry out, as she does in Song of Solomon 1, verse 2, Let him
kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, For thy love is better
than wine." When in the kiss of God's love, which we see in
Christ, grace is communicated to His people. Then in the last
expression of Psalm 45, verse 2, the psalmist says to Christ,
God has blessed thee forever. And this is the most delightful
conclusion to this wonderful verse. Therefore, the psalmist
says, For this cause, as the glorious head and husband of
Thy Church, Jehovah has made Thee an everlasting source of
felicity, a source of joy and happiness to all Thy redeemed. Men shall be blessed in Me, for
there is no blessing, there is no blessing outside of Christ. All blessings are only blessings
as they are in Him, which fulfills the prophecy of Genesis 12.3
in which God said about Christ, And I will bless them that bless
Thee, and curse him that curse Thee. And in Thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed." And confirming the Word of God in
Psalm 72, verse 17, it says about Christ, His name shall endure
forever. His name shall be continued as
long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him blessed. Let me ask each of you, each
of you who are listening to me today, what does your experience
say to the precious account of the Lord Jesus? Are you blessed
in Him? Are you blessed as the psalmist
was blessed? Has the Lord Jehovah come to you and blessed your
soul? If so, then you can depend on
it. Those blessings have only come
to you in Christ, your beloved Savior. And everyone that is
blessed in Jesus finds cause to join the Apostle in that great
hymn of praise which we find in Ephesians 1, verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. The psalmist says to Jesus, grace
is poured out into thy lips. Grace is treasured up in Christ,
and so He is the fountain of all grace. In Colossians 2, verses
9 and 10, Paul said about Christ, For in Him dwell all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which
is the head of all principality and power. Outside of Christ,
there is no grace. And yet, it can also be said
of Him that grace is poured out from thy lips." That's what Paul
was describing in Hebrews 1, verses 1 and 2, when he said
that God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir
of all things, and by whom also He made all the worlds. God speaks
words of grace. He speaks words of grace to us
through Christ, and that grace falls on us like honey from the
honeycomb. When Christ, who is the Word
of God, opens His lips as our surety, as our prophet, as our
priest, and as our King, then grace is poured out into our
souls. Living and saving and abundant grace is poured out
into our souls. One word from Christ turned Saul
of Tarsus into an apostle. It turned a harlot into a repentant
believer. And it turned a publican into
a prince. Grace is poured out into thy
lips. Therefore, God has blessed thee forever. It's true that
God has blessed our Mediator as a reward for His love and
labor, and that Christ deserves His Father's blessing But the
great reason for Christ's beauty, the reason for His grace, the
reason for His salvation that He gives to us so freely, is
that He is blessed forever of the Father who put all things
in Him. In John 3, verse 35, it says
that the Father loved the Son and has given all things into
His hand. And Paul says again in 1 Corinthians
1.30, but of Him, but of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. What marvelous grace God has
poured down on us in Jesus Christ. So in verse 3 and 4 of Psalm
45, the psalmist says to Christ, gird thy sword upon thy thigh,
O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. and in thy majesty
ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness. And thy right hand shall teach
thee terrible things. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh."
That sword is God's Word. In Hebrews 4 verse 12 it says,
For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than
any two-edged sword. piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And
in Ephesians 6, verse 17, Paul says, and take the helmet of
salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of
God. It was by His Word that the worlds
were created, and it is by His Word that His creation is governed,
By His Word, sinners are slain and conquered. By His Word, His
enemies are defeated, almost mighty. With Thy glory and with
Thy majesty, Thou art God Almighty, and so You are able to do all
that You think or speak. You are able to make Your Word
of precept, Your Word of promise, and Your Word of condemnation
effectual. in all that you send your word
out to do. Lord, as your prophet said in
Isaiah 46, verses 10-11, you are able to declare the end from
the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all
my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
Yea, I have spoken it, and I will also bring it to pass. I have
purposed it, and I will also do it. But it is also true, dear
Lord, as Numbers 23 verse 19 says, God is not a man that he
should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent. Hath
he said, and shall he not do it? Or has he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? The holy war in which the Son
of God is engaged is a cause of truth and meekness and righteousness. And his gospel, his sword, will
turn our error into truth, our pride into meekness, and our
sinfulness into his righteousness. Are these not terrible things?
Is it not a terrible or an awesome thing that God, by His Word,
can regenerate a soul, can make sinners clean, can conquer His
foes, and can make loving friends out of His enemies? And in verse
5 of Psalm 45, the psalmist says to Christ, Thine arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall unto
thee. A prophet having represented
the Messiah as the Lord Jesus Christ in the glories and the
beauties of his person, he now proceeds to describe Christ as
a warrior and as a conqueror. Before Christ as the bridegroom
can possess his bride, his bride, the church, he must rescue her
from the captivity of Satan and from the dominion of sin. Christ's
church by nature and by practice is in the bonds of sin and Satan,
sin and Satan. And she is completely unwilling
to be brought out of either one. So the Lord Jesus must conquer
Satan, rescuing His church out of Satan's hands. And He must
even rescue her out of her own love of sin by making her willing
in the day of His power. You see, God's people, by nature,
are actually enemies of God. And so, in Christ, God creates
in them love and a willing heart. But our Lord doesn't use a blunt
sword. He doesn't use arrows that aren't
sharp. The Word of God is always effectual.
The Word of God is always powerful as He gives it strength. And
He can strike those who are near or far with equal success. The Lord aims for the heart of
His enemies, not just for their heads, but for their heart. so
that they are made to fall at His feet in worship and in adoring
love. In Romans 5, verse 10, Paul says,
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the
death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved
by His life. And in Ephesians 2, verse 16,
he says, And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And in Colossians 1.21
he says, And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled. The arrows
of God's judicial wrath are sharp, but the arrows of His subduing
grace are the sharpest of all. Because as Jesus said in John
6 verse 37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And in John
10, verse 16, he said, Another sheep I have which are not of
this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Let me ask you,
do you know these truths? Are you brought to a saving acquaintance
with them in your own experience? Behold then the Lord Jesus Christ
going forth to the holy war. girded with his sword on his
thigh as the mighty God of Jacob. The sword of our Almighty Conqueror
is his word, the scriptures of salvation, and the Apostle tells
the Church that God's word is quick and powerful and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit. We can only praise God that his
blessed word has been worked by him into the minds and the
consciences of sinners. like sharp arrows causing the
conversion of the worldly, bringing them out of their darkness and
into the glorious light of Jesus Christ. In the preaching of God's
Word, the doctrines of Christ and the cross of Christ have
been used by God like a two-edged sword to testify to sinners of
their need for a Savior, so that every sinner which God the Holy
Spirit has regenerated has been brought from the bitter enmity
of their hearts against God, which exists in all men by nature,
brought to the love of God in Christ, which is by God's grace."
Oh, that that would be true of all of us. And in verses 6 and
7 of Psalm 45, the psalmist says to Christ, Thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever. The scepter of Thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
Here we find that Christ has returned from the holy war, and
he has sat down on the seat of the conqueror. And so we have
God the Father speaking to his glorious mediator, this triumphant
king in Zion, and declaring the eternity and righteousness of
his kingdom. The psalmist is showing us in
this view of the Lord Jesus that what is being said about Him
and to Him is being said to Christ as a mediator, not as God only,
but as God in Christ. The prophet is showing us the
union of the manhood with the Godhead. As Christ Jesus Himself
said in Matthew 28, verse 18, all power is given unto Me in
heaven and in earth. I think it's of extreme importance
to preserve alive in our minds this view of Christ sitting on
His throne as our mediator. The joy, salvation, and the everlasting
welfare of the whole church of God depends on Christ being our
mediator. In Revelation 3, verse 21, Christ
says that to Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in
My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father
in His throne. The throne of Jehovah, who is
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the throne of the essential
Godhead, and there on that throne no one but God Himself, in His
threefold character of person, is able to sit. Nothing that
has been created can ever possibly ascend to sit there on that throne
of the Godhead. But there is another throne,
And this other throne is the mediatorial throne of Christ.
And this throne belongs to Jesus Christ as the God-man mediator. Jesus Christ, because he was
married with our nature, and thereby has brought that nature
into union with himself, brings his redeemed into a participation
in this throne of mediation. And so Christ says to him that
overcometh, that is, to everyone who is given to me by the Father,
to everyone who is truly regenerated by the Holy Ghost, to everyone
that I have betrothed to myself and have redeemed by my blood
and righteousness, having thus overcome sin and Satan, he shall
sit with me on my mediatorial throne, even as I also overcame
and am set down with my Father in His throne of the Godhead.
If it wasn't for Christ being our mediator, we all would have
remained in our helpless states for all eternity. Everyone who
has been born again in Christ, and whose heart has been convicted
of the sinfulness of his sin against God, knows that without
Christ as his Mediator, he never would have come and found acceptance
with God. Our eternal salvation and happiness
depends on Christ. It depends on Christ being our
Mediator, because without Christ there is no salvation. Jesus
said to Thomas in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. That's a very quick explanation
that I've just given you of this mediatorial throne of Christ.
We're going to look at it more sometime. But I pray that you
can see the importance of Christ as our mediator and of this mediatorial
throne. And now notice what a marvelous
confirmation of this blessed truth of Christ is our mediator
that we have, and what follows in the next verse. In verse 7
of Psalm 45, the psalmist says to Christ, who is our mediator,
Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore
God, thy God, has anointed thee with an oil of gladness above
thy fellows. It is Jesus Christ, who loves
righteousness and hates iniquity. It is Jesus Christ who has been
anointed by God with all of the oil of gladness above His fellows.
And so the Holy Spirit, which is given not by measure undoing,
has poured out on Him from above for His fellows, so that He might
be the firstborn among many brethren, and in all things He might have
the preeminence. And so God came as a man to save
His people. What blessed scriptures these
are, and how sweetly they illustrate and explain each other. It is
in this light, as one who loves righteousness and hates wickedness,
that we see Christ as the mediator between ourselves and God. It
is God from whom this anointing of Christ came, and it is God
who has set Christ as the King in Zion, and as a priest upon
His throne, and as the prophet of His people. As John 3 verse
34 says about Christ, For he whom God hath sent speaketh the
words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. And in Psalm 133 verse 2 it says
about the Spirit, It is like the precious ointment upon the
head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went
down to the skirts of his garments. And in Romans 8 verse 29 it says,
For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. And as Colossians 1 verse 18
says about Christ, He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
He might have preeminence. And in Zechariah 6, verse 13,
it says about Christ, Even he shall build the temple of the
Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his
throne, and he shall be a priest or a mediator upon his throne,
and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And in
verse 8 of Psalm 45, the prophet says to Christ, All thy garments
smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of ivory palaces,
whereby they have made thee glad. These garments that smell so
sweetly are Christ's offices. They're his honors and his righteousness.
Jesus Christ is clothed with righteousness, honor, and majesty.
And his garments don't smell of blood and battle, but they
smell of a sweet perfume. In them that are saved, they
smell of a sweet perfume. But that holy odor is very offensive
to those who perish. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians
2 verses 14-16, Now thanks be unto God, which always causes
us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the Savior, or
the sweet smell of His knowledge by us in every place. For we
are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved,
and in them that perish, To the one we are the savior of death
unto death, and to the other the savior of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things? What a beautiful description
the psalmist has given us here. Of the glories of Christ's person
in his garments of salvation, and of the loveliness both of
his church as one collected body united to their glorious head,
and of every individual which makes up the one Church of Jesus,
both of Jew and Gentile. Because in Christ, they are regenerated
and they are made to put on Christ's wisdom, Christ's righteousness,
Christ's sanctification, and Christ's redemption. Then in
verses 9 to 12 of Psalm 45, we are told about Christ's Church
that King's daughters were among thy honorable women, Upon thy
right hand did stand the Queen in gold of ophir. Hearken, O
daughter, and consider and incline thine ear. Forget also thine
own people and thy father's house. Forget thy father's house. So
shall the King greatly desire thy beauty, for He is thy Lord,
and worship thou Him. So shall the King greatly desire
thy beauty, for He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him. and the
daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. Even the rich among
the people shall inherit thy favor." He's talking about the
Church of God. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ shares Christ's honor and Christ's happiness. It's
in Jesus Christ who sets her in the place of dignity upon
His right hand. And He clothes her with the best,
the most priceless, and the most beautiful. Though some of those
in God's church may be paupers or princesses, yet they are all
as His bride at His right hand. They forget also their own people
and their father's house, and they don't look back to Sodom
or Jerusalem because He is their Lord and they worship Him. Her
beauty, the church's beauty, is Christ's comeliness. In Ezekiel
6, 16 verses 11 to 14, God says to His church, I deck thee also
with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on
thy neck, and I put a jewel in thy forehead, and earrings in
thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou
decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen,
and silk, and brooded work. Thou didst eat fine flour, and
honey, and oil. And thou wast exceeding beautiful,
and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
them, heathen, for thy beauty. For it was perfect through my
comeliness, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord God." This
is a tender, comforting address to the Church of God, who is
the Lamb's wife. And if we suppose God our Father
is speaking to the whole body of believers concerning their
union with His Son as our gracious Husband and as our Redeemer,
then He gives us a sweetness and a strength to all that is
said and makes it enduring in a way that we can't begin to
express. Just imagine how fit, just imagine
how reasonable it is that if God our Father has given us His
dear Son, If Jesus Christ has purchased us by His blood, if
by the conquest of His Holy Spirit God has subdued the natural hatred
of our hearts and has brought us over to a voluntary surrender
of ourselves to God and Savior, surrendering forever, then we
are made to forget everything, everything which would thwart
His gracious purpose in us. The result is that we would completely
delight ourselves in Jesus, just as Jesus delights in His people. In Zephaniah 3, verse 17, the
prophet says that the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty
and He will save. He will rejoice over thee with
joy and He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing.
And isn't that what every believer and all of God's church does
over Christ? They rejoice They rejoice in Christ. This
would be true of all of us. That we all might rejoice over
Christ Jesus our Savior with joy. That we might rest in His
love and express our joy over Christ to God with singing. Then
in verse 12 of Psalm 45, the psalmist says, And the daughter
of Tyre shall be there with a gift even the rich among the people
shall inherit thy favor." This to us should be a very precious
verse because it's talking about the Gentile portion of God's
church. A church of Tyre should be a
Gentile, not a Jew. A daughter of Tyre should be
a Gentile, not a Jew. God has His people in every tribe,
in every nation. And surely we, who are the Gentile
portion of God's church, can never stop praising God because
the love and the care that He gives to us is as full and as
complete as is described by this Jewish psalmist for Jews. Clearly, all of God's people
are one people in Christ, and God is no discriminator among
His people. In Isaiah 49, verse 6, God said,
It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise
up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel.
I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest
be my salvation unto the end of the earth. And in Revelation
21, verse 24, John said about the city of God, And the nations
of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and
the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
And in verses 13 to 15 of Psalm 45, he's still talking about
God's church when he says that the king's daughter is all glorious
within her. Her clothing is of wrought gold.
She shall be brought into the king in raiment of needlework.
The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be brought
unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall
they be brought. they shall enter into the king's
palace. The bride's new name is the king's
daughter, because she is born of God and she is espoused to
the Son of God. The king's daughter is all glorious
within her, and her clothing is made of gold. But whether
the church is called the spouse of Christ, or called the daughter
of Christ, or called the sister of Christ, it doesn't really
matter. because each of these names describe
the church's loving relationship to Christ. Each name shows us
in a way that we should be able to understand Jesus' love to
His redeemed as a wife, as a daughter, and as a sister. But under every
relationship to Christ that's named, the love of God for their
person is the same because they are each wearing the same apparel.
They all have the righteousness of Christ. And so they are all
glorious within, even though on the outside they may appear
to be different as a spouse, a daughter, or a sister. But
it's the hidden man of the heart. It's that which is spiritual
and which is altogether of Christ's grace that makes us acceptable
to God in Christ. So all of the church of God,
both Jew and Gentile, says, as the prophet said in Isaiah 61,
verse 10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God, for He has clothed me with garments of salvation.
He has covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
dexters himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels." In verses 14 and 15, it says about God's church
that she shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework,
The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be brought
unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing,
she will be brought. They shall enter into the king's
palace." I'm struck by the fact that she is brought unto the
king. She's brought unto the king.
She doesn't come on her own. No, before she comes, she must
be convinced, she must be converted, and she must be made willing
to come. Jesus said in John 6, verse 44, that no one can come
to Christ except the Father who has sent Him draw Him. And when
she's brought to Jesus, the wedding garment that she has is of the
King's providing. And although she is originally
hostile to all grace, yet now being subdued by His love, there
is a holy jubilee in her soul. It's with a joy unspeakable and
full of glory that she comes to Christ. For those of you who
have known this unspeakable joy of coming to Christ, I wonder
if you have thought about the fact that if the joy of coming
to Christ is so wonderful when you were first brought to Jesus
in the day of your conversion, then what is it going to be like
in the day that you are brought home to His kingdom forever? Oh, how the realm of heaven will
resound with hallelujahs when the whole of God's Church of
the Redeemed accompanied with angels and archangels, shall
sing aloud that song of praise, salvation to God and to the land. Then in verses 16 and 17 of Psalm
45, the psalmist says that instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,
whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. I will make
them thy name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore
shall the people praise thee forever and ever. The ancient
fathers, such as Moses and Abraham and Isaac, are all gone ahead
of us, but their children and grandchildren are made kings
and priests, and the name of Christ is remembered and exalted
and magnified in all generations and among all nations. Therefore
shall the people praise thee forever. So let him be crowned
with majesty who bowed his head in death, and let God's honors
be sounded forth by all things that have breath. in verses 16
of Psalm 45, the psalmist says it this way. He says, Instead
of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes
in all the earth. Have you ever thought what a
multitude of souls there are who are born of Christ? They
will all appear in that day. It seems to me that there will
be so many that even the Redeemer Himself may be astonished at
their number." Astonished as He seemed to be at the centurion's
faith in that day of His flesh. In Matthew 8, verse 10, when
Jesus heard the faithful words of the centurion, it says, He
marveled and He said unto them that followed, Verily I say unto
you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Let me ask you, Will you be in
that group which is there with Christ singing the praises of
God when the last of the saints of God are finally all gathered
together at the foot of Christ's throne? I pray that you will
be there. And I pray that we'll all be
there for eternity singing God's praises. In verse 17 of Psalm
45, the psalmist makes this pledge. And I wonder if we can all make
this same pledge together. The psalmist says to God, I will
make Thy name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore
shall the people praise Thee forever and ever." And the psalmist
is talking about His Lord Jesus Christ. May God enable us and
may He be glorified in the salvation of His people. As it might well
be expected that praising God and the celebration of such glories
in Christ's person such as the triumph in His holy war and the
love that we have in His holy union of His people to Himself,
might well be that they are ended by the psalmist in declaring
that the name of this glorious King, this almighty, gracious
Husband, this blessed Redeemer of our poor, ruined nature from
sin, Satan, death, and hell, and the grave, It might well
be that it will be sung by His church and celebrated among men
as long as the sun and the moon endure from one age to another. And when time shall be no more,
the endless subject shall be continued through all the ages
of eternity, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It is my prayer for
us all that we would leave this place of worship today that God
might enable us to leave looking to Christ and seeking the continued
influences of the Holy Ghost to keep us in an unceasing remembrance
of what is said in this psalm concerning the person and the
kindness of the Lord God our Savior. Remember that this psalm
is a song of loves, and when we remember Christ's love and
the loveliness and the beauty of His person as He is in Himself,
And as we remember that love that He has revealed to us and
to our fallen nature, oh, how shall we better testify to our
sense of that love than by perpetually remembering Him? Dear Lord, I
pray, Lord, that You might take our souls, that You may take
our bodies and our minds and our spirits, which are all Yours
by gift and by purchase, by conquest and by grace. and by a voluntary
surrender that we have made. May they be wholly thine forever,
and in constant enjoyment of your presence now by faith. O
dear Father, prepare us for the everlasting enjoyment of your
presence in sight, where among the whole church of your redeemed,
the praises of our almighty King Mediator will call up our intellectual
powers in endless joy, And the glory of God and the Lamb will
be the church's song forevermore. Amen.