Let's turn to Psalm 110. I titled this message, The King-Priest. The King-Priest. We have in this psalm Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, a revelation given to David, and David wrote
in this psalm about the king priest. No one held these offices
at the same time except the Lord Jesus Christ, and that mysterious
person, Melchizedek, who I believe was a pre-incarnation of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I just have no doubt that's who
that person was. We have in Christ All that we
need. He is our prophet to teach us
of God. No man knows a father save the
son and he to whom the son will reveal him. The priest, the high
priest, if anyone's going to come before God, he better have
a priest. Sacrifice and a priest. And king. King, prophet, priest, and king.
Now he says here, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my
right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Now there's no doubt when you
look at this psalm, it says the Psalm of David. There's no doubt
as to who wrote this psalm. Because our Lord quoted from
it over in Matthew 22. Look over here in Matthew 22.
So there is no doubt as to the authorship true authorship of
this psalm. Matthew chapter 22. Look in verse 41. It says, While the Pharisees were
gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of
Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto
him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, The Lord saith
unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine
enemies thy footstool. So there's no doubt David is
the writer of this psalm. And what he knew, what he knew,
the old patriarch David knew a lot more than what we think.
Abraham knew a lot more than what we realized. He said, Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. When
I read this psalm yesterday and today, I thought, my, the knowledge
that David was given by the Holy Spirit. He said he speak in spirit,
that is by the Holy Spirit. He was given a real understanding
here of the Messiah and of the work of the Messiah, of his kingship. And yet he's the priest also.
David understood that. And he says here, the Lord said
unto my Lord in spirit, He heard the Father speak to the Son in
that covenant of grace. And he said to him, sit at my
right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. David
recognized that this second person of the Trinity was the Messiah. This is the Messiah. This is
the king priest. This is God incarnate who's going
to be the Messiah. David owns him as his Lord. You know, he doesn't say, the
Lord said unto my son, my heir. He doesn't say that, does he?
David says, the Lord said unto my Lord, my Lord. He recognized him as his sovereign. The Messiah is my Lord. The priest, the high priest is
my Lord. He says he recognized him as
his king. He's my Lord. And in spirit,
By the Holy Spirit, he heard the Father say to his Lord, sit
thou at my right hand. He saw and understood the finished
work of the Messiah. This work is done. Even when
David spoke of it, it was as good as done. Sit thou at my
right hand. It's finished, that's what he's
saying, it's finished. Christ has ascended back to His
Father, and He's taken His rightful place at the right hand of God. The Messiah has gone back, and
He's taken His rightful place at God's right hand. No other
priest was ever allowed to sit down, because there was no finality
to their work. They had to do it again tomorrow,
and tomorrow, and tomorrow. There was no finality to it.
But Christ, this king priest, my Lord, is told to sit down
at the right hand of power and authority and honor because he
has finished the work of redemption. He has finished that work that
was given to him to do. The grief and the sorrow is over. It's over. The bearing of sin,
our sins, the sins of His elect, it's over. The wrath of God is
passed. Justice is satisfied. And now
the Lord Jehovah, the Father, says to him, sit thou at my right
hand. He not only has the right to
sit there because of who He is, Son of God, But because he earned
the right to sit there by his obedience. He obeyed God's law
perfectly. That's hard to conceive. We've
never known anything perfectly. We've never done anything. We
don't know what that word really means. But he did it perfectly. He not only has the right to
sit there because he's his son, but he earned the right to sit
there. by His obedience. How long is He going to sit there?
Sit down at my right hand. Listen, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool, Christ has many enemies, many, but none shall
destroy His work of redemption, nor cast Him down from His throne. None will ever cast Him down
from His throne. God the Father says to our representatives,
to our Lord, to our High Priest, I will make thy enemies a footstool."
You know what a footstool is good for? To put your feet on. That's what a footstool is all
about. It's to rest your feet on. That's what a footstool is.
And He says, you sit at My right hand until I make your enemies
your footstool and you can rest your feet on them. And He will
rest His feet on them even while He's ruling over them. The scene
here is this. It is quiet repose. When He was here, He carried
our sorrows and our sicknesses. He bore them and He was afflicted. He was despised. But not now. It's quiet. Quiet repose. away from the filth
and the tumult of men and Satan. Our Lord sits, now listen, our
Lord sits undisturbed. Undisturbed, that's how He sits. Just like when He was in that
boat asleep when the storm was raging and He was back there
in the boat asleep. That's how He sits, in that quiet
repose, undisturbed by the tumult of His enemies. He's already
got the victory. Just a lot of people don't know
it yet. But He's already got the victory. And I know this. We ought to rest as He rests. We ought to rest as our Lord
rests, as our High Priest rests. The Scripture says this, as He
is, so are we in this world. And I thought of this today.
Is He safe? So are we. Is He at God's right
hand right now? Is He there? So are we. That's real. That's real. Is He accepted? So are we. We are accepted in the Beloved. Is He waiting till His enemy
be made His footstool? So should we. So should we. We have no reason to be alarmed,
no more than he does. No more than he does. All is
well in him who is our life. All is well. All things, even
now, at this very moment, is being subdued under his feet.
As every day passes by, God the Father is bringing and subduing
everything underneath the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
bringing everything under subjection to him. Now it says here in verse
2, the Lord said, the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength
out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. The rod of thy strength is the gospel. It's the gospel
of Christ crucified. The one who shall send it out
is the Lord. He says here, the Lord shall
send it out. And he shall send it out of Zion,
out of his church. The rod of God's strength will
go out of his church. He'll send it out. And he shall
send it, listen, in the midst of thy enemies. Right in the
midst of thy enemies. The Gospel is said in the Scriptures
to be the power of God unto salvation. And when the gospel comes in
power, even the most obstinate sinner cannot resist it. Look
at Saul of Tarsus. This man hated God. He hated
Christ. He hated the gospel more than
anyone that ever walked on this earth. And God broke him down
like that. When it comes in power now, when
it comes in power, it's irresistible. And it is sent out of Zion, the
first church. was established right in Jerusalem. Right there in Jerusalem. Jerusalem
was called Zion. Right in Jerusalem. That's where
the first church was established. And the gospel went out from
there. And the church, as we know, is called Zion. And the
Lord sends the gospel out of His church throughout the whole
world. Throughout the whole world. He said, Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel. That's the commission of the
church. You do this. And then he said to him, rule
thou in the midst of thine enemies. At one time, we were all enemies
in our minds by wicked works. That's what the scriptures teach
us. But when the gospel came in power, we were subdued by
his spirit and his grace. Rule thou in the midst of thy
enemies. He now rules, listen, in our hearts. He now rules in
the heart of those who were once His enemies. I was once an enemy
of the gospel. You were once an enemy of the
gospel. But now Christ rules in the heart. Rule thou in the
midst of thine enemies. But also this, He rules now in
the midst of His enemies. The Jews said, We will not have
this man reign over us. You want that? I don't think you have anything
to say about that. This man This king priest is reigning right
now in the midst of everyone that hates him. He's ruling,
and they don't even realize it. They don't even realize it, don't
know it, but he's ruling. He reigns now over all. They
thought they had gotten rid of him when they crucified him,
but not so. Not so. Right now, he rules in
the midst of his enemies. And thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power." Not all are going to remain enemies.
Aren't you glad that He broke you down and made you willing? That you laid down your shotgun,
reconciled you? Notice here first, this King
Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, has a people. He has a people
whom He has redeemed by His blood. They were given to Him in that
covenant of grace by His Father. He's their representative. He's
their surety. He's their mediator. He's their
all-in-all. He's our all-in-all. He's everything
to us. And they and they only shall be made willing. And they shall be made willing.
That's right. Although they were enemies, They
are made willing, it says, listen, in the day of His power. Not the day I decided for Him.
In the day He broke me. In the day He came, He sent the
gospel in power. He penetrated the heart. That's
when. This is one of the evidence that
the gospel has come to a person or a people is this, their willingness. You know, it says, thy people
shall be willing And another translation is that they are
willingness. That's what it means. They are
willingness. Willing to be saved by His grace. Are you willing to be saved by
His grace? That's the only way it can be. If God's taught you
anything, you know that's the only way it can be. Willing to
bow to His Lordship. I'm not my own. I'm glad I'm
not my own. And you're not your own. Bow
to His Lordship. willing to have his righteousness
and not mine. I don't have any. Willing to
be cleansed by his blood, willing to be saved God's way, which
is Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. You will not have to drag a person
down an aisle. And I've watched this happen
in years gone by. You'll not have to drag a person
down an aisle, or you'll not have to talk them into being
baptized if God makes them willing. If God makes Him willing, just
get out of the way. Really, that's all we can do,
just move out of the way. They'll follow Him. My sheep
hear my voice, and they follow me. When does that happen? In the day of His power. You know what that other word
means, power? In the day of His armies. You
can't stand against that. Oh, you can't stand against God. His grace, His mercy, His gospel,
all mine. When He, by His power, creates
in you a new heart and gives you a new spirit, I promise you,
you'll be willing. That's evidence of that new heart,
is that willingness to bow to Christ and be saved by Him. And
how is it done? in the beauties of holiness.
There's no sin in it. There's no sin in the way God
saves sinners. This willing people, listen,
they're not only a willing people, they are a holy people. It says
in 1 Peter 2, they are a peculiar people and a holy nation. Holy. Made holy in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not just looked upon as holy,
Not just looked upon as holy, but made the very righteousness
of God in Christ. Not just looked at that way,
I mean, we are that way. We are that way in Christ. And
he says here, from the womb of the morning, when shall these
people be willing, and when shall these people become holy? As
soon as they hear the gospel in power. As soon as they hear
the gospel in power, they shall be born from the womb of the
morning, and they shall be made holy at that same time. Thou hast, he said here, the
dew of thy youth. And I read a lot of different
commentaries on this. But I like what Spurgeon said,
Christ who has redeemed us shall never grow old. Our Redeemer,
He died 2,000 years ago on a cross, buried, rose again, seated at
God's right hand. He has the dew of His youth. He's always fresh. You ever go
out in the morning, dew on the ground, It just looks so fresh
and sparkling when the sun comes up and hits the dew. It sparkles
and it's bright. Always fresh. Always strong. Always strong. The dew of youth
is always upon His brow. It doesn't grow old like we are. That has no effect on Him. Oh,
this is our Redeemer. This is our King. The Lord has
sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Christ is not only our King,
but also our High Priest. God has made Him our Priest.
We have a High Priest set up by Jehovah Himself. I tell you,
that's That's good news. That's good news. And this high
priest is none other than the Son of God Himself. None other
than Him. He is both God and man. He's
the God-man. As God, He is able to save unto
the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. And as a priest,
He's able to make intercession for them. He ever liveth, it
says, to make intercession for them. Now it says here that God,
that the Lord has sworn it cannot change. He says here, he has
sworn and will not repent. What's he saying here? He will
not change this one. He changed the Aaron and that
priesthood. Because they were just types,
but this one will not change. It will not change. He was made
a priest forever. And there will be no change in
his priesthood like there was in Aaron's. Aaron changed because,
well, he died. He died. But this high priest,
it says he has an endless life. He has an endless life. And it
says here he's made after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek
was a mysterious person. You can find that back over in
Genesis 14. Verse 18. He had no genealogy. He had no
pedigree. He just came on the scene and
then left. They couldn't trace him. They couldn't trace him
at all. And when he came, he blessed
Abraham. And you know what he brought? He didn't bring a sacrifice. Because Christ is a sacrifice.
He's the sacrifice. He brought bread and wine. That's
what he brought. All of the other priests, Aaron
and all the others, they brought these animals, these blood sacrifices.
But Melchizedek, he brought bread and wine because he's the sacrifice. He's the sacrifice. He's called
the bread of heaven. The bread that comes down from
heaven. And when he had the Lord's table, he had what? Bread and
wine. That's what he had. And Melchizedek
is said to be King of righteousness and King of peace and priest
of the Most High God. Well, this is a description of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This describes Him. He's the
King of righteousness. He's the one who established
an everlasting righteousness. He's the King of peace. He's
the one who is our peace with God. We have peace with God,
how? Through the blood. of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have peace with God. And He
is Priest of the Most High God. And His offering is Himself. He offered His body up as a sacrifice
for our sins. And His blood is the atonement
for our sins. Aaron could not Aaron could not
offer up himself. It wouldn't help. He wasn't any
better than the goats and the bulls he was offering. He wouldn't
have done anything. He was a sinful man. That's all
he was, just a mere sinful man. But this one, this high priest
is God. God was offered up to God. You go figure it out. I'm not
even going to try to slice and dice that one. But that's who
he is. He offered himself up to God.
And he was accepted. That's why he said, sit down,
sit down at my right hand. And the Lord, he says here in
verse 5, the Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings
in the day of his wrath. The first time he came, he came as a lamb, a quiet meek,
lowly Lamb. He said His voice will not be
heard in the street. He was a quiet Lamb. But the
next time He comes, and I have no doubt it will be soon, it's
going to be with omnipotent power and glory. That's what we are
going to see. That's what His enemies are going
to see. They're going to see one who has all power and all
authority wrapped up in His hand. And here's what He's going to
do when He comes. He shall strike through kings. He will go through them. He will
go through the most powerful men on earth. The most powerful
men that we could think on this earth. He's going to go through
them with such ease and swiftness that they won't even be able
to They won't even know what hit them. It will be with such
ease and swiftness. They're going to deal with the
wrath of the Lamb. He will destroy all powers that
resist Him. That's what He's going to do.
It says there, in the day of His wrath. The Scripture says
today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. But this day, like all other
days, has an end to it. It has an end to it. And then
he will execute judgment. Judgment. He will show no respect
to persons, whether it be a king or a pauper. He'll show no respect. The day of his wrath. Scripture
speaks much about that. He shall judge, it says here,
among the heathens. All nations shall know the power
of the Lamb. They shall know the power of
this King-Priest. The once despised Jesus, that
Jesus of Nazarene, the one they said, can anything good come
out of there? He shall be seen and recognized as the reigning
monarch over all nations. That's real. That's real. He shall rule, it says here,
among the heathens, among the Gentiles. And you know, and now,
even now, He reigns among Gentiles by His grace. He's doing it here. He's doing it in Lexington, Pikeville,
and other places. You can go name different places.
He reigns now. He's not born to reign. He's
reigning now. He reigns now in the church and now among the
Gentiles when the Scripture speaks of when the Gentiles be brought
in. And he shall fill the place here, it says, he shall fill
the place with the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over
many countries. How great, how great shall be
the victory of our King Christ. How great shall that victory
be? No power of any country, and
we talk about the United States being the greatest power on earth,
it's nothing to Him. It's nothing to Him. No power
of any country can resist Him when He comes. Satan, the God
of this fallen world, will be crushed, destroyed. And He shall drink, and I'll
close, He shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall
he lift up the hill." We know this. We know that on his way
to victory and the final end of all things that he had to
drink of the wrath of God for our sins. He had to taste death
for every one of his elect. He had to drink of that. along
the way. And after doing that, he rose
victorious. But here's another thought on
that. I think this also shows his determination
to finish his work. He did not stop and rest here.
He didn't stop and just take his time. But he took a drink
at the brook, which shows his humanity. But he took a drink
of the brook and he moved forward to the end. He didn't stop. It's
like Gideon's army, you know, they just lapped it up and they
were ready to go fight. He just takes a little drink
of refreshment and moves on. I think it's also applicable. And the end result here is this.
Here's the end result of the work of our king's priest. David knew a lot, didn't he?
There's seven verses there, but I'm telling you, you know seven
verses is my soul. There's a lot there. The end
result. Therefore shall he lift up the
head. He shall lift up the head in
victory. His conquest is a glorious conquest. And he shall reign forever and
ever. Someday. Someday. the kingdom of God. Now that
doesn't look like it's that far off. Someday the kingdom of God
will be totally, completely established and all things that offend and
all these enemies that were against Him will be gone. It will be
gone. And His kingdom of righteousness
and His kingdom of grace will be the only kingdom remaining. Now that's the victory of our
King Priest. That's his victory. All right,
Mike.