No, I got those with me. Would you turn to Psalm 72. Now, this I believe David has
written. Some people say that Solomon
wrote it, but look at verse 20, the prayers of David, the son
of Jesse are ended. And it sounds to me like David
wrote this and he's writing it concerning his son, Solomon. But as we read this passage of
scripture, we're going to see that this is with regard to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Give the king thy judgments,
O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall
judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The mountain shall bring peace
to the people and the little hills by righteousness. He shall
judge the poor of the people He shall save the children of
the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall
fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all
generations. He shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his
days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long
as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from
sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They
that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his
enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of
the Isles shall bring presents, The kings of Sheba and Seba shall
offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down
before him. All nations shall serve him.
For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth. The poor also
and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy
and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their
soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood
be in his sight. He and he shall live. And to him shall be given the
gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made for
him continually, and daily shall he be praised. There shall be
a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains.
The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the
city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 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. Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things, and blessed
be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled
with his glory. Amen and amen. The prayers of David, the son
of Jesse, are ended. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are for the beauty and the glory
of thy son and his salvation for the poor and needy. Lord,
I ask in Christ's name that you would make each of us, even now,
poor and needy. That's beyond the strength or
energy of this flesh. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
In his name we pray, amen. When David says the prayers of
David the son of Jesse are ended, he writes a whole lot more Psalms
after this. Some say that this refers to
this particular portion of the Psalms. I don't know whether
it does or not. I think that David is saying
as much as anything else, look at verse 19 and blessed be his
glorious name forever and let the whole earth be filled with
his glory. Amen. And amen. What can be said
beyond that? How can we go further than this?
Amen, and amen. The prayers of the son of Jesse
are ended. I can't take it any further than
this. And I think that this Psalm could
well be said to be such a glorious Psalm. If you and I can enter
into this, what else is there? Now he begins, verse one, give
the king Thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the
king's son. Now, David could have been speaking
of Solomon, his son, but I have no doubt that this refers to
the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't miss that from reading
this psalm. And I love the way the gospel
is about judgments and righteousness. Yes, it's about love and mercy
and grace. But first, it's about judgments,
the judgment of the cross. And this is the security of our
salvation. It's based upon the judgment
of God. He judged my sins in Christ,
put them away, gave me Christ's righteousness. It's about judgment
and righteousness. And I love Romans 1 16 and 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek for therein
in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed. He says in verse two, he shall
judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. Now,
the first thing I would notice, he talks about thy people, thy
people. Thou shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. And how does
he describe his people? Thy poor. Thy poor. Oh, I want to never leave being
a poor and needy sinner. And this comes up over and over
in this particular song. Poor and needy. It's it's such
a blessed thing to be poor, to have nothing, because it's so
easy to trust Christ for everything when you have nothing. Now, when
you have something, you're not trusting him for everything.
poor and great needs. He says in verse three, the mountains
shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness. Now that peace comes from what?
Righteousness. The only way that I have peace
is if I have the righteousness of Christ as my personal righteousness. There's no holes in his righteousness.
And what peace we experience, the joy and peace of believing. I've got his righteousness. You
know what? I have peace. I have peace. Verse four, he
shall judge the poor of the people and shall save the children of
the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. Here we
once again have the poor and needy. He shall judge them. Now that doesn't mean condemn
them. That means justify them. My salvation is God's strict
judgment and justice through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is so glorious. My salvation is just. It's righteous. He shall judge the poor of the
people. He shall save the children of
the needy. When he judges, he saves and
he shall break in pieces, the oppressor, anything that's opposed
to his children. Verse five, they, his children
shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout
all generations. Now this is not the fear of unbelief.
We all know something of that. You're afraid of what's going
to take place. That's not the fear he's speaking of. He's speaking
of that fear of God. That's the beginning of wisdom. And I love saying this. I say
it often. I want to continue to say it
often. Here's what the fear of God is. You're afraid. from the
awe and respect and reverence of his person, you're afraid
to look anywhere but Christ alone all the time. That's a good place
to be, isn't it? And that is the fear of God that
is clean, enduring forever. That's what the psalmist called
it in Psalm 19. The fear of God is clean, enduring
forever. Verse six, he shall come down
like rain upon the mown grass as showers that water the earth. I love the series Planet Earth,
the BBC series. I'm kind of bummed that it's
not on the way it used to be. It used to be on every Saturday
all day long and I would just, that's why I'd go to bed watching
that. But I love it when they show a desert. And when the rain
comes down, all of a sudden there's all kinds of beautiful flowers
and vegetation. It was dry and barren, but when
that rain comes down, look what comes about. The fruit that comes
as a result of that rain. He shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. With the rain of his grace, Every
believer has the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. This is not
something for the advanced believer or the more mature believer.
Every believer has love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Every believer has the fruit
of the Spirit. And remember, it's the fruit of the Spirit.
It's not the fruit of something that comes from you, it's the
fruit of the Spirit that comes from His rain coming down and
bringing forth this beauty upon the desert. Verse seven, in His
days, which is every day, amen, in His days, shall the righteous
flourish and abundance of peace as long as the moon endureth. Now, in His days, the righteous
flourish. I might not feel like I'm flourishing
all the time, but I'm flourishing all the time. You know why? Because I'm in Him. And this
thing of faith is powerful. It's operative. It's in place
all the time. Sometimes you're more aware of
it. As a matter of fact, I'm afraid that we're not aware of
it near as much as we ought to be. I know that so. But I know
this. In his days, that's the point,
in his days, as long as he lives, I flourish. How long is that
going to be? Eternally. Can he die? No. I
can't cease flourishing then. In his days, shall the righteous
flourish. Now take that by faith. That's
a promise. In his days, shall the righteous
flourish and abundance of peace. As long as the moon endured,
this is an eternal peace. Why? Because he is our peace. That's why having made peace
through the blood of his cross, it's an eternal peace. Verse
eight. He shall have dominion also from
sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Now
this is talking about his absolute sovereignty. And let me say this
as simply as I know how. That means his will is always
done. That's what sovereignty means.
His will is always done all of the time. That is his sovereignty. Now, somebody may think, well,
why did he teach us to pray, thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven? That seems to be incongruent
with that. Well, you can never look at sin
and say, if you sin, well, that was God's will. Can't do that.
You can't blame God. Well, I sinned, but God could
have kept me from it. Therefore, it's his fault. No,
we never look at sin in that sense. If I sin, I can't blame
God. It's all my fault. It's his will.
for us to be perfect as He is perfect. Scripture teaches that.
But it's also true, just as true, that His will is always done. Now somebody says, bring those
two together. Well, they're just together. I don't know how else
to say it. God is sovereign in creation. spake the world into existence
by an act of his will. He's sovereign in providence.
Everything that happened this morning is his will being done.
Everything that'll happen after this second is his will being
done. He said, there's not a bird that falls to the ground without
your heavenly father. And it doesn't say without your
heavenly father knowing it, it says without him, everything
that happens, the most insignificant event, it's him. Oh, his will
is done in salvation. If you're saved, it's because
he willed your salvation. That's why you can't give your
will any of the credit. And every believer knows that.
He, his dominion also, he shall have dominion from sea to sea
and from the river under the ends of the earth. That's complete,
absolute sovereignty. Verse nine. They that dwell in
the wilderness shall bow before him. Now, that's his people.
We dwell in the wilderness, don't we? The wilderness of this world.
And you know what we do? We bow. You see, Psalm 110.3
says, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. We willingly
bow to him. And his enemies, and he has enemies,
they're gonna lick the dust at his feet. No enemy of the living
God will ever prosper. Verse 10, the kings of Tarshish
and of the Isles shall bring presents and the kings of Sheba
and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down
before him. All nations shall serve him.
Now this speaks of his sovereignty over the nations and over the
kings and rulers of the earth. Don't you love this? There is
no ruler anywhere that's not under his thumb, him controlling
them. There's no insect anywhere. There's no amoeba anywhere that's
not under his sovereign control. And that's why we have no reason to worry. He rules,
he reigns, and every king, every president, every pauper is under
his absolute control. Verse 12, four, he shall deliver
the needy. When he crieth, the poor also
and him that hath no helper. Who does he deliver? The poor. Now, if you're poor, that means
you don't have anything to bring to the table. You don't have
anything that comes from you that God could accept. Are you
poor? Needy. Great needs. No helper. If he doesn't help
me, I won't be helped because I have no helper. When does he
deliver the poor and the needy and them that have no helper?
Don't miss this. When they cry, when they cry, Lord help me. Lord have mercy on me. This is
a personal cry to him. When they cry, he delivers the
poor and the needy and then that have no helper. My dear friend,
the only reason we cry is because he put it in our heart, but we
cry. We cry. Verse 13, he shall spare the
poor. and needy. Look how often this
is repeated in this psalm. The poor and the needy. You know
what I fear for myself and I fear for you more than anything else? That we cease being poor and
needy. You see, when I cease being poor
and needy, I no longer see Jesus Christ as all. That's the bottom line. It's self-righteousness, it's
pride, it's arrogance. To be anything other than poor
and needy. Lord, make me poor and needy. Deliver me from being anything
but poor and needy. Look how often this is repeated
in this psalm. He shall spare the poor. Why
does he spare the poor? Because he spared not his own
son. That's why he spares the poor. He spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. He shall spare the poor needy
and shall save the souls of the needy. Verse 14, he shall redeem
their soul from deceit and violence. Now, I love. The fact that it
does not say he shall offer them redemption. It says he shall redeem. It doesn't
say he will make redemption available. It says he shall redeem. Now this I know about the redemptive
work of the Lord. There's nothing uncertain about
it. There's nothing insecure about it. If he redeemed you,
you know what? You're redeemed. All your sins
are paid for. I love when we sing redeemed,
how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the
land, redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child and forever
I am. He shall redeem. He shall redeem their soul from
deceit, their own deceit, the deceitfulness of false religion,
the deceit and the violence. And look at this precious shall
their blood be in his sight. If you're redeemed, you know
what your blood is to him? Precious. Yes, he's precious, but you know
what? You're precious to him. Isn't that amazing? You, you. Poor and needy are precious in
his sight. Verse 15, and he shall live, because I live, you shall live
also. He shall live. This is talking
about Hebrews 7.25, wherefore he's able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. He shall live eternally, and
my life is in him. He shall live, and to him shall
be given the gold of Sheba. And you can read about that in
1 Kings 10, when the queen of Sheba came to visit him. Prayer
unto him shall be made for him continually, and daily shall
he be praised. You know, I'm continually praying,
let me be found in him. And I'm praising him daily. That's the work of every believer.
Verse 16. Then shall be a handful of corn
in the earth, a small amount upon the top of the mountains,
The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the
city shall flourish like grass of the earth. Now the picture
is a small handful at the top. You let it go, it comes tumbling
down the mountain, it comes down in droves. I couldn't think of
helping, thinking about the parable of the mustard seed. The kingdom
of heaven beginning so small, imperceptible, but how it grows. What a glorious Lord he is. It starts out with that small
handful full and look how it comes down. Verse 17, his name shall endure
forever. Now his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. His name is his attributes. It's the person behind the name.
And I love to think of the glorious attributes of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
That's his attribute. He has all that God has because
he is God. He has every attribute of God
in its fullness dwelling in his body. His name shall endure forever. His name, Jehovah Zedkinu, the
Lord our righteousness, shall endure forever. Him being my
shepherd, him being my peace, him being he that healeth me,
all of his name shall endure forever. That's why I'm going
to endure forever because his name endures forever. His name
shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as
long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him. Don't you
know that? I know you do. If you're a believer.
Your blessing is in Him. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. If I'm in Him, and
that's salvation is being in Him. If I'm in Him, I have all
spiritual blessings. I'm chosen in him. I'm redeemed
in him. I'm accepted in the beloved.
I'm forgiven in him. Every blessing I have is simply
for this one reason in him. And that's why Paul prayed, oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. All I want, I can't
say this with enough emphasis. All I want is to be found in
him. To where all God sees is Jesus
Christ. I don't want to be seen in any
other light. Somebody says, well, I'd like
my own character to come out. Not me. Not me. I simply want
to be found in him. All God has for the sinner is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he says, his name shall endure forever.
His name shall be continued as long as the sun and men should
be blessed in him. All nations. shall call him blessed. You see, he's going to have a
people out of every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. Literally, literally, I have
no doubt. He's going to have a people out
of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation, and they'll all call
him blessed. Verse 18, blessed be the Lord
God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. Only he does wondrous things.
He does what only God can do in every respect. And I know
this, only God can take a sinner and make him perfectly righteous,
and make him acceptable, and make him beautiful in God's sight. That's what God does through
Christ. He only doeth wondrous things. I love the way he said only,
don't you? No flesh is gonna glory in his presence. Verse
19, and blessed Be His glorious name forever. And let the whole
earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. Can you say that
to that? From the depths of your heart when you hear David say,
Blessed be His glorious name forever. Let the whole earth
be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. I love the way
he doubles it. Amen. And amen. And that's what we say, too.
Amen. And amen. Let the whole earth
be filled with his glory. Amen. And amen. And I personally think that. David. Is saying. The prayers of David, the son
of Jesse are ended. They can't go any further than
this. Now, he had a lot more psalms after this, if you read. This was not the last psalm he
wrote. And somebody says, well, the
psalms are divided into two or three books. Well, that's not
apparent to me. That's somebody trying to figure out a reason
to say this. No, I think what David is saying,
this is the great end, that his glory would fill the whole earth. And there's no greater desire
than that. The prayers of David, the son
of Jesse, can't go any further than that. His glory, the whole
earth being filled with it. Amen.