Turn to Psalm 45. Was in Crossville this week and
got to spend some time with Joe McSherry and that was a blessing
to get to eat with him and we were in the cafeteria and he
couldn't hear a word I said so I don't know what good it did
but we enjoyed it. Would you turn to Psalm 45. Notice in the title, and these
titles are a part of the original, it's called A Maskell, A Song
of Loves. A Song of Loves. Maskell means instruction. And I believe that we can get
some instruction and love in this glorious psalm. My heart
is inditing, bubbling over a good matter. I speak of the things
which I have made, touching the king. My tongue is the pen of
a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore, God hath blessed thee
forever. 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. Thine arrows
are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people
fall under thee. Thy throne, and this is quoted
in Hebrews chapter one, 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. All
thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory
palaces wherewith they have made thee glad. King's daughters were
among thy honorable women Upon thy right hand did stand the
queen in gold of Ophir. Harken, O daughter, and consider,
and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. 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 entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. 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
shall they be brought, and they shall enter into the king's palace. Instead of thy father shall be
thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore
shall the people praise thee forever. and ever. What a glorious song. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might have your spirit, that you would be in our midst
that you would deliver us from ourselves and our own thoughts
and our own understanding. Deliver us from merely hearing
the words of a sinful man. And by your spirit, cause your
gospel to be preached in the power of your spirit. Lord, enable
us to worship the king. Speak to our hearts from this
your word. Lord, we confess our sins. Our
sins are ever before us. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing.
We pray that we might be enabled to rest in our king. Lord, we
would remember our friends that aren't here. We ask that you
would keep them by your grace. Those that are going through
trials and troubles, we ask for your mercy upon them. Accept
our thanksgiving, Lord, cause your name to be remembered To
all generations, but even here this morning, bless us for Christ's
sake, accept our thanksgiving. In his name we pray. Amen. A song of loves. A song of loves. Now there are two kinds of people
in this world. People who actually love the
triune God. And I chose those words carefully,
the triune God, you know, all three persons of the Trinity
are mentioned in this song. We love God, the father, his
blessed son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his spirit who wrote this
song pinned by God, the Holy spirit. And this Psalm teaches
us something about love. Now, like I said, there are two
kinds of people in this world, people who love the triune God
and people who have no love for him. Now that is a sobering thought
to actually have no love for the living God. Now let's read
these words together. Psalm 45, my heart, is bubbling over with good matter. Now, I love what he calls good
matter. I speak of the things which I've
made touching the King. Now, this is why my heart is
bubbling over, inspired by the Holy Spirit. I'm going to be
speaking of the King, the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. I'm raring to go, he says. Thou,
verse two, art fairer than the children of men. Now I wanna
say this right. I sometimes question our use
of the word Christlike. Now I want to be like Christ.
You do too. And we're going to be one day
when we see him as he is, the scripture says we'll be like
him. And the end of predestination is to be conformed to the image
of his son. Now I want, I look forward to
that. I want to be Christ-like, don't
you? But the scripture says thou art fairer. than the sons of
men. When I talk about some son of
man, some man, me, oh, he's really Christ-like. Really? Really? I question the use of that term. Now, I want to be Christ-like,
but nobody can be compared to him. He said, there is none like
me. He is altogether by himself. Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. What a word. Turn with me for
a moment, hold your finger there, and turn with me to Luke chapter
four. This one that is fairer than
the children of men, grace is poured into his lips and grace
comes out of his lips. Living, saving, free grace. Now in Luke chapter four, verse
22, and all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth. Now the word gracious
is the same word that's translated every other time, grace. They
wondered at the grace words that proceeded out of his mouth. Isn't
that glorious? The grace words, they heard these
grace words. What did they hear? Look in verse
16. And he came to Nazareth where
he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah.
And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was
written." You know, it didn't take him long to find it. He
wrote it by his spirit. Verse 18. And I like to think
about the way he sounded when he read this passage of scripture
because everybody knew what he was talking about. The spirit
of the Lord is upon me. And I have no doubt he gave the
emphasis to where they knew exactly what he was talking about. The
spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he hath anointed me. to preach the gospel to the poor. Now, who are the poor? The poor
are those who have nothing to bring. I hope I'm one of those
people right now. Poor, nothing to bring, nothing
but sin in and of myself. Not just saying that because
I'm indoctrinated right in it, but really believing it, that
I have nothing to bring to the table. Right now, I'm not talking
about the way I used to be, I'm talking about right now. I can't stand to listen to X
sinners. Just can't stand it. I need to hear the gospel as
a poor sinner now. Here's the only people who he
preaches the gospel to. The poor. I wanna be one of those
people, don't you? The poor. He hath sent me to
heal the broken hearted. Now, people with broken hearts,
that's not just talking about broken over a lost romantic relationship,
as painful as that is, that has nothing to do with what he's
talking about. He's talking about somebody with a heart that's
no good. It's broken. It doesn't work. It doesn't do
what it's supposed to do. He sent me to heal the broken
hearted. And he has sent me to preach
deliverance to the captives. Now, what came to my mind as
soon as I read that and thought about it, I thought about what
Paul said in Romans 7, verse 14, when he said, for we know,
we know, and he's speaking as a representative of all the elect
when he says that, we know. Every one of God's people know
this. We know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal sold. Now that means sold as a captive,
as a slave, sold as a slave to sin. Would that be you? Well, Paul said, we know. Every
one of God's people know this. You know, if somebody doesn't
know it, it's because they're not God's people. It really is that simple. If
you've ever seen the Lord, you know this about yourself. The
only reason people don't know this about themselves is because
they've never seen the Lord. If you've seen the Lord, you know
what I'm saying is so. You know what Paul is saying
is so. But he came to preach full deliverance, liberty, to
people who were captured and could not get out. You need delivered,
don't you? You need somebody to do something
for you that you can't do for yourself. Well, that's the person,
that's the grace words that are poured from his lips. And recovering
of sight to the blind. People who can't see why God
would look in favor toward them. You know, there are all kinds
of people who sit in judgment on God. This is not fair. That's
not fair. That's not right. But someone who's a poor sinner
like this, they they can't see one reason in themselves as to
why God would look in favor upon them. Aren't these grace words?
Words of his grace. To set at liberty, to set free
them that are crushed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord,
which is the year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee. Now that is when, if you were
a slave in debt, your debts were canceled every 50 years. This was supposed to take place,
it never did, in the history of Israel. And that's why the
Lord said, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. This
is the year of liberty. My gracious words. If you were
a slave, you were set free. Whatever debt you had were canceled.
Whatever you lost was restored. The year was given a year of
rest. What gracious words. Now that's,
let's go back to our text. Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore God hath blessed thee
forever. Gird thy sword. upon thy thigh,
O most mighty." That's his word. And don't you pray that he does
that this morning, that he girds his sword upon his thigh, and
with thy glory and thy majesty, his word piercing our hearts,
his word accomplishing his purpose, he said, my word shall not return
unto me void. Now, that's his word, that's
the word, the Lord Jesus Christ. but I'm praying right now that
his word will pierce my heart, that I'll be enabled to hear
the gospel. He says in verse four, and in
thy majesty, ride prosperously because of truth and meekness
and righteousness and thy right hand shall teach terrible things.
And I think of him riding on his great white horse, don't
you? Prosperously. undisturbed by opposition in
his regal splendor riding prosperously. And notice what he says, because
of truth and meekness and righteousness. Now he is the truth, isn't he? You don't understand anything
apart from him. He is the truth. There's no understanding of any
part of the gospel apart from his person. He is the truth.
And look what it says next. This one who's so high and glorious,
he rides in meekness. He said, I'm meek. This is the
Lord Jesus Christ riding on this glorious horse of power. He says,
I'm meek and lowly in heart. This speaks of how approachable
he is. He's meek. This one who's so
high is meek. And righteousness, the key word
of the gospel, excuse me, I had to reflex to
it the last three days and that does that to me. It's a lot of gold, I don't think,
so I'll try not to give you all anything, but I don't think I
have anything, I hope. At any rate, righteousness, the key
word of the gospel. Christ is the key word. Righteousness,
you can't even know what righteousness is apart from him, but God saves
in a way, as he rides prosperously, that his righteousness is exalted. That when he brings you into
heaven, His righteousness is gonna demand it. Bring him in. He must be brought in. Truth and meekness and righteousness,
thy right hand shall teach thee terrible, awe-inspiring things. And you know, the gospel's so
awe-inspiring. I mean, it's just awesome, isn't it? It's glorious.
It's the words of the great king. Verse five, thine arrows. are
sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall
unto thee." Now he never misses his arrows. He never misses.
Never a stray arrow. They're sharp. His enemies fall. His people fall before him too.
They fall before him in worship. His enemies, he shoots them through
and they're gone, but his people fall before him in worship. Now this is where The writer to the Hebrews quotes
this in Hebrews chapter one, speaking of the excellency and
the glory of the Son. But what's important for us to
remember is if you look in Hebrews chapter one, who's speaking here? God the Father. And look what
God the Father says to God the Son. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. Now he is ascribing the throne
of sovereignty to the son. And he says it's forever and
ever. It never had a beginning. It
will never have an end. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. The administration of his kingdom
is utter righteousness. Gospel reveals the righteousness
of God. Thy scepter is a right scepter. Hear this description of Christ,
thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. What a description. You love righteousness. You hate
wickedness. That's our Lord. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee as prophet, priest, and king. That's what that anointing
means. He's anointed him as prophet to bring me the word of God,
as priest to represent me, as king to make sure his will is
always done. He's the king. Thou lovest righteousness, hateth
wickedness, therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the
oil of gladness above thy fellows. And we all love it that way,
don't we? Don't you love him being anointed with the oil of
gladness above everybody else? He's king of kings and Lord of
lords. All thy garments, verse eight,
all thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia. Out of
the ivory palaces of richness wherewith they have made thee
glad. All of his garments, the garments
of salvation, they smell so good. Our garments don't smell good,
do they? Oh, but when he were clothed in him and his glorious
righteousness, how good they smell. Verse nine, king's daughters. are among thy honorable women. Now this is what every believer
is called, a king's daughter. King's daughters are among thy
honorable women. Upon thy right hand did stand
the queen in gold of Ophir, that's the most costly gold, and there
she stands. Now he says in verse 10, this
is Harken, O daughter. This is speaking to every believer.
Listen very carefully. Harken, O daughter. and consider
and incline thine ear, forget also thine own people and thy
father's house, so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty. For he is thy Lord, worship thou
him. Now, so shall the king desire
thy beauty, thy beauty. Do you know that to the King,
you are beautiful? You might not appear that way
to anybody else, but you do to him. Thy beauty, not somebody
else's beauty, thy beauty. You see, your beauty is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he is your beauty. And when
Jesus Christ, the Lord, looks at you, he says, thou art all
fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. And that's how the Lord looks
at his bride. Beautiful. And the king desires your beauty. You know, we don't feel that
way to come right down. We only know this by faith, but
this is true with regard to every believer. Jesus Christ looks
upon you as his beautiful, beautiful bride. That's true with regard
to every believer. Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. And the King greatly desires. Listen to that. The King greatly
desires my beauty. I'm beautiful to him. Yes, I
am. That's true of every single child of God. So shall the King
greatly desire. Look at that language, greatly
desire. That's how the Lord Jesus is
toward all of his people. He greatly desires them because
they're so beautiful. That's the power of the gospel
that he makes them so beautiful that he greatly desires them. 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
shouldn't treat thy favor. That's the most unlikely, the
rich. Even they will entreat thy favor. Now look at this, verse 13. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Now do you hear what that's saying? That's talking about every one
of his people. They're all glorious within. Now all that's talking
about is the new nature, the new man, the new creature in
Christ Jesus, which every believer possesses. All, A-double-L, all. There's
nothing that's not glorious within. Now this is what the Lord's talking
about when he says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
see God. You have, if you're a believer,
turn with me to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John 3. Verse 4. 1 John 3, verse 4, whosoever committed
sin transgresses also the law for sin is the transgression
of the law. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Well, in my experience, all I
do is sin. Your new nature never sins. And what's it mean to abide
in him? It means you don't want to be
seen anywhere but in him. Here's this one place you want
to stay in him. And you want God to only see
you in him. You don't want God to ever look
upon you independently of him. That's what it means to abide
in him. You don't want to be anywhere else. What does that one do who
abides in him? Scripture says he sinneth not.
The new nature doesn't sin. Can that which is born of God
sin? Can that which God has birthed in the new nature, does it sin?
No, he's born of God. He cannot sin. Stay there in
verse nine of 1 John chapter three. Whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sin. Now, somebody says, that means
he doesn't practice sin. Well, where does that leave you? If that's what that means, me
and you are in big trouble. Because there's nobody in here
that doesn't practice sin in and of themselves. But that new
nature does not commit sin. Holiness, true holiness, doesn't
even have the potential to commit sin. While you're here, look
in 1 John 5, verse 18. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not. Whatever's born of God, it does
not sin. But he that's begotten of God
keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. Now listen
to this. Do you know the wicked one can't
touch your new nature any more than he could tempt Christ to
sin? There's nothing for him to work
with. There's nothing for him to work with. It's a holy nature,
all glorious within. Now, I got to remind myself and
you that as far as our experience goes, we don't see this, do we?
You see a holy nature that doesn't sin? It's like we have one consciousness and
both natures coming out of that one consciousness. And so you're
always with the sin. It's like hot water and cold
water running out of the same fountain. It's always Both are
there, and as far as the way you feel, no, you don't feel
holy, but you're all glorious. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold."
Now, this is speaking of what she is on the outside, wrought
gold. I couldn't help but think of
Revelation 19, 8, "'Unto her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.'" For this fine linen
is the righteousness of the saints. That beautiful garment we have
covering us. She shall be brought unto the
King in raiment of needlework perfection. The Virgin, her companion
shall follow her and shall be brought unto thee with gladness
and rejoicing shall they be brought. They shall enter into the King's
palace. Instead of thy father should
be thy children. Now what that means is when the
fathers are gone that believe their children are going to believe
God's never going to be without witness. He's always going to
have a people. He always has had a people. I
will make no instead of thy father should be the children whom thou
mayest make princes and all the earth. I will make thy name. This is God speaking. I will
make thy name. to be remembered in all generations,
therefore shall the people praise thee forever and ever. His name,
I'm the Lord that healeth thee, I remember that. The Lord my shepherd, I remember
that, right now. The Lord my righteousness, his
name's remembered, isn't it? I'm remembering him, he as my
righteousness before God. The Lord is present, Jehovah
Shama, his presence. continue all his glorious names
will be remembered forever. And here's what I love thinking
about is I'm remembering right now, but when I walk out the
door, I'll forget him. There's the time coming when
I'll never forget them again.