When you turn back to Psalm 110, I've entitled this message, The
Character of Christ's People. And it's seen in Psalm 110 verse
3, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. I have three points to this message,
a people, a personality, and a power. Thy people. The Lord Jesus Christ has a people
that are called his people. Matthew 1, 21, we read one of
my favorite verses of scripture. Thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Are you somebody
that needs to be saved from your sins? It's a very simple question. Are you somebody who needs to
be saved You can't save yourself. You need to be saved from your
sins. If you are, you're one of his
people. And he came to save his people
from their sins. And not everybody's his people.
Scripture says he will say to many on judgment day, not just
a few, but many depart from me. ye that work iniquity, I never
knew you. I never knew you to be mine.
I never knew you as one of my people. What a privilege it is
to be someone who's been made to differ. Someone who is one
of his people. You're sitting here as one of
his people. What could be more blessed? to be one of his people. Turn
to John chapter 10 for a moment. Brandon, can you turn that down
just a little bit? That seems like it's ringing. Is it too
loud? That's what I thought. Okay.
Turn it down a bit. Okay. Thanks. Verse 24, then came the Jews
round about him and said unto him, how long does thou make
us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Was there ever a time the Lord
didn't speak plainly? What did they mean by that? Verse 25, Jesus answered them,
I told you, and you believed not. The works that I do in my
father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because
you are not of my sheep." Remember, not everybody is his people,
only his sheep. You believe not because you're
not of my sheep. As I said unto you, there's sheep
and there are goats. Look back in verse 14. The Lord
says, I'm the good shepherd and know my sheep. and have known
of mine. See, he's talking about his people.
As the father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay
down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, talking about me and you, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be
one fold and one shepherd. Look at verse 27. He identifies
his sheep, his people. He says, my sheep hear my voice.
Now I've never heard the audible voice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you? Well, if you say you haven't, don't believe it. I've
heard people tell me why he said that. I don't believe it. Don't
believe it. I don't know what else to say.
Don't believe it. But I've heard his voice. I've heard his voice
when I have known this is God's gospel. I've heard his voice. Now, I have heard his voice.
My sheep hear my voice. Hold your finger there and look
at 1 Thessalonians 2. Verse 13. For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of
God, which you heard of us, you received it, not as the word
of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Now that's what it is to hear
his voice. When you heard my voice, you knew it wasn't my
word. You knew it was his word, the
very word of God. My sheep, the Lord said, hear
my voice and I know them. Whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. I know them and they follow
me. Every single one of them. This
is who his people are. They're people who hear his voice.
He knows them and they follow him. Go on reading verse 28. And I give unto them eternal
life. Now remember, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee. The only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. That's eternal life. To know
the living God. Where He actually knows me and
I know Him. And it's not name dropping. He
knows me. I've given to them eternal life
and they shall never perish. His sheep are the ones who continue
all the way to the end. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father which gave them me,
his sheep are his elect, his people are his elect. My father
which gave them me is greater than all. Neither shall any man
pluck them out of my father's hand. In our text, we read of
my people. And you know, if you look back
in Psalm 110, look at that first verse, the Lord said unto my
Lord, his people are those who have the Lord as their Lord.
He's my Lord. He's my Lord. So those are his
people. Now, a personality, a personality,
a character. I entitled this the character
of Christ's people. and they're the only ones that
can be described like this. Look in Psalm 110.3, thy people
shall be willing. Thy people shall be volunteers. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. They'll be willing and spontaneous
in their obedience. They're that willing bond slave. They're willing to be his servant
forever. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Now, by nature, we're not willing. You know that. I know that. By
nature, we're not willing. Now, please listen carefully. We do what we want to do all
the time. Whatever it is you do, it's what
you wanted to do. You willed whatever it is you
did. You weren't pushed by some kind
of unseen power to make you do things you didn't want to do.
Everything we do, we do what we want to do. Before, I'm a
believer. Whatever I do, it's what I want
to do. When I'm saved by the grace of God, when I do what
I do, I do what I want to do. I can never blame the sovereignty
of God for my sin. I do what I want to do. That's what we always do. That
being said, our will is not free. It is enslaved to an evil nature. I've heard people say, well,
men are free moral agents. Well, they're not free. They're
slaves. They're not moral. They're immoral. They're not agents. They're servants of the devil,
slaves of the devil. That's what the natural man is.
He's not a free moral agent. Our will is chained to sin. Our will is not thy will, but
my will be done. The Lord said, you will not come
to me. that you might have life. There's
the crime. You will not come. That's the evil of man. It's
seen in his will. You will not come to me that
you might have life. The Lord said, no man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him. Don't you know you have to be
drawn of the Lord? You know that, don't you? Turn
with me to John chapter 1. Hold your finger there, Psalm
110, and turn to John chapter 1. Verse 12, but as many as received
him. And that's what believers do. They receive the Lord Jesus Christ
to them, gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them,
which believe on his name, which were born not a blood. Not because your mom and dad
are saved. Not of the will of the flesh.
Not because of an act of man's free will, where he decided to
be born again. You don't decide to be in your
first birth, and you don't decide in your second birth, which we're
born. Not of the flesh. Not of the
will of man. Not because a bunch of men got
together and said, we're gonna pray until this person's saved.
We're gonna will them into the kingdom of heaven. Doesn't work
that way. How are they born? Of God. Of God. Now, when we're born of God,
this becomes our disposition. This describes our personality. This describes our character. Willing. Willing. Volunteer. Who will go for us? Whom shall I send? Isaiah said,
here am I. Send me. Now we're willing to
be saved in God's way on God's terms. We're willing. Do you remember when the Lord
said to that impotent man in John chapter five, wilt thou,
are you willing to be made whole? Now this word made, is one of
the most important words for us to understand and understanding
how God saves sinners. Remember in John chapter 2 when
it says this is the beginning of miracles when the water was
made wine. That word beginning means it's
the most important of the miracles and the reason being is it tells
us the gospel. That water was made to be something
that it wasn't. It wasn't water that was made
like wine, it was water that was made wine. It didn't merely
taste like wine, it was wine. When God saves a sinner, he's
made to be something he was not before. Of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Wisdom, righteousness. sanctification and redemption. By nature, we're unrighteous,
we're unholy, we're unredeemed. We have no wisdom by nature,
but he's made unto us these things. Wisdom. He's made unto us righteousness,
so I'm the very righteousness of God. He's made unto us sanctification,
holiness. He's made unto us redemption.
I love this word made, for he hath made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. We're willing to come to the
light of his word and agree with all that God says. Are you willing
to agree with all that God says, all that God says about himself?
We say, amen. We love his attributes, every
one of them. We don't apologize for them. I love that passage
of scripture in Acts chapter four, the early church. I mean,
these fellows had only been converted for a couple of weeks and yet
that song that showed what they really believed, even then, how,
how, Herod and Pontius Pilate were gathered together to do
whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
They knew that right off the bat. You see, God teaches his
people and we bow to everything he says with regard to himself.
Doesn't matter what he says, we bow. We agree. We don't just
bow, we agree. We're glad he's that way. If
it's our will, that's the way we want him to be. We love the
way he's revealed in his word. We agree with everything he says
about us. We bow to what he says. We're in agreement with what
he says about us and our sinfulness and our need of his grace. We
agree, don't we? We say amen to that. And oh,
we agree with what he says concerning his son and concerning his salvation. There's agreement. There's willing
agreement. We're willing to be saved God's
way. Now, does anybody in here volunteer? to be saved by the free and sovereign
grace of God in a way where he gets all the glory and none goes
to us. But me, I will. I'm a volunteer. Thy people shall
be volunteers. They shall be willing in the
day of thy power. Now, I realize that this willingness
that every believer possesses is still housed in this thing
we call the flesh. Do you remember when the Lord
told the disciples to stay awake and pray with him right before
his death? And what did they do? Well, they
fell asleep. They couldn't stay, you've done
that before. And the Lord said, couldn't you
stay awake one hour with me? And then he said, the spirit
indeed is willing. And the flesh is weak. This willingness is housed in
this thing called the flesh. And that's why Paul said, to
will is present with me. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. You see, the flesh lusts. And
that word lusts is strongly desire, strongly wills. The flesh wills
against the spirit. And the spirit wills, lusts,
strongly desires against the flesh. And these two are contrary
one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you
would. The spirit indeed is willing.
The flesh is weak. Let me show you something in
Psalm 51, if you turn back to Psalm 51. I didn't really know this until
recently looking at this passage of scripture. Verse 12. David says, restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation and uphold me and notice that with thy is
in italics. It was put there by the translators
and it really doesn't do any good in giving light to what
this means. What he's saying is that word free is the same
word translated willing. Make me willing. Give me a willing
spirit. That's what every believer desires
and wants. He has it and he wants it. Make
me willing. It's God that worketh in you
both the will and to do of his good pleasure. Isaiah 119 says,
if you'd be willing and obedient, it's not enough to be obedient.
I must be willing. I thought of when our Lord, he
preached that message and 5,000 people leave him. Everybody left
him, but the 12 disciples. And he looked at him and I don't
know what all was on their minds while they were watching all
the multitude go away. And there they were just the
12 of them. And he looked at him and said, will you also go
away? The Lord's not going to have any unwilling disciples.
Will you also go away? Is that what you want? I love
Peter's answer, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words
of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. Now, willingness, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. What joy there is
in willingness. When you're willing, that means
you're doing what you want to do. Now, we've had several weddings here
in the church in the last three or four months. And in performing
weddings, one of the things that I really enjoy, I genuinely enjoy
giving the vows and hearing someone look into the eyes of that person
and say, I do, I promise. This is what I want. Now they
might end up fighting like cats and dogs in two or three days,
but that time at any rate, this is what they want. I do. I will. Do you take this woman?
Do you take this man? Yes, I do. That's my delight. With all my will, this is what
I want. Willingness means you're doing
what you want to do and what joy there is in that. Turn to
First Chronicles chapter 29. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 6. Then the chief of the fathers
and the princes of the tribes of Israel, 1 Chronicles 29 verse
6, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds with the rulers
of the king's work offered willingly. and gave for the service of the
house of gold, 5,000 talents and 10,000 drams and silver,
10,000 talents and a brass 18,000 talents and 100,000 talents of
iron. And they, which with whom precious
stones were found, gave them to the treasure of the house
of the Lord by the hand of Jehal the Gerashot. Then the people
rejoiced for they offered willingly. because with a perfect heart
they offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king also
rejoiced with great joy. Look down in verse 10. Well, don't look down, it's the
next verse. Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation,
and David said, blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our father
forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness,
and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty,
for all that's in the heaven and the earth is thine. Thine
is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over
all. And in thy hand is power and
might, and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength
unto all, Now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise
thy glorious name. But who am I and what is my people
that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? You know, if you're willing,
you know God made you that way, don't you? You know that. Of thine
own hand have we given thee We're strangers before thee and sojourners
as we're all our fathers. Our days on the earth are as
a shadow. O Lord God, all this store that we've prepared to
build thee in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand
and it's all thine own. Scripture says God loves a cheerful
giver. Now in this thing of willingness, I believe that probably the key
to understanding willingness Thy people should be willing
in the day of thy power. It is to have some understanding
of this thing of submission. Submission. Willingly submitting
ourselves to the Lord. Willing submission is the key
to happiness and contentment in every area. Now unwilling
forced submission is slavery, isn't it? What if you were forced
to marry somebody? It'd be slavery, wouldn't it?
What if you were forced to submit to someone you had no desire
to submit to? It'd be slavery. It'd be bondage. When we submit before the Lord,
we want to submit willingly because we want to. Willing submission
to God, to his word, and to one another. But if we were forced
to submit, if we didn't do it willingly, it'd be bondage, wouldn't
it? It'd be miserable. You know, the key to a good marriage.
And I'm not talking about just the women submitting to the men,
but men submitting to the women. in the sense of submitting to
one another, submitting to one another's wishes. And the woman,
first of all, submitting because she wants to. The Lord says to
do it. Now, this is God's way. I know
that the world will laugh at this, will make fun of it, they'll
despise it, but this is God's way. A woman is to willingly
and lovingly submit herself to her husband's wishes and wants. for Christ's sake. That's what
the Bible says, for Christ's sake. And if you love your husband,
you want to do that. And the husband is to willingly
submit himself to be her servant, to live for her, to be her all. Now, what joy there is in willing
submission. Turn to first Peter chapter five
for a moment. Verse 1, the elders which are
among you I exhort, Peter says, who am also an elder, a pastor,
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed. And here's what he calls on them
to do, feed the flock of God. That's the verb form of the word
shepherd, shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, taking
the oversight thereof, Not by constraint, not because you have
to, but willingly. Not for filthy lucre, not for
a paycheck, but of a ready, willing mind. A man that's a preacher
for a paycheck is a hireling and nothing more. That's not
what the ministry is about. Now he says, neither as being
Lords over God's heritage, trying to Push goats is what that is. Neither is being lords over God's
heritage, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief
shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth not away. Likewise, you younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Be easy to submit yourself to
an elder like this, wouldn't it? Someone who feeds the church
of God, someone who's doing this, not out of constraint, but willingly
somebody that's not doing it for filthy lucre, but of a ready
mind, someone who's not trying to be a Lord over God's heritage,
but an example to the flock. And you can submit yourself to
that elder. He said, likewise, you younger submit yourselves
in the air. Look what he says next. Yay. All of you be subject
one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resists
the proud and gives grace to the humble. Do you remember Paul's
words to Philemon? Without thy mind, talking about
Onesimus, without thy mind, I would do nothing that thy benefit would
not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. Thy people should
be willing, willing. And I think this is interesting.
When we do what we do willingly, not out of fear of punishment,
if I'm doing what I'm doing to avoid punishment, I'm not doing
it willingly. If I'm doing what I'm doing in
order to gain some kind of reward, I'm not doing it willingly. That's
not the mode of operation for God's people, not out of fear
of punishment, not out of hope for reward. But when you do something
without that base motive, that mercenary motive, there's a nobility
about what you do. Four times in the old Testament,
this word willing is translated noble. You know there's something
noble about somebody doing something for Christ's sake, isn't there? There's something noble about
somebody doing something because it's right. But there's nothing
noble about somebody doing something out of hope for reward or out
of fear of punishment. There's no nobility in that.
But oh, what nobility there is in willingness. Thy people shall
be willing. And there's a reward in willingness.
Paul said, if I do this thing willingly, I receive a reward.
And the reward is the thing itself. Willingness. Isn't it a joy to
be able to do what you're doing willingly? There's nothing like
it. Thy people, thy people shall
be willing. And here's my last point. In
the day of thy power. We see his people, thy people,
God's elect, sinners for whom Christ died. We see their character. They're willing. And now we see
the power. Now, this is something that only
God can do. And I think this is such a glorious
concept. He can force somebody to be willing. Nobody else can do that. But
God can. shall be willing in the day of
thy power draw us and we'll run after thee you see he has the
power to do this look at psalm 110 once again verse 3 thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power but that's not the whole verse let's go
on reading in the beauties of holiness From the womb of the
morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth. Now the Lord Jesus
Christ is beautiful. Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ is
beautiful. Oh, the beauties of his holiness,
the beauties of the excellency of his character. And from the
womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. Now, what
that's a reference to is you wake up in the morning and there's
dew there. Mysteriously, you don't understand
so much how it got there. You might understand some of
the scientific reason behind it, but before you get smart,
you're amazed. Where'd it come from? You wake
up in the morning, there's dew all over the grass. And he says,
thou from the womb of the morning, the early morning, when that
dew comes, thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord never
gets old. What this is a reference to is
his immutability. Now, every one of us, particularly,
we know something about getting older. Some know a whole lot
more than others. You feel it. Your body gets old. You can't do what you used to
do. You can't think the way you used to think. But you know,
the Lord is never like that. He's always got the do of His
youth. And He is always able to make
His people willing. And He does this. Now understand
this. He does this by causing them
to see Him as irresistible. He has the do of His youth. We believe in irresistible, invincible
grace, don't we? But irresistible grace is not
the Lord grabbing somebody by the hair and pulling them along
while they're kicking and screaming against it. No, no, no, no. When
he puts forth his irresistible grace, we find him irresistible. That's what willingness is. We
find him irresistible. He is immutable. He always has
the due of his youth, and he's always able to make his people
willing in the day of his power. Now, are there any here who are
unwilling? Well, he can make you willing. He can make you
willing. I can't, but he can. What if this one who is able
to make you willing in the day of his power said to you what
he said to Bartimaeus, what wilt thou that I should do unto you? Bartimaeus said, Lord, he's blind. Remember, what would you ask
if you were blind? If you're blind, that I might receive my
sight. And he said, Thy faith is safety. Go thy way. You're set free. Go your way. Whatever your will
is, go in that direction. You know, Bill Clark used to
say, and I know people had a hard
time with this, but you shouldn't. He said, here's the rule of the
Christian's life. Look to Christ and do what you want to. What do you want to do? What
you want to do proves who you really are. What do you want
to do? Bartimaeus followed Jesus in
the way. And that's what a believer does.
He wants, I want to follow the Lord in the way. I want to be
in complete agreement with everything he says. I want to be a volunteer. to be saved by his sovereign
grace in a way where he gives all the glory and none goes to
me. Thy people shall be willing,
shall be volunteers in the day of thy power. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you that you've
made us willing to be saved by thy grace, to be saved by thy
righteousness. Lord, you've made us willing
to follow thy dear son. And Lord, we confess that it's
thy work. You told us in your word that
it's you that work in us both to will and to do thy good pleasure. And Lord, we ask that you would
work in us. both to will and to do thy good
pleasure. Lord, how we thank you for the
Lord Jesus Christ. He who makes his people willing
in the day of his power. In Christ's blessed name, we
pray. Amen. Paul, what page you got? 310.