This evening, we're going to
look at Psalm 45, and we're going to look at the second part of
this psalm. The first part has to deal with
Christ, our mighty King, the King of all the earth, God, our
Savior. And beginning at verse 9, down through verse 17, we
have a description of the Lord's church, His body, His family,
His family. So I'm entitling the message
from what is said in verse 9 and what is repeated again in verse
13. Verse 13 said, the king's daughter
is all glorious within. And then it repeats that same
statement in verse 9. The king's daughters. The king's
daughters. Oh, what a blessing to be part
of the king's family, to be adopted into that family, to be put in
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Last week, we looked at verse
one through eight, and there we have a fit description of
our conquering king, the Lord Jesus Christ, who prospers in
everything he does. And in Christ, we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. Now in verse nine and following,
we see the description of his church, He is the head of the
church, we are his body. That word church means called
out. We've been called out by his
grace. It describes his church, his
people, his bride, his beloved, the lamb's wife, and what he
has made them by his grace. What he has made them by his
choice. He said, you didn't choose me,
I've chosen you. It's because of his fullness
that we have all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. We are what we are. We can say
with the Apostle Paul, it's only by the grace of God. I am what
I am. I'm less than the least of all
the saints, he said, but I am what I am by his grace. That grace is given to us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. God's people belong
to him. They are his royal family, bought
with his precious blood. He bought us with his own blood.
God bought the church with his own blood, redeemed by his glorious
power. What kind of power does it take
to raise a dead sinner and make him a new creature in Christ?
Almighty power, sovereign power. In Christ, we have redemption,
and we see in these verses the fruit of his atonement and the
victory of his atonement, what he has made us in Christ. We
know what we are in Adam, and Adam all died, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. By the obedience of another,
the Lord Jesus shall many be made righteous in him. It's interesting, the description
and the word that he used to scribe his own, he calls them
the king's daughters. He calls them honorable women. He calls them the queen in gold. He calls them virgins. He calls
them princes. What a blessing to be chosen
of God and to be part of his royal family. Adopted by his
love, as we read in Colossians chapter one, called out of darkness
into his marvelous light. You remember in Galatians chapter
four, when it says, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. He's adopted us into his family.
A whole what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called, what? Sons of God. Sons of God. Can you think of any better blessing
than to be chosen of God and adopted into his family by love
and to be called the son of his love? The object of his mercy,
an object of his grace, Boy, what blessings we have in Christ.
What blessings we have in Christ. Now, look at verse 9. King's
daughters were among thy honorable women. Upon their right hand
did stand the queen in the gold of Ophir. We know the Lord Jesus
Christ is upon his throne. He is seated at the right hand
of the majesty in the heavens. But here his people are described
as those who are redeemed, who upon the right hand did stand
the queen. The king's daughter is the queen. Queen. Every believer spiritually
is a child, a daughter, a son of God by his sovereign electing
love, by his sovereign electing choice, by his sovereign electing
grace, we are chosen children given to the Lord Jesus Christ
in that covenant of grace. How did you become a son of God?
Not by anything I did. It was his choice. His choice. He adopted me. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me and those that come to me, I will
not cast them out. I like the description the Lord
gives of his church, those for whom he tasted death. He said,
behold, I and the children, we're all here. We're sons of God. He's made us his family. The
church is also described as the queen at his right hand. The
church shares as in union with him, His honor, His happiness,
His holiness, and His glory were raised up together and made to
sit together in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what it says in Ephesians chapter 2. We sit together in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We read in Colossians chapter
1 that Christ is the head of the body, right? That in all
things He should have the preeminence, right? Well, I've said to you
over the years, I read this statement many, many, many years ago, 30
years ago or longer, and some old theologian said, what's true
of the head is true of the body. I've said that before, haven't
I? What's true of the head is true of the body. Where the head
is, that's where the body is. You don't go anywhere, your body
doesn't go anywhere without your head, does it? Where your head
goes, that's where your body goes. Christ is our head. We are his body. Where he is,
we are. What's true of him is true of
us. Isn't that a blessing? Christ is our forerunner and
we enter into God's presence in Him. You remember we studied
in Hebrews chapter 6, the forerunner is for us entered in and we've
entered in in Him. He sets her, that is the bride,
His love in the palace or the place of dignity and clothes
her with the best of the best, it says there. with the gold of Ophir, the gold
of Ophir. Now that's considered, and it's
mentioned several times in the scripture, but the gold of Ophir
is considered the purest gold, the best gold, no dross, no alloy,
the pure, pure gold. And that's what we have in Christ.
We have the purest. He gives us the best. The Lord
gives nothing of a secondary value, but only the best. The
believer is divinely arrayed in royal garments Christ has
provided for us. He's clothed us with a robe of
righteousness and with the garments of salvation. Does it get any
better than that? He blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenly in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given
unto us and imputed unto us freely by his grace. He imputed unto
us a blessed righteousness. You remember, blessed is that
man whom the Lord imputed righteousness without works. And he's not only
imputed righteousness unto us, he's imparted righteousness unto
us. We are partakers of a divine
nature. Peter writes about that in 2
Peter 1 verse 4. Happy and blessed are those that
are found with him and in him. There is therefore no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. We say with Paul,
I count all things lost, dung, ruined. that I may win Christ,
win Christ, and be found in Him. Everything is in Him. Everything
God has for any sinner is in Him. I want to be found in Him. How'd you get in Him? But of
Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I was in Charleston,
West Virginia, Monday morning. I took Bridget up there to an
entodontist to have some dental work done. And it was in a 10-story
building. And she was in the dental office
for about two hours. And I was outside the dental
office in the hallway, and I dialed up a sermon on sermon
audio and did my Monday morning routine of walking and listening.
And I passed several times this younger
man in uniform with a badge on. And I thought he's with the fire
department doing an inspection or something. And I asked him
about it. He said, no, I'm building security. I said, oh, okay, that's good.
And he went on and did his business. And later that morning, I ran
into him again. But when he left, he said, have
a blessed day. Have a blessed day. I said, okay, thank you. He came
back about an hour or so later. I ran into him again. I asked
him, I said, why did you say have a blessed day? Why did you
tell me that? And he started giving me some
religious answers and religious talk. And I told him, I said,
I asked him, I said, is Christ all and in all to you? Is he
everything to you? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah."
Well, we had a frank conversation for about 15, 20 minutes, and
he said, oh, I've got to get back to work. But anyhow, I got
to give him the gospel, and although he was most religious, he really
wasn't interested in what I had to say. And I knew that because
everything I said, he said, okay, okay, okay, okay. God's people, and I quoted that
verse to him, but of him are you in Christ Jesus? I said,
how'd you get in Christ Jesus? Well, I did this, I did that.
I said, the scripture says, but of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us everything we need. So, you ever know who
you're gonna run into and who you have an opportunity to witness
the gospel to? I wasn't looking for that. but
the Lord opened that door. But the point I made to that
young man, I said, God's people are blessed in Christ. They're
chosen, they're elected, they're blessed in Christ with all spiritual
blessing. Now, that being so, look at verse
10, hearken, hearken. What does hearken mean? Listen,
pay attention. It's like the word behold. Hearken,
listen, old daughter. Hearken, O daughter, O son of
God, O believer, and consider. Consider. You remember we studied
that word there in Hebrews chapter 3 where it says, consider the
high priest of our profession, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
do consider him, don't we? We consider him to be all of
our salvation. Hearken, O daughter, and consider.
And he said, incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. Now every precept or word spoken
by our king is most worthy of our attention. He says here,
hearken, consider, and incline thine ear. Our whole being as
believers should be ready and willing to receive his word,
to receive his truth. The Word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Be swift to hear and slow to
speak. Believer desire the sincere milk of the word that they might
grow thereby. His sheep do hear him. They do
follow him. We received the word of God.
We received it not as the word of men, Paul says, but as it
is in truth, the word of God that affectionately works in
you that believe it, that receive it, that will hear it. What a
blessing God has given to us. Hearken, consider, incline your
ear. And then he says here, forget,
forget also thine own people in thy father's house. Now the
Lord is not teaching us here that we need to sever all natural
ties to our fleshly family. When the Lord healed that wild
demoniac, we're descending Go home to your family and tell
how great things God has done for you. So the Lord is not teaching
us to sever all natural ties of our fleshly family. We're
to honor our parents and love our brothers. But we do part
company with those who are opposed to the gospel of Christ. We do
renounce this world's glitter for what it is, vanity, all is
vanity. We do part with folly. for the
wisdom we have in Christ. We do part with soap bubbles
for eternal joys we have in Christ. We do part with our former idolatry,
religious idolatry, for the true and living God. We do part with
any idea that flesh and blood can inherit the kingdom of God.
We do part with anything that is contrary to the gospel of
Christ. That's why Paul says, and I repeat
what I said, we count everything else lost, dung, ruined, that
we may win Christ and be found in him. The fashion of this world
is passing away. Now I understand we live in this
world, we have a job in this world, but we don't have to be
of this world, of its system, of its system, of its greed,
of its ungodliness. We shun that, we walk away from
that. Now look at verse 11, so shall
the king, and this is amazing here, the king, now we're talking
about the king of kings here. So shall the king of kings, the
Lord Jesus, greatly desire thy beauty. Now, wait a minute. I don't have any beauty of my
own. I'm ugly. All our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. But the king says here that the
king greatly desired thy beauty. For he is thy Lord. Worship thou
him. Now, how can we have any beauty? That's what we are in Christ.
That's exactly what he's saying. The Lord Jesus Christ loved and
delights in his church. He sees beauty in her, the beauty
which he has graciously bestowed upon her. Remember, God spoke
from heaven at the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ and declared,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Every son of God, every adopted
child of God, that's the same testimony God has of every believer
in Christ. He's well pleased with us in
Him. Remember from our study in the
Song of Solomon, where We are described as thou art all fair,
my love, there is no spot in thee. We read in Colossians chapter
one, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. You see, the beauty
we have is Christ. The righteousness we have is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He presents us to the Father.
He keeps us from falling and presents us holy, unblameable,
unreprovable In his sight, excuse me, in his sight, he is thy Lord,
because he is thy Lord, worship thou him. Worship thou him. The Father
seeketh such to worship him in spirit and in truth. Our Savior
is our sovereign, for he is thy Lord. We don't make him Lord. We bow to his Lordship. If he's
not your Lord, he's not your Savior. He's God our Savior. He is thy Lord, and because he
is thy Lord, because he has made us all together lovely in his
sight, in Christ, what do we do? We worship him. The Father
seeketh such to worship him in spirit and in truth, from the
heart. Our savior is our sovereign.
Our lord is our king, our ruler. We delight. With delight, we
bow before him, submit to him with delight. We worship him
with delight. We serve him, leaving all others
and cleaving only unto our husband. Remember Isaiah 54, for thy maker
is thy husband. The lord of hosts is his name.
Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth, he shall be called. These two shall be one flesh,
where one with Christ. We have that eternal union with
our blessed Savior. I look at verse 12, and the daughter
of Tyre, there he's talking about God's elect among the Gentile
nations. And the daughter of Tyre shall
be there with a gift. We give everything to the Lord.
Even the rich among thy people shall entreat thy face. The king's
daughter is all glorious, within her clothing is wrought of gold.
The daughter of Tyre here is a picture of the Lord's elect
among the Gentile nations. Remember, he has a people of
every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. They
shall be called out and will give themselves to the Lord,
wholeheartedly commit themselves unto the Lord. We've studied
through the gospels and how many times has the Lord crossed the
path of those who were Gentiles. The Gentile woman of Canaan with
a sick daughter, the woman at the well of Samaria, Lydia, city
of Thyatira, the Lord crossed their path with the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Crossed their path. The daughter
of Tyre, even the rich among The people shall entreat thy
face. When he says, seek ye my face,
thy people say, thy face will I seek, Lord. His grace is able
even to conquer them that are rich or wealthy in this world.
Anyone richer than Solomon? Yeah, he sought the face of the
Lord, didn't he? Blessed is that sinner who knows what he has
is the gift of God and that his earthly riches are not his hope
but he knows that true and eternal riches are in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's made us heirs of God and joint heirs with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Would you rather have the money
of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, or be made an heir of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ? What they have is gonna perish.
The gold they have is gonna perish. The gold we have in Christ, it'll
never perish. Never perish. He made us rich.
For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you through
his poverty might be really made rich. Rich in righteousness. Rich in all things. Rich in salvation. Look at verse 13. The king's
daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing, again, is wrought
of gold. The true beauty every believer
has is not an outward beauty, but an inward beauty. The Lord told Samuel, don't look
on the outward appearance, the Lord looks on the heart. All
glorious within, Christ in you is the hope of glory. Christ
in you, that's how we're glorious within. It's because of Christ,
Christ in us. Only the best is reserved for
every believer, the best material, the best workmanship. Her clothing
is wrought out with his blood. Wrought out with his blood, worked
out with his blood. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. Paul said, we're confident of
this thing. God who has begun a good work
in you, he'll finish it, he'll perform it, he'll perfect it.
Look at verse 14. She shall be brought unto the
king in arraignment of needlework. Keep talking about this clothing,
doesn't it? She shall be brought. He brings
us. The virgin, her companions that
follow her shall be brought unto the king. Brought unto the king. We're brought unto the king of
kings in the finest array of his grace, the raiment of needlework,
of his doing, his obedience. The virgins or the servants of
the Lord, true servants of the church, or the true church, the
true church shall be brought and shall enjoy this eternal
unbroken fellowship and union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
it uses that word brought twice. Brought. No man can come to me
except the Father which sent me. Draw him. Christ suffered
once for our sins, just for the unjust that he might bring us
unto God. Fetching grace, isn't it? She
shall be brought in the finest needlework of His
grace, His mercy, His love. and the virgins, her companions
that follow her, shall be brought unto thee. Salvation's in thee. Verse 15. With gladness and rejoicing. Here he uses that word again,
brought. We come with gladness and we come with rejoicing. He
draws us irresistibly by his grace. How does he do that? He
makes himself irresistible. With gladness and rejoicing they
shall be brought. They shall, not maybe, they shall
enter into the king's palace. They shall. They're brought and
they shall. I like that, don't you? Salvation
is not being brought to the church, covenant. Salvation is not being
brought to the front of the church. Salvation is being brought by
the power and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we're
brought like the prodigal son that came back to the father's
house, and you remember what the father said, the son, prodigal
son, confessed that he sinned against God. And the father said,
bring the best robe and put it on him. We're going to have a
banquet. Verse 15, with gladness and rejoicing,
shall they be brought into the king's palace. Brought by grace,
they shall enter into eternal glory. Being brought by Christ,
what joy to enter into everlasting glory in that celestial city
whose builder and maker is God. Think of this, what joy of abiding
with the Lord Jesus Christ forever. That's glory, that's glory for
me. We read in 1 Thessalonians, when the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and
the trump of God. With the trump of God and the
dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the cloud to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.
We shall be ever with the Lord. Verse 16 and 17 in closing. Instead of thy fathers shall
be thy children. whom thou mayest make princes
in the earth. Now that verse is a little bit
hard to get a hold of. Instead of thy fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob shall be the children of this day. God has
never left himself without a witness. One old preacher of the past
said this on that verse. The ancient saints who stood
as fathers in the service of the great king have all passed
away. but a spiritual seed is found
to fill their places. The veterans depart, the old
saints depart, but volunteers fill up the vacant places. The
line of grace never becomes extinct. As long as time shall last, true
believer shall be found among all nations. God has never left
himself without a witness. He makes sinners into princes
and saints and servants, They are made kings and priests unto
our God. And we do enter into the king's
palace. Notice verse 16, whom thou mayest
make princes. We're queens, we're princes.
You see how the Lord describes His people. We sing unto Him
who loved us, washed us from our sin in His own blood. He
made us kings and priests unto our God. You remember Revelation
1, verse 5 and 6. I will make thy name to be remembered
in all generations. He'd given us the Lord's table.
He said, this due in what? Remembrance of me. I'll make
thy name. God has given him a name above
every name. At that name, every knee will
bow, every tongue will confess. I will make thy name to be remembered.
Unto us a child is born, a son is given. His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Therefore shall thee people Praise
thee forever and ever. No end. It starts here, but it
will never have an end. We'll praise him forever and
ever and ever. The last verse in the book of
Psalms, let me read it to you. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. What we're here to do, worship
Him and to praise the Lord now and forever, forever and ever. Amen.