Back to Psalm 72 for just a few
minutes. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said in verse eight. He shall have dominion. Talking about our Lord Jesus
Christ. He shall have dominion because
he does have dominion. He shall have dominion from sea
to sea. That means from everlasting to
everlasting. From the river to the ends of
the earth. God rules and reigns everywhere. He does according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
Believers have been taught that same lesson that Nebuchadnezzar
learned of God, that Christ reigns and rules over all things. He reigns and rules over all
things. You remember when we studied
through the Revelation how many times it says and talked about
the throne of God, the throne of the Lamb? Do you know how
many times in the book of Revelation the throne is mentioned? 31 times. 31 times. And the Lamb of God
is mentioned 27 times. It's always the Lamb upon the
throne. The Lord Jesus Christ is our lamb who rules and reigns
over all things. When he by himself purged our
sin, you remember, he sat down. He sat down on the throne of
the majesty in the heavens. He's our mediator. He ever lives
right now to intercede for us. And his dominion is an everlasting
dominion which shall not pass away. And his kingdom shall never
be destroyed. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom. We've been reading that statement,
haven't we, in the book of Matthew, the kingdom of heaven is like?
Well, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. It shall never be diminished. It shall never end because our
God is eternal. Now, it says in the title in
Psalm 72, a song or a psalm for Solomon and David when he when
he had this, no doubt he had Solomon in mind, but I think
much more it speaks of the greater Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ. Or certainly Solomon's reign
wasn't forever and ever. I think Solomon reigned 40 years,
David reigned 40 years, but the Lord Jesus Christ, he always has reigned, sovereignly
over all things, and he always will. It's a glowing description, Psalm
72, as all scripture is, about the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
verse 17 in Psalm 72. His name shall endure forever. His name shall continue as long
as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him. And all nations
shall call him blessed. So he is the everlasting God,
our Savior. Now let's come back to verse
1. Give the king thy judgment or thy decrees, O God, and thy
righteousness. What did Solomon need? He needed
righteousness. What did David need? David needed
righteousness. What does the believer need?
Christ, our righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ has by
his glorious person as God, God the Son, all power and right
to judge and his righteousness is very high. Remember, look
just across the page. Psalm 71 verse 19, you remember
this from last week. Thy righteousness also, O God,
is very high, who has done great things. O God, who is like unto
thee? There's none like our God. So
the Lord Jesus Christ as God the Son, he has all dominion,
he has all power. But this is also referring to
him as the God-man mediator, who as the man Christ Jesus has
the spirit of God without measure. It's talking about His office
as our mediator to intercede for us and to accomplish our
salvation. And as the mediator, the Lord
Jesus Christ has all power in heaven and earth, decreed and
given to Him in that covenant of grace to save His people from
their sin. Call His name Jesus. He shall,
He shall. I love that word, don't you?
He shall save His people, not maybe or could be, or if you
will, He will. No, He shall save His people
from all their sin. The Father has given Him power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given to Him in that covenant of grace. who
by his perfect obedience worked out for us a perfect justifying
righteousness that's provided for his people in the gospel. You remember, we saw that so
clearly last week. Look at verse two in Psalm 71. He talked about the righteousness,
the righteousness that we have in Christ. Deliver me in thy
righteousness, Psalm 71. Verse two, deliver me in Christ.
He is the Lord, our righteousness. Again, you remember down in verse
16, Psalm 71. I will go in the strength of
the Lord. I will make mention of thy righteousness, thine only. The believer enjoys the righteousness
of God in Christ. Look at verse 24 of Psalm 71. My tongue also shall talk of
thy righteousness all the day, all the day long. For they are
confounded, they are brought unto shame that seek my hurt."
We can talk about the righteousness of God revealed in the Lord Jesus
Christ all day long. He is the Lord, our righteousness. He's made unto us righteousness. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
imputeth righteousness without works. Now something about this
righteousness, it is not a good statement to say that we're trusting
the imputed, we're trusting imputed righteousness. That's not a good
statement. We're trusting Christ who imputed
righteousness unto us. And there's a difference. It's
like saying we're trusting the sovereignty of God. No, we're
trusting God who is sovereign. You see what I'm saying? We're
trusting God who is sovereign. So we're trusting Christ who
is our righteousness before God. Now look at verse two, he shall
judge thy people. Now, who are these people? They
are sinners chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. We call that the Bible doctrine of election. It's clearly
taught in the word of God, the elect, election, the elected,
Over 25 times we read about God choosing a people unto salvation. Had God not chosen us, no one
would ever be saved. Had God not chosen a people and
predestinated them to be just like Christ, no one would be
saved. We're so sinful and so depraved, but the Lord Jesus
Christ came and he justified us with his own blood. He shall
justify thy people. He shall justify thy people,
and he shall do so with righteousness." With righteousness. That's righteousness
that's been performed in Christ Jesus. That's what the Apostle
Paul said, I count all things done, ruined, that I may win
Christ and be found in him who is all our righteousness before
God. He shall justify thy people with
righteousness. He not only put away our sin
by the sacrifice of himself, but also established a justifying
righteousness for us. honoring unto God. You remember,
I like that scripture, Isaiah 42 verse 21. What is that? Isaiah 42, 21, the Lord Jesus
Christ shall magnify the law and make it honorable. He should
be well pleased with his righteousness. He magnifies the law of God for
us. And in doing that, establish
the righteousness, satisfy the precept of the law, satisfy the
penalty of the law. He shall justify thy people with
righteousness. And the poor, we are poor and
needy. You remember when we studied
Matthew, what is it? Matthew chapter five, we're talking
about blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom
of God. It's a blessed place to be to
take your place as a mercy beggar, as a poor, bankrupt sinner before
the throne of Almighty God. He's going to save every bankrupt,
needy sinner. He came to save what? Sinners, didn't he? That's what
I am. Look at verse 3. The mountains shall bring peace. Now I love to look at mountains.
I love to look at mountains. The Appalachian Mountains. Of
course, I'm partial to the Rocky Mountains because I grew up in
the Rocky Mountains. I just love to go in what they
call the Jackson Hole, Wyoming area and look at the Teton Mountains.
They're just, they're just, it just takes your breath away.
They're just, but those mountains, don't bring lasting comfort or
peace, do they? The mountains of His grace, the
mountains of His love, the mountains of His mercy, they shall bring
peace. They shall bring peace. And the
little hills, the little hills by righteousness, the little
hills, little hills of of his providential
dealings with us, the little hills that bring us. Let me read
this to you, Isaiah 32, the work of righteousness shall be peace
and effective righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. I like the big mountains and
I like the little hills too. I like the rolling hills of the
open valleys in Virginia and different places. And the Lord, by His good providence,
through the mountains and the little hills, brings us peace
and righteousness. We have peace and righteousness
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 4. He shall judge. Does He have
a right to judge? Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? God's going to judge all people
by Jesus Christ. He shall judge the people, He
shall judge the poor of the people, and He shall save them. He shall
judge them and save them. Now where did God judge our sin? Where did judgment take place
upon our sin? At the cross. Christ crucified. Our sin was judged in Him. Therefore, there is no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall judge
or justify. He shall judge the poor of the
people. That's again, that's His covenant
children. He shall save. He shall justify. He shall save. He shall save
them. How are we saved? I know one
way we're not saved. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. We're not saved by our works,
right? But we are saved by His. He shall save the children of
the needy. David said in Psalm 40, remember,
I am poor and needy. I'm poor and needy. Yet the Lord
thinks upon me. The Lord thinks upon me. He shall
save his people from their sin. He shall save the children of
the needy and he shall break in pieces the oppressor. The
law of God oppresses us. The law of God says stop your
mouth, you're guilty. How's that gonna be broken? How's
that yoke of the law gonna be broken? He redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us. He shall break in pieces
the oppressor, the law of God and our sin that oppresses us.
We can't do anything about it. But the Lord Jesus Christ broke
that dominion, didn't he? He broke that dominion. They
shall, verse five, they shall, they shall. Now you think of
what he's done for us, he's justified us, he's given us peace, he saved
us, he's broken the yoke of the bondage of the law, he's broken
it in pieces. So what shall the people do?
They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout
all generations. The people of God, I have a reverential
fear for God. Holy and reverent is His name.
They shall worship Him. When I see that word fear there
in reference to His people, they worship Him. They reverence Him
and they stand in awe of Him. And they worship Him. He seeketh
such a worship Him in spirit and in truth. And they shall
worship Him as long as the sun and moon endures. Throughout
all generations, his people shall worship him. You remember what
we studied in Revelation chapter five? We talked about the redeemed
in glory, redeemed with the blood of Christ. They sing, what do
they sing? Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive all
honor, glory, power, and blessing, both now and forever. That's
the occupation of heaven, is worship. A continual, can you
imagine? A place that is filled with the
abundance of believers, totally conformed to the image of Christ,
worshiping around the throne of God with no sinful distractions
at all. No more sin, no more pain, no
more death, just perfect worship. Boy, what a day that'll be. What
a day that will be. Now, look at verse 6. He shall
come down. He shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass and showers upon the earth. Now, upon some
people he shall come down and rain judgment. judgment and justice
upon many people. He shall rain down fiery judgment
against his enemies, but he rains down upon his people a gentle
falling rain that sweetly refreshes our soul. He shall come down
as rain upon the mown grass. His coming into our heart is
as welcome as the rain to a parched ground, to parched ground. You
remember Psalm, or rather Proverbs 25, 25, as cold water to a thirsty
soul, so was good news from a far country. The Lord Jesus Christ
did come down, didn't he? In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them. He did come down and He did accomplish
our salvation. And He sends the rain, and the
rain here is talking about the rain of His grace, talking about
the rain of His doctrine falling as dew upon the grass, and showers
that water the earth. The Gospels, like Fresh, clear,
free running water. We must have water. No wonder
he's called the water of life. The bread of life. Look at verse
7 now. In his days shall righteousness
flourish. It shall flourish. Pleasure of
the Lord, you remember Isaiah 53, the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. In his day shall righteousness
flourish. In his day, when he came to accomplish
our salvation, having accomplished salvation, righteousness and
peace and justice shall flourish. Everything he does, he does in
an abundant way. Look at the next part of verse
seven, abundance of peace. Righteousness shall flourish
and we have the abundance of peace. Peace, we have. Now think about this. How can
guilty sinners satisfy a holy God? We often hear people in
religion say, I'm trying to make peace with God. That's impossible. You can't make peace with God.
The only way peace is made with God is with the blood of Christ.
The blood of Jesus Christ accomplished that peace for us. He has reconciled
us unto God. We're reconciled in him. He brought
in everlasting peace. He brought in everlasting righteousness. And it's in abundance. We have,
you remember Psalm, what is it? Psalm 130, where it talks about
he's plenteous in redemption. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. In his days, in his time,
gospel days, shall righteousness flourish. Flourishes. An abundance of peace. It will
endure. It will endure forever. Now look
at verse eight. He shall have dominion. That means our God is God. That means that our God reigns
everywhere. That His dominion, because God
is almighty, because God is everywhere present, omnipotent, everywhere
present, omniscient, He knows all things, He shall have dominion
everywhere. There is no place in this universe,
upon this earth, in this state, in this city, or anywhere else
that he does not have complete, total, control, dominion. Aren't you glad he's in control?
A lot of these tin horn dictators, they think they're in control. They're not in control. They
think they are just like Nebuchadnezzar thought he was. Remember he bragged
This great kingdom that I have made, God put him out in the
field like a wild animal. And then God taught him that
his dominion is forever. He reigns forever. That's what
God teaches us when he saves us. That God is God. That we are nothing. And His dominion, His sovereign
rule, His sovereign reign is over all things, everywhere.
Everywhere He reigns. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. Absolute, universal, sovereign
dominion. He rules and reigns everywhere. Over everyone, over everything. The things that take place in
time are only the things that He has decreed from all eternity.
And He brings them to pass in time. And everything that happens
in time serves His purpose. Everything serves His purpose.
Good example of that. In Acts chapter 4, it talks about
Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Jews and the Gentiles were
all gathered together against the Lord's Christ. You remember?
To do according to His eternal purpose and will. He shall have
dominion from sea to sea. Look at verse 9. They that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him. and his enemies shall lick the
dust. You remember over here in, let
me read it to you, Psalm 110, where it says, the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou at thy right hand, till I make thine
enemies thy footstool. They that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow. You remember Philippians chapter
two, where it says, God has highly exalted him, given him a name
which is above every name, that at that name, every knee, or
what? Bow. Every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. Do you reckon he can make every
enemy bow to his sovereign rule and reign? Absolutely. Aren't you glad he made us to
bow now? Even the kings of Tarshish and of the Isle shall bring presents. And the kings of Sheba, they'll
offer gifts. Yea, all kings, all kings shall
fall down before him, and all nations shall serve him. There is not a king, there is
not a prince, there is not a potentate, a dictator, All kings shall bow
before Him, and all nations will serve His purpose. All nations shall serve His purpose,
serve His end. Look at verse 12. He shall deliver. It gets right back on that subject
of salvation. He shall. Salvation is what He
shall do for us. He shall deliver the needy, Remember
he said he didn't come, you remember from studying Matthew 9 where
it said he didn't come to call the righteous, sinners to repentance? The Lord Jesus Christ, this is
the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, the Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief one.
He shall deliver the needy. When he crieth, Lord have mercy
upon me, the Lord never turned a mercy beggar away. You can't
find that in the word of God. Every mercy beggar that cried
for mercy, the Lord healed him, the Lord saved him. The poor
also in him that hath no helper, he is our helper. Turn back one
page, Psalm 70. Look back to Psalm 70 verse 4,
let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.
Let such as love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified,
but I am poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Thou
art my help, my deliverer. O Lord, make no tearing for me. He's my help and he's my deliverer. There's an old religious saying,
some of you have probably heard this saying, there's an old religious
saying that goes like this, God helps those that help themselves.
That's not true. God helps those who cannot help
themselves. I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord
thinks upon me. God helps and saves and justifies
and redeems those that are lost, that are helpless, that are hopeless. Now look at verse 14. Psalm 72
verse 14. Well, verse 13, let's go back
there. He shall spare the poor and needy and shall save the
souls of the needy. I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord
thinketh upon me. He shall spare them. You know
why he shall spare them? Why shall he spare them? Because
he spared not his own son, you remember? Romans, what is that? Romans 8, 32. He spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? He shall spare us
because he did not spare his son. He spent the wrath of God
upon his son, thereby justifying us. He shall spare the poor and
needy. He shall save the souls. Look at verse 14. He shall redeem
their soul. We are redeemed. We are redeemed. That means we're
bought. We're redeemed with what? With
what? We're not redeemed with silver
and gold, right? We're not redeemed with religious
tradition. We're not redeemed by ceremony
and pomp and church circumstance. We're redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ, right? And whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of
his grace. He shall redeem their soul from deceit. Hypocrisy. We are by nature deceitful. Our heart is described in Jeremiah
17 as deceitful and desperately wicked. He saves us from that. He shall redeem their soul from
deceit and violence. Precious, verse 14. Precious
shall their blood be in His sight. And the reference there, you
see it, Psalm 116, 15. Precious in His sight is the death. The
death of His saints is precious in His sight. Precious shall
their blood be in His sight. Look at verse 15, he shall live
and to him shall be given the gold because we're precious in
his sight. We live by his decree and his
grace and he shall give us the gold, the gold of precious promises. He's blessed us with all precious
promises in Christ. He shall live and he shall be
given the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made for
him continually or for him continually. The Lord ever lived to intercede
for us and daily, daily, we shall praise the Lord. That's referring
to our praise and worship toward him. And it could be considered
this way, too. Christ shall live forever. Prayer
is made unto Him continually, and daily shall He be praised.
Look at verse 16. There shall be a handful, a handful
of corn in the earth. What can the Lord do with a handful
of corn? Well, if it's planted by Him,
it shall flourish, right? There shall be handful of corn
upon the earth, upon the top of the mountains. The fruit thereof
shall shake like Lebanon. Lebanon was known as a fruitful
country, all those cedar trees. And they of the city shall flourish
like grass of the earth. Here's just a handful of corn,
except the corn and wheat fall into the ground and die. It abides
alone, but if it dies, it brings forth what? Much fruit. Talking
about the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. There shall be
a handful of corn, but it shall flourish, it shall be fruitful,
and it shall flourish like grass. You reckon you can count the
blades of grass in your yard? Here's what I see in this. Remember
that little mustard seed? That little mustard seed that
was sown and became a great tree? The beginning of the Lord's church
in His day upon the earth started with calling twelve apostles. And one of them betrayed the
Lord. And then on the day of Pentecost, after the Lord's resurrection
on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached that one sermon, one
sermon, and God saved 3,000 sinners, 3,000. And then a few days later,
they preached the gospel again, and God added 5,000. You see,
it started to flourish like grass. And then when we get to the end
in the Revelation, where it talks about, He redeemed a people out
of every kindred, tribe, nation, tongue, under heaven, and the
number of them is 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. You see how this flourishes like
grass? You see, everything God does
flourishes, it prospers, and it shall be in abundance. Verse
17, His name God has given him a name above
every name. His name, no other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. His name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father. His name shall endure. His name shall be continued as
long as His Son. And men shall be blessed in Him. There's no spiritual blessing
outside of Christ. Men shall be blessed in Him. Now that's the key, is in Him. If you read Ephesians chapter
1, it's always in Him, blessed in Him, redeemed in Him, chosen
in Him, sanctified in Him. He shall be blessed. His people
shall endure, His name shall endure, and His people shall
be blessed in Him, and nations shall call Him blessed. He is
the blessed potentate. He is the blessed God, our Savior. Blessed be the Lord, verse 18.
Blessed be the Lord God, the Lord God of Israel, who only,
who only doeth wondrous things. Wondrous things that He does.
Look across the page, Psalm 71. Verse 17, O God, thou hast taught
me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous
works. His name is wonderful, and everything
he does is wondrous. It is wonderful, isn't it? Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth, doeth, doeth, doeth,
doeth wondrous things. Verse 19, blessed be his glorious
name. As David said in another psalm,
bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless
His holy name. Blessed be His glorious name
forever. And let the whole earth, let
the whole earth be filled with His glory. His glory. The bottom line in the gospel
is what? What is the grand design of redemption? His glory. His glory. His glory. All to the praise
of the glory of His grace. And then it says a double Amen,
Amen. A double Amen, Amen. Of Him and through Him and to
Him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. So be it. So be it. Amen. And then it says the prayers
of David The prayers of David are ended. And this is a prayer of David,
praising the Lord for his grace and his salvation. And the prayer
that David prayed here, this was the end of what he had written
out. But we know that David wrote
other Psalms, and David, as long as he lived, continued to praise
the Lord and to pray unto him. But the thought I had about this
was David was a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
call him the greater David, God's King. But his prayers for us
never end because he ever lives to make intercession for us. He is forever and ever and ever. He's our advocate. He ever lives
an advocate for us. He's our mediator. He's our intercessor. And they never end.