Psalm 110. Psalm 110. I'm entitling the message from
this blessed, blessed Psalm. Psalm 110. Christ the King-Priest. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the King-Priest. The Lord has sworn, verse 4,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So
He is the King-Priest. And He is King, He rules over
all things as He is enthroned. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of the throne and the majesty
in the heavens because He finished the work of redemption for us.
Those Old Testament priests never sat down. There wasn't one chair
in that tabernacle. All the pieces of furniture in
there was no chair. They never sat down in there.
Oh, when they came out, they rested. But the Lord Jesus Christ
entered into heaven itself and he sat down because he accomplished
everything. He said, I finished the work
you gave me to do. You remember he prayed that in
John chapter 17. Now this psalm is a clear revelation
of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. His person
as our God. He is the Lord, the Lord our
God. He is the King. His office we
see as the great high priest for us. He is the king priest. I love that verse in Hebrew chapter
4. Seeing we have such a great high
priest who is passed into the heavens, let us hold fast our
profession without wavering. He is our king and he is our
king priest. We have such a great, great high
priest. And then he's our one mediator,
isn't he? Well, I need a mediator, don't
you? There's one mediator between God and sinners, and that is
our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that one mediator. Now
this psalm, the psalms are often quoted in the New Testament,
but this particular psalm, 110, is quoted more than any other
psalm in the New Testament. This one particular psalm. It's
quoted at least eight times. It's quoted four times in the
book of Hebrews, four times. No wonder both the Old Testament
and New Testament are about the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
Acts chapter 10, to him give all the prophets witness. All
the prophets give witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, his person
and his work. Our risen Lord said to his apostles,
And Luke 24, these are the words which I have spake unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
are written in the law of Moses, Moses wrote of him, and in the
prophets and in the Psalms concerning Christ. It's all about the Lord
Jesus Christ. This book is the hymn book of
the church. H-I-M. It's all about hymn. All about hymn. Now we know from
studying the scripture, no person in the Old Testament held the
office as prophet, priest, and king. David was a king, but he
wasn't a priest. Some of those kings thought they
could act as a priest and God killed them, so no man in the
Old Testament under the law held all three offices. But we know
the Lord Jesus Christ, he fulfilled both prophet, priest, and king,
and he is prophet, priest, and king. There were many kings like
David and others, but they were not priests. There were many
priests like Aaron, but Aaron wasn't a king, was he? The tribe
of Levi wasn't a kingly tribe. The kingly tribe was what? Judah. He's a lion of a tribe of Judah. Only the Lord Jesus Christ is
prophet, priest, and king. He's prophet, priest, and king
in one person. He is our Savior. He is our God.
He's the surety of the everlasting covenant. I've given this to
you before, but it bears repeating, doesn't it? Christ is that prophet
who reveals God to our heart. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto us. He is that priest
that does what? He represents us to God. He reconciles
us unto God. He obtained for us eternal redemption
for us with his own blood. So a prophet to reveal God to
us, a priest to represent us unto God, and he's the king. He's our king. What does the
king do? He reigns. He reigns over us. You see that in verse 2. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of his
enemies. And the Lord does rule and reign
over all things. In Psalm 2 we read about the
king, he said, I've set my king upon my holy hill's iron. We
don't make Jesus Christ our king, we don't make him Lord, we bow
to him as Lord, and we acknowledge that he is our sovereign God.
Now look at verse 1, the Lord said, the Lord said, notice that
capital L-O-R-D, all capital. Whenever you see that, In the
book of Psalms and other places in the Old Testament, it's referring
to God the Father, the eternal Jehovah God. The Lord said unto
David here, He said, He's my Lord. The Lord Jehovah said to
my Lord. Talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, that's His hope of salvation. The Lord said to my Lord, sit
at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot. So here's
the conversation. We see the eternal Godhead talking
about the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ through His bloody
death and suffering, delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. What an amazing statement. God
the Father speak to God the Son concerning the victories of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember from the book of Hebrews
chapter 1, but under the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
a scepter of thy kingdom. God says to the, thy throne,
O God. Under the sun, he says, thy throne,
O God. It's forever and ever. It's a
scepter. A scepter rules. One who has
a scepter is in charge. It's a scepter of righteousness.
His rule is a rule of righteousness in his kingdom. These are the
words the Lord Jesus Christ Christ quoted to the Pharisees to put
them in silence. You remember he asked them, how
can he be David's, who is the Christ? Well, they said, well,
he's the son of David. And then the Lord asked them
a question they could not answer. How can he be David's son and
at the same time David's Lord? Well, that's a pretty good question. How can he be David's son and
David's savior, David's Lord? How can he be the son of God,
and how can he be the son of man? And he's both. He's a God-man mediator. He's
a son of man born of woman under the law, and he's a son of God. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. He's both God, totally and fully
God, totally and fully man in one person. The old timers called
the Lord Jesus Christ the God-man, and that's what he is. God and
man and one blessed person. And he had to be both. Had to
be both. God could not suffer. Man could
not satisfy. Man alone could not satisfy.
God alone could not suffer. The God-man did both. He suffered
and satisfied. God satisfied his own broken
law, and he did that for us. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God Almighty. Who is the Lord
Jesus Christ? We read that Sunday. He said,
I am my father. We're one. Remember what they
did? They picked up stone to try to
kill him. Now, here we have the privilege
of hearing the conversation within the Godhead between the Holy
Father, the Holy Son, given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Here's what they talk about, the exaltation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Sit at my right hand. Sit at
my right hand. Now, how many times have we seen
that statement in the book of Hebrews? You remember Hebrews
chapter 8 verse 1? Now the thing which we have spoken,
this is the sum We have such a high priest who is set on the
right hand of the throne of God, the majesties in the heaven.
That's the sum of it. We have. We have a great high
priest. We're not looking for a priest
to represent us before God. Now, you might hire the best
attorney over there in town to represent you and advocate for
you before the court in the State of Kentucky, but you can't go
over there and find an advocate that will advocate for you before
the Father's throne. That one advocate is the Lord
Jesus Christ alone, alone. He's at the right hand of God,
and the right hand of God is a special place reserved for
the special priest. He's called the Lamb on the Throne. You remember from our study in
the book of Hebrews, where it talks about and describes the
lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book, remember? When the elder saith unto me,
weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root
of David hath prevailed to open the book, to loose the seven
seals thereof. And I beheld him low in the midst
of the throne, and the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders
stood a lamb that had been slain, having seven horns, seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the
world." The Lord Jesus Christ is a Lamb of God, and He's a
Lion of the tribe of Judah. That's an amazing thing. You
see, it's who He is that gives infinite value and merit to what
he did. God bought the church with his
own blood. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit,
sit down, sit down at my right hand. You finish the work and
I'll make all your enemies to bow before you. No Old Testament
priest, when he was in the tabernacle doing his work, ever sat down
because their work was never finished, never effectual, never
complete. The Lord Jesus Christ, being
our great high priest, having accomplished our salvation, our
redemption, he ascended to glory and he's seated there. The God-man
mediator, that real body of a real man, glorified, risen from the
dead, ascended to glory, wherever that is, and he sat down. He's
sitting right now on that throne, and one day he's going to get
up and come back. One day he's going to come back
for us. He sits as a surety. He sits
as a mediator who's able to save to the uttermost all that come
to God by him. All his enemies will be made
to bow under his lordship until I make thine enemies thy footstool. All enemies will be forced to
surrender and confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now think about this. When we
were born in sin, shaped in iniquity, we were born enemies unto God. But he reconciled us unto God. We read this in Colossians chapter
1 on Sunday morning. And you that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh to death to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight. For that's what he does for his
people, who by nature are enemies to God, the carnal minded enmity
against God. But one day when it's all wound
up, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He must reign
till he hath put all enemies under his foot. Now look at verse
2. And the Lord shall send, the
Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Zion there
is his church, his people, his covenant children. The Lord shall
send the rod of thy strength out of Zion And that rod of strength
out of Zion will rule, has a sovereign rule, and it will rule in the
midst of thine enemies. Out of the gospel Zion, the gospel
church, the Lord will send the rod of His strength. Now what
is that? I believe it's the gospel. I
believe it's the word of the gospel. The gospel message goes
out from the Lord's church, and His church is a place of His
abode. So the rod of His strength is
His word, that's quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. The rod of his strength is the
gospel, that's the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believeth. The rod of his strength is the
power of the gospel in the hands of the Holy Spirit. He sends
his word unto his people, not in word only, but in power. And he convicts us of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment. He convicts us of sin, what we
are, of righteousness, what we need, and of judgment, our sin
being judged in Christ and Him crucified. He shall send the
rod of His strength out of His church. His gospel will rule
in the hearts of His people. He will reconcile us unto Himself. He will make us new creatures
in Christ Jesus, and He will cause us to love Him and believe him. By nature, we
don't love God. No man by nature loves God. We
only love him because he first loved us. His gospel truth is
a rod of strength that quickens dead men to life. You had to
quicken who were dead. It pleased God through the preaching
of the gospel to call out his people. That's why he said to
his church, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. That's the rod of his strength.
It's the rod of his strength that raises dead sinners up and
makes them new creatures in Christ Jesus. Now, is that plan going
to work? Will he conquer his enemies?
Will his enemies be made to bow and confess that he is Lord?
Look at verse 3. Thy people will. Thy people shall
be willing. We willingly confess. Him as
our Lord and Savior, and we do so only in the day of His power.
We only believe the gospel according to the working of His mighty
power. In the beauty of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
thou hast to do of thy youth. Now here's the effect of the
rod of the gospel, the power of the gospel upon His elect.
He makes us willing. He makes us willing. Who are
these people, first of all? Thy people. Who are these people?
All those given to the Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal covenant
of grace. He said, all that the Father
hath given to me, they'll come to me. And those that come to
me, I'll never cast them out. Who are these people? Call his
name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. They're called his elect, chosen
in him. They're called his sheep. He
says, I laid down my life for the sheep. He calls them his
jewels. Thy people, thy people shall
be willing. What are they made to do? They
are made willing to receive him as Lord and Savior. They're made
willing to believe him as all of their salvation. They're made
willing to love the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember he said, no
man can come to me except the Father which sent me. Draw him
and I'll raise him up at the last day. All those who God has
chosen, blessed is that man whom the Lord has chosen and causes
to approach unto him. Blessed is that man, Psalm 65.
Let me read it to you. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts, we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
even thy holy temple." Who are these people? His elect. What
are they made to do? They're made willing to receive
and believe and love the Lord Jesus Christ. What are they made
to see? What do we see? We see His beauty. You see that? We see the beauty
of His holiness. He had no sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. We see the beauty
of His holy character. And we see not only that, but
we see the absolute need of the Lord Jesus Christ to be our holiness,
to be our righteousness before God. Blessed is that man whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness with our works. He is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. In the beauty
of holiness from the womb of the morning, what are we made
to know? Christ has the eternal due of
youth. Remember that song, that special
song, Sunday morning, thou hast the due of youth upon his brow? It comes from this verse right
here. Thou hast the due of youth. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal God, our Savior. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob, you're not consumed. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever. Christ
himself is the dew from heaven. He's a life-giving water, isn't
he? He's a water of life, sparkling,
refreshing, life-giving. He said, if anybody's thirsty,
come unto me and drink. Come unto me and drink, I'll
give you eternal life. Thou hast to do the dew in the
morning, the dew of youth, eternality. Now look at verse four. The Lord
hath sworn, boy, it must be pretty important
for the Lord to take an oath. The Lord has sworn and will not,
He's not going to change His mind. His oath, His covenant
is sure. The Lord has sworn and will not
repent, will not change. And here's what He has sworn
an oath to. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That special
priest, the king priest that we studied about in the book
of Hebrews. extolled and celebrated the virtues
of his office as King and Lord. Now David, by the Holy Spirit,
exalts him in his priestly office. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
great High Priest forever and ever, made by the solemn oath
of God." Don't turn, let me just read it to you. You remember
from Hebrews chapter 6, wherein, Hebrews 6 verse 17, wherein God
more willing more abundantly to show under the airs of promise
the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that
by two immutable things in which was impossible for God to lie,
we might have strong consolation of fled for refuge to lay hold
of the hope set before us which hope we have as an anchor of
a soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus made a high priest after the order of Melchizedek."
God has sworn an oath that Lord Jesus Christ is our priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Now, this Melchizedek, If you
go back and read Genesis chapter 14, he appears one time in scripture
and then he disappears. He's a mysterious character.
Melchizedek is a mysterious character that appears for a brief one
time. He blessed Abraham and then he
disappears. He's a very good picture of the
king priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Some even think, and I'm inclined
to think, some even think that Melchizedek was the pre-incarnate
visit of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Very well could be. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
great high priest forever, not like Aaron. A different and higher
order like that of Melchizedek. The priesthood of the Lord Jesus
Christ is superior and better every way. Christ's priesthood
will never change because the Lord never changes. He said,
I am the Lord. You change not. I change not. Therefore, you are not consumed. Now, don't turn, but let me just
read this to you. You remember from our study in
Hebrews 10, this is familiar to you. And every priest, Hebrews
10 verse 11, every priest standeth daily, offering oftentimes same
sacrifices, which can never take away sin, but this man After
he offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the
right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering hath he perfected forever
them that are sanctified." He is a high priest that God has
provided, and he is a very high priest we need who has somewhat
to offer. What did he offer? Himself for
us. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. There's none like Him, none like
Him before or after, none preceded Him, none will succeed Him. He
came in one time and blessed Abraham, and Christ came and
blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. in
Christ Jesus. Of his fullness have we all received
grace for grace. He's a high priest forever after
this special order, the order of Melchizedek. Now, verse 5,
6, and 7, Verse 5, 6, and 7, it tells us and shows us the
future victories of our Lord Jesus Christ over all opposition. He says, sit at my right hand
till I make thine enemies thy footstool. What's going to happen?
Look at verse 5. The Lord at thy right hand shall
strike through kings in the day of his wrath. Day of judgment's
coming. The day of reckoning is coming.
All opposition shall experience the fierceness of his wrath,
his holy anger. His holy anger, his wrath is
his holy anger stirred into activity, stirred into activity against
sin. The day of his wrath. Who can
bear or who can stand against the day of his wrath? out of
his mouth. Remember we studied in Revelation
19, out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should
smite the nations, he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and
he shall tread the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath
of Almighty God. And he had on a vesture On his
vesture on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
who shall stand before the wrath of the Lamb? Some cried it that
day when the heavens departed as a scroll, when it's rolled
together and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places, and the kings of the earth and great men and rich
men and chief captains and mighty men And every bondman, every
free man, hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains
and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, hide us
from the face of Him that setteth on the throne from the wrath
of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the great day of His wrath
is come. Who can stand? Who can stand? None can stand before that great
day of His wrath. We only stand in Christ who took
the wrath of God for us. Now look at verse 5. The Lord
at thy right hand shall strike through kings in a day of his
wrath. Look at verse 6. He shall judge. Does he have
the right to judge? The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son. He shall judge the heathen. Rightly so, the wages of sin
is death. He shall fill the places with
dead bodies. He said, I, the Lord, I kill,
I make alive, I do all these things. What does sin deserve? Death. Death. And then he shall wound the heads
over many countries. None can stand before him. The wrath of God will consume
them. God has appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men that he raised him
from the dead. Verse 7, he shall drink of the brook in
the way Therefore shall he lift up the head." Now, I read something
interesting today. And I've read this before, but
I had forgotten about it. But on this verse here, there's
many different, the old theologians have many different thoughts
about verse 7. But I thought it interesting
what Robert Hawker brought out. The Lord Jesus Christ came the
first time as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
he shall drink of the brook. Shall drink of the brook. And
Robert Hawker pointed out when the Lord Jesus Christ went into
Gethsemane's garden to pray, father not my will but thy will
be done. When he went across that brook
of Kidron into the garden, Robert Hawker says, that brook flowed
by the temple where all them temple sacrifices were made,
and that river was just a bloody river. And the Lord Jesus Christ
took ours, and that river, picturing our sin, He took our sin unto
Himself. Christ drank the cup of wrath
due unto us for our sin. He prayed in the garden. If it's
your will, let this cup pass from me, but thy will be done."
He took all our sins and our sorrows and made them His very
own. God made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He drank of that brook of our
filthy sin to Himself. It says in Matthew 26, He went
away again the second time, Remember he told them, the disciples,
to stay here while I go yonder and pray. He came back and what
did he find? He found them asleep. And then
he went away the second time and prayed saying, Oh Father,
if this cup may not pass for me except I drink it, thy will
be done. And he took all our sin in that
cup and drank it, made our sin his own. Because he suffered
for our sins, he's coming back as a mighty king. Therefore,
shall he lift up the head. And here we see something of
his resurrection glory. He's lifted up. Lifted up. He shall come the second time
as the almighty conquering king. his head lifted up in victory,
not bowed down in sorrow. He shall drink of the brook of
our sin, and he shall be lifted up. Remember we studied, I believe
it's John chapter 12, he said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw
all unto me, all of his people. And because Christ is victorious,
because he's lifted up, we're lifted up in him. We are more
than conquerors through him that loved us. Thanks be unto God
who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He shall judge, he shall fill, he shall wound, he shall drink
of the cup of God's wrath for us due to our sin, and he shall
lift up his head. Lift up his head. Lift up your
head, O ye gates. You remember Psalm 24? Lift up
your head, O ye gates, lift them up, ye everlasting doors, for
the King of Glory is coming in." Remember? Who is the King of
Glory? Lift up your head, O ye gates,
and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory
shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? He's
the Lord Strong and Mighty, the Lord Mighty in battle. Lift up
your head, though ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Sit at my right
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool." Who is this King
of Glory? He's the Lord of Hosts. He's
the King of Glory. Because He enters in, we enter
in in Him.