Psalm 110. This has to be one
of the highlights in the book of Psalms. Psalm 110, because
it tells us so much about the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is,
as our great High Priest. Not like Aaron, but like Melchizedek. He's a special, special high
priest. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
king priest. He's our king. King of kings
and Lord of lords. And the one who is our God and
savior is our great high priest. Whoever lives the inner seed
for us, he's our advocate. He's our mediator. He's the very
one that we need. He's the very one that God had
given unto us to represent us before God. This Psalm, the Lord said, look
at verse 1. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
And then look at verse 4. The Lord has sworn and will not
repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. This psalm is one of the most
quoted psalms in the New Testament. I found at least seven or eight
different references to this psalm given unto us. It's no wonder that both the
Old and New Testament are all about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. You remember our Lord said, don't
turn, let me just read it to you, in Luke 24. He said, These are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. All the book of God, Old and
New Testament, is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him give
all the prophets witness. No one in the Old Testament served as a king and priest. There were many kings in Israel's
day, David and others, but none of them were priests of God. They never officiated as a priest. There were many anointed priests.
The family of Aaron, tribe of Levi, that was a whole priestly
tribe. There were many, many priests,
year after year after year. But none of them were kings. Only the Lord Jesus Christ is
both priest and king. He's a very special, special
king. And he's also not only priest
and king, but he's a prophet. Prophet, priest, and king. He's
the fulfillment of Moses' office. He's the fulfillment of Aaron's
office. And he's certainly the fulfillment of David's office. He's the greater David. The greater David, as I often
call him when we Ten years, eleven years ago when we went through
the book of Psalms, remember I called the Lord Jesus Christ
the greater David. You remember that? The greater
David. And He is. He's that prophet
to reveal the gospel unto us. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto us. He's the priest
who represents us before God. What a representative we have.
We have what we call state representatives who represent us in that legislative
body. And we have senators and congressmen
that represent us. They're supposed to. Our interest in the capital, in the United
States government. And they have an office to represent
us, But the Lord Jesus Christ represents us in the highest
court, and He represents us well. He sees that our interests and
meets every need we have as our advocate, mediator, and intercessor. Aren't you glad you have such
a representative as the Lord Jesus Christ? The prophet reveals,
a priest redeems. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
fit Redeemer, is He not? He's our kinsman Redeemer. And
then, the Lord Jesus Christ is also our King to reign and rule
over us. In the Revelations, He's called
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now, let's look at verse 1. The
Lord said, now notice that's capital L-O-R-D. Whenever you
see that in scripture, it's referring to Jehovah, God the Father, eternal,
self-existent, holy, sovereign, eternal God said unto my Lord. Remember David said, the Lord
is my shepherd. Here's the father having a conversation
with the son, and the father says to his only begotten son,
you sit at my right hand. You remember when he by himself
purged our sin? What happened? He sat down on
the right hand of the throne of God. You sit down at my right
hand until I make all your enemies to bow at your throne, at your
footstool. You reckon that'll happen? It
absolutely will. Every knee will bow. Every tongue
will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God
the Father. God the Father speaking unto
God the Son concerning the victories that the Lord will win for us.
In Hebrews 1, but unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God.
There's the Father calling the Son. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
a scepter of thy kingdom. These words the Lord Jesus quoted
to the Pharisees to silence them, we read a moment ago, how can
he be David's son at the same time David's Lord? Because he
is God our Savior. He is the only begotten well-beloved
son of God. God said this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased and yet he's a son of man. born of
a woman, born under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. He is a special, unique, and only person because he is
totally and fully God, totally and fully man, talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's totally God, totally man, in
one blessed person. The old-timers called him the
God-Man Mediator. The God-Man Mediator. I like
that. One God, one Mediator between
God and man, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word was
made flesh. The Word that was with God, that
was God, and that Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Here we have the privilege of
hearing the conversation between the Holy Father, the Holy Son,
given by God the Holy Spirit. David by the Holy Spirit says
this. So those Psalms that David penned
are the words that God the Holy Spirit gave him to write down. Sit at my right hand, he said,
until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The right hand of
God has to be a special place reserved for the only begotten
Son of God, that special priest of God. He is the Lamb on the
throne. We're going to study on Sunday
From Revelation 5, he is the lamb slain, but he's also the
lion of the tribe of Judah. He's a lion, and he's a lamb. This is the one who is God, our
Savior. No Old Testament priest ever
sat down, and yet God says to the Lord Jesus Christ, having
accomplished all our salvation, he said, sit down. Your work
is done. It's finished, successful, complete,
effectual. The Lord Jesus Christ, being
our great high priest, having accomplished all our salvation,
He sat down in absolute victory. No Old Testament priest, when
you look at the different furniture in that tabernacle, there was
no chair in there. No chair, no place for them to
sit down. They went in, they were doing all the priestly work,
but they never sat down. The Lord Jesus Christ, not in
the earthly tabernacle, but in heaven itself, sat down because
of work the Father gave Him to do. You remember, He prayed that,
Lord, I finished the work. I finished the work. you gave
me to do. He's the successful, victorious,
effectual Savior. He's the surety of the everlasting
covenant. He's the better. The better priest,
surety of a better covenant, based upon a better sacrifice.
What is that better sacrifice? Well, not the blood of bulls
and goats, but with His own blood, He obtained for us eternal redemption. Now notice it says there, until
I make thine enemies thy footstool. Make them to bow. All his enemies
will be made to bow under his lordship. All his enemies will
be forced to surrender and confess that he is Lord. That's what
he does to us right now by the way of grace because by nature
what are we before God? enemies But because the Lord
Jesus Christ has reconciled us unto God By his blood therefore
he calls us his friends Listen to this for it pleased the father
that in him should all fullness dwell Have they made peace to
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven and you that were sometimes alienated enemies in your mind
by wicked work, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of
his flesh to death to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in his sight." Boy, what a great high priest we have. He's made
us, who are by nature enemies because of our sin, because of
our wicked nature, Let me read this to you, 1 Corinthians 15,
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall be made alive. Then every man in his own order,
Christ the first fruit, afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming, Then come at the end when he shall deliver up the
kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall put down all rule,
all authority, all power, for he must reign," 1 Corinthians
15, 25, "...he must reign till he puts all enemies under his
feet." all enemies, He subdues all His enemies. Now, He subdues
us in a way of grace, but we're going to see here in a minute
that He's going to strike through the kings of the earth in a day
of His wrath, a day of His judgment and condemnation. Now, look at
verse 2. Psalm 110 verse 2, The Lord shall
send The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength. The rod. The rod of the gospel out of
Zion. And that's what he's talking
about. And this rod of thy strength, the rod of the strength of the
gospel that comes out of Zion. Zion is his church. Zion is his
people. Chosen of God. Blessed of God.
Sent to preach the gospel of God. And that gospel of God that
he sends out, it'll rule It rules in the hearts of His enemies.
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, by its strength and power,
does subdue us and causes us to bow in submission to His Lordship. That's how he makes us willing
in a day of his power. How does he make us willing in
a day of his power? He makes himself unto us all
together lovely. And we say we must have him. He gives us a love for him. We
only love him because he first loved us. Out of Zion, out of
God's gospel church, he will send the rod of his word. You
remember the word of God is called quick and powerful, sharper than
any two-edged sword. We know his gospel, Paul describes
it, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believed, to the Jew or Gentile, doesn't
matter. Doesn't matter nationality, the gospel is the power of God.
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God converting
enemies, calls them friends. Abraham was called a friend of
God. And the gospel comes to us in
the power of God the Holy Spirit, doesn't it? You remember from
our study in 1 Thessalonians, where Paul said, well, we know
your elections of God, because our gospel came not to you in
word only. Well, they did come that way. They heard Paul preach the gospel.
But it came in the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And it quickens,
it makes alive, it convicts of sin, and it converts us by His
grace. His gospel will rule in the hearts
of His people. He will reconcile us unto himself,
he will make us new creatures in Christ, and he'll cause us
to love him. He'll cause us to believe the
gospel. Who would have ever thought that
a rebel like me would one day be brought to bow in submission
And the Lord would teach me the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His saving grace, and send this old rotten sinner out to tell
others. Rotten sinners were salvation
found. It's a miracle. And that's what
the Lord uses. It pleased God through preaching
to call out His people. Aren't you glad that God sent
you a gospel preacher? I sure am. I sure am glad God
sent me a gospel preacher, and God sent you a gospel preacher,
and that's how you heard the gospel, that's how you learned
the gospel, that's how God taught you who He is, who you are, and
what Christ has done for us, and where He is now. Now look
at verse 3, and I quote this verse quite often, verse 3, and
it certainly is a verse that we need to memorize, look at
and meditate upon thy people." Now, it doesn't say all people.
Now, here he's talking about the subduing grace of God given
to a certain people, thy people. Who are these people? Well, they're
His. Where did the Lord Jesus Christ get these people? God
had from the beginning chosen you to salvation. God gave the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said in John 6, 37, All that
the Father giveth me, they will come to me. We call that, what
do we call that? The Bible doctrine of election.
God, from eternity, chose a people and gave them to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He made the Lord Jesus Christ
their servant, their Redeemer, their Savior, and they cannot
be lost. You read on there in John chapter
6, he says, all that he gives me, I'll never cast them out.
I'll raise everyone up at the last day. No one for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ died will perish. There's no one in hell for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ died. Is there? If he put away their
sin and established righteousness for them, God's wrath has no
claim on them. The law of God has no claim on
them. There's no condemnation to those who are in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thy people, who are these people? Oh, they're sinners chosen by
the grace of God. Who made you to differ from another?
His grace has made us to differ. Thy people shall be willing. Willing to what? willing to believe,
willing to serve the Lord Jesus Christ out of love and gratitude.
We're willing, made willing in the day of His power. He causes
us, by His grace, to submit unto His Lordship. What are they made
to do? They're made to willingly receive,
believe, and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Psalm 65, Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest, and causes to approach unto thee,
Our Lord said, no man can come to me except the Father which
sent me draw him. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of their power. What are they made to see? They're
made to see the beauty of holiness. They're made to see that the
Lord Jesus Christ, he's beautiful. That crowd said that day when
Pilate presented the Lord Jesus Christ, they said, away with
him. Away, we don't need him. When we see Him, you remember
Isaiah 53, there's no beauty in Him that we should desire
Him. But when He does a work of grace in our heart, we remain
willing in the day of His power. We see Him who is altogether
beautiful. He's a wonderful counselor, the
mighty God, the everlasting Father. That's how the eyes of faith
behold the Lord Jesus Christ as altogether lovely. Do you
who believe He is precious? We see His holy character, and
we see the absolute need of His righteousness. His righteousness. Jehovah Sidkenu, He's the Lord,
our righteousness. I've got an article in the Bulletin
on Sunday about the sevenfold names of Jehovah. You remember
Jehovah Sidkenu, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Shalom,
and so on. He is the Lord our righteousness. I need righteousness. I'm in absolute need of two things. I need all my sin put away. Our
sin put away. Certainly not by anything we
do. What we do or don't do. Our sin is not redeemed or atoned
for by what we do. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. We're redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. So I need my sin removed. He
did that. But I also need righteousness
imputed. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is my righteousness before God. He's made to us righteousness.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without
works. We have as believers an absolute,
perfect, justifying, righteousness, holiness before God that's put
to your account. What's involved there? I'll give you a simple, homely
illustration. All of you have a debit card
or a credit card, no doubt. And when you take that debit
card or credit card and you use it somewhere, They impute that
charge to your account, and you're responsible to pay that debt.
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ took all of our sin, imputed it to
Him, and He fully paid that debt. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He puts His righteousness on
our account. He takes all of our sin to Himself,
and then gives us all His righteousness. Well, that's grace, isn't it?
That's the sovereign grace of God. You see what He's saying
there? Look at verse 3 again. "...Thy people shall be willing..."
Willing. in the day of His power. You
remember John 17, verse 2. The Father had given Him power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father had given to Him. That's those people again we're
talking about. Thy people. We see the beauty
of holiness, and we see this, the Lord Jesus Christ, As the
womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord
Jesus Christ and His person, He never changes. He said, I'm
the same yesterday, today, and forever. We're made to know that
the Lord Jesus Christ, He has eternal life. The womb of the
morning, the dew of youth, that's salvation in Christ. The water
of life, everlasting salvation. Now, the second part of this
talks about his priesthood. The Lord hath sworn. Now, can
you swear by any greater? The Lord hath taken an oath,
it says in Hebrews 6. The Lord has sworn. Well, it
must be pretty important. It must be pretty valid if the
Lord God Almighty has sworn. If you go over here to town in
the circuit court and you are sworn in, you're sworn in before
the judge, that carries some weight, doesn't it? You're swearing
in to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help you God. You raise
your hand. I don't know if you put your
hand on the Bible anymore or not. They used to. But you take
an oath, you swear. Our Lord can swear by no greater. He's taken an oath unto Himself. And will not repent. That means
it cannot change. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. What God has sworn to in eternity. He's sworn in that
eternal covenant of grace to make the Lord Jesus Christ a
surety, and he shall save his people from their sin. God has
taken a note. He's sworn to it. You reckon
it'll be done? I reckon so. And he said, here's
the oath he takes. The Lord Jesus Christ, he says
to him, thou art a priest forever. Forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Great High Priest. He's the King Priest. Melchizedek
here is a mysterious character that appears on the page of Scripture
one brief time. Remember? In Genesis chapter
14, where he met Abraham returning from the battle and blessed him
And then he disappears. He came one time, blessed one
man, and then he just disappears. He's a very good picture of Christ
our King pre. Some of the old theologians even
think that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate visit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That was Christ Himself. A pre-incarnate visit of the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
great High Priest forever. Not like Aaron. Now Aaron was
a priest. They even had High Priests. But
there was never a great High Priest among the tribe of Levi.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that great high priest from the tribe
of Judah. Something special about that
man. He's a different priest of a higher order, not the Aaronic
priesthood, but the Melchizedek priesthood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's superior and better in every
way. Now let me give you this. Old Testament priesthood, there
were many priests, many priests, many priests over how many thousands
of years. The Lord Jesus Christ is only
one priest. Their sacrifices under the old
covenant were many. The Lord Jesus Christ brought
one sacrifice for sin. You see how His priesthood is
superior? His priesthood is far better?
This is a priest we need. Their sacrifice was with animal
blood, which never put away sin. The blood of bulls and goats
cannot atone for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ brought
His own blood. You see how much superior our
Melchizedek is? God bought the church with His
own blood. Their sacrifices never put away
sin. Christ's one sacrifice made complete
atonement for our sin. Those priests under the Old Testament,
they died. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
our sin according to Scripture, but He ever lived to make intercession
for us. Their priesthood had a beginning
and an end under the law, Old Testament Aaronic priesthood.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal priest. They ministered in a tabernacle,
an earthly tabernacle. The Lord Jesus Christ appears
in the heavens for us in that great tabernacle. He appears
now in the presence of God for us. You see how much more superior
He is as Christ, our Melchizedek, great high priest, versus the
Aaronic priesthood? This is a priest that God has
provided for us. Boy, I'm glad I have a Melchizedek
priest. It represents us before the throne
of God, before the throne of God forever. Christ's priesthood
will never change. He ever lived to intercede for
us. We've studied through the book of Hebrews a couple times,
so you're familiar with this. But let me read this to you.
And there's making a comparison between Aaron and Melchizedek. Aaron's priesthood and the Lord
Jesus Christ. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Every priest, standard daily, offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sin. This is Hebrews 10
verse 11. But this man, speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ, after he offered one sacrifice for sin forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, henceforth expecting, expecting
till His enemies be made His footstool. See, that's the same
verse, isn't it? For the one offering He hath
perfected forever, them that are sanctified. One offering,
perfected forever, them that are sanctified. What a great
high priest we have. None like Him, none before Him,
and none will ever proceed Him. None will succeed Him. Now, let
me just read the rest of this because my time is gone. The
Lord at thy right hand, the Lord at thy right hand, the Father
committed all judgment unto the Son, verse 5. The Lord at thy
right hand shall strike through kings in a day of His wrath. What is his wrath? It's his holiness
stirred in activity against sin. He shall judge among the heathen.
He has a right to judge. The judge of all the earth will
do right. He shall fill the places with dead bodies. Sin demands
death. The guilty must die. The soul
that sinneth shall surely die. The wages of sin is death. He
shall wound the heads over many countries. The heads over many
countries, the king's heart in the hands of the Lord, and he
turns it whether so ever he will. Oh, Vladimir Putin thinks he's
somebody. He's tooting his horn real big.
You think he's any match for the Lord our God? Our God can snuff him out just
like that. Our Lord shall drink of the brook
in the way, He's not upset by these enemies that rail against
his rule. He shall drink of the brook in
the way, therefore shall he lift up the head. His head is lifted
up in victory. All one time it is bowed in sorrow.
A man of sorrow acquainted with grief. But he lifted up his head
in victory, delivered for our offenses, and raised again for
our justification. And here's the good news about
that to us. Thanks be to God who's given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.