Psalm 45 is our study this evening. I must confess this is one of
my favorite psalms. I've preached from this psalm
many, many times. For the last 40 years, I've been
looking at this psalm and always find a blessing in it. And I
trust the Lord to bless the word to our heart this evening. I'm
calling the message, entitling the message, Christ Our King.
Notice in verse 1, he says, My heart is bubbling over in a good
matter, with good news. I speak of things which I have
made, or things that I know about, concerning or touching the King,
the King. We know the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is the King of Kings. The subject of this psalm and
the whole book of Psalms and the entire Bible is Christ our
King, God our Savior, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. For He
is indeed King, He said, I'm God, Beside me there is no other
God. He's the King in salvation and
I love what the Psalm says that He is God and King of all the
earth and He's King in salvation and in providence. Verse 6 and
7 of this Psalm 45 are quoted in Hebrews 1 verse 8 and 9 and
applied by God the Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ. We
know that he is not king by democratic process, we never voted him in
or voted him out, but rather by the eternal immutable decrees
of God. You remember from our study in
the book of Psalms where Peter said, God had made that same
Jesus whom you crucified, God had made him both Lord and Christ.
He is Lord by God's decree, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Notice in the title of Psalm
45 it said it's a Psalm of instruction, a Psalm of instruction, maskel
means instruction, and it's a Psalm of loves. a song of loves. His love for us and in turn our
love for Him. We love Him only because He first
loved us. Now there are many enemies of
the gospel that would accuse us of not preaching love. Someone said to me some years
ago, criticizing our ministry saying there's no love in the
doctrines of grace. Well, what a terrible statement. The man was dreadfully mistaken
because we see the love of God all through the gospel. God so
loved that he gave his only begotten son. We're chosen in love, we
call election, God's electing love. Beloved, God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. So we're chosen in love, we're
redeemed in love, aren't we? Herein is love. Not that we loved
him, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the sacrifice
for our sins. And we're affectionately called
in love out of darkness into his marvelous light. The Lord
had loved his people with an everlasting love, therefore with
loving kindness does he call them to himself. And we're saved
and regenerated by his love for us. We read recently from Romans
5, remember God commended his love toward us And while we were
yet dead in our sin, quickened us together with Christ. You
see, only in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a real love
of God known and made manifest. I like what Paul writes in Romans
chapter 8. He said, nothing can separate
us from the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
To say that God loves everybody without exception, and to say
that God is trying to save everybody, yet some perish in hell anyway,
that's no love at all, is it? To say that God loves everybody,
and He tried to save everybody, and yet fails to do so, well,
that's not love. That's not love at all. That's
another gospel. That's a false gospel, not the
gospel of God concerning Christ. The truth of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ is all that are elected in love, all that
Christ died for out of love, all that God called in love shall
be saved eternally. They shall never perish. He says,
I give them eternal life. I lay down my life for the sheep.
I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Never
perish. All that the father giveth to
me shall come to me. And he says, I'll raise every
one of them. The last day the Lord will not
lose one of his sheep. He chose us. He redeemed us. He called us. He saves us. He preserves us. How can we be
lost again when he gives us eternal life? He's going to have all
that he bought. And he bought us with his own
blood. Precious, precious blood. Redeemed with his precious blood.
Let's take a look at verse 1. My heart My heart. Now this has to be a new heart
regenerated by the grace of God. Because that old heart loves
self, not God. That old heart loves darkness,
not light. David says here, a man after
God's own heart He said, my heart being renewed and given a new
heart is bubbling over. Notice the marginal reference
on is indicting a good matter, bubbling over or bubbling up.
David said, my heart is full. I'm full of love. FOR THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST. I SPEAK OF THINGS WHICH I'VE
MADE, OR CONCERNING, TOUCHING, CONCERNING THE KING. THEREFORE
MY HEART IS OVERFLOWING. I WANT TO SPEAK ABOUT THE KING.
MY TONGUE THEREFORE IS READY, READY, A READY WRITER. FOR AS
MUCH AS IN ME IS, PAUL SAID, I'M READY TO PREACH THE GOSPEL
TO YOU. BE INSTANT IN SEASON, BE READY
ALWAYS TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. THE BELIEVER'S HEART Now notice
this is a heart that God gives us in regenerating grace. By
nature our heart is dead and cold and lifeless. The believer's
heart enlivened by God's grace and given salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ is boiling over with the good news of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of God is good news. You know what's good news too?
Sinners. Good news to the guilty. There's
grace for the guilty. There's mercy for the miserable.
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not about what we must
do for Him. The good news of the gospel is,
is what He has done for us. WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US. WE READ
A MOMENT AGO IN HEBREWS 1. REMEMBER VERSE 3? WHEN HE BY
HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS, HE SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.
WHY DID HE SIT DOWN? IT'S DONE. HE SAID IT'S FINISHED. THAT'S THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL.
THAT'S WHAT WE LOVE TO TELL, DON'T WE? NOT WHAT YOU MUST DO
FOR HIM. The gospel doesn't depend upon
us. The gospel is not accomplished by us. The gospel is dependent
upon Him, what He accomplished. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, the Lord Jesus Christ came to save, who?
Sinners. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous. I came to call sinners to repentance. Pastor
Mahan used to say, if I can find a sinner, I've got good news
for him. You know, they're hard to find. Not many people consider
themselves to be sinners. Not before God. If I can find
a sinner, I've got good news. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. Therefore, we are determined
as believers, given a new heart, to declare and preach Christ
and Him crucified as the wisdom and power of God to accomplish
the salvation of His covenant people. And that's exactly what
He did. What did he say upon Calvary 3? I've started the work,
you must finish it. Oh no, it is finished. That's
why we're determined to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. We are ready, willing, and able,
able ministers of the new covenant, the covenant of grace, able and
ready, willing ministers of the gospel, that gives him all the
honor and glory. It's the gospel of his purpose
and grace and power and the gospel according to his good pleasure.
It's all about him and that's what this psalm tells us. David
said, my heart is bubbling over with the good news of the gospel
concerning the king. Concerning the king of kings
and lord of lords. He's king everywhere King in
salvation king in creation and king in providence He rules and
reigns as king everywhere King of kings and lord of lords now
look verse 2 thou art favor this king the Lord Jesus Christ God
our Savior and Everything about the king, we're ready to talk
about the king. Who he is, what he's done. Verse
two says he's favored. than the children of men. Grace
is poured into his lips, therefore God has blessed thee forever. Thou art fairer. The Lord Jesus
Christ is altogether lovely. He is fairer, which means he's
better. That's the key word in the book
of Hebrews, isn't it? Christ is better. We have a better
covenant. We have a better hope. We have
a better sacrifice. We have a greater, better High
Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is better, greater, superior
than any. for there's none like him. The
angels are glorious creatures, but the father never said to
the angels, sit at my right hand, but he said that to the son.
Sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
I am God, beside me the Lord said there's none other. He's
the fairest among 10,000. We read in the Song of Solomon.
So he's fairer, and then it says that grace is treasured up in
him. Grace is treasured up in him. Remember from our Bible study,
2 Corinthians 8 and 9, where it talks about the grace of God. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet for your sake he
became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich.
Grace is treasured up in him. Of his fullness, all the fullness
of God had dwelled in him. Of his fullness, grace and mercy came by the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm thinking of a scripture over
here and I can't quite recall it. Let me turn and read it to
you. THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES, GRACE AND TRUTH CAME BY JESUS
CHRIST, AND OF HIS FULLNESS HAVE ALL WE RECEIVED GRACE FOR GRACE. WE BELIEVE THROUGH THE GRACE
OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WE SHALL BE SAVED. SO HE IS FAIRER, HE
IS BETTER THAN ANY MAN, HE IS THE GOD-MAN, MEDIATOR. Grace
is poured into his lips and grace flows out of him. Therefore God
has blessed thee forever. He is God blessed forever. That's who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. He is God blessed forever. And because he's blessed forever,
that's good news to us because we're in him. WE ARE BLESSED
FOREVER IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. OF HIS FULLNESS HATH ALL WE RECEIVED. GRACE FOR GRACE, IN HIM WAS ALL
THE FULLNESS OF GOD HEAD BODILY, AND IN CHRIST WE STAND. WHAT?
Complete, complete, nothing lacking. We quote that verse all the time.
Our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption,
everything this sinner needs to stand before God, justified,
sanctified, and redeemed, we have that in Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is God blessed forever. The
father loved the son and given all things into his hand. Remember
John chapter three? And he's blessed us with all
spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he has
chosen us in him. Verse 3, 4, and 5, we see the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is the King, the one who has
invaded the heart of his people. the one who is fairer than any,
the one who has all grace, the one who is blessed forevermore,
we see the Lord Jesus Christ conquering his enemies. You see verse 3, gird thy sword
upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with glory and with majesty,
and in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness
and righteousness. and thy right hand shall teach
thee tremendous things, terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
him." I was reading a statement by Robert Hawker. As I'm reading
through Ezekiel, I'm reading Robert Hawker's commentary along
with that. And he made a statement about
that scripture where it says that if the Lord be for us, remember
Romans 8, if the Lord be for us, who can be against us? But if the Lord is against us,
who can be for us? I don't want to be his enemy.
I want to be his friend. I want to be his son in love
with him. Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies. So thy sword, the sword is a
symbol of his power, the power of his word. You remember from
Hebrews 4, it says the word of God is quick, powerful, sharper
than any two-edged sword. When a surgeon operates upon
your body, what does he operate with? He doesn't use a butter
knife, does he? He operates with a sharp instrument. And that's exactly what the Lord
does when he operates upon our heart. He performs heart surgery
with the sword of His power. His sword is mighty. None can
defeat His power. None can say to him, Lord God
Almighty, what doest thou? He takes that instrument of his
word that's quicker, quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword, and he operates upon our heart. He performs surgery and
gives us a new heart. His sword is not only mighty,
his sword is glorious. His sword is majestic, full of
splendor, beauty, and power all the time. All the time. Let me read this reference to
you. I've got it down here in Psalm 93. The Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The
Lord is clothed with strength. He hath girded himself, the world
also is established, yet it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established
of old, thou art from everlasting. His sword is majestic. You see that? Verse three, gird
thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory, all glory
and power due unto the Lord and his majesty. There's no one that he cannot
conquer. Some people say, well, that little
boy over there, he's a hard nut. No one can crack him. The Lord
will, if he's pleased to do so. There's none can withstand his
power. There's none that can say unto the Lord, no. Every
knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. Look at verse four. And in thy
majesty, in the majesty of his person, in the majesty of his
power, with the power of his sword, ride prosperously because
of truth, meekness, and righteousness, thy right hand shall teach thee
terrible and tremendous things. You remember when in Revelation
19, let me just read it to you, where it describes the Lord Jesus
Christ, he was clothed, Revelation 19 13 with the vesture dipped
in blood and the name is called the Word of God. And the armies
which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed
in fine linen, white and clean, out of his mouth forth a sharp
sword, that he should smite the nation. He shall rule them with
a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
of the wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and
on his thigh a name written, And this is where it says, King
of kings and Lord of lords, out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,
defeats his enemies. Our Lord in his glorious majesty
rides in complete victory. His victory is prosperous. His
victory accomplishes all his pleasure. He knows nothing of
defeat or failure. He knows a lot about agony. But
he doesn't know anything about the agony of defeat. He knows
a lot about the agony of victory. One of my favorite verses in
the Revelation chapter 6 verse 2 said, he went forth conquering
and to conquer. I think that's the key verse
in that whole book. That whole book is about the lamb who conquers
all things, defeats all of his enemies. He went forth conquering
and to conquer. And because He's the conquering
King, He won the victory for us. That's the good news for
us. Thanks be to God who's given us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord rides in the war chariot
of His gospel, defeating all that oppose Him. Psalm 110 is quoted there and
also in Hebrew chapter 1 where it says, sit thou at my right
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. That's from Psalm
110. He prospers as he conquers because
of three things that are given to us here. Three things that
are given to us here in verse 4. Because of truth, Everything
he does prospers. The pleasure of the Lord, you
remember Isaiah 53, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. In his majesty he rides prosperously
because of truth, because of meekness, and because of righteousness. Truth, the Lord, he is the truth. He said, I am the way, the truth,
the life. Our Lord said, you shall know
the truth, and the truth will set you free. And because of
meekness, and I take that to mean mercy, mercy, truth and
mercy. Remember Psalm 85, mercy and
truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. His mercy is full of truth. He
saves sinners, honoring to his truth, and he does so because
he delights to show mercy, and he does it in a righteous way.
Truth, meekness, and righteousness. The Lord is righteous in everything
that he does, holy in all of his ways, and he brings in for
us an everlasting righteousness and gives that unto us. THESE
ARE TREMENDOUS PRECIOUS THINGS THE LORD IS PLEASED TO REVEAL
UNTO US AS HE MAKES THEM KNOWN UNTO THIS, THY RIGHT HAND, NOTICE
THE LAST PART OF VERSE 4, THY RIGHT HAND, THE HAND OF THE LORD,
THE ARM OF THE LORD, THE RIGHT HAND OF THE LORD SHALL TEACH
THEE TERRIBLE THINGS. AND THAT WORD TERRIBLE CAN BE
RENDERED TREMENDOUS THINGS. OUR LORD IS A TEACHER. What is
the lesson? He is the lesson and he is the
teacher. He is the lesson, he's the teacher.
He's hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babe. This is the education we need.
We need to be taught of him. Oh, to be taught of God. To be
taught of God that valuable lesson that in salvation the Lord Jesus
Christ is everything. Christ is all and in all. Remember he said, no man can
come to me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. All
those who have heard and learned of the Father, they come to the
Lord Jesus Christ, don't they? I want to learn that lesson.
And if the Lord is our teacher, The Lord is our teacher. We're
well taught. That's the education we need. Look at verse 5. The gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is not only a sword, but it's an arrow. THINE ARROWS ARE SHARP IN THE
HEART OF THE KING'S ENEMIES, WHEREBY, YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DO?
THEY FALL. THEY FALL DOWN, SHOT WITH AN
ARROW. THE GOSPEL IS NOT ONLY A MIGHTY
SWORD, BUT ALSO A PENETRATING ARROW, PIERCING THE HEART OF
THE ENEMY, SUBDUING THE REBEL INTO SUBMISSION. WHEN THE LORD
TAKES AIM AT THE HEART OF ONE OF HIS ELECT WITH THE GOSPEL
ARROW, NEVER MISSES THE TARGET. You bow hunt some, right? You
have a target up there when you practice. You want to hit the
center of that target, don't you? That's your aim. That's
your goal, to hit that center target. When God takes aim with
the gospel arrow at the heart of one of his chosen covenant
children, he always hits dead center. He never misses the target. The center will always be conquered
by the almighty sovereign God. None can stay up against him.
Imagine being shot in the heart with an arrow that someone really
shot you in the heart. Would you fight after you shot
in the heart? No. You'd submit, wouldn't you? You'd lay down. And when God
shoots us in the heart, we surrender. Lord, not my will, thy will be
done. The Lordship of Christ. He's
not Lord over all. He's not Lord at all. He's Lord
over all. Look at verse six. Who is the
Lord Jesus Christ? Thine arrows were sharp in the
heart of the king's enemies. Whereby they fall, they're subdued
under him. Thy throne, O God. Who is this
king? Who is this one who rides? and
majesty and glory because of truth and meekness and righteousness,
thy throne, O God." Remember we read in Hebrews chapter 1
where the father speaks to the son, he said, thy throne, O God.
The father said to the son, thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever. How long has he been God the Son? Forever and ever. From everlasting to everlasting,
Psalm 90. From everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. His scepter and reign is absolute. He's absolute sovereign over
all things. His rule, His reign, His dominion
is in righteousness. Whatever He does is right. He's
ruled with all power, all wisdom. He's too wise to make a mistake,
and He's too holy to do anything wrong. shall not the judge of
all the earth do right." Our Lord has infinite, complete wisdom
and power, ruling and controlling all things. There is nothing
out of control. Everything is working according
to God's eternal decree and purpose. We can trust Him, therefore,
without suspicion and rely upon Him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before Him.
He's a refuge for us. Verse seven, thou lovest righteousness. Can He do anything less than
love righteousness? Our Lord Jesus Christ, even though
He was a real man manifest in the flesh, God incarnate in human
flesh, He had no sin, knew no sin, and did no sin. Thou lovest
righteousness. Such a high priest became us
who was holy, harmless, undefiled. He loves righteousness, always
has, always will. And he hates everything that's
not righteous. He hates wickedness. God will
punish sin. He must because he is holy. The
good news of the gospel is God punished our sin in our substitute
and put it away. Therefore, God, thy God, hath
anointed the Lord Jesus Christ with gladness above his fellows. We know the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what it means to be the Christ of God. He's the anointed
of God. We say He's the Lord, Jesus,
Savior, Christ, means He's the anointed one. He's anointed in
all of His threefold office as prophet, priest, and king. We've been over this before,
haven't we? Prophet, priest, and king. He's a priest to redeem,
not with silver and gold, but with His own blood. He's a prophet
to reveal, He commanded the light to shine in our heart to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God That shines
in the face of Christ, and he's a king. What does the king do?
King reigns And he reigns as the absolute sovereign in heaven
and earth Verse 8 in closing all thy garments His garments of love, His garments
of mercy, His garments of righteousness, His garments of salvation, they
all smell of myrrh, aloes, cassia, out of the ivory palaces whereby
they have made thee glad. All of His garments, or all of
His priestly works, have a sweet smell of salvation and life. His righteousness, he honored
the law and magnified the law, and God said, I'm well pleased
for his redemption. You remember in Hebrews, or rather
Ephesians chapter five, verse two, where his sacrifice is called
a sweet smelling savor unto God. What does Isaiah call our righteousness,
our self-righteousness? He said, it's a foul odor of
death. All of our righteousnesses, he
says, are filthy rags. And then he said, they're smoking
my nose. His righteousness, smell of sweetness,
satisfying unto God out of the palace of salvation. All of our efforts to put away
sin will never make atonement for our sin, but His atonement,
His sacrifice, His righteousness, He is the one that we need. Salvation
is in Him. We need Him. His righteousness,
His mercy, His love, His grace. his righteousness alone. Surely
shall one say in the Lord, this is from Isaiah 45, surely shall
one say in the Lord, I have righteousness and strength. In the Lord, all
the seed of Israel shall be justified and shall glory. On this thing
of righteousness, I read this statement by Robert Hawker today.
He said the law righteousness of men will never save or justify. The law righteousness of men
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be saved. The law righteousness
of men will never justify. The gospel righteousness in Christ
always does. justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And all this whereby they have
made thee glad. Gladness of heart. The good news
of the gospel. My heart is bubbling over with
good news. Good news.