Tonight I want to bring a message
on Psalm 21. Would you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 21? Now this, according to the heading,
is to the chief musician and is the Psalm of David. This psalm, we believe, was written
by David and was sung by David. These psalms were put to music. David played an instrument, much
like a guitar, and sang. And this psalm was written by
David, sung by David, and it relates to David personally. He begins it in the King. He
is the King of Israel. But this psalm, as much as any
other, is intended by David to refer in its fullest reach of
meaning, not to David, but to David's Lord. That's who he's
talking about in this psalm, primarily. It refers to David. We're going to see that. But
primarily it refers to David's Lord, the coming Messiah, our
Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the reasons I'm bringing
the message tonight from this psalm is because I've often said
to you that many of the psalms are messianic psalms. And this
is as good an example of a messianic psalm as can be found in the
Psalms. This is a wonderful example of
what we call the Messianic Psalms, that is, the Psalms to the Messiah,
of the Messiah. You know, our Lord said to his
disciples, all things must be fulfilled which are written in
the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. So let's first look at this psalm as it relates to David
and to us. And then I want us to look at
it as a Messianic psalm. So let's just read it together
first, pertaining to David now, and to you and me. For we're
kings and priests. By his cross he made us kings
and priests unto God. So the king shall joy in thy
strength, O Lord, in thy power. And in thy salvation how greatly
shall he rejoice. Yes, we do. And yes, he did. Thou hast given him his heart's
desire, O that I may win Christ and be found in him, that I may
know him. That's my heart's desire. And
hast not withholden the request of his lips when he cried, Lord,
save me, or I perish. For thou preventest," now the
word prevent And the old scriptures, the old writers, is the word
precede. You know, over in Thessalonians,
it says, they that remain shall not prevent them which are asleep
when Christ comes. That is, not precede them. But
we shall be caught up together with them. So he said, thou precedeth
him sent before with the blessings of thy goodness before us. He chose me before I was born.
He blessed me before I was born. He preceded me, David said, with
all his mercies and blessings, and setteth the crown of pure
gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and you
gave it to him, even length of days, forever and ever." We're
going to live forever. We have eternal life. His glory
is great in thy salvation. We glory in thy salvation. Honor
and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him more
blessed forever. Thou hast made him exceeding
glad with thy countenance. Our Gospels head to them that
are lost, but God hath revealed them to us in the face of Christ,
the countenance of Christ. For the King, every believer,
trusteth in the Lord. And through the mercy of the
Most High, we shall not be moved. I shall not be moved. Now thine
hand shall find out all thine enemies, thy right hand shall
find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery
oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up
in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. And their fruit,
their families, shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed
from among the children of men." Their fruit and their seed is
the fruit of their bowels, their children. These evil people,
verse 11, intended evil against thee. They imagined a mischievous
device. They said, We will break his
bands asunder and cast his cards from us, that which they are
not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them
turn their back, when you shall make ready your arrows upon your
strings, put the arrow and the bow against the face of them. Oh, be thou exalted, Lord, in
thine own power, so will we sing and praise thy power. Now that
applies to us. You can see how that every verse
David can embrace himself as a child of God. But the psalm
is about the king, not a king or many kings. It's about the
king of kings. You know, Pilate asked our Lord
this question. He said, Are you a king? In John 18, verse 37, he said,
Are you a king then? And he received a full answer
from the lips of our Lord. Our Lord replied, Thou sayest
I am a king. To this end was I born. And for
this cause came I into the world. that I should bear witness unto
the truth, and every one that is of the truth will hear my
voice. All right, let's look at it as
a Messianic psalm. Verse 1, the king. He's not merely
a king, he is the king. He has an everlasting dominion.
He reigns over all things. The Lord thy God reigneth. He says here, the king shall
joy not in his own strength and power, but in thy strength, O
Lord. And he's speaking here as the Messiah. He's speaking
as a man. Christ Jesus, King of kings,
Lord of lords, yet he found his strength as a man in the Lord. Let me show you two examples. Turn to Matthew 4. In Matthew 4, the king shall
find his strength in the Lord and joy in the strength of the
Lord. In Matthew 4, when he was on
the mountain being tempted of Satan, and Satan left him, look
at verse 10 of Matthew 4. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get
thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth
him, and behold, angels came and ministered to the king."
The Lord Jesus is a man. Our Messiah is a man. He needed
strength. He prayed before he went to the
cross. Father, glorify me with the glory which I had received
before the world was. Let me show you another Picture
this, Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, when he was in the garden,
sweating as it were, great drops of blood, bearing the awful burden
of our sins, he prayed, Luke 22, 42, Father, if thou be willing,
remove this cup from me, this cup right now. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thy will be done. And there appeared an angel
unto him from heaven, strengthening him. Think about it now. I know
that's an impossible subject. God Almighty, very God of very
God, but a human being, limited, tested, tried at all points as
we are. That's what he's saying here. The King shall joy in thy strength,
O Lord. And I tell you, We shall be able
ourselves to rejoice more and more as we learn to lean on our
God and not on our own strength. That's right. Our Lord set the
example for us there. The King shall enjoy in thy strength,
not mine. And then he said, verse 1, and
in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice. Two things
here. The King joys in the power of
God. and in that which is accomplished
by the power of God and that salvation. He rejoices in the
strength and power of God and he rejoices greatly, he said,
in that which comes from God. Salvation. Salvation is of the
Lord. Jehovah planned it. Jehovah ordained
it. It's what Christ is saying here. I greatly rejoice in thy salvation. Jehovah accomplished it, Jehovah
reveals it, and Jehovah crowns it with glory. Oh, let us with
our Savior not only lean on the strength of the Lord, but let
us rejoice in the fact that salvation is of our God. Comes from God, comes to us,
undeserved, unearned, Unsought, I'm found of them that sought
me not. And I tell you this, nobody standing
in a pulpit needs to be afraid of giving him too much glory
or too much rejoicing in this respect, that salvation is of
the Lord. That's what the song in heaven
is. Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his
own blood, and hath made us to our God, kings and priests. Salvation
is of the Lord. And it says in verse 10 of Revelation
7, In a loud voice they cried, saying, Our salvation is due
to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb,
and to God we owe our deliverance. Look at verse 2. This is the King. Now this is
the Lord Jesus speaking. Thou hast given him his heart's
desire. What do you suppose is the heart's
desire of our Lord Jesus? I know my heart's desire. I borrowed
it from Paul the Apostle. Oh, that I may know him and the
power of his resurrection. But what's his heart's desire?
I tell you, I think I know. Look at Luke chapter 22 again. I believe I know. Luke 22, what
would be the heart's desire, and thou hast given him his heart's
desire and is not withholding the request of his lips. Luke
22, verse 14. Here is the Master standing with
his twelve disciples. And when the hour was come, Luke
22, verse 14, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him.
And he said unto them with desire, I have desired to eat this pissover
with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat the herb until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of
God. And he took the cup and gave thanks. And he said, take
this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God is come.
I'll tell you what his heart's desire is. It's the desire he
pursued on this earth, in action, in suffering, in prayer, and
on the cross. For the joy that was set before
him, he endured the cross, despised the shame, he shall see the travail
of his soul be satisfied, and by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. That's the desire of his heart.
And that's what he prayed for. It became him for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering with desire. I have desired to
eat this Passover with you. All right, look back at my text.
God's given him just that very thing, the desire of his heart.
and hath not withhold him the request of his lips. I found
that in Psalm 2 verse 8. Ask of me, the father said, ask
of me, and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance.
Ask of me, and I'll give you the uttermost parts of the earth
for your possession. And he did. He said, Father,
I pray for them. I pray for them. I ask for them.
I don't pray for the world, I pray for them which you gave me. And
I pray for them because you gave them to me, and because they're
yours, and all yours are mine. And I pray for them because I'm
glorified in them. I pray for them. And then he
said in that verse 24, I will that those whom you gave me be
with me where I am. God hath given him his heart's
desire. not one of them shall be lost,
and hath not withholden the request of his lips." One writer said,
the great advocate, the great intercessor, shall not return
from the throne disappointed. All that my Father giveth me
will come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. I came down from heaven, not
to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. This is the
will of him that sent me. Of all which he had given me,
I'll lose nothing. I'll raise it up at the last
day. And it's written, this is the will of him that sent me,
that every one, every one that seeth the Son and believes on
him, I'll raise him up at the last day. Thou hast given him his heart's
desire. If you're his, you'll always be his, at the
request of his lips. But verse 3 says, listen to this,
Thou preventest him, Thou precedest him with the blessings of goodness. The word prevent here is to go
before, to go before. untold mercies preceded our Lord's
coming into this world. He said, Lo, I come, it's written
in the book, in the volume of the book concerning me, to do
thy will, a body thou hast prepared me. But before he prepared him
a body, he gave him a kingdom. He gave him a kingdom A covenant
kingdom of people ordained and given to him before the foundation
of the world. A people chosen in him that they should be holy
without blame before him in love, having predestinated them to
the adoption of sons. Gave him an elect people and
gave him a promise of success. My servant, in whom my soul delighteth,
mine elect, he shall not fail till he brings forth judgment
on this earth. That was all before he came.
All those purposes and promises and covenant and grace and mercies
were given him before he set foot on this earth in the flesh. And before he came, a host of
people believed on him. and found in him salvation before
he ever came to the earth, before he ever died, only upon his promise. Abraham saw my day before it
was manifested. Moses wrote of me before I came. That's what he's saying here.
God sent his blessings before him, preceded him with the blessings
of his goodness. And God set a crown pure gold
on his head. God set a crown of pure gold
on his head. Now, the kings of this earth
crowned themselves, or their people crowned them. But Jehovah
crowned this king. I have set my king on my holy
hill of Zion. Jehovah God, who said, I am God,
there's none else. He made the king. And these fellows
that wear crowns today, they sit mighty loosely on their heads,
mighty loosely. But his crown is set, unchangeable, immovable. And their crowns are of gold,
precious stone. But his crown is of pure gold.
You haven't seen any gold, you see heavenly gold, holy, perfect,
Purity, the purity of his kingdom, verity in judgment, and we're
going to reign with him. You think about that. He made
us under our God kings and priests. All right, verse 4, he asked
life of thee. He asked life of thee, and thou
gavest it to him. Now, David would use that speaking,
give me life eternal, give me life, but this is talking He asked life of God. As the Father hath life in himself,
so hath the Son life in himself. The Son quickeneth whom he will.
He asked the Father for life to give. God has given me power
over all flesh that I should give eternal life. God gave me
life. He gives life. That's the difference.
You see what I'm talking about? He has life. He says, I'm he
that liveth. I can't say that. I'm alive.
But I'm not he that liveth. I'm not life itself. He's life. I am he that liveth. I was dead. And behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of
hell and death. I open and no man shuts. I shut
and nobody opens. That's our Lord. I'm calm that
they might have life. Where'd he get it? The Father. And that they might have it abundantly,
overflowingly. I am the resurrection. Martha
says, I know he'll rise at the last day. Martha, I'm the resurrection. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. He's still alive if he believes
on me. And he that liveth and believeth on me will never die.
You believe this? I'm life. Life's not a doctrine. Resurrection's
not a doctor's person. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. I am come that they might have life." Oh my! As the Father hath life in himself,
that's where all life came from, from the Father. That's the Son,
too. That's the Son. There's no life
in a church or a baptistery or a doctrine. There's no life in
the Bible. These are the words of life. You can't make only
Christ. If you don't have Christ, you
don't have life. Oh, you've got a physical life, but you're dying
by degrees. But he that hath the Son will
never die. Oh, look at verse 5. His glory
is great in thy salvation. His glory is great in thy salvation. What is his chief glory? The
chief glory of Almighty God is his goodness in Christ to sinners. Moses said, Lord, well, Moses
has seen some things, and I don't reckon anybody's ever seen what
Moses saw, any human being. Moses stood on the mountain and
saw a bush that burned but wasn't consumed, and God spoke out of
it. And Moses went up on a mountain,
and God Almighty talked to him and gave him the law and the Levitical covenant. And
God wrote with his finger the Ten Commandments and handed them
to Moses. And Moses came down from that
mountain and he had to put a veil over his face, folks couldn't
look on him, he'd been with God. And then he came down from that
mountain, it's like looking at the sun, and he had to put a
veil on his face. Yet here he is, months later,
saying, Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory! What in the
world is wrong with you, man? No, I want to know your true
glory, your greatest glory. I want to know what glorifies
you more than all things. Creating worlds, writing laws,
that's all magnificent. But God said to him, all right,
you hide in that rock because you can't look on me and live,
and I'll pass by you and I'll declare the name of the Lord.
And I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful, and I will
show grace, gracious to whom I will be gracious. That's my
glory. And that's the glory of the Lord,
where the glory of God is seen in the face of Christ Jesus.
That's where it's seen. It's seen in the person of Christ,
in the work of Christ, in the redemptive. His glory, verse
5, is great in thy salvation. This is his chief glory. Now
he prayed. The hour has come. This is the
hour of all hours. This is the hour for which all
these purposes of God has been revealed. The covenant. The hour has come. Now glorify
your son. Let your son be glorified. He did that on that cross when
he died for his people. Glorify the justice of God. Glorify
the righteousness of God. the love of God, glorified the
truth of God, glorified the law of God, glorified God in redeeming
a people. And he says, "...in honor and
majesty hast thou laid on him." Well, why not? The whole weight of sin and the
guilt of his people of all generations and the filth was laid on him. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. Isn't it right that the whole
full measure of glory should be laid on him and honor and
majesty should be laid on him? It is impossible for us to honor
him like we ought to and praise him like we should. His glory
is great in thy salvation, in accomplishing it, in purchasing
it, in giving it to his own, and honoring majesty is laid
on him. But look at verse 6. For thou
hast made him most blessed forever. Look in your margin there. See
that little 5 over there in the middle that says the Hebrew?
says this, Thou hast set him to be blessings. Thou hast made
him most blessed forever. Thou hast set him to be blessings
as our mediator. Now he is most blessed forever.
He's God-blessed forever. You know that scripture, God-blessed
forever. But he as the Messiah is an overflowing
wellspring of blessings to his church. All the blessings are
in him. He stood on that last day of
the feast and said, If any man thirst, let him come to me, and
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. He said to the
woman at the well, If you knew the gift of God and who it is
speaking to, you'd ask me and I'd give you living water. He's
the wellspring. God has set him to be a blessing. He is ordained and appointed
to give the blessing. He said, Thou hast ordained me
and anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, give sight
to the blind, heal the brokenhearted, set the captive free, preach
deliverance. Oh, that men had wisdom enough
to seek Him. Oh, that men had wisdom enough
to seek Him. Thou hast made Him, set Him to
be a blessing. Thou hast made him exceedingly
glad exceeding glad with our countenance." And then in verse
7, he trusted in the Lord as nobody ever trusted in the Lord. He did. Our representative trusted
in the Lord. He had unwavering confidence
in the Father as our representative. He said again and again, ìI come
not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me.î He said,
ìI know he hears me always.î He laid down his life. He opened
not his mouth. He prayed, ìNot my will, but
thy will be done.î He trusted in the Lord, and through the
mercy of the Most High, he will not be moved. Therefore, he trusted in the
Lord perfectly, obeyed him and glorified him. And through the
mercy of the Most High, our representative, our king, our federal head shall
not be moved, and we won't be moved either. He'll not be moved
from his purpose. He said in that scripture I read
a while ago, our work, who's going to turn it back? He will not be moved by his enemies. He will not be moved from the
completion of his purpose. He shall not fail. All right, verse 8. Now I want
to read verse 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Now let's look at this. It's talking about the same thing. His hands shall find out all
his enemies. God said, Thine enemies shall
be thy footstool. Thy right hand shall find out
those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery
oven, and in the time of thine anger the Lord shall swallow
them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their
fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, their seed from among
the children of men, because they intended evil against thee."
That's what they meant, evil against God. against his anointing. They cried out, let's get together
against God and against his anointing. Let's cast their bands asunder.
They intended evil. They imagined mischievous device
that they were not able to perform. You're going to destroy him.
Now, what's our attitude? Won't you listen carefully? I pity unbelievers. with a deep
heartfelt pity because I have loved ones and friends who are
unbelievers. I pity the lost because they're
men like me. God's had mercy upon me and mercy
upon you, and he hasn't seen fit to show mercy to them. I
pity them. But we cannot pity the enemies
of Christ as enemies. I pity them as men. I pray that
the Lord will save them. I pray that the Lord will have
mercy on them. But if they had their way, the name of Jesus
Christ would be blasphemed on every lips, if they had their
way. If they had their way, there
would be no glory for the Son of God. They are doing their
best to do away with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If they had their
way, there would be no glory for Christ. If they had their
way, there would be nobody standing here tonight preaching this gospel
to you. If they had their way, this Bible
would be banned and pages ripped from it and
the wording changed completely to do away with salvation is
of the Lord. If they had their way, they imagine, they intend
evil, they imagine mischievous devices If they had their way,
there'd be no glory for Christ, no gospel for us, and no victory
for the Father's covenant, if they had their way. Therefore,
they're not going to have their way. Our Lord is going to put his
enemies some day where they can do no more harm. That's just
so. God's grand design in redemption. is to have a new heaven and new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. God's grand design in redemption
is to glorify and give preeminence to the Lord Jesus Christ, that
at his knee and at his throne every knee will bow and every
tongue will confess that he's Lord to the glory of God. The
Father's great design in redemption is to call out all of his elect
for whom Christ suffered and died, reveal the gospel to them,
bring them to faith and love for Christ, and to raise them
from the dead and conform them to his image. And God's grand
design in redemption is to destroy this old earth and destroy every
enemy, every thought, every imagination, everything that's contrary to
Jesus Christ. Everything! And well, how small
it is. I tell you, this thing of cancer
that lots of us have had, people don't understand it. Doctors
are so tiny, they tell me just clean it out and everything,
but leave one seed, leave one seed, the doctors say, and it'll
get you. And he's not going to leave one
seed. He's going to put his enemies
right in his normal heart. I'm not prepared to bring any
kind of exhortation on hell or anything else like that. I don't
know. But I do know this. They're not going to exist. And that's as it should be. And
it is. I'm not going to pray that God
will save anybody at the expense of his righteousness, his justice,
his love, or his son. We can talk about, well, a lot
of people go into heaven just not traveling the way we are.
I beg your pardon. It's Christ or it's condemnation. That's just so. No man coming
to the Father but by me. Would you have it any other way?
It can't be. It can't be. And that's just...
And here's our doxology here in verse 13. Be thy exalted,
O Lord, in thine own power. So will we sing and praise thy
power. Here's our doxology fourfold.
Listen. Be thou exalted, O Lord, O Lord
Jesus Christ, we're talking about here. Be thou exalted, because
thou alone art worthy. Secondly, be thou exalted alone,
O Lord, in the salvation of thy people and the victory of thy
cross. Be thou exalted in thy own strength and power. Display
thy power, majesty, and glory in such a manner that you'll be exalted because
of your power. And fourthly, as far as we're
concerned, we will sing and praise thy power, thy sovereignty. The
hymn writer said, O King, beloved of our souls, thy own right hand
shall find thy foes, and swift over their necks thy chariots
roll, and the world thy dreadful wrath shall know. All human plans
to end thy cause to deny thy word, to curse thy name, to blaspheme
thy throne, and spurn thy law, must fall to that devouring flame. So be thou exalted, King of kings,
in thine own power exalt thy throne, while every believer
rejoicing sings and longs to make thy glory known. Let God
be God. If we took a vote on that tonight,
would you vote, let God be God, let Christ be exalted, and let
every voice against Him, and every hand lifted against Him,
and every imagination and thought and word, let it be destroyed,
that Christ may be all in all. That's our only hope. There can't
be any compromise on that issue.