Turn in your Bibles tonight with
me to Psalm 132. Psalm 132. Lord, remember David and all
his afflictions. Last Saturday, I read this psalm
thinking that I would read it at the beginning of our worship
service Sunday morning. And I read it through once and
then I read it through a second time. And I thought, well, this
is strange for David to pray and ask the Lord to remember.
David wrote of God's omniscience. In Psalm 139, thou knowest my
down-sitting, mine uprising. There's not a word in my tongue,
but, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. That seems strange
that David would pray, Lord, remember. How could he ask the Lord to
remember? And then I thought there's only
one thing that God has said that he will not remember. and that
is the sins of his people. And David certainly was not asking
the Lord to remember his sins because his sins had been put
away. He confessed his sins and Nathan
the prophet speaking for God said, the Lord has put away thy
sins. So I know that he was not asking
the Lord to remember his sins. And it also seems somewhat strange
that He would ask the Lord to remember his afflictions. So
I decided to read another passage Sunday instead of this one until
I had time to look at it a little more carefully. Let me just say
that this is one of 15 Psalms that began with Psalm 120, 15
Psalms in a row, which are all called a song of degrees. A Song of Degrees. And no one
knows for sure what that actually means. There are several conjectures
as to what it might mean. Some of them are somewhat strange,
but in the end, no one really knows today what is meant by
that title, A Song of Degrees. Four of these 15 Psalms are said
to be of David, one for Solomon, And the remainder of them have
no man's name attached to them. Well, after reading this Psalm
and the comments of other men, I come down on the side of those
who favor Solomon probably as its author. And I do this primarily
because I want you to look at the words in verses eight through
10. But before we read those, turn
back, if you will, to 2 Chronicles 6, and we'll look at these two
passages together. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 41 and
42, and these verses here in the psalm, Psalm 132, beginning
in verse 8. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest. thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with
righteousness. Let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant David's sake,
turn not away the face of thine anointed." Now look at the passage
in 2 Chronicles 6, verses 41 and 42, and this is the prayer
of Solomon when he dedicated the temple
in Jerusalem. Now, therefore, arise, O Lord
God, into thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priest, O Lord God, be
clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness,
O Lord God, Turn not away the face of thine anointed. Remember
the mercies of David, thy servant. So I'm of the opinion that most
likely Solomon was a human author. We know all scriptures given
by inspiration of God. And it is possible that David
wrote this psalm and Solomon just quoted from it at the dedication
of the temple. But I want us to look at this
Psalm in two parts. If you turn back to Psalm 132,
there are two things that I want us to concentrate on. First,
a glimpse, and that's all it is, but a glimpse of the zeal
of a man of God. A glimpse of the zeal of a man
of God. And then secondly, I want us
to look at a glimpse at the promises made to David. But first, a glimpse
of the zeal of a man of God. In the New Testament, in Acts
chapter 13, the apostle Paul said that God gave David this
testimony. I have found David, the son of
Jesse, a man after mine own heart. And so as we think about this
man of God, that is David, we see the zeal of a man after God's
heart in these first nine verses. And I want to bring this out.
The Lord willing, if I'm going to be able to speak, but I want
to bring this out, the zeal of a man of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ, one of the messages to the seven churches in the chapters
two and three of Revelation, that last church was the church
of the Laodiceans, and our Lord said it was a lukewarm church. And he told them, be zealous
therefore. The Lord Jesus Christ was zealous. Scripture says of him, the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up. It's easy for us to be zealous
about everything other than Christ. People are zealous about their
sports team. I mean, they buy uniforms and
shirts They go out and we see them in the inclement weather,
to say the least, when there's snow on the ground, snow on the
benches where they're sitting. Zealous and holler and scream
for their team. And people are zealous in politics. They get all excited over a particular
candidate or party that they are for. But God's people, Those
of us who claim to be God's people, we should be zealous in the things
of God. The apostle Paul commended a
man named Epaphras. And Paul commended him because
he had a great zeal for the church at Colossae. Great zeal, not
just zeal, but great zeal, Paul said. And I asked myself tonight,
how zealous are we? Thank you. How zealous are we
in the things of God? We see a glimpse here of a man
of God, a man who God said was after his own heart. And we see
the zeal that this man of God had. We have this example. And this
is what is meant in the words, or the word rather, in verse
one, or the words, all his afflictions. And I'm thinking of this as Solomon
praying, Lord, remember David and all his afflictions. And
the word afflictions there means concern, the concern that he
had. And the concern and the zeal
that David had, and it's manifested here in this psalm, was for the
ark of God. The ark of God. That the ark
of God should have a place, should have a habitation, a dwelling
place, a house, if you please. Now, every king, according to
the law, if you will, look back with me to Deuteronomy chapter
17. Every man who was made a king
of Israel, God instructed him to do this. In Deuteronomy chapter
17 and verse 15, God said, thou shalt in any wise set him king
over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose. One from among
thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee. Thou mayest not set
a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. Then look in
verse 18. And it shall be when he sitteth
upon the throne, the man that is set up as a king, when he
sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write
him a copy of this law and a book out of that which is before the
priests, the Levites. and it shall be with him, and
he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may
learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep all the words of this
law and these statutes to do them." Now I'm assuming because
David was a man after God's own heart that he obeyed this command. When he became the king, and
notice he used to write out his own copy of the law. And he's
to study it, he's to meditate in it day and night. And I'm
assuming that David did that when he was made king. And what
he realized was the fact that he was so zealous for finding
a place for the Ark of God, the Ark of the Covenant. And that's
what, if you look back in the Psalm, that's what is meant here. Psalm 132, verse 5, David made a vow and
he said, until I find out a place for the Lord and habitation for
the mighty God of Jacob. What is he talking about, a place
for the Lord? He's talking about a place for
the Ark of the Covenant. And as David, think about this,
as he read through the law, copied it and read it and thought about
it, meditated upon it, then he would have surely known that
the Ark of the Covenant, with its mercy seat, was the one place
that God had promised to meet his people. There, God said in
his law, there, at the mercy seat, I will meet with thee. Now, you know, the mercy seat,
of course, is a type of Christ. We know that's true. And that's
the only place that God will meet with the sinner. Brother
Scott Richardson used to say, God will only be spoken to and
will only speak through the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll only be spoken
to through Christ. and he'll only speak to us through
Christ. And that's true. And David would
have realized that. This Ark of the Covenant is very
important to David, that we find a place for it, a house for it,
the zeal of this man of God. Not only would he have read in
that law that that's where God said he would meet with the Israelites,
his people, but that's where the blood was sprinkled on the
day of atonement, on the mercy seat. That's where an atonement
was made for the sins of the nation of Israel. And not only
that, but remember the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat
and the two cherubim? God dwelt between the cherubim. That was the throne of God. God
manifested His presence there in what is called the Shekinah. Some believe the smoke that was
always there. showing the presence, the dwelling
place of God. That's where God would dwell. And David was zealous to find
a place for the Ark of the Covenant. And if you notice in the Psalm,
he even vowed, he vowed that he, before he rested comfortably
in his own house, And before he went up to his
bed to sleep, he would find out a place for the Ark of the Covenant. He would vow that he would do
that. Now in verse six, we read, lo,
we heard of it at Ephrathah. We heard of it. David had heard
of the Ark of the Covenant. before he became king. There's
no doubt about that. We heard of it at Ephrata. But then notice, he said, we
found it in the fields of the wood. Can you imagine that? That when the Philistines, they
conquered the Ark of the Covenant, they carried it into their country,
remember, and what happened there with Dagon, their god, and then
they sent it back and it came back into a place, and the people
of that area, they opened the lid, they looked in, God killed,
I forget how many thousands of men God killed there. And then
it went into this place here called the City of the Wood. That's where we found it. You know, the story David transported
to transport the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, And at first he
did it not according to the law. He listened to his advisors,
politicians, generals. They had a good idea. The only
thing is it wasn't God's way. And that one man, remember when
the oxen stumbled, he just put his hand to the ark and God killed
him. Why? Because he disobeyed the law.
No one was to touch that ark. but the Levites. Of course, David
was very upset that day, but then he consulted with the word
of God and he transported the ark into the city of David, the
city of Jerusalem, the way God had said it should have been.
It had to be translated. I believe when he put that ark
in that tent there, that's all he could build for it, a special
place for it there in Jerusalem. And he told the prophet, he said,
my heart's desire is to build a house for the ark of the covenant. And remember, Nathan, the prophet,
said, do what's in your heart. He didn't consult with the Lord,
did he? He just spoke off the top of his head, I guess. Just
do what's in your heart, David. Nathan went home, and God told
him, said, you go back and tell him he's not going to build me
a house. I'm going to build him a house. And David was so overwhelmed
by that gracious act of God, that God would build him a house,
that the scripture says he went in and sat before the Lord. That
must mean he went into that tabernacle where the ark was housed at that
time, the tent that he had pitched for it, and he sat before the
Lord. David made all kinds of provisions,
but he was not allowed to build the temple because God said he
had been a man of blood, a bloody man, a man of war, and God would
not allow him to build the temple. But then it was Solomon who built
it and dedicated it, as we read just a few minutes ago in these
verses. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest,
thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with
righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant
David's sake, turn not away the face of thine anointed. So I
just pray the Lord would help us to see just a glimpse of a
man who was truly zealous for the Lord. And that was the representation
there. That was a place where God dwelt
above that Ark of the Covenant, and David was very zealous about
that. He lived in a sealed house already,
and he just couldn't believe it's right. Here I am in a sealed
house. That is a house that's closed
in, as we would say today. And the Ark of the Covenant's
over there in a tent. Just wasn't right, as far as
David was concerned. That's just not right. And I
live in this mansion, I live in this palace, and the Ark of
the Covenant's over there in a tent? Oh no. He had the desire, he had the
zeal, but God would not allow him to do it. And I pray that
the Lord would give us zeal in the things of the Lord, give
me zeal in the things of the Lord, and not be haphazard and
lukewarm about serving the Lord, about the worship services here. So many people just take it for
granted and just lukewarm, you know, not putting the effort
into it. But the second part of the message
in the last part of the psalm, a glimpse at the promises made
to David, beginning with verse 11, the Lord has sworn in truth
unto David. He will not turn from it. Of the fruit of thy body will
I sit upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my
covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children
also shall sit upon thy throne forevermore. What I see here is that God promised
God promised one, now listen, one of David's son would sit
upon his throne. And then he promised, or the
promise that God gave to David concerned one son and it concerned
several sons. The promise that concerned his
sons, plural, and the nation of Israel, But there's also the
promise which concerned his son, singular, and spiritual Israel. Now the promise to his sons had
that little word if. Notice that in verse 12. If thy children will keep my
covenant. In other words, it was a conditional
covenant. that God made with His sons,
that they would continue to reign over the house of Israel. But the covenant that God made
with His son, singular, is a sure covenant. It's sure. And it concerns the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it refers to the church,
verse 13, to Zion. For the LORD hath chosen Zion,
he hath desired it for his habitation. We're talking about the church
here. And the remaining verses here
in this psalm speak to us of this covenant which is ordered
in all things and sure. That is the covenant that God
made with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to point out
seven, eight things here in these last few verses about this promise. Number one, in verse number 14,
this is my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have
desired it. This rest or throne is forever. And don't miss those words, I
will. Now this is always typical of
the covenant that God made, the covenant, everlasting covenant
of grace. I will and thou shalt. There's
no if. There's no condition on our part. God said, I will. The angel told
Mary, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a
son and shalt call his name Jesus, Jehovah's Savior. He shall be
great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord
God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Now listen,
and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his
kingdom there shall be no end. You see, the covenant that God
made with David concerning his natural sons, it was conditioned
upon their obedience. But the covenant that God made
with his son, who is the son of David, we know that. God said,
I will, this shall be my rest. It is ordered in all things.
This is my rest forever. A second thing that is promised
in this covenant, all needed provisions. Verse 15, I will
abundantly bless her provision. Everything that we need, everything
that a sinner needs, God provides. And if you notice in the margin,
the word surely, the word surely in the margin, and the writers
say this means in blessing, I will bless. This is what God says,
in blessing, I will bless. He has brought in an everlasting
salvation. All provision, everything that
a sinner needs, he finds in Christ, everything. Everything to be
justified before God, everything to be glorified, everything to
be sanctified, everything we find in him. This, God said,
this is my rest. That is Christ and his work of
redemption. And then the third thing, their
satisfaction of bread, his promise to the poor. I will satisfy her
poor with bread." Now, who are the poor here? Well, the scripture
says, blessed are the poor in spirit. I will satisfy her poor
with bread. The bread of life is the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he is given to all who are hungry, all who
are thirsty. He is the water of life. One of the Beatitudes is, blessed
are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. There's no doubt about it. If
a person hungers and thirsts after righteousness, the promise
is they shall be filled. The provisions, all needed provisions
are promised, the satisfaction of bread to those who are poor,
to those who are spiritually poor and hungry. And then a fourth thing, Zion's
priests are clothed with salvation, in verse 16. I will also clothe
her priests with salvation. You know that we believe in the
priesthood of the believer. In other words, every child of
God is a priest. You are a priest. You know, you
are a saint. You are a sinner, you are a saint,
and you are a priest. The scripture in Revelation 1,
who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and
hath made us unto God kings and priests. Every child of God is
a priest. And this verse tells us here
that he will clothe the priest with salvation. And it's interesting to me, at
least, if you look in verse 9, it says, let thy priest be clothed
with righteousness. And then here in verse 16, I
will also clothe her priest with salvation. Righteousness, salvation. There is no salvation without
righteousness. And a person who has righteousness
as salvation. The two are interchangeable,
aren't they? The righteousness of Christ imputed
unto everyone who believes. And then the fifth thing, her
saints are joyful people. Verse 16, the last part of verse
16, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. And as I looked
at that, I thought it couldn't help but think about Martin Luther. You know, Martin Luther had a
religion of works, didn't he? And he just about destroyed his
body, his physical body, by trying to punish himself to earn salvation. And then when God the Holy Spirit
revealed to him, the just, those who are justified, shall live
by faith. In other words, it's by faith
and Christ that a person is justified before God. He was, he had a, he had a religion
of, of, of sorrow and, and you and I have a, have the joy of
the Lord. We sing that hymn, joyful, joyful,
we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love. After Martin Luther, came to see by grace, we're saved
by grace through faith, and he could sing, a mighty fortress
is our God, a boulevard never failing. I don't like to use
the word religion, talking about true grace, but the Bible does,
so I guess I'm safe. James said true religion before
God is this. I know there's a lot of religion
in this world, It's not true religion, it's not saving grace. But people in the world think
religion, that is salvation, is something gloomy and sorrowful. And no, God, as this verse tells
us here, her saints shall shout aloud for joy. We have truly
something to be joyful about. We have something to shout about,
don't we? In our hearts, we shout, we rejoice
in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then the sixth thing, in
verse seven, the horn of David speaks of the Lord Jesus. In
verse 17, there will I make the horn of David to bud. Now horn
speaks of power, first of all, doesn't it? The animals have
the, They have the power. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
the power. And a horn also speaks of plenty. The horn of plenty. And that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ is. He is powerful to save. He's
able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.
And there's plenty of redemption in Him. There's not just barely
enough. There's plenty of redemption.
in Christ. And then it says he will cause
him to bud. There will I make the horn of
David to bud. And we think about him as a branch,
the Lord Jesus Christ as a branch, a root out of dry ground, as
Isaiah said. He said himself, I am the true
vine. You know, if you looked at the
vine, there'd be some of those leaves
would be about that big, and some of those leaves would be
maybe that big. But you know, they're still connected
to the vine. And Christ, He is the vine, and
salvation is in Christ, and it doesn't matter where we are,
How small we may see ourselves to be, the thing that is important
is we are in union with Him who is the vine. And all the fruit
that is produced in a believer's life, the fruit of the Spirit,
it all comes from the vine. And the last seven, in the last
part of verse 17, the lamp or light of the world, I have ordained
a lamp for mine anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
light of the world. He's the light of the new Jerusalem.
Remember in the book of Revelation, we read there's no need of the
sun. Why? Because he is there and he is
the light. And the last thing, his enemies. His enemies will I clothe with
shame. His enemy shall go away into
everlasting destruction and everlasting shame, but upon himself shall
his crown flourish. I pray the Lord will bless this
word to us. Bill, if you will, come.