You will turn once again in your
Bibles to Psalm 72. The title of my message this
morning will be taken from the words in verse 1, The King, The
King. Now, It's natural, I think, if
you are accustomed, when you read the Psalms, to look at the
titles, to look at this one and see that the title is a Psalm
for Solomon, and then to look at the last verse, the prayers
of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. It's almost inevitable
that if you look at that title and then see that the prayers
of David are ended, that we come to the conclusion that this is
a prayer, this psalm is a prayer that David prayed for his son
Solomon, King Solomon. We read of the king in this psalm. But my friends, a greater than
Solomon is here. And that's what the Lord willing
we want to see this morning, a greater than Solomon. Their truce declared about the
king in this psalm that can only be true of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is crowned the king of kings. You know, our Lord appeared on
the day of his resurrection to two of his disciples that were
walking to Emmaus, and they did not recognize him as he walked
along with them. But when they stopped, when their
journey was ended, he told them this. He said, these are the
words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that
all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. And this Psalm 72 is full of things concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are only going to look at
five this morning because of the time, but there are many,
many more things concerning the King, the King of Kings, the
Lord Jesus Christ in this psalm. Let me point these five things
out to us. First, the King in this psalm
shall come down. I want you to notice that in
verse 6. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass. The king that this psalm is speaking
of shall come down. Now, God promised his coming
many years before David wrote this psalm. And when David wrote
it, it was yet future. So he says the king shall come
down. But His coming was promised many
years before David lived, many years before this psalm was written. And His coming was purposed by
God from even before the foundation of the world. It was promised
just as soon as sin entered into this world, just as soon as Adam
sinned and disobeyed God. When he fell, there was a word
given by God which said, the seed of the woman shall bruise
the head of the serpent. In other words, the promised
seed, he shall come. He shall come. There's no question. When God speaks, because God
doesn't speak like a man, a man says something and maybe it happens,
maybe it doesn't. But when God says something,
it takes place. He shall come down. He shall come down like the rain. Now we watch the weather reporters
and sometimes prognosticators, they say, it's going to rain.
It's going to rain tomorrow. But it doesn't rain. Well, they're
doing the best they can with the tools they have to work with.
But it's uncertain, isn't it? They give a percentage, the chance
of rain. There's a certain percentage
that it will rain. But when God says, He shall come
down Like the rain, it's not a percentage of a possibility
that it's going to take place. It's a certainty. It is a certainty
because it is God's Word. In Matthew chapter 5, the Lord
Jesus Christ said this about the rain. He said, The Father
maketh His Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth
rain on the just and on the unjust. God sends the rain, just as God
makes His Son to shine both on the just, those who are righteous,
those who are serving God, and upon the unjust, those who are
evil workers. showing God's goodness unto man. He makes His sun rise on the
just as well as on the unjust, and He sends the rain. It's God's rain. God sends it. And when we read here that this
King, the King that this psalm is speaking of, shall come down
like the rain, it is God who sent His son into this world. Scripture says God sent His Son,
here in His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. God sends Him down. He shall come down. Now the Word that is translated
in this verse, verse number six, he shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass. This word that is translated
mown grass is the word, the Hebrew word for fleece. Fleece. And it is believed that this
is used in reference to that miracle in regard to Gideon's
fleece. You remember Israel had sinned,
and God had sold them into the hands of the Midianites. They
were slaves. They were servants to the Midianites. And God appeared unto Gideon,
and God would deliver His people Israel from the Midianites by
the hand of Gideon. But Gideon was fearful. He was
afraid. And he asked God for a sign.
And he asked God for this as a sign that his fleece would
be wet the next morning when he got up. The fleece would be
wet, but all the ground around would be dry. And so the next
morning he got up and his fleece was wet. He could wring it out,
but all the ground was dry. But Gideon was much like you
and much like me at least. He was still afraid and still
had his doubts. And so he asked for another sign. He said, this time let the fleece
be dry and all the ground around it be wet with the dew. And so the next morning when
he got up, his fleece was just as dry as it could be, but all
the ground around it. was wet. What are we saying here? There was a miracle. A miracle. But my friends, that miracle
of that fleece being wet and that fleece not being wet, a
miracle, sure enough. But nothing, nothing compared
to the miracle of Him coming down. Of Him coming down. of Him who is one with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, the same nature, same essence that He
came down. that he came into this world
through the virgin birth. The virgin birth is a miracle
in itself. Every birth is a miracle, isn't
it? I was talking to a brother just a few minutes ago before
the service about a birth of his granddaughter. And I thought
to myself, every birth is a miracle. The whole process is God's work. People say, I'd like to see a
miracle. We see them all the time. In fact, we see so many
of them, we've become accustomed to them, and we don't realize
that they are miracles. But oh, the miracle, my friends,
of the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary, overshadowing her, and
God from her body producing that man which was joined to the eternal
Son of God so that He came down. He, God sends the rain, God sent
His Son into this world. The second thing, the king in
this psalm shall be a blessing to all nations. Look down to
verse 17. The king in this psalm shall
be a blessing to all nations. The last part of the verse says,
And men shall be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed. Now, there have been many kings
in this world, in the history of this world, and Solomon, there's
no doubt, Solomon was one of the greatest. And Solomon was
known for these three things. He was known for his wisdom.
Remember, he asked God to give him wisdom and God gave him wisdom. Yes, he asked God to give him
wisdom and God gave him wisdom. And because he asked for wisdom,
God also gave him riches and power or authority. But the king in this psalm, the
scripture here says, "...in him shall men be blessed, and men
shall bless him." Now it's obvious that men of all nations are not
blessed in Solomon. Have you ever thought that you
were blessed in Solomon? Has that thought ever occurred
to you that you were blessed in Solomon? The king who lived
so many years ago? And certainly men of all nations
did not bless Solomon, because many of them he conquered, he
defeated, he destroyed many of the nations. There's only one
king. Now think about that. There's
only one king. There have been many kings. A
multitude of kings have come and gone on the stage of this
world, but there's only been one king in whom men are blessed,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings. What did the
Apostle Paul, he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. I don't know of two words that
are any more important to you. In Christ. In Christ. Those of us here this morning
who are in Christ, truly we are blessed. Blessed. Consider those
three things that I mentioned about Solomon. his wisdom, his
riches, and his power. But the king of this psalm is
the wisdom of God. Solomon was given wisdom. The
king of this psalm, he is the wisdom of God. That's what the
Apostle Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians chapter 1. But what
does that exactly mean? When we read or when we hear
that Christ is the wisdom of God, what does that mean? Well,
it means that in the Son of God being made flesh, that God is
revealed unto man. Now, we see God's handiwork in
creation. When God gives a man eyes to
see, he sees this. All men see this. You cannot
gaze up into the stars and not see God's handiwork. You cannot
see the seasons come and go and all the things that take place
in nature and not see God. But in Christ, we see God. He's revealed to us in a way
that nature never could reveal God. He's revealed unto us as
a holy person that He is. What does it mean? Christ is
the wisdom of God. It means that in Him, He came
to destroy the works of the devil. This is the wisdom of God, how
God would destroy the works of the devil. We know that God permitted
Satan to rebel. Satan is not as strong as God. He's a strong being, no doubt,
powerful being, but only God is all-powerful. But in God's
purpose, He ordained Satan to rebel, to fall. He ordained the
fall of men, and we know that His purpose in ordaining these
things is His greater glory. God's greater glory. And in Christ
we see the wisdom of God. We see how that this one Satan,
Satan and his works are destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ coming
into this world. It means that in the same nature,
the same nature that had sinned, he overcame sin and the curse. The king of this psalm is not
only the wisdom of God, but he is infinitely rich. When we think
of riches, automatically, our minds go to the things of this
world, the gold and the silver. Well, all of that is his. If
we want to consider him as being rich, But in the riches of this
world, they're all His. So He is infinitely rich in the
riches of this world. This whole world is His. But
my friends, the riches of Christ are much greater than the riches
of this world. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians
chapter 2 speaks about the exceeding riches of His grace. the exceeding riches of His grace. How rich is the king of this
psalm in grace? How rich is he? How rich is the
king of this psalm? How rich is he in grace? Well,
I tell you how rich he is in grace. He's rich enough to save
the vilest of the vile. He's rich enough in grace to
save a sinner like me. That's how rich he is. The riches
of his grace. And then I mentioned that Solomon,
not only wise and rich, but powerful. But the king of this psalm, How
powerful is He? He's powerful enough that He
overcame the strong man. Now the strong man, of course,
represents Satan. And Satan had his palace insecure. He had man in bondage. And the
Lord Jesus Christ said the only way for one of those in bondage
to be released is for a stronger to come upon him and bind the
strong man. How strong is Christ? He bound
Satan. And he releases, saves sinners
out from under the bondage of sin and Satan and death. Now here's the third thing. The king in this psalm shall
redeem the souls of the needy. We're looking at these five things,
and we're not looking at them in order. But first of all, I
said the king in this psalm is the king that came down. Number
two, the king of this psalm is the one who is blessed of men
of all nations. Remember that was a promise,
wasn't it? Given to Abraham, renewed to
his son and his grandson, in thee and thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed. But number three, the king in
this psalm shall redeem the souls of the needy. Follow with me
in verses 13 through 16. He shall spare the poor and needy
and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their
soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood
be in His sight. And He shall live, and to Him
shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made
for Him continually, and daily shall He be praised. There shall be a handful of corn
in the earth upon the top of the mountains. The fruit thereof
shall shake like a Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish
like grass of the earth. The king in this psalm shall
redeem the souls of the needy. Now it's possible, we don't know,
I doubt it so, but it's possible that King Solomon may have redeemed
some of his people. At some time or the other, he
may have paid a ransom price and redeemed some of his people. But we do know this for sure,
he never redeemed the soul of anyone. Now, he may have redeemed
someone who'd been kidnapped or captured or something like
that. And they, he may have paid a ransom for, I doubt it, but
he may have. But I know of a certainty that
He never redeemed anyone's soul. And that's what this Scripture
here declares. It says, He shall save the souls
of the needy. He shall redeem their soul. Turn back just a few pages to
Psalm 49 with me. Psalm 49 and verses 7 and 8. Well, let me begin with verse
6. It says, They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves
in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means
redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. For
the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever. The word that's translated here
precious in verse 8, for the redemption of their soul is precious. The word actually literally means
heavy, heavy. Now gold is heavy, silver is
heavy, but gold and silver together are not heavy, are not valuable
enough to redeem a soul. What did the Apostle Peter tell
us in 1 Peter 1? He said, for as much as you know
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver
and gold, received by the vain tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot. This king, the king in this psalm,
he redeems the souls of his people, and the soul is valuable. It's
precious. Our Lord said, what should it
profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own
soul? The redemption of the soul is
precious, it's valuable, it's heavy, and nothing but the blood
of Jesus Christ is capable. and does redeem His people. You know, it says, it speaks
of them who are poor and needy. You know, all men are poor. All
men. A-L-L. No exceptions. All men are spiritually poor. We have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All men are poor, but not all
men are needy. All men are poor, but only God,
the Holy Spirit, can convince a man of his need. Yes, I'm poor,
and I have a need. And my need is that I be redeemed. All men are poor, but not everyone
is needy. If you see and you know yourself
today to be poor and needy, bless God, praise God, because not
all men know that, only those to whom God speaks. are convinced. When He shall come, our Savior
said, He shall convince the world of sin, of sin. All men are poor, but all men
are not needy. Look back here in this psalm
just a moment. This is interesting, I believe. In verse 16 it says,
There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of
the mountains. Now, if you were going to plant
corn or wheat, you wouldn't choose the top of a mountain. Top of
a mountain usually is a very arid place, very windy place,
dry place. You're not going to produce much
there. And just a handful of corn. What
does that mean? Well, it signifies that this
is what the world thought about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
what the world, the wisdom of this world, this is what they
thought of Christ, of his littleness, his nothingness, his despicableness,
his dying upon a cross like a common felon, like planting a handful
of corn on top of the mountain. Nothing's going to come of this.
This is not going to accomplish anything. But oh, hear the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself when He said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, except a corn of wheat, a grain of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ
was comparing Himself to a grain of wheat wheat from which bread
comes. And He is the bread which came
down from heaven that gives life unto the world. And we see that
this corn of wheat had to fall into the ground and die. That
His death, it was not accidental. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
had been purposed from old eternity. He was as a lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. His death was not accidental,
but predetermined by God, and yet it was voluntary on his part. Except a corn of wheat fall into
the ground. The scripture says he bowed his
head, right? And dismissed his spirit. And
yes, his body lay in the tomb for three days. But my friends,
as he said, If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And the fruit
from the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the salvation of all
of his sheep, all of his people. Not one shall be lost. Here's the fourth thing in this
psalm. The king in this psalm shall
justify many. We see this in verse 1, where
it says, The righteousness of God, or thy righteousness unto
the king, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. The righteousness
of God, which is asked for the king's son, is the righteousness
of God, which is Christ. It is Christ, Jehovah's servant. He worked out this righteousness
by His perfect obedience. This needs to be understood.
I trust every believer here this morning understands this. That
God Almighty is righteous, infinitely righteous. He's always been righteous. He will always be righteous. He's holy. But the righteousness
of God that is given, that is imputed unto all who believe
and therefore justified before God is not His essential righteousness,
but rather it is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
called the righteousness of God because He is God, but it is
His perfect obedience unto God. The perfect obedience of the
Lord Jesus Christ is imputed. It's counted under everyone that
believes. Therefore, He is our righteousness. He is my righteousness, as well
as my sanctification and my redemption. I have no righteousness. I want
no righteousness, but His righteousness. In Isaiah 53 and verse 11, we
read, By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many. What does that mean? By His knowledge. By knowing Him. By knowing Christ. Don't ask people, Are you saved?
Ask people, do you know God? Do you know Christ? Everyone
you talk to, for the most part, if you ask if they're saved,
will say, absolutely. Yes sirree, bop, I'm saved. Do you know God? Do you know
Christ? They'll look at you like a calf
looking at a new gate. What do you mean? What do you
mean, do I know God? But that's what eternal life
is. It's to know God and He whom He has sent, the Lord Jesus Christ. By His knowledge, by knowing
Him, shall my righteous servant justify many. It is in knowing
Him that men or justified. Do you know Christ today? I didn't ask that you know about
him. Do you know him? Do you know him? Do you love
him? Is he real to you? Or is he just someone like David
or Daniel or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, some Bible character? Is Christ real to you? Do you
know him? By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. The Apostle Paul preaching in
a synagogue, this is recorded in Acts 13, he said, through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And
by him, not by church catechism, not by baptism, Not by doing
good works, no, by Him. All that believe are justified
from all things. Here's the last thing in this
psalm that I would point out about this king. This king, the
king in this psalm has universal dominion. Verse 8. He shall have
dominion also from sea to sea. Now, His dominion is represented
as sea to sea. In other words, there's no place,
there's no place on God's earth. And for that matter, there's
no place in heaven, or on the earth, or in the sea, where He
does not have dominion. His dominion is everywhere. All power, all authority has
been given unto him, both in heaven and in earth. Look with
me at one other place, if you will, in Psalm 135. Psalm 135. Beginning with verse five, the
psalmist says, for I know that the Lord is great. But have you noticed above that,
before he said, I know that the Lord is great, look at verse
three. Praise the Lord, for the Lord
is good. I'm glad this morning, aren't
you, to know that he's both good and great. He's good. I know He's good. And everything
He does is good. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Absolutely. Don't ask me, well,
what about this? Or what about that? I can't answer. But I know this. The Lord's good. I know that. And I know the Lord's
great. I know it. I don't know about
all the different scenarios that you may come up with. I can't
answer, but I know this. I know the Lord is good, and
He will do right. And I know that He's great. Look
back in verse 5. For I know the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods, whatsoever the Lord pleased. That did He in heaven and in
earth and in the sea and in all deep places. He's covered every
place. He's Lord of all. His dominion
is universal. There are many other things in
this psalm that we could point out that speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but I wanted to bring these five And I pray that this
will be a blessing to all of us here today. Now let's take
our hymn books and let's sing this old hymn, Victory in Jesus. I heard an old, old story. Victory
in Jesus, number 496.