We'll turn, please, to the Psalm 110. Last Lord's Day afternoon, we commenced a series from this psalm, and I want us to read, please, the verse one. So Psalm 110, and the verse one. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And so I sought with the Lord's help last week to explain that this is the Father addressing the Son. And so Jehovah speaks to David's Lord and we learn then that David's Lord is Our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father says to the Son, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. We saw last time that these words were fulfilled in our Lord's ascension, that when Jesus ascended, the Father said to the Son, sit thou at my right hand. We'll look to the Lord in prayer, asking for the Lord to grant help again this evening. as we come to his word. Our gracious father, we thank thee for thy beautiful word before us and oh Lord, we cry to thee that thou wilt minister to our hearts again from the words that are before us. We pray that we will know a word from the Lord, a word to every waiting soul in our Lord's great name we pray. Amen, amen. When I commenced these messages last Lord's Day, I mentioned that some of the messages will not be directly such from Psalm 110, but suggested by it, and that is true of the message this evening. My thoughts this evening arise out of Peter's comments on Psalm 110. when he spoke on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. And so what I'm going to say this evening, some modern preachers might say, well, you're not expositing the text because what you're preaching on isn't actually found directly in Psalm 110, but it was good enough for Peter and therefore it's good enough for me. While these thoughts don't arise directly out of Psalm 110, nonetheless, Peter rightly, as he was led by the Holy Spirit, saw these very things set forth in these words, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. So if you turn to Acts 2, I'll show you what I mean. Acts chapter 2 and the verse 33, Acts chapter 2 and verse 33. And Peter says here, therefore being at the right hand of God exalted. And as we saw last time, this is speaking in relation to the promise of Psalm 110, verse one. So, Psalm 110, verse one, having been fulfilled, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, Psalm 110, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou in my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. And so in Psalm 110 verse one, there is, as we saw last time, a promise. I will make your enemies your footstool. So sit here until that promise is fulfilled. But the apostle Peter understood that with that promise, there is the association of another. And of course, it's not limited to these two, but as we think of the promise that there is that we talked about last week, Peter says there is another. And so in verse 33 again, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the father the promise of the Holy Ghost. And so in this way there are these two promises. I will make your enemies your footstool. And that is to be fulfilled when our Lord comes again. But then also there is this promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit. And we see then that the period between the Ascension and our Lord's coming again. While it is described as Christ's rest, it is not a period of inactivity. Rather, it is a time of much activity as Christ receives the promise of the Spirit and the Spirit then on account of Christ's Ascension is poured out and that this period between our Lord's ascension and his coming again is one of great activity, and there is activity in heaven as our Lord intercedes, but then there is this great activity on earth as the spirit and the basis of the work of Christ is operating. The Holy Spirit has indeed been poured out. And so, at the end of verse 33, And remember, Peter is addressing the crowd who didn't understand what was taking place at Pentecost. Peter said that the Holy Ghost has been shed forth, which ye now see and hear. That is, you have witnessed the mighty rushing wind. You have witnessed the cloven tongues of fire. You have witnessed the genuine gift of tongue speaking. What is all of that? This is the evidence that the Holy Spirit has been shed forth. And so, what I want to emphasize then is that Pentecost happened because of Psalm 110, verse one. That is, the Father addressed the Son, that it was then that the Holy Spirit was poured out. Now evidently a whole series of messages could be preached on the Spirit's work as a result of Psalm 110. And what I'm giving this evening then is really just a summary, a few prominent thoughts. And so we want to think about the exalted Christ pouring out the Spirit. And I want to say first of all with you that on account of this there is power. for the church, power for the church. Remember, in the days leading up to Pentecost, the disciples and the other believers, they were to patiently wait. And they were waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. they were to tarry in Jerusalem. Acts chapter one and the verse eight, it says, ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And so when Pentecost comes, there will be the giving of power to the church and as far as the work and the generations that lay ahead, there would be this power for the work of the gospel. You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now remember, the disciples had been concerned that as Jesus would ascend, what was going to become of the work of God on earth? And the Lord's answer then was there is most certainly a future for the work of God on earth. Because though the sun will ascend, the sun will be seated at the Father's right hand, the Holy Spirit will be poured out. And so we think of how Peter, just before the crucifixion, at the time of the Lord's trial, had denied the Lord. Peter, it would seem, had been in some state of disappointment. But on the day of Pentecost, we see a man that is bold, a man that preached in power. What is the explanation? The Holy Spirit had come. And so we think even of those signs that have just mentioned the wind and the fire, aren't they signs of great power? We think of the winter storms, the wind, the raging wind. We think of Awful bushfires again, what destruction. And so these symbols are that of power. And this power was absolutely vital for the spread of the work of God. And so in Acts 1, verse 8, the work of God was not just to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Yes, it would begin there. Then into all Judea, into Samaria, and onto the uttermost parts of the earth. Of course, this raises the question, if the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, does this mean there was no activity of the Holy Spirit prior to Pentecost? And as we read our Bibles, we know that the answer is that there was activity of the Holy Spirit prior to Pentecost. Moses fulfilled his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. Elijah fulfilled his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist, our Lord's own ministry, was fulfilled in the power of the Spirit without measure. And so then, We ask the question, well, what really changed then at Pentecost? What was different? The difference is this idea of enlargement in the work of God. That the work of God was not just to be in one physical location in the Holy Land. Rather, the gospel was indeed to go to the nations. And Paul spoke of this in Romans chapter 15, Romans 15, 19, he said, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about Erechtheum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And Paul goes on to speak of how he strove to preach the gospel in places that had not been reached before. And St. Paul's ministry was going into areas where the gospel had not been preached yet, the regions beyond. How could he do it? Because the Holy Spirit had been poured out. Because the Father had said to the Son, sit thou at my right hand until and make thine enemies thy footstool. I should emphasize that while Pentecost is a one-off event, so we are not praying for another day of Pentecost. So in one sense, Pentecost is a one-off event, but praise God, its power has never been withdrawn. And our cry to the Lord must be then, rend the heavens and come down. Work again in our day. We cry to Lord that the great power that was demonstrated in those days, that it would be known again even in our time. And we have every right on account of the scriptures to expect, to anticipate the power of God working among us. I've mentioned before that Pentecost really stands as a great comparison to Babel. At Babel we have confusion of language. So the Lord sent this confusion, the people could no longer communicate and so they spread out. What do we have at Pentecost? We have people that have come from all different parts and they hear the gospel in their own tongue, in their own language, in their own dialect. and they're brought into this great one body. In that way, there is a reversal of Babel taking place on account of what happened at Pentecost. But I was thinking yesterday, isn't there another contrast? Remember how at Babel, it speaks of how those that were involved in that building of the tower and the city, they wanted a tower to reach onto heaven. Now some believe that the idea is that they actually wanted to build a tower so tall that it would actually reach into the heaven of heavens itself. I think that's unlikely. If that's actually what they wanted to do, surely they would have gone to the highest place of land to begin rather than beginning in a plain. The words may reach in the authorized version in that particular place that it would be a tower reaching onto heaven. The words are actually in italics. I think rather the idea is that it would have this upward look to heaven. And there may have been some superstition, maybe astrology involved in it. In any case, it had this upward look to heaven, or that was the intention. But confusion came. Isn't it interesting that when we compare Psalm 110 with Acts chapter two, we have the appearance of one in heaven. Christ ascends to heaven in his flesh. And God comes down then, not to bring confusion as he did at Babel. But God comes down to bless. God comes down to save. Praise God, the Lord is still in that business of saving today. And may we see the religion of Babylon in all of its forms driven back then. May we pray that there will be times of refreshing again in the work of God. So the Holy Spirit coming speaks of power for the church. The Holy Spirit coming also speaks of peace for the church. Remember in the upper room discourse in the Gospel of John, the Lord comforted the disciples there by speaking of the coming Holy Spirit. So he spoke of how he would go and prepare a place for them. But as he would go, the comforter would come. John 14 verse 16, and I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter. that he may abide with you forever. John 14, 26, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. And so the Holy Spirit was given as the Comforter. Now that word Comforter that we have in the Authorized Version, A Greek word we often speak of it is paraclete. It's made up of two Greek words meaning to call and alongside. And so very literally it has this idea of calling alongside, or as we might put it, draw alongside. Draw alongside and speak to. The word is not only able to be translated comforter, but also helper, counselor, advocate. This is, of course, what an advocate does. He comes alongside. He comes alongside to help and to strengthen. And the Lord says in John chapter 14, I'll give another comforter. The Lord says, I've been alongside you I've comforted you, I've been an advocate for you, but as I go away, another comforter will come, another advocate will come. Now remember, during the Lord's ministry, our Lord's enemies not only attacked Jesus himself, but at times they attacked the disciples. Remember that time they accused the disciples of wrongdoing when they plucked the ears of grain on the Sabbath. Or the disciples were accused of wrongdoing for not fasting enough or for eating with unwashed hands. Or there was also the time When they came complaining, the Pharisees complaining to the disciples, why does your master eat with publicans and sinners? And what we have on all of those occasions, the Lord comes to the defense of his disciples. So the enemies were trying to destroy the peace of the disciples. The Lord would come alongside, he was their advocate, he pleaded on their behalf. He spoke on their behalf. And so our Lord said, he will ascend to heaven, but another helper, another comforter, another advocate will come. Now praise God, the word of God has made it clear tonight, we have an advocate in heaven. If any man sin, we have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And so the devil comes to you, Christian, the devil accuses you. What are you to do? You're to look upward. There is one who pleads before the throne in your behalf. Not using the argument that you're trying your best to be the best version of yourself, that's not the argument of Christ in heaven. Rather, Christ's argument is I've died for that sinner. I've paid the price for that sinner. I've risen again. I appear here in glory for that sinner. That's how Christ is the advocate. But isn't it wonderful that while tonight we have an advocate in heaven, We also have an advocate on earth. The Holy Spirit has been given as our advocate. The Holy Spirit has been given for our peace. The devil is out to destroy our peace, to strip us of peace. But the Holy Spirit comes and he ministers Christ and the gospel to us. And remember, that is the great emphasis that Christ makes in the upper room, that the Holy Spirit will not come to speak for himself, but the Holy Spirit will come to speak of Christ. So he ministers Calvary to us. He ministers the victory of Calvary to us. We think of what an earthly lawyer does. The earthly lawyer, if we were in the awful position of needing one, he would explain the law. He would seek to explain our case in relation to the law. And then he would try to assure us of our case before the law, how he is going to argue for it. Isn't it wonderful? We come into the epistle of Romans. How does Paul describe the gospel? He describes it in terms of the law. That we were condemned, but now we're justified. We stand right before God, the record of our sin is gone. The law's demands have been satisfied. And so then, in Psalm 110, as the father said to the son, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool, or as we have it in Acts, the foes a footstool. We feel the foes against us. in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm. But the Holy Spirit has been given for our peace while we wait for that day when the Lord shall come again. So the Holy Spirit has been given for the peace of the church. And then I want to see with you finally, the Holy Spirit has been given for the perfecting of the church. Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians chapter four and the verse seven. Ephesians chapter 4 and the verse 7. It says there, for unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And so remember, In Psalm 68, which we read earlier, it speaks of gifts given to Christ, and so there is this gift, and Paul takes that then here to speak of how something has been given to Christ, and Christ is given to us. So we'll read verse seven again. Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, whereof he saith, when he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Gave gifts unto men. And as we read on into this chapter, we see that the gift is not just grace. Now it is that. But it's grace very especially on account of the Holy Ghost. And so if you look with me at verse 11, He gave some apostles and some prophets. And obviously the apostles and the prophets were for that period of Pentecost and following. He gave apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. And so the latter part of the verse persists. Pastors, teachers. Why did the Lord give them? Verse 12. for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And so, the Lord has given to his church the ministry of the word. until we come to that state of perfection in the fullest highest sense. So until the day when the enemies are made to footstool. And so as far as where we are today, we're still in this period that is being described in verse 12. the perfecting of the saints. Now that word that's used in verse 12 for perfect is not perfect in the sense of sinless perfection, nor is it even merely perfect in the sense of completion, which is normally the idea of perfect in the New Testament. We have a related word used in Mark chapter 4 for the mending of the nets. So those who were to be called disciples were mending their nets, their nets were torn. When their nets were torn, they were not able to function properly. The nets needed to be mended. There needed to be a restoring work done to them. And Paul says this is like the work of the ministry. Why do God's people come and sit under the sound of the Word of God? Why do we read good Christian books? Why do we spend so much time in the study of the Word of God? Because we need a restoring work done. We tend to injure it. We tend to needless anxiety, just as the nets needed the mending. So do we. This, of course, is why we're not to neglect then, one of the reasons why we're not to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. It's for our good. for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or for the building up of the body of Christ. And these things are temporary, but we look forward to that great day of perfection in the highest sense. Going back to what I said then at the very beginning, the rest of Christ in glory sit here. is not one of laziness. The Lord is working today. The Lord is working by the power of his Spirit. He's working in our hearts. He's working in our lives. We look to the Lord that he might work in a greater measure in us and in others. We look to the Lord for a great ingathering of souls and may we then pray much over these words as we reflect upon what we've heard and been reminded of this evening. But as we come to a close, maybe there's some unconverted soul in the meeting. And as we close, I ask the question, what is Christ doing today? Hebrews 7 says, that our Savior is able also, powerful also, to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. As Christ has heard those words of the Father, sit here until Christ is praying. Christ is praying for the salvation of souls. It may be there's someone here or listening to this message and you say, could the Lord ever save a wretched sinner like me? The Lord is able to save. The Lord is praying to that end. Therefore, O unconverted one, come to Christ. Run to Christ. Come for salvation. As you come, you will receive the greatest gift that ever could be given, the Holy Spirit being put into you. stamped by the Spirit of God. May you come to Christ. May you come and be saved. We trust the Lord will bless his word to all of our hearts. We'll turn please in closing to the hymn 179. 179, Spirit of Faith, come down. Reveal the things of God. and make to us the Godhead known and witness with the blood. 179, we'll stand together and then afterwards we'll remain standing for closing prayer and the benediction, thank you. ♪ Spirit of faith come down ♪ Reveal the things of God and make to us what God had known and witnessed with the blood. Testine the blood to play, And give us eyes to see, Who did for guilty sinners die, Hath surely died for me. No man can truly say, that Jesus is the Lord. Unless thou take the veil away and move the living word. Then only then we feel Our interest in His blood And cry with unspeakable Thou art my Lord, my God O that the world might know the all-atoning Lamb. Spirit of faith, descend and show the virtue of His name. The grace which all may find, the saving power impart, to all mankind and speak in every heart. Inspire the living faith Which whoso ere receives The witness in himself he hath And consciously believes That conquers all and doth the mountain move, and saves whoever on Jesus' call, and perfects them in love. Our gracious Father, we recognise that we have no ability to convince men and women of their need. As we seek to lay the word of God before hearts, there is such blindness, dullness. We thank thee, Lord, that thou art able to take away that veil. We cry to thee that thou would open the eyes of our loved ones, open the eyes of those that we would seek to minister to. We cry to thee that we will see souls being drawn savingly unto thyself. O Lord, we thank thee for the great promise of the power of God. And Lord, we confess in this congregation that we stand in need of it. Come, we pray, to visit this vine. And we cry to thee that we will know times of revival blessing times of refreshing in the work of the gospel. We pray Lord then that thou wilt watch over us as we part this evening, grant travelling mercies to each one of us and we pray that in the week that lies before us in thy will that thou wilt enable us to be a bright testimony for thee. unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty dominion and power both now