Friends, grab your Bible now and turn with me to Psalm 110. Psalm 110. We will be studying tonight Psalm 110, verse four, down to the end of the psalm at verse seven. Psalm 110. We will read the entirety of Psalm 110, and then we will study beginning at verse four down to the end of verse seven. The title of this evening's sermon, Christ the Conquering King. Christ the Conquering King. Psalm 110. Dear ones, let us read the word of God together. Beloved, this is the word of God. A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power and holy gardens. From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of His wrath. He will execute judgments among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore He will lift up His head." Dear ones, this is the Word of Our Father, we ask your blessing now as we study your word. Father, know that we are dependent, wholly and completely upon you. Father, open our eyes that we may see you in the glory of your holiness, that we may see Christ in all the grandeur and beauty of who he is as our reigning king, as our victorious savior, as the conquering judge. Lord, let us see you, we pray, and dear spirit, we pray. Signs of the glory of Christ transform us day by day into His likeness. Dear Spirit, cause us to walk in obedience for Your name's sake, to walk in joyful confidence of Your sovereign reign. And, O Lord Jesus, we pray that You would prepare us, O Lord, in every circumstance And friends, put your confidence in our reigning Christ, who will return to bring an end to all lawlessness, and who will judge the world in true righteousness. Dear friends, in the Roman Empire, one of the greatest honors a general could receive is to have a victorious triumph thrown in his honor. triumphal entry of the victorious Roman general. He would come, and the whole city would get ready for the general's coming. And the call would go forth to the city, and every Roman citizen would have the right to go out of the city of Rome and to join the general and his victorious army as they came into the eternal city, bringing with them the tribute and all of the plunder of conquest. In short, friends, these citizens of Rome were able to share in the victory of their General. So too, friends, the Church will share in the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ, a victory that in one sense has already been accomplished through the Cross, but which we are waiting for its final and perfect consummation. And dear friends, remember the Christian Church has this hope this blessed hope that our Lord Jesus not only reigns, but he will return for us, he will return for his bride, he will return for his people, and that he will put things right here on earth. And so even though we may see in our day wickedness about, evil in high places, though we ourselves suffer and are mistreated by men, we can take confidence all evil and he will consummate his kingdom in true holiness." Friends, remember the Christian has a hope that the gospel will triumph. Christ will ultimately triumph over all. And so this is a blessed hope. This is a gospel promise for us to hold. And so, friends, as we look at Psalm 110, briefly let me remind you that Psalm 110 is, by genre, a royal psalm, meaning that the focus of this psalm, thematically, is the royal house of David and the promises that God made to David. The Lord our God cut a covenant with David, the son of Jesse, and promised to David that he would establish his throne before him forever. Remember, God made a promise that the throne of David would not pass away. And more than that, God promised that he would preserve the line and lineage of David. He would preserve David's dynasty so that David's heir would rule over his holy people forever. And so we are seeing how the gospel promises that are unveiled progressively in the Old Testament come to even greater clarity when we see that the Messiah must be the Son of David. Now friends, again, like we said this morning, this is the mystery of Christ being revealed. And so Paul, on the other side of the cross, on the other side of the incarnation, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 110, that this is a direct prophecy of Christ Jesus. And so that's how we understand this text. The saints of the Old Testament were looking forward to the day when the Messiah would come, this Son of David, whom they were longing for, who would come to redeem and save the people. And we know that He has now come and that He is And so, as we looked last week, we looked at the union of the offices. We saw how in Psalm 110, God is revealing that his Christ will be a priest. So we'll look again there at verse four. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. The Lord has sworn an oath. As we said, there is nothing more sure than the word of God. We can have no greater confidence that God is faithful. We know that when God makes a promise, He will keep His word. He swears an oath. He swears by His own unchanging, holy character. God can swear by no one greater than Himself. So He swears upon His eternal glory, His sovereign might, and His own holy name that He will do for us what He has promised. Remember, friends, God is faithful, not only because when He makes a promise to us, He intends to keep it, that is, that there's no guile or deceit in the heart of God, but also, God not only intends good for His people, but He is able to do it, able to bring about that good, able to bring about that blessing, that salvation and mercy exactly and perfectly and to the full that he has promised. He is able to do all that he wills. That is sovereignty. When we say that God is omnipotent, that he has all power, what we mean is that God is able to do what he wants. He never suffers frustration. He never suffers disappointment. He is always able to do all that he wills. He is sovereign. And therefore, he's completely trustworthy. God not only intends good, but He is able to accomplish good for His people. He is a faithful promise keeper. And so He makes this promise. He swears this oath. And who does He swear this oath to? Well, He swears it to the Christ. He swears it to David's Lord. He swears it to Jesus, saying, you are a priest forever, after the order of Milk is dead. Remember the priests? The priests are those who God has appointed to represent the people to Him. God anointed Aaron as priest, but we remember that there was something that Aaron could not do. Aaron could not atone for his own sin. Aaron himself needed a sacrifice. The priest, after the order of Aaron, needed the blood of bulls and goats, right? not because the blood of bulls and goats could truly take away their sin. For as Hebrews says, the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats was a reminder of sin every year. See friends, when the priest brought his bull, when he brought his offerings to make atonement for his sin and for the sins of his people, passing over the guilt of his people, but that atonement has not yet come. The perfect, once-for-all, sufficient, substitutionary sacrifice has not yet come. Why? Because those sacrifices have to be repeated year after year after year. This priest is a priest not for 40 years or 50 years, but this priesthood of Christ is eternal. Christ ever lives and intercedes for us as our great high priest. He represents us to God. He is the one who mediates for us, who intercedes for us. for you. He prays for you and by his prayers you are upheld in faithfulness and are secure in Christ. But this priesthood is eternal and this priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek. In order to understand the reference to Melchizedek we have to go back to the book of Genesis. Recall that In the book of Genesis, we have the account of Abraham and his nephew Lot. They separate. Lot goes down to Sodom and Gomorrah and pitches his tent outside of those wicked cities. But as so often happens in this part of the world, there's warfare. And we see that there's great warfare that happens with some of the kings of Mesopotamia against an alliance of these kings of Canaan. And so what happens is the kings of Mesopotamia come and they destroy this alliance of kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and Siboyim and all of these kings and their armies. And Lot gets captured in the midst of all this. Lot is captured until Abraham gets an army out of his own household and some of his own friends and allies. And by the hand of his God, they are able to save Lot and to win a great victory over these kings. Abraham slaughters these kings of foreign lands, and he is, and he receives the tribute, and he takes all of this plunder. But as Abraham is returning from the slaughter of the kings, he is met by this man, Melchizedek. Melchizedek is the king of Salem, which is also the later side of Jerusalem. And as the author of Hebrews says, there's significance to his name. Melech, meaning king, Zedek, righteousness. He is, by translation of his name, king of righteousness. Now, what the author of Hebrews wants us to understand is that Melchizedek the Son of God, he is resembling Jesus Christ. He is not himself Jesus, but he is picturing for us the person and work of the Messiah of God. That's why the author of Hebrews says, this Melchizedek, Christ is the most high God, met Abraham when he returned from the slaughter of the kings. And this Melchizedek has no genealogy, he has no beginning of days, nor end of life, the Son of God. So this Melchizedek, he is king of Salem, but he is also a priest. And this Melchizedek is so great that even Abraham gives tithes to Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews says this is a big deal because remember, Levi is descended from Abraham. Levi is descended from the patriarch. But now the patriarch, Abraham, is giving tribute giving deference, giving tithes to Melchizedek. The argument the author of Hebrews is making is this, the priesthood of Melchizedek is superior to the priesthood of Aaron. The priesthood of Melchizedek is superior to the priesthood of Aaron because the priesthood of Melchizedek is eternal. And it's instituted by God according to promise that this one who holds mediate for the people of God forever. There's a superiority to this priesthood over the priesthood of Aaron. So there was a promise given here in Psalm 110, verse 4, that the Messiah would be a priest. And again, this priesthood was given by promise, not concerning bodily descent, because that would have been a problem, right? Because Jesus was descended from the tribe of Judah, not from the tribe of Levi. But because he has been given this promise by God to have a priesthood of a different order, a higher order, a superior order, he can fulfill his work and role as our mediator. He is a great high priest. Jesus Christ is after the order of Melchizedek. So what does this mean for us? Friends, this means that we apply from the picture to the perfect, from the taste to the true banquet. When you look at the priesthood of Aaron, let us see how God intended that priesthood to function, to portray for the people a need for a mediator, the necessity of a substitutionary sacrifice, but that this priesthood, with all of its sacrifices, was unable to bring about the redemption and salvation the atonement that God's people need. But they were functioning as a picture and portrait of Christ and his perfect priesthood. Dear friends, that means that you can rest in Christ, you can rejoice in his mediation, you can take confidence that he ever lives and intercedes for you, that he is your true and perfect So the Christ is priest, the Christ is king, but the Christ is also a conquering, victorious savior. Verse five, the Lord is at your right hand and will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. David reminds the people that the Lord, and again, looking at this, this is Adonai, this is referring to the Messiah. The Messiah is at your right hand. He's at your right hand, O people of God. He is with you, strengthening you, abiding with you. He is your strength and your power, and he reminds the people that the Lord, the Messiah, will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. Dear friends, our Lord Jesus came first as a lamb, but when he returns, he will come and reveal himself as the Lion of Judah. He came. At first, meek and humble as a lamb, he came, and he told Peter in the garden, he said, Peter, put your sword away. Do you not think that I could call upon my Father in heaven, and he would not send at once twelve legions of angels? But now this king does return in glory. He does return in judgment. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. God has within his heart a holy indignation against sin. Friends, God is good to sinners. God is merciful to us. God causes his sun to shine and his rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God has what we call a love of benevolence and beneficence toward wicked, sinful men. God does good even to rebellious sinners. And on the day of judgment, there will not be a single person who can look God in the eye and say, God, you are not good enough to me. Because the fact of the matter is, friends, our entire life, every person's life, is suffused, covered in the grace of a good and holy God. We can't enjoy one thing apart from His grace. Friends, the same God who shows such mercy and forbearance to sinners is the same God who said one day He will judge the world in righteousness by the man, Christ Jesus, whom He has raised from the dead. Let us never forget that there is an expiration date to this forbearance. There will come a day where the bill comes due. Friends, the Bible says that if we go on sinning repent and come to Christ, we are storing up wrath for ourselves against the day of wrath. We are, as it were, putting deposits against the final judgment of God. And what's being revealed here is that final judgment of God, when Christ returns and manifests visible glory to judge the world, to shadow kings, even the most powerful of men, on the day of His wrath. Oh Lord. Friends, God is a God of wrath. Christ comes to execute the wrath of God at His return. And dear friends, that's good for us. That's good, because that means that God won't turn a blind eye to sin, but that He will execute justice. Verse six, He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs. over the wide earth. What's being depicted here is a mass slaughter. What's being depicted here is nothing less than a total annihilation. We are seeing a conquering king who comes and decimates his foe. He will execute judgment among the nations. Friends, when Christ returns, he comes to bring perfect judgment and justice among the nations. He comes to make an end to all sin The war against sin was defeated at the cross. When Christ died and rose again, the victory was assured for His people. But yet the battle continues. But this is the end of the end, where all of the enemies of Christ are made a footstool for His feet. over the wide earth. Friends, never forget that as powerful as evil may seem in this world, it will be destroyed. No matter what tyrants may be in our homes, or in our nation, or in the world, no matter what evil may seem so great and so terrible, remember it is all under the hand of good, wise, and softened God, and he has appointed Jesus Christ to make an ultimate end There will come a day, friends, where sin and evil will be no more, where it will be done away with, where our perfect judgment of God will be fulfilled, and where his people will enjoy him and love him and worship him forever. Verse seven, he will drink from the brook by the way, therefore he will lift up his head. Psalm 110 concludes, David's Lord will drink from the brook, by the way. The picture here is that of the general who has just fought a very hard battle, and after the battle, he's weary with thirst, and he goes to rest. He goes to drink from the brook, by the way, to refresh himself after the battle. What we see in verse seven is Christ's victory, and the rest that follows for him and for his church. He will drink from the brook, by the way, by the road. Therefore Christ, that is the Father, will lift up Christ's head. Dear friends, God has promised not to abandon His church. This God who is full of mercy and forbearance has promised to judge the world in righteousness, and this is part of the message that we bring rebellious, spiritually dead world, we warn them of the wrath to come. We warn them that there is a God who judges on earth. We warn them that one day we will all stand before God and give an account of what we have said and done and failed to do. And friends, let us be sure then, when we are sharing the gospel with our friends and neighbors and families, yes, we need to tell them that God created them and loves them. also warn them that this God who has been so good and forbearing to them is also the God who says that he is indignant with the wicked every day, that there is a holy wrath and indignation within the heart of God that turns against the ungodly, and that the only way to escape from the judgment to come is to flee to Christ. Friends, the wrath of God will ultimately be satisfied in one of two places. The wrath of God, which will be satisfied either in hell itself or in the cross of Christ. And friends, when you think of the difference between hell and the cross, I want you to understand this, that the sinner in hell, no matter if he may suffer for 1,000 years or 10 million years, can never, by His own suffering, make amends or fulfill the moral debt that His sin has accrued. But Christ, by His once-for-all suffering on the cross, did satisfy the wrath of the world. whole debt of our sin to receive Christ received in full not only all of our crimes and transgressions but he received to the last penny all of our debt and he paid it in full. Friends, in one sense we can say there is, if I can use this word, more perfect satisfied than there is even in the eternal judgment of hell. Friends, when you look to Christ, not only do you see a vindicator and a conquering king, but you see the Savior who bore this same wrath for you. And today, and tomorrow, and forever, you might live for His glory, and you might love and enjoy Him. And that one day, maybe with Him, as he consummates his kingdom in perfect righteousness, all glory be to Christ. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for the promises you have made to your people and the promises you have made to your Son. Father, we thank you for exalting Christ and giving to him all authority to judge the world. Lord Jesus, when we think upon this judgment, this holy wrath that you will pour out against the world of the ungodly, Lord, But we know, Lord Jesus, that standing on our own merit, standing in our own sin, standing before you in our own guilt, Lord Jesus, we would be consumed in the fire of your fury. Lord Jesus, you have borne this wrath for us. You bore our sin once and for all in your body upon the tree. for Jesus, that now we might die to sin and live unto righteousness. Father, we are yours, oh Lord. Teach us how to persevere in hope, clinging to Christ, hoping in his cross, resting in his righteousness, and living with confidence in a wicked and sinful world. Know it, Father, that you are not blind or ignorant of the evil that goes on upon the earth, but oh Lord, one day you will judge the world By your dear Son, Jesus Christ, O Spirit, strengthen your church in the day of adversity. Keep our eyes trained on Jesus.