I welcome you to our Wednesday at first on this. I commend you for surviving the blizzard of 2018, and there has been an official sighting of snow out there, even though it's a little mixed. But I hear the road temperatures are still a little elevated, so I'm sure the Lord will see us through. But it's wonderful to be together. We're continuing our series, A Psalm a Day Keeps the Devil Away. It is good to be together and before we sing our psalm, which is the corresponding psalm that we're considering each Wednesday, a psalm that Judy has just been playing, let's give thanks to our God together in prayer. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord and loving Heavenly Father, we give you praise that you make all things new through your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. And as you are bringing refreshment to the earth, we ask that you would refresh us on this cool day that you would warm our hearts with your word and your truth. We give you thanks for the provision of food, of every kind and good blessing through our Savior and the joy of friendship, of fellowship, of conversation together around the tables. We give you thanks and praise in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Our psalm, it's entitled The Lord Has Spoken to My Lord from Psalm 110, and it does require giving oneself to it. So please, let's stand up and lift our voices in thanks to our God. ♪ Lord has spoken to my heart ♪ ♪ Say be kind my friend ♪ ♪ Until I make your foes a stone ♪ ♪ I'll reach to your feet and extend ♪ ♪ The Lord comes, I am set free ♪ of surrounding enemies and even conqueror. Did you display your mighty power when your people come to you? ♪ And honor reign in holiness ♪ ♪ Your youth, our fear, our fear ♪ ♪ Come, Lord, and save us today ♪ will never be released. The ruler of Bethlehem will always be a priest. A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? A humble prayer to my gentle son, where's the words in his hand? In many lands He'll crush their knees, His wrath will be their dread, And from the face of the world He'll break, Sink with regret the dead. Well, today in our series, A Psalm a Day Keeps the Devil Away, we're considering Psalm 110. It's printed in our program, our bulletin. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion saying, rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on the day of battle, arrayed in holy splendor. Your young men will come to you like dew from the morning's womb. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook along the way. And so, he will lift his head high. The psalm in your program is entitled the right-handed psalm because twice in the psalm, in verse one and again in verse five, the Lord is described at God's right hand, a place of authority, of dignity, of honor. and of power. Psalm 110 is a treasure chest of the glory and the greatness of the Messiah, of our Savior, our King and Priest, Jesus Christ. This psalm is not about King David The things it says about the kingdom of this king certainly would not have been fulfilled during David's reign, nor during any other king's rule or reign. There's no human king that is spoken of here. And Psalm 110 is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. It's directly quoted or alluded to some 27 times, 12 different books in the New Testament, especially the opening verse and the fourth verse are very frequently quoted. Our Savior Jesus in talking with the religious leaders of his day concerning the coming Messiah quoted this psalm and he says, David, by the Spirit, calls him Lord. I'm making a distinction between David and this King and Lord and David's God and this Lord and King. The Apostle Peter in his great sermon on the day of Pentecost stresses the difference between King David and David's Lord. David's Lord spoken of here as Peter reflects on it. He's the one who has ascended up into heaven, exalted at the right hand of God Almighty. This is perhaps the greatest of the messianic psalms because it alone is about the Messiah. There's nothing shared so much with an earthly king here. It is purely messianic. A Christian leader of an earlier era says this, Edward Reynolds, about this psalm. It's one of the fullest and most compendious, he wrote it a long time ago, prophecy of the person and office of Christ in the whole Old Testament. It teaches the divine trinity. the incarnation, the sufferings, the resurrection, the ascension, the intercession of Jesus Christ, the communion of the saints, the last judgment, the remission of sins, and life everlasting. Quite an all-encompassing, now we're not gonna look and study, those are not my points for the day as we think about this particular psalm. But what we find here is David brought along as other biblical writers by the Holy Spirit. And he looks and he sees in a spiritual sense the future of his great descendant. the Messiah, our Savior Jesus Christ, who is his sovereign. The psalm is about the divine King who is installed at the right hand of God in heaven and who is engaged in extending his kingdom And as a king, he rules and he reigns, and he is also one who is a priest who's involved in priestly functions. And then he is also the one at the end of this psalm who is a warrior, perhaps even a warrior judge, as he exercises righteous rule in just government. And so as I look at this psalm, and as we think about it for a few moments, I'd like for us to look at it under three rubrics. The first three verses speak of Jesus Christ as the divine king. And then verse four speaks of Jesus as the perfect priest. And then verses five to seven speak of Jesus as a righteous warrior. Jesus is the divine king. Our English translations can be a little bit confusing, for here we read that the Lord speaks to the Lord in our English translation, but in Hebrew, these two words are actually quite different. The first reference to Lord of verse one is that word for Jehovah, the covenant God, Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty. And it's distinct from the second reference to the word Lord. The Lord, Yahweh, Jehovah, says to my Lord, and that's the word Adonai, the sovereign one, the majestic one. John Knox translated it as the master I serve. And here David overhears the solemn voice of the mighty God, Jehovah, Yahweh, speaking to the Messiah from old. And he speaks to him as one who is a divine king, who is in a position of power. He's at God's right hand, a place of dominion, of power and authority. It was common in David's day, in biblical times, even perhaps when we may think of a rehearsal dinner, of someone being placed at a head table, placed next beside to the host, one who is seated beside royalty, speaks of their power, of their authority, of their dominion. The Lord Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father. This is what we acknowledge each Sunday in our church here and in many, many churches in Christendom in the Apostles Creed. We acknowledge that Jesus, that he ascended into heaven and that he sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. That's what's captured here for us in Psalm 110. What does it mean to sit? I mentioned a moment ago that to sit at a dinner is to occupy a place of honor, to participate if one sits besides a king in that royal rule and reign. Here it expresses equality between God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, that they are equal in power and in glory. Jesus today is ruling. He is reigning. He is king of the nations. He is ruling over heaven and earth. And I think it's important that we when we think about the Lord Jesus that we think of him as an exalted king. Recent weeks ago we celebrated our Savior's incarnation. His being brought into the flesh fully God and yet fully man. And yet this one born incarnated at Bethlehem is the very king of glory. At times we may focus upon the Lord Jesus and his righteous priestly work upon the cross. but the Lord Jesus is not on the cross anymore. He is now ascended. He's at the right hand of the Father. We are to think of him in his greatness and in his power and his majesty. Stephen, the first martyr that we know of in the church, as he was dying had a clear vision of the exalted Lord Jesus. He saw him in his beauty, in his radiant holiness with the Father. And he writes, or in Acts it's written, that he saw him standing at the right hand of God. Then the Apostle John himself on the Isle of Patmos as he sees has a vision of by the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus and his righteous glory and his dignity and majesty and power. He writes that he fell at his feet as though dead. As we consider Jesus the Divine King, this is to instill in us a sense of reverence, of adoration for who He is. The Lord Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, but we read as we think about Jesus at the right hand of the Father that He is there seated. His being seated designates that his work is accomplished. He fulfilled the righteous work to which he was sent by the Father to do. And he is seated at the right hand, waiting for the fulfillment of all who might come to him. He's not sitting there in inactivity, but in triumph and in glory. waiting for the day in which all of his enemies will become his footstool, will be defeated and destroyed. We read here in verse two that he rules, and as he rules, he welds a scepter. He rules in the very midst of his enemies. Earthly kings make boundaries. They seek to extend their boundaries and frontiers. They confront enemies. They fight with them. They seek to overpower them. But the Lord Jesus is a king who rules in the very midst of the world. of those who are opposed to him. His spiritual reign and rule of his kingdom is infiltrating the world that is hostile to him. The world in darkness is coming to light. The Lord Jesus himself says, you know, I am building my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against me. He is the one who is ever triumphant in his rule, even over his enemies. For we know one day, every knee shall bow and acknowledge him. As a church, we acknowledge that the Westminster Shorter Catechism is in accord with the teaching of the scriptures. And question 26 of our catechism, What, how doth Christ execute the office of a king? And this is what is being spoken of here in Psalm 110. Christ executed the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all of his and our enemies. The Lord Jesus is utterly Here, the imagery here speaks of military battle language. We are in a battle, and in our day it may not appear to us that Jesus is triumphant, but the Scriptures clearly tell us that the Lord Jesus is the victorious one. His reign and rule will continue even over his enemies in the midst of them forever. He will put all of his enemies under his feet. That his triumph is decisive and that it is eternal. But notice There's reference to those who don't come under His rule or His reign. But look in verse 3 at those who have come to His kingdom, those who have embraced Him by faith. He is the one who leads His people. and such a beautiful and tender language here. That of a host of volunteers, of people who have been changed by his rule, his word, and his grace. His scepter of grace to them has changed them so that they are now willing most willing to follow him, to take up his cause, to own it for themselves, to give themselves to him and to serving him and his kingdom. It is a beautiful picture of his people who have been changed, who now are dressed in holy attire. We who have come to know Christ, who once had filthy rags, are now dressed in his righteousness. And the picture here is that of a picture of refreshment, of the morning dew in the life and vitality that that brings on a hot day. It is a beautiful picture of the Messiah going forth in vigor in his kingdom and we his people responding to him. As we think about Jesus as king we are to each ask the question what does it mean that the Lord Jesus is king? What does that mean for me in my own life? As we pray the Lord's Prayer, we pray that His Kingdom may come, that His will be done, that His rule and reign might extend into all the arenas of our lives, that He might have His way with us, that He might change us and that we may joyfully give ourselves to Him. And it may mean to those who don't know His mercy and love. It is a acknowledgement of who he is and a coming to faith in him of repentance and coming to trust and believe in him and know him. Jesus is the divine king. that he is also described here secondly in verse four as a perfect priest. Here the Lord speaks the words, solemn words of an oath, of a divine pledge that God will not change his mind. He's made his determination. I can change my mind. The other day someone asked me I had several family ask me what I wanted for breakfast and I think I changed my mind two or three times in terms of just what I wanted just for breakfast. But our eternal God and his plan is determined. He has pledged himself. He loves his beloved son. He is the one who is the priest and a priest forever. He is associated with the King of Righteousness, the King of Salem, that mysterious figure in the Old Testament, Melchizedek, to whom Abraham, or Abram at that point, brought tithes to him after a victorious military battle to bring his nephew Lot, protect him from various kings in the Sodom area. And this priest, Melchizedek, came and received his offering, offered him bread and wine and refreshment and a blessing. Melchizedek is a suitable symbol of the great priest to come, our great high priest Jesus Christ. Just as Melchizedek appeared to come out of nowhere, no one preceded him, no one succeeded him. He was not of the line of Aaron, he was not of the tribe of Levi. So he was not of born a priest of fleshly birth. No mention of Father or Mother. What a great symbol for us of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is a glorious priest, who offered his righteous life as the Lamb of God, tempted like us in all ways, but offered his life as that perfect, and that good and righteous sacrifice that was accepted by the father that fulfilled the requirements of God's word and law. What we have here is a picture of the union of a king and a priest. These are not two individuals. It is the one Lord of David Adonai. It is the Messiah. It's our Lord Jesus Christ. It's interesting that the book of Hebrews begins speaking of Jesus as a king in the opening chapters and then turns to the theme of Jesus as a great and a mighty priest. What does that mean, the Lord Jesus is our priest? If we come to know him by faith, we know that he is the one mediator between God and man. And that he made that once for all perfect sacrifice. He's the one who is seated, remember, where the priest in the Old Testament were standing, continually making sacrifices. But his perfect, once for all, acceptable sacrifice His work is finished. He is seated as our great High Priest. But it also raises the question, if our trust is not in Jesus as our High Priest, who will intercede for us before God? Who will stand for us? in the presence of God Almighty we know that our own nature is tainted and God is perfect and he is good he's righteous and holy. This passage speaks of the glory of Christ our high priest and the only hope the only help that's found through him but such great help and marvelous mercy and sympathy is our priest. He has been tempted like we. He has faced great difficulties and yet he is the one without sin. Well let's press on because the psalm continues speaking of the divine king and the perfect priest. But in verses five to seven it ends on a note of triumph. That of a great warrior a righteous judge. Here David sees the future victory of this king-priest. He's not forever sitting waiting, but at the end the weary war shall be over. He will triumph in victory. He will lead the final charge in His person on that great day of His righteous return. His own hand and His own holy arm will get the victory for Him and for His people. And the picture here is that of a strenuous pursuit. I know a few of you are runners. and perhaps you have been on a run, a long run, and you begin to get thirsty or weary, and you need some refreshment. Here is a picture of the perfect righteous Lord Jesus, who is renewed and refreshed in his pursuit of fulfilling the Father's work for him, and he draws refreshment. He will drink from a brook along the way. He will lift his head up on high. as he is fulfilling what the Father has called him to do. What a marvelous picture here for us of his righteous triumph. Growing up, the notion that God was a righteous judge was something that terrified me. It's something that kind of I very much recoiled from. until I came to know the Lord Jesus, my Savior. and then began to understand that while he is good and loving and merciful, like the Father, he is righteous and he is holy. And here is a description of his righteous holiness in very strong language. He'll crush kings. He will judge the nations. He'll heap up the dead, crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He does so for the righteous glory of God the Father. He does so in the process of drawing his people to himself and maintaining true and right justice. But it presents a challenge to us. A Christian preacher of an earlier day, Alexander Wife, said, this passage leaves us with a choice. The choice of every man, he writes, is being crushed beneath Jesus's feet or being exalted to sit with him on his throne. There is a great hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the hope of life forever and fellowship through faith and union with him This is spoken to us in the book of Revelation, the verse that reminds us. The one who conquers, and that means the one who has faith in Jesus, who continues to live by faith and in fellowship and in union with him, the one who conquers, I will grant him, that's Christ speaking, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne. as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne." How great is God's mercy lavished upon us through our King, our Priest, our Judge, the Lord Jesus, that through His mercy and His righteous work that we will sit with him, will be part of his rule and his reign for all eternity, that we might know him and love him, rejoice in him and worship him. Let us give him our praise and our thanks. Our God of rich mercy, of holiness, of righteous grace, we give you thanks this day for such a divine king and perfect priest and righteous judge and warrior as our savior Jesus Christ. May we exalt in him that we know him and trust in him and in him alone. For Christ's sake we pray, giving you thanks, amen.