Please turn your Bibles to Psalm 89 as we resume our time in that psalm. I'm going to pick it up in verse 25. The title of the psalm today is God's Faithfulness Does Not Fail. So let's pray for the Lord's blessing. Heavenly Father, we do pray that you would bless He who is weak in preaching your word and those who are here to worship you in hearing the preaching of the word. May we hear of Christ. May we see of our Savior. May we have comfort of the Holy Spirit. May we have the drive of holiness and godliness to live our life, to accept your rod of correction and to have faith in what Christ has endured for your people. So bless us now, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. So we'll take the psalm in parts. So begin with verse 25 through 29. It reads, also I will set his hand over the sea and his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to me, you are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and my covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I'll make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. And so we're done with the second half of this psalm. And as was introduced in the Psalm 89, Selection D, kind of overlapped the end of last week's sermon and beginning of this week's sermon. We saw last week that the Lord Jesus Christ is the son of David. as that covenant is made with David, the Davidic covenant as it is referred to, that there would be a descendant of David who will sit on the throne and it would be an everlasting kingdom. It would be one who sits on the throne forever. And also we know that that cannot be any particular son of David who had a crown and sat in Jerusalem. But it was a son of David that was born many, many years later. And we see that in Jesus Christ. And so the covenant of grace is found in part, in large part, in the Davidic covenant before us. And so as this psalm in the second half focuses, it speaks at length of Christ's rule, of the chastening of the church due to its sins and need to be corrected, perhaps wrongful doctrine, evil practices. And there's also a lament for the anger of the Lord is directed at the righteous and it seems that the activity of the enemies of God are not stopping. So we are to understand that Christ does govern both his church and the world. He does vindicate himself and thus his people. And this is an excellent psalm to sing to yourselves as well, as we sing it also in public, when we are facing hard times and difficulties, that we can have a right and proper perspective from God's view. So our first point, Christ governs and corrects. So the Christ will rule. That is clear. through all the testimony of Old Testament that points to the Messiah coming. He has a right to rule, and he will rule over all. He will rule in righteousness. And here we read in our first verse, verse 25, by the seas and the rivers, which often symbolize the rebellious people, that even his hand, his mighty hand, rules over them. So yes, Christ rules over those who are plotting and speaking falsehoods, who have conspiracies against the church, those who are seeking to silence the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ. All their evil actions are being overruled by our sovereign Lord and God. And we have, as Drew pointed out, Christ confessing his father is his rock of salvation. Jesus Christ is indeed the firstborn. He's the firstborn son in many ways, like Isaac is the firstborn son of Abraham. And you might object and say, well, there was another son, Ishmael. But Isaac was the promised son. He was the special son of the covenant. And so the Son of God, we know, is equal with the Father and the Godhead. He was never created. He was from everlasting. But he did take on a human form. And thus we have the God-Man. And we know that because he is the God-Man, he is the Savior, that he came to do the Father's will. And so he's in submission to the Father throughout his ministry. And so here we have the covenant to save sinners is before us, this wonderful covenant. You hear of it in the Old Testament. It is more fully expounded in the New Testament. And it stands upon the Son's faithfulness. is faithfulness even in suffering. So we have much detail of that before us. But we know that Christ reigns forever and ever, for eternity. And so we are blessed by that reality. In fact, if you go forward to Revelation chapter 11, verses 15 through 18, we have these wonderful words before us. It says, then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, we give you thanks, O Lord, God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reign. The nations were angry and your wrath has come in the time of the dead that they should be judged and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints. And those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. So this is the final chapter being prophesied to us in Revelation, but we have this wonderful picture of the reigning Christ and that he is fully victorious over his enemies and our enemies as well. And so we should take heart as we read even the Old Testament that Christ will suffer. And then we have further in verse 30, if his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they break my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgressions with a rod and their iniquity with stripes. So notice there, five different terms for sin and rebellion. There's breaking the law, not walking the judgments, not keeping the commandments, breaking the statutes, punishing them for their transgressions and their iniquities. Then verse 33, nevertheless, my loving kindness, I will not utterly take from him. nor allow my faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure forever and is thrown as the sun before me. It shall be established forever like the moon even the faithful witness in the sky, Siloam. So as you think of the sons of David who were crowned kings and ruled in Jerusalem, that the Lord did deal with the wayward kings, with his rod. He did correct, often corrected all of Israel when he corrected the king. and he sent his prophets. He reminded them of the word of God, called them to faithfulness and called them to repentance, forsaking idolatry and false worship and cruelty and adulteries and such iniquities. But there was a time when there was no more kings to correct, for God had determined that the nation would be no more, the temple would be no more, that there would be a captivity, there would be an exile in Babylon for 70 years. And after that 70 years, there was no new King of David on the throne. And so it was dramatically changed forever. But the promise still stands. The covenant still stands. This is why we have a genealogy in two of the Gospels to prove to us that Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph, is indeed in the line of David. And now here we have the Lord teaching us the principles of Christian discipline. Discipline is part of life. Children in a godly household will receive discipline. not once or twice, but often. We, as followers of Christ, will receive discipline, and we do receive it often, not all the time, not for every sin, but we do receive correction. And the Lord knows His people. Due to our lack of complete sanctification, we will fall into sin. We will purposely indulge in sin, And indeed, if there's a pattern of sin that is entrenched in our life, we're not keeping the commandments. And so the Lord does not stand idly by. The Lord is concerned far more for your soul than you are. And so he does intervene at times with a rod. Remember Psalm 23, four. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. where you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. That's a strong statement to say that a rod of God is your comfort, but in a sober-mindedness and with eyes of faith, we should say this. The Lord corrects the sons of David when they forsook his ways, and he often does the same to us. Yet despite the believers' times of unfaithfulness, the Lord does not practice unfaithfulness. See, brothers and sisters, often we are motivated only by the actions of others. This is why many marriages fall apart when one spouse is selfish, being perhaps uncaring to the other spouse, And then the one who's been mistreated wants to end the marriage. I don't love you anymore. You don't care for me. You're not committed. I'm therefore leaving. But the Lord doesn't act that way. The Lord is faithful because he is faithful. The Lord is true to his word where he can only speak the truth. He is righteous in all his ways. And so he did always have a remnant in Israel. And he ensured that the line of David would continue, even though not on the throne specifically for over 400 years to Christ, but the line would continue until, indeed, the Holy Spirit visits Mary. Indeed, she is with child by the power of God, and the Christ is born. to fulfill God's covenant of grace and mercy. So believers understand your obedience, your repentance, your sin is not the motivation to the Lord to love you, but he has made a commitment to love you and to care for you and not to forsake you. Indeed, we should be humbled by that. We should be even more motivated to forsake sin and follow him closely. So this is why we must show we do confess our sins. We do repent and we do recognize we need the Lord's intercession and his grace to work in us where we have no power to further our sanctification, but we do have a responsibility. And so we must work on our affections to follow Christ. And have you thought about that? Sometimes we really think, I want someone just to love me. I want my spouse to love me without condition. But it's a relationship. How are you growing in your love for God? God is consistent. If anything, we understand through our sanctification, greater and greater, how much God does love us, how much God cares for us, how much he has suffered for us. But do we grow in our affections to him? And so this is a good task to put before us in our walk of faith. Indeed, If one does not confess their sins, but see their own righteousness, and does not repent, but hope that no one brings up their sin, no one talks about it, they'll be okay. This type of person continuing in that type of pattern, if they do not forsake that pattern, manifest they are not a believer. We do not respond to the rod of the Lord ultimately, and often we are slow, very slow to respond, then are we truly a true professor of the true faith? So God swears by his holiness. He upholds his oath and bows in this covenant. Herews 6, 17 to 18 says, thus, God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. So as I mentioned, 400 years from the time of David to the last of the Davidic kings, there was continually a son of David on the throne in Jerusalem. But the Babylon captivity stopped that. And this is why the Jews should have seen that the nature of Christ's kingdom would be different and more glorious than that of David. So only in Jesus Christ is this fulfilled. All the kings lived, even David only lived 40 years after he was anointed king. Same with Solomon. David died when he was 70. You would think maybe he would live to 300 if he was such a great king. No, but there's a more glorious king to come in the Lord Jesus. And so the Lord secures his blessing for his people. You know, as the sun endures, or as the moon endures, also, as it is said in this Psalm, it will be an everlasting kingdom until the end, when Jesus comes and returns to the earth, and it's the day of judgment, and all the elect are gathered together, and Christ delivers the kingdom to the Father. Revelation, Four, we have this wonderful picture of verses one through three. After these things, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me saying, come up here and I will show you. Things that must take place after this. Immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne. And he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald. Brothers and sisters, notice the symbol that was mentioned there. the rainbow around the throne. You understand from Genesis 9 that God sent a rainbow after the flood, after the destruction of the world because the violence was so great, every imagination of man was to do evil. And God judged the world and he spared a pair of each animal seven of the clean animals, Noah and his family of eight. And the rainbow was a covenant sign given to all mankind to realize that God would not judge the world again by a flood, but he will judge the world again. And that there is grace. For you find that in Genesis 6 that Noah is the first person it is said in print. Not in fullness of reality, but Noah is the first person to have found grace in God's eyes. So I bring this to your attention because this is Revelation chapter four. This is the New Testament. This is speaking of the glory of heaven. But that Noahic covenant is still part of our covenant of grace. And indeed, Christians know the true meaning of a rainbow, even though it has been perverted by the ungodly today. Then we move on in our passage to verse 38 to 45. But you have cast off and abhorred. You have been furious with your anointed. You have renounced the covenant of your servant. You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. You have broken down all of his hedges. You have brought his strongholds to ruin. All who pass by the way plunder him. He is a reproach to his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries. You have made all his enemies rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of his sword and have not sustained him in the battle. You have made His glory cease and cast his throne down to the ground. The days of his youth you have shortened. You have covered him with shame, Selah." And so our second and last point, the church must receive correction to flourish. So as we read this account, we are just shocked by the language. Speaks of the anointed one, Well, it's not referring to a specific king of David's house that lived in Jerusalem, but it is speaking of the king, Jesus Christ. He takes the punishment for the unfaithfulness of his people that was mentioned earlier. He has become sin for us and has died on the cross. and has endured the wrath and judgment, the justice of the Holy Father against sinners. And so what is expressed here is often overthrows people's trust in God because they think they are good and they should receive reward from the Lord. They should not receive hardship or great affliction or suffer painful loss. And so when they do, they lose their trust in God because they had a different understanding of who God was and who really is indebted to whom, sadly to say. They do not understand that God does chasten those he loves. And because he loves us, he does discipline us. Indeed, when we are in our sin, we do not want to be corrected. We do not want to change. We want acceptance, even if it's just our conscience. And many people want liberty to do their evil instead of to do good for the Lord. But the true child God recognizes the heavy hand of the Lord in their lives. They recognize it is always the Lord's hand, even though Satan might be a tool to the end of God's purpose. That God wants to correct us. He wants to set us back on the straight and narrow path to receive blessing, to give him honor, to give right testimony that the Holy Spirit dwells in them. And so we should not be discouraged by trials and the severity of the trials or the length of the trials. Indeed, there's a mystery of why. And that question is asked here. But although we can't answer the why fully, or perhaps we can't even begin to answer the why question, we know that God loves us. God cares for us. And he has a purpose that will be to our betterment. to be for the furtherment of our sanctification that will help us in our walk with the Lord in forsaking sin. Indeed, only those with faith recognize the ways of the Lord. See, our life is about giving glory to God. It's not about fulfilling a personal to-do list before I die. but your daily purpose is to glorify God in whatever way he has put before you. But in this song, we are to speak, we are to think and then speak of Christ's reproach. As you look at verses 38 through 45, understand indeed people are corrected, believers are corrected. We do suffer for the faith, But this is Christ who is suffering. He is the anointed one. He is suffering. Indeed, he was betrayed not by the Gentiles, but by the Jews of his land, of his heritage. And indeed, in the gospel accounts, it seems like his enemies their hand is exalted. They have the upper hand and they seem to triumph over Christ as they strike him, as they arrest him, as they mock him, as they falsely accuse him and get away with murder, state-sponsored murder. And the people are rejoicing and they're demanding of Pilate, do not release Jesus. But we'll take Barabbas. We know of his crimes, and we're fine with it. Give us the murderer, Barabbas, but not the Christ. And so they strike Jesus down. I mean, we can literally say that. He was struck down by his enemies. Indeed, When Peter took out the sword in the garden when they came to arrest Jesus, and he swung the sword to cut off a servant's right ear, Jesus healed that man and told Peter, put away your sword. Indeed, when Jesus was held by the soldiers, they put a crown of thorns upon him, a purple robe, They mocked him and when he was being knelt to the cross, they plundered him of his clothes, did they not? Seems like the enemies had everything over Jesus. They brought contempt, mocking, ridicule, insult upon him. They beat him, tortured him, they killed him. even bleeding on the cross, that Christ is not given any respect or honor by his enemies. And what is the reaction of the faithful? Some stood afar off, some were closer, but all they could do was watch. They watch. They didn't make any verbal intercession for Christ. did not speak on his behalf. They did not protest. They didn't charge the soldiers and make a debate, you know, could they have done that? Could they have prevailed? But Jesus was all alone, even though his followers were nearby. Jesus is the one who suffers so much. And brothers and sisters, you know that scripture speaks in the Psalms in particular at length about the kings of the earth will bring glory to God. Kings of the earth are invited to his assembly to worship him and to glorify him and the nations to rejoice. But what we see and what we know in our parents and our grandparents and great-grandparents, and we can go on for a lengthy time, it's just the opposite now. There is no regard for Christ publicly. There is no rejoicing over him collectively. Our leaders disregard even the historical connections to Christianity. And we have leaders who increasingly pass laws that protect and promote sin, even in our youngest children, and seek to hinder the voice of the church. It does seem like our hedges are broken down, and the throne of Christ seems now to be thrown down as well. But remember what happened at the cross. Yes, all things were thrown down. It seemed like everything was broken, but Christ was soon victorious. He overcame death, and he sits at the right hand of the Father reigning. He sent his Holy Spirit. And there is worldwide evangelism that has gone on for 2,000 years. So just like today, when things are bad, and there's no debate among Christians of how bad it is, but Christ is ruling. Christ is sovereign. And so the question in verse 46, how long, Lord, will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is. For what futility have you created all the children of men? What man can live and not see death? Can he liver his life and the power of the grave seal up? So here's a prayer of faith, not a prayer of doubt. How long? Jesus, in effect, asked this question in the garden. Is there some other way? It was so hard for him. How long do I have to endure? How long will you hide yourself forever? And so Christians can ask this question. The church can ask this question of the Lord. And indeed, we must wait upon the Lord. But we know that there is an end to suffering. There's an end of affliction. There's an end of persecution in one form or another. And God is always true to his word, as he was to his son, who endured for hours, a number of days. Indeed, after the third day, he rose again. You and I do not have power to extend our days. We think we do, and maybe we can live more healthy, more vibrant. Maybe if we change our diet and whatnot, we can live longer, but we truly do not know the number of our days, and thus we cannot extend them. Indeed, sin is not a liberty for us, but a plague in our lives, and that is what we must fight. That is the enemy we must recognize and do battle against daily. But we as Christians are not to forget this message in this song. We warn sinners of the sobering truth. Death awaits the sinner. Then condemnation is for all eternity. Yet the chasing of the Lord on behalf of sinners has already taken place. There is hope to look back at the cross, to believe on Christ, and indeed the church will continue from generation to generation. There will always be the church in the world. There was not always a son of David on the throne in Jerusalem, so we have a more sure and fuller promise as the church. But we recognize the chasing of the Lord upon us the father upon his son and we do not have the prerogative to determine the methods or the length of God's chastening but we understand we are victorious despite the chastening despite our enemies the number of the enemies there's seemingly strength in the world we have victory through Christ. And so as we know, God raised Jesus, that last line, can he deliver his life from the power of the grave? Well, 1 Corinthians 6, 14 says, and God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. So again, we look back because Christ rose from the dead, I, who have faith in Christ have that promise as well. But let us always acknowledge that Jesus experiences the ultimate reproach. He experiences the greatest shame, the deepest humiliation, and the hatred of all unbelievers. But let us be willing to suffer for his namesake, for his cause. because we do, if we are in faith, bear his name. Hebrews 13, 12, 13 says, therefore, Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. So understand, Jesus bears your reproach. You have faith in him, you can confess your sins in him. And we are in faith to bear the reproach in the name of Christ for our allegiance to him, for our obedience to him and his commandments, for following him, for worshiping him as we are doing right now. And then verse 49, Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses, which you swore to David in your truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples with which your enemies have reproached, O Lord, with which they have reproached the footsteps of your anointed. So the Lord is faithful to the promise that David realized in Christ. And we do acknowledge our faith at times is weak, Or maybe acknowledge more truthfully, we're weak all the time in reality, but we must renew the strength in the word and the promises, draw strength and encouragement from the promises of God, but also what Jesus has done for us. It is easy to go day by day in our Christian walk and not think about what Jesus has done. You sort of think about what I'm going to do or what I want to do. But the word brings us back to Christ. He paid your price for your sin. He did it out of a love for his promise and his select people. And indeed, if when we come to heaven, we will be holding with our eyes and we will see still the holes in his hands, the holes in his feet, The hole in his side, these are wounds he has for all of time. He bears these scars as a testimony to his people. I love you, forsake your sin. I love you, follow me. He paid the ultimate price. He suffered the greatest, and we will suffer as well. that may we not suffer as a sinner, but as a saint. And then, and also recognize that he has conquered our enemies still, and as he used, we can even use the word, maybe manipulated his enemies to fulfill his purpose. Although he's not the author of sin. So the death of the cross brings redemption for sinners. Then we have what is considered a doxology in verse 52. It's very short. Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and amen. So as you read this psalm, it seems to get heavier, seems to get darker. You've seen the reproach upon the anointed one. He's not respected. His throne is cast down. Enemy is prevailing. but we're reminded again of God's loving kindness, God's faithfulness to his word, and we know that it points to what Christ suffered, but also points to what we will experience as a church. But the final victory is still before us. So here in verse 52 is a holy confirmation of all that is declared of God's loving kindness. It prevails. His anointed one will be victorious over death, over his enemies is not as clearly highlighted in this psalm as other places of scripture. But indeed, Jesus has brought all things together for the advancement of his kingdom. And so it is legitimate to ask questions of the Lord in hard times. But we are to wait upon the Lord and trust in the Lord Believe upon the Lord and not doubt his love and kindness towards us that is never taken away. And so hopefully even this song, we can find reasons to be thankful to the Lord and give much praise to the Lord. So blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and amen. May, as every worship service ends with a doxology, May we too bless God, knowing that he always blesses his people. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do seek for your favor and your mercy to be upon us. We pray that we would have eyes of faith to see your loving kindness in the times of discipline, the times of hardship. And Lord, as the world in its unbelief seems to wax strong and is openly defiant and blasphemous against our beloved Lord and Savior. Lord, let us remember that all this is part of your plan to save sinners, to have your name exalted above every name in heaven and in earth itself. And so, Lord, may we grow in faith and grow in trust to you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.