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for the choir director, according
to the Shoshanim, a maskil of the sons of Korah, a song of
love. My heart overflows with a good
theme. I address my verses to the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. You are fairer than the sons
of men. Grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore God has blessed you
forever. Gird your sword on your thigh,
O Mighty One, in your splendor and your majesty. And in your
majesty, ride on victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness
and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you
awesome things. Your arrows are sharp. The peoples
fall under you. Your arrows are in the heart
of the king's enemies. Your throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of uprightness is the
scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness
and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has
anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows. All your
garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. Out of
ivory palaces, stringed instruments have made you glad. King's daughters
are among your noble ladies. At your right hand stands the
queen in gold from Ophir. Listen, O daughter, give attention
and incline your ear. Forget your people and your father's
house. Then the king will desire your
beauty. Because he is your Lord, bow
down to him. The daughter of Tyre will come
with a gift. The rich among the people will
seek your favor. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Her clothing is interwoven with
gold. She will be led to the king in
embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who
follow her, will be brought to you. They will be led forth with
gladness and rejoicing. They will enter into the king's
palace. In place of your fathers will
be your sons. You shall make them princes in
all the earth. I will cause your name to be
remembered in all generations. Therefore the peoples will give
you thanks forever and ever. That's the Lord's blessing. Lord Christ, pull back the veil
that your people, your bride, might see you in all of your
beauty and your glory, that our hearts might be moved to love
you afresh. For we pray it in your name.
Amen. Imagine for a moment that you
are in the great hall of an ancient castle. At one end of the room
stands a figure who is absolutely stunning. He is richly clothed
in royal robes. A crown of gold rests upon his
brow. And you have no doubt that he
is a king. In fact, he is the king. A strong, stately, warrior king. Strapped on his side is a mighty
sword. And there is no doubt that he
understands well how to use that weapon to greatest advantage. His bow and his quiver are nearby
also, and my, those arrows look exceedingly sharp. As you glance
around the room, you begin to realize that you are not the
only one staring at this great king. Every eye is trained upon
him, looking with fondest admiration at his greatness. But then on
the other end of this great hall there is a commotion as someone
else enters the room. At the center of this small group
is a beautiful young princess. She comes upon her father's arm
and she is accompanied by her maidens. Slowly they approach
the king. As he sees her it is obvious
that he welcomes her appearance his eyes sparkle with love as the two come together the
princess bows with her face to the ground before her beautiful
Lord and he instinctively reaches down takes her by the hand and
raises her back to her feet Then he draws her close to him, and
he whispers in her ear. She smiles, she nods. Briefly she turns to her father
to kiss him goodbye. But then quickly she is back
with her king, putting her arm through his, and the two depart
from the room to the cheers of the crowd. The glorious scene that I have
described for you is the scenario that we find in our psalm tonight
as Christ and his church come together in mutual love and adoration. Last week we saw that the church
of Jesus Christ is a beautiful church. Tonight I want to show
you that she is also a beloved church. that she is both loved
and loving, as she is united to Christ, her heavenly husband. And so it's very appropriate
that we look into Psalm 45, which is a love song between Jesus
and His church. Considering this psalm, let's
first look at Christ, the lovely husband. then at the beloved
bride and finally at the lover and his beloved. You simply cannot
do justice to this particular psalm or to the relationship
between Christ and his church without recognizing how altogether
lovely Christ is. Your heavenly husband is quite
a catch. He is the greatest prize that
has ever been available. And in this psalm, the writer
lauds the stunning beauty, the great goodness, and the thorough
desirability of Christ. It starts out with the three
statements in verse 2 to describe His loveliness. You are fairer
than the sons of men, Grace is poured upon your lips, therefore
God has blessed you forever. Christ is beautiful. He is more
beautiful than any of the sons of Adam. There is no human being
that has ever lived that has rivaled his beauty, much less
exceeded it. Spurgeon says it with his classic
eloquence when he says this, in person, but especially in
mind and character, the King of Saints is peerless in beauty. The Hebrew word is doubled, beautiful,
beautiful art thou. Jesus is so emphatically lovely
that words must be doubled, strained, yea, exhausted before he can
be described. Among the children of men, many
have through grace been lovely in character, yet they have each
had a flaw. But in Jesus we behold every
feature of a perfect character in harmonious proportion. he
is lovely everywhere and from every point of view but never
more so than when we view him in conjugal union with his church
then love gives a ravishing flush of glory to his loveliness I
think Spurgeon is very right Christ is lovely in every respect
every possible way that he could be lovely he is lovely and each
is in its proper proportion so that his character, his being,
his loveliness is perfect through and through now this is not just
some outward physical appearance and this is where our modern
society is so very wrong in its view of beauty Beauty in modern
thinking equals a pretty face or a pleasing form. The beauty
that the scripture speaks about, the beauty that Christ possesses
is much deeper and more thorough and more wonderful. It's not
just superficial attraction, but it's a goodness that runs
through and through. I don't know if you've ever heard
the funny little saying, beauty is skin deep but ugly goes to
the bone. I would modify that and say beauty
goes to the bone. Beauty as God defines it, beauty
as Christ possesses it is such a thorough going beauty that
it is his whole entire person His character, His inward qualities
as well as His external appearance. But Christ is also unrivaled
in His gracious speech. Grace has been poured upon thy
lips. Or as the Song of Solomon says,
His lips were dripping with myrrh. When Jesus came to earth, he
came full of grace and truth. And as he spoke forth the gospel
of grace, he did so in an entirely gracious fashion, to such an
extent that even his enemies marveled at him. No man has ever
spoken as this man spoke, they were forced to admit. And so
even when he was suffering upon the cross, the sweetness of forgiving
mercy was dripping from his blessed mouth. There were no harsh words,
no bitter recriminations, no angry regrets, no threats. But only, Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do. Jesus is beautiful in his speech. Sometimes you can find a very
outwardly attractive person in this world and you see them from
a distance and you think, wow, that person is very wonderful. And then you get near enough
to begin engaging in some conversation and you find that their heart
is full of corruption and their mouth is full of vulgarity and
profanity and suddenly the pretty face becomes awfully unattractive
because the heart and the lips have shown an inward ugliness
But there was no disconnect between Christ's beauty and Christ's
speech. In fact, His speech enhances
His beauty. The more you listen to Him, the
more beautiful and wonderful He becomes. Well, He was also
blessed of the Lord His God. because Christ was thoroughly
obedient throughout His earthly life, a man of sorrows and a
suffering servant. God the Father prospered His
Son and He blessed Him, and that blessing also is beauty. He is a blessed Son. His Father has shown the light
of His face upon His Son. so that Christ reflects the blessing
and the glory of God. When his work on earth was over
and he had ascended on high, his father declared in complete
satisfaction, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine
enemies a footstool for thy feet. And as we see Christ high and
lifted up, sitting on that glorious throne of heaven and ruling And
overruling, we see the blessings of God showered upon him, the
glory of God shown upon him. And it's beautiful. It lifts
the hearts. It exalts our minds as we consider
him. Well, this king is also lovely
in his royal strength and his great splendor. girding his sword
upon his thigh, the Mighty One rides forth in majesty. He rides out in the cause of
truth and righteousness and meekness. He rides to victory, striking
down his foes, piercing the hearts of their enemies with his sharp
arrows. King Jesus wins the day. He takes the fields. Mighty Victor,
reign forever. Wear the crown so dearly won. Never shall thy people never
cease to sing what thou hast done. The king has won the contest. And so he takes up his scepter
of his kingdom. And his scepter is a scepter
of uprightness. He sits upon a throne of righteousness
and holiness and justice for he loves righteousness and he
hates wickedness. And from that position of ultimate
authority he rules with all power and in great glory. And so this
beautiful, wonderful, good, kind, loving husband is also the King
of Heaven. He is anointed with the oil of
joy so that he and his holy angels and his glorified saints rejoice
together. And even that throne room is
filled with the fragrant perfumes of myrrh and aloes and cassia. Now as I meditated on that a
bit, I thought, you know, I've heard about myrrh and aloes before. Where is that in the scripture? And so I went looking, and there
in John's Gospel, you have Nicodemus. Nicodemus, that weak and ignorant
teacher of Israel, taking myrrh and aloes and spices and anointing
the dead body of our Lord and so his grave clothes were wrapped
and drenched in this mixture of perfume and then he rose from
the dead and as he rose from that tomb he left the grave clothes
behind but the sweet perfume of his presence went with him
And as he is ascended and as he is enthroned now, he is so
as the resurrected Lord. And that just enhances his beauty
all the more because he's conquered not only every earthly enemy,
he's conquered death, the last great enemy of his people. And so as we look at this Lord,
this King, He's gorgeous. He's wonderful. He is beyond
description. As I thought and prayed about
this sermon tonight, I was reminded of a phrase of one of my heroes,
Pastor Walter Bowie, Jr. Pastor Bowie used to say, I'm
just not preacher enough to tell you what you need to know. And I felt like on this topic,
I am not preacher enough. Christ, pull back the veil so
your people can see you in your glory and your beauty. Words
cannot convey it. It must be the Spirit opening
the eyes of your hearts to see Him in all the wondrous splendor
and brilliant majesty that He is and that He holds in heaven. One day we will see Him with
our eyes as He returns to earth in glory. But even now we can
see Him by faith as we look unto Jesus and as we pray, Lord, show
Yourself to me. May I see You in visions of Your
heavenly glory. Pull back the veil for me that
I might know You as You truly are the beautiful Lord of life. my heavenly husband, my groom." Well, as the bride is described,
his beloved church, she is impressive also. She comes to her king with
a beauty of her own, a beauty which the king greatly desires
and thoroughly enjoys. He delights to look upon her. She has attracted his attention
and he sees her and he desires her. Now this is not some kind
of base, carnal lust. This is holy love. This is a
pure and proper desire of a husband towards his wife. of a groom
towards his bride. Like him, her beauty is not mere
outward appearances. The text says, she is all glorious
within. Her inner qualities are as wonderful
and as beautiful as her outward appearance is attractive. She
is a thoroughly beautiful creature and she has been made so by the
beautifying hand of her holy God. I think the inward beauty
is really highlighted and perhaps crystallized in the second half
of verse 11. And there the psalmist states
Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him. Now please understand
that this is not a degraded, servile, cowering before Him. But rather this is a very beautiful
act of inner and outward submission to Him. She recognizes that he
is her husband and yet she knows he remains her Lord. And so she bows in submission
to him because she loves and adores him. In respect to his
headship, she bends her knee and she testifies that Jesus
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And this is profoundly
beautiful. In fact, this is exactly how
Peter counsels Christian women in 1 Peter 3, verses 3-6. Peter says there, Your adornment
must not be merely external, braiding the hair and wearing
gold jewelry or putting on dresses, but let it be the hidden person
of the heart. with the imperishable quality
of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight
of God. For in this way, in former times,
the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves,
being submissive to their own husbands. Just as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord, and you have become her children
if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear
I know that's going to make the feminist majority go running
out the door pulling their hair screaming filing lawsuits accusing
of hate crimes but this is real beauty real beauty in a woman
or real beauty in the church is not window dressing. It's
not the outward appearances of braided hair or gold jewelry
or fine clothing. It's that inward beauty of the
hidden person of the heart. It is the quiet and gentle spirit
that God approves of. it is the humble submission of
a wife to her husband that is true adornment so that as Sarah
obeyed Abraham and as she called him Lord she gave us a picture
of true femininity, of real, godly, thoroughgoing beauty. I would say to you that a submissive
church, a church that submits herself to the will of her husband. That is a beautiful and desirable
church. That church is the one that Christ
looks upon with that great love and deep desire for. But a church
that is rebellious, that refuses to submit, that will do its own
thing and go its own way and be the captain of its own ship
is ugly. and repulsive to Christ and so
the beauty of the church is in her submission to her Lord and
her willingness to bow before Him because He is Lord but there's also something important
to notice about the church that is also very attractive and that
is her garments In verse 9, the queen stands at the side of her
king in gold from Ophir. In verse 13, her clothing is
interwoven with gold and she is led in verse 15 to the king
in embroidered work. So while she is all glorious
within and has that quiet, gentle spirit and is submissive to her
Lord, she is also clothed with glorious golden garments, richly
embroidered and dazzling to behold. So what is that about? Is that
really a contradiction of 1 Peter 3? No. No. It's something much deeper, something
much better. For you see, Christ has clothed
his dear bride, the church, in glorious apparel that he himself
has made. It is the very righteousness
that he accomplished during his life of obedience and suffering
upon earth. Again, I just cannot resist quoting
Spurgeon. He observes this. How laboriously
did our Lord work out the precious material of His righteousness
into a vesture for His people. No embroidery of golden threads
can equal that masterpiece of holy arts. Have you ever stopped to think
about Jesus' ministry as the work of a tailor a dressmaker
making a beautiful garment weaving it all together so that he might
clothe his bride in this holy garment of his own righteousness
and so she stands before him clothed in his apparel And so the scene is such, the
altogether beautiful bridegroom, Christ, that majestic and resplendent
King, and the King's daughter, all glorious within, whose desirable
inward beauty is only enhanced and magnified by her golden wedding
gown woven by the very hand of her lover and her Lord. And as
they come together, oh, how the love flows between them. He desires her and she embraces
him. In my introduction, I suggested
that the king whispered into her ear. And maybe you wondered,
well, what was he whispering? I believe he was whispering verse
10, forget your people and your father's house. Come away with
me. Come be mine. And she sweetly complies. For she loves him with all her
heart, soul, strength and mind. He has captured her heart and
she cannot but love him. And so in the display of purest
fidelity, she surrenders herself unreservedly and unashamedly
to his love. She loves him because he first
loved her and gave himself up for her he proved the greatness
of his great love but on a hill called Calvary he suffered he
bled and he died to redeem her for himself and now she echoes
and reflects his love by her pure devotion and her unwavering
commitments and this is the scene that will
play out for endless ages of eternity as Christ and his bride
enjoy an everlasting honeymoon of perfect love and perpetual
devotion What a joyful thing this will be for all eternity
to be with our Lord. The groom already has been anointed
with the oil of joy above his fellows. As the wedding party
enters into the king's palaces, they are led forth with gladness
and rejoicing. Oh, the sheer joy of Christ and
his people. as they live together in perfect
union and holy love for the endless eons of eternity the good news
is this you can be part of this wonderful scene and not just
as an observer there is time to join the celebration you can
be the bride Or perhaps you could be part of the bride. Christ is whispering in your
ear today. Leave your father's house. Forget
your people. Give attention to me, my dear. Incline your ear to my voice
and come away with me. Come away. Your bridegroom is
bidding you to come and savor his love to feel his tender embrace
and the soft kisses of his sweet mouth oh how he loves his bride
come let's pray oh Lord how lovely you are beyond words how altogether excellent
and beautiful and true and good you are to take us to yourself
to make us your chosen bride your treasured possession the
object of all your affections and all of your love fill us
with a similar love a reflective love and draw each one here tonight
close in your dear arms. For it's in Christ we pray. Amen.
A Beloved Church
Series Psalms Series
In this love song between Christ and His bride, we witness first Christ as an altogether lovely husband. The church is also pictured as His beloved. Thus we witness the Lover and His beloved together for all eternity.
| Sermon ID | 13007165540 |
| Duration | 34:34 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Psalm 45 |
| Language | English |
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