Now we look at God's word together and of course it's the 72nd Psalm and the title tells us that it was composed for Solomon. But by whom? If we look at the previous Psalm, Psalm 71, we see David writing in his old age, in verse 9, cast me not off in the time of old age, forsake me not when my strength faileth. And then also verse 18, now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come. Not only is he now old and stricken in age, but he also still faces enemies. In verse 4 of Psalm 71, deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked. And then verse 10, for mine enemies speak against me. This may well relate to the events recorded in 1 Kings chapter 1. David was confined to his bed through frailty and his son Adonijah tried to usurp the throne from David's successor and rightful heir Solomon. Just in time David gave instructions for the coronation of Solomon. It was done and Solomon sat upon the throne of Israel. And it is believed that Psalm 72 then are David's words concerning now Solomon's reign. And it opens in verse 1 with his prayer, Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son." And concludes at verse 20, the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. So the psalm begins with a prayer for Solomon and then foretells the peace, love, joy, extent and duration of his reign. It was largely fulfilled in Solomon himself. God graciously answered David's prayer for Solomon. However, Solomon is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, a greater than Solomon is here. Therefore David in the Spirit rises above and beyond his son. The authorized version summary of Psalm 72 is excellent, isn't it? David praying for Solomon, showeth the goodness and glory of his kingdom in type, and of Christ's in truth. He blesseth God. Or the new TBS Westminster Bible summary, even better, David praying for Solomon showeth the happiness, justice and glory of his reign and of Christ's kingdom under that type. One writer has put it like this, transported with joy and gratitude at the crowning of Solomon, David addressed this psalm to God in which he prays him to pour out his blessings on the young king and upon the people. He then, wrapped in divine enthusiasm, ascends to a higher subject and sings the glory of the Messiah and the magnificence of His reign. Well, let us look at verse 17, which is surely the climax of the psalm. His name shall endure forever His name shall be continued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him, all nations shall call Him blessed." You see here that we have the name of great David's greatest son, and you have people blessed in connection with him. Who says the name of Jesus is not in the Psalms. The name Jesus may not be, but the name of Jesus is there. Look at it here. His name. Whose name could it be except that name above every name? Well, let us look then at two things in this verse. First of all, His person. His name shall endure forever and secondly, His people. His name shall be continued as long as the Son and men shall be blessed in Him. See first of all then, dear friends, His person. His name shall endure forever. Now we know that Solomon stained his name before the end of his reign. His heathen wives turned his heart away from the Lord. because the greatest of types always falls short of the one they prefigure. But, ah, that name! Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. The risen Christ appeared to Saul of Tarsus and said that he would bear his name before the Gentiles, and his name Exalted there now at the Father's right hand above every other name. His name shall endure forever. Think of it this way, dear friends. His name has endured. If you think about from eternity past, from everlasting. How long, dear believer, has God loved you? you cannot speak in terms of how long because you have been loved with an everlasting love and the rise of the love of God to you is in eternity past in the covenant of grace and peace where he made that compact with his beloved son and with you in him to be a God to you And you should have a Saviour in His Son and the Holy Spirit, the third person, to quicken you at the appointed time and bring you out to salvation. And so, dear friends, you have always been loved in God's purposes, in election and in your being given to Christ and entrusted to your surety and covenant head. And it is a blessed thing to think that His name has endured forever from the everlasting counsels when God had you and me on His mind and on His heart and when He purposed to bless us in Christ and that forever. It's a glorious, glorious thing. And in Hebrews 10 and verse 5, we have that word of God concerning Him. where it says that a body thou shalt prepare him and in the great plan the Son of God would become incarnate and would wear your nature and take your place and do everything for you in time. In his active obedience fulfilling the precepts of the law to give you his own righteousness and his passive obedience, submitting to the penalty of the broken law, of which we are guilty, to give us a mighty atonement that will cover all our sins, past, present, future, and forever. And that name, that person, enduring forever in the purposes of God, being made precious to us. Yes, in the covenant before time, and think of this also, Before his actual incarnation, in Micah 5 and verse 2, we read that his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. From everlasting in the covenant, but from of old. When he was in this world, pre-incarnate, and we have little appearances, well I shouldn't say little appearances, but these appearances of the sun to certain ones like for instance Hagar in Genesis chapter 16 when she was running away from her mistress and the angel of the Lord as he is called appeared to her and lovingly arrested her and spoke to her and said, return to thy mistress and submit thyself to her hand. Dear friends, escapism is never any answer. Go back to the place of duty and the Lord will bless you there. And the Lord Jesus, as it were, tells her this. And then what about the third who appeared to Abraham with the two angels? and before whom Abraham drew near and pleaded for Sodom and the Lord drew him out and drew him out until he finished communing with Abraham and secured at least the salvation of Lot and some of his family. And isn't that a beautiful picture there in Genesis where the angels and the Lord. They lay their hands upon the hands of Lot and his wife and his daughters and hurry them out of the city. And here is mercy, here is grace, where he brings his people out. Another type, isn't it, of salvation from coming judgment. He is there, you see. His name has endured forever, even from everlasting. Who was that one who wrestled with Jacob? And when Jacob was praying, praying for deliverance from Esau, and the Lord was teaching Jacob that he needed deliverance from himself more than from Esau, and how that he blessed him there in answer to Jacob's prayer, I will not let thee go till thou bless me. And Jacob said, what is thy name? And he said, Wherefore askest thou after my name? But that name enduring forever and in the time there in the world going forth of old. What about Joshua? And when the captain of the host of the Lord stood before Joshua and Joshua asked after him and there was a little revelation And Joshua fell down before Him. What saith my Lord unto His servant? And interesting what He said, Take thy shoes from off thy feet. And it was a command to worship. And dear friends, the most important thing in all our service is that we be down before Him in worship. That's the great thing. what we are as those who fear the Lord, more important even than what we do, before ever Jericho is taken at his feet in submission, ready to obey, ready to serve. What about Gideon? When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, thou mighty man of valor, And there he was hiding from the Midianites, a frightened man. But you see, the Lord can see what He's going to make us even before He's made us into it. And He says, Go in this thy might, have not I commanded thee? And dear friends, when we've got the commission of heaven, there is the strength of God, even though we feel weak in ourselves. And the Lord Jesus said the same to Peter, didn't he? He called his name Peter a stone or a rock when Peter was anything but rock-like. But he can see us in terms of what he is going to make us into before he's done it. And that's a great encouragement, isn't it? And he will ensure that he does it. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. What about to Manoah and her husband? and how that he appeared there going forth from of old from the everlasting councils and into the ages of time and there he was appearing to Samson's parents and they wanted to know how they might order the child and whatever happened to Samson afterwards in terms of his great shortcomings It wasn't through parental failure. And the Lord appeared in these ways before His incarnation. His name has endured, dear friends, in this world. And then, of course, in the fullness of time, at our Lord's incarnation, thou shalt call His name Jesus, Saviour. And He's made flesh. And He dwells among us. and the eternal Son of God in the bosom of the Father hath declared Him. And we believe, don't we, that in that name we have the fullest revelation of God there ever was. More than at creation, more than in all the works of providence put together, every attribute of God is displayed and exhibited so magnificently and gloriously in the coming of the Redeemer. His name has endured forever from before time and through time and into the fullness of time at His actual appearing. But dear friends, His name will endure forever, to the future, throughout the ages, to come and into the eternity of heaven. We read in Revelation 22 verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. And what is the worship of heaven? It is this. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. He is heaven's beloved one and the center of the worship of that place. And dear friends, our hope in being there is because he is the center of all our trust and all our hopes here. that we might see Him face-to-face when He calls us or when He comes for us. The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. So you see, from everlasting to everlasting, it's all the purposes of God in His beloved Son. It's all wonderful redeeming mercy through the Lamb of God's providing. And that blessed and that precious name. Well, His person. But let's look at the main thing here this afternoon and it's this. It's His people. His name shall be continued as the Son and men shall be blessed in Him and all nations shall call Him blessed. And this is saying that He has a people here his name shall be continued and the word continued means to propagate it means to have descendants and you see our blessed Lord has this doesn't he he has come for this very purpose that he might be the everlasting father of an innumerable company of those who are his dear ones, his children. In the church, while he is in this world, we are told that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. His name continued in them, Christ, Christians. We are his seed and his offspring. And dear friends, this great purpose will continue until every last elect vessel of mercy is brought out and saved. And how is this done? Well, there is the chief means of grace and the executive instrument for it. Romans 10 verse 17, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so it's the word, dear friends, every time. We hardly need to remind ourselves this afternoon, but oh, it needs saying in the wider professing church, doesn't it? That the great means whereby sinners are brought out where the elect are gathered in, where our Redeemer's name is made famous in His people as they rally to Him by grace. It's the Word of God. The Word of the Lord is glorified when the Gospel is preached in the power of the Spirit and souls are brought to Christ. They receive the love of the truth, don't they? It's implanted in their hearts at regeneration. begotten again with the Word of Truth. You can't separate converting grace from the Word of His grace, can you? It's not a thing that's done by any other means other than the Word preached or the Word written and read. The Lord's own way of doing it. And of course this is where TBS comes in, doesn't it? So, wonderfully, the website says that We have published and distributed scriptures in 40 languages of the world and ongoing translation projects in a further 20 languages. Thank God for the going forth of the Word as Christ rides forth in the chariot of His Gospel and as every soul appointed to salvation is reached and quickened and called and drawn irresistibly to that one whose name is lifted up. May it go on and on and on in his church while in this world his name shall be continued despite, dear friends, the attempts of enemies to prevent it and how they try to sully the name of Christ and if they can't get at the dear living word they'll get at the written word I wonder if you remember what happened back in 2009 in the city of Glasgow when there was this foolish attempt made by some Christian group to try to reconnect ordinary people with the Bible and they had this great Bible put on a stand and a container full of pens and members of the public were invited to write on the pages of the Bible and the wording was this, if you feel you have been excluded from the Bible please write your way back into it. Well of course the foolish attempt backfired because all manner of immoral and perverted persons took pens and scrawled the most unspeakable blasphemy and obscene statements on the pages of the Bible but you see this is carnal unregenerate man in all his enmity who hate Christ and who hate his word but his name will be continued, no matter what. And even though that name, that fair name by which we are called, is blasphemed in this way, they cannot touch the Word, they cannot touch Him. All is mighty and all is inviolate and all is safe, dear friends. The ranting and raving of enemies make no difference. Christ is Lord. His word is the truth and the Spirit will work and there will be conquests of grace for His name and for His honour and for His glory. And our part, while we deplore such things and all manner of attacks, and blasphemies against our blessed Lord, we just go on with the work. Because it's the Lord's work. And it's what He's promised to do in terms of blessing it. And it will not return unto Him void. It shall accomplish that which He pleases and prosper in the thing whereto He has sent it. And what an encouragement it is! What a privilege it is to preach, to read, to spread the Word, to give it out, give it away as gifts and may the Lord bless you as you do this in your auxiliary and maybe there are others too who can come forward and offer your services and ask, perhaps, what can I do to give away Bibles and support this good work. His name shall be continued as the Son. It's for His dear sake, dear friends. It's that His name might be magnified as through His Word His gospel is proclaimed and Christ is made known. There are so many enemies, past and present, aren't there? One comes to mind, you've heard of Voltaire, of course, the French infidel. And he, in his day, said something as audacious as this. He said that he was living in the twilight of Christianity. Well, he was right. Trouble was, it was the wrong twilight. There is a twilight that is toward the evening and the night when the day is over, but there's a twilight before the dawn. And you see, he died, poor man, in 1778, by which time the mighty evangelical awakening was underway and God was doing a great work and The name of His dear Son was proclaimed in so many places and oh how many were converted and how the churches were revived by that breath of heaven. Some fear that because of persecution Christianity will become extinct in the Middle East. So that name is hated in those countries. But the opposite is the case. We hear that in Syria So many people are wanting spiritual help and wanting the knowledge of Christ and there's a hunger for the Gospel and for the Word of God in Muslim countries as we know. Our dear friend Poojan is laboring to translate the Scriptures into Farsi to satisfy this great desire and hunger. God is working. He is glorifying His name, the name of His dear Son and He will ensure that being lifted up He will draw all men unto Him. To us, dear friends, that name is everything, isn't it? All other names are but labels. And we do know many precious names of those we love and those who are our friends. But the names of human beings are but designations of people. The name of God's Son is Revelation, and sums up His person and His work. And that name is dear to us, unique and all excelling. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. Do you count that name the most precious sound today? And are you a real believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? His name shall be continued as the Son and it shall not be in any way sullied, not be in any way diminished for lack of those who believe in Him. It won't be His loss, it will be your loss. if you don't trust Him as your Saviour. But dear friends, think of it this way. What an awful thing pride is! Because is not that to exalt any human name and try to place it alongside the name that is above every name? And to imagine that He could have a rival? Pride is such an awful thing! when it gets a hold of the heart, doesn't it? Because it says instead of let He be glorified, it's me and my self-importance and what I am and what I want and what I demand. And all names must go down before that great and glorious name. And He will not give His glory to another and no rival. God resisteth the proud. but giveth grace unto the humble, those who exalt the name of the Lord Jesus. Adonijah tried to seize the throne instead of Solomon and he was put down. And so every rival, every proud human being and sinner who tries to be exalted will go down. Jesus Christ shall be all and in all." Whitefield once said, and I'm not suggesting Wesley was a proud man in that sense, but George Whitefield's spirit was right when he said whether he would, he was asked whether he would found a denomination and he said, no, Brother John Wesley may do as he pleases, but let my name perish let Christ's name last forever. So it is. But let us draw to a close, dear friends, as we see how we can be blessed among this people. Men shall be blessed in Him. We think back, of course, to the original promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12 and verse 3 where that one man was called and called to the feet of God and he was to be that great custodian of that promise. I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed all the way down through the seed of Abraham Israel to that one single seed, Christ. And in Him men are blessed. And then again, chapter 22 of Genesis and verse 18, where God renews it in this way, And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be. blessed in Him. That's the great favorite of the Apostle Paul, isn't it, to describe a Christian. In Christ. Union with Christ. Such a beautiful subject. A union that had its rise in eternity past and is that which will be forever and ever in the presence of Him in that better world. union with the Redeemer, foreknowingly in the covenant, subjectively applied at conversion, experimentally known in life and forever in Christ. Dear friends, out of Christ, the curse and condemnation. In Him, life, justification, eternal life. to be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness of God through faith of Christ. Let me ask you again, are you in Him? As Noah and family and the animals in the ark the one place where you could be saved from the deluge of the judgment. Are you in Christ as in the city of refuge where the guilty man fled and the gates opened and received him and he couldn't be condemned and put to death because it was a city of refuge, safety and so with Christ Are you in Christ as within the court of the tabernacle where there was sacrifice and where there was atonement made, precious blood that could cover guiltiness and reconcile to God safely within the scope of pardoning love whereby sinners could be accepted upon the ground of what another has done in their place. Are you in Christ as in His arms? When He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not, but would you, have you, fled to Christ? And He has embraced you and received you in His arms. Salvation in Him alone. Oh, look to the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see Him, first making you feel your need of Him, revealing Him to you, making Him precious to you, and that glorious experience of Jesus my Saviour, that precious saving name, your very own. May it be so for every one of us. Let's close now finally with this. See the vast extent of His Kingdom. Look at this at the end of verse 17. Yes, men shall be blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him blessed. Because you see, it's the promise, isn't it? This is no local, small-scale thing. This is worldwide. This is universal. We read in the second Psalm, And in verse 8, these glorious words, ask of me, says the Father to the Son in the covenant, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. It's no few elect ones given by God to the Son. It's great armfuls of Adam's ruined race entrusted to this Redeemer in the covenant. And He has engaged fully for them all and they shall be called in the appointed time and in the appointed place worldwide. And then look at this, there is Psalm itself in verse 2. in verse 8, rather, of this psalm. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Well, that was quite largely fulfilled in Solomon's day, literally. But, dear friends, the greater than Solomon will reign, reign throughout the world. He will have a people so numerous and a church so great and an empire of grace that is being furthered and furthered even now as we speak. These are foretastes. Look at this, all nations shall call him blessed indeed and there will be that. Remember when the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon and he showed her all his wisdom and she saw his glory and Solomon was the talk of the king's roundabout and his wisdom known far and wide, that's just a little foreshadowing of the great kingdom of grace that is still to be. Dear friends, wonderful things are happening in Sri Lanka. Many are being converted. There are reformed Baptist churches coming into being. Hundreds of people belonging to those churches in countries of Africa. There is a great turning to the Lord Jesus in China. there are more Christians than are realized in China, in some countries of South America. Things are happening on a tremendous scale and in our poor country here we trust that God will not pass us by and that our Lord shall still have honor and glory. But whatever your view, dear friends, of the end time and of unfulfilled prophecy, you cannot, from the Scriptures, entertain a pessimistic view, can you? You cannot somehow see that things are winding down and that when our Lord returns there will be a pitiful state of affairs hardly worthy of His glorious appearing. These things bespeak great things happening and yet to happen. So that in verse 19 you see The prayer, the inspired prayer will be answered. Let the whole earth be filled with His glory. The knowledge of the glory of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Our dear Redeemer, His name is so great. There is a great and glorious worldwide universal future for it. Sooner or later, these things must be done. May it please God to include the United Kingdom. But whether He does or does not, God will have His way. Satan and all forces of evil will go down. and the kingdom and empire of our Lord Jesus shall come with power and with glory." And we are caught up in these great things and we have a great privilege and honor just to give away one Bible to make a contribution to that. Who knows what will come of the passing of one scripture into the hands of someone else and it will lead to something else and to something else and to something else. Five loaves, two fishes were mentioned earlier, weren't they? Ah, but Christ took them into his hands and he multiplied them miraculously and thousands were fed. And we bring what we can and we are labourers together with him. and we trust the Lord will multiply our efforts and that even we may be part of this great thing, His person and His people. And you see we are blessed in Him and all who are blessed in Him call Him blessed. It's our worship, isn't it? He blesses us when He does all things well for us. We bless Him when we say all things well concerning Him. May it be so. For the glory of His name. Amen.