I'd like to invite you to turn in the Old Testament to 2 Samuel 22. That's near the beginning of the Bible, page 378. As you listen to this, you may see why I gave a title, The King and His Kingdom, to this portion of God's Word. I'll read beginning in verse 26 and to the end of this chapter. This is God's Word. With the merciful, you will show yourself merciful. With a blameless man, you will show yourself blameless. With the pure, you will show yourself pure. And with the devious, you will show yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty. You may bring them down. For you are my lamp, O Lord. The Lord shall enlighten my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop. By my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect. Word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust in him. For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock except our God? God is my strength and power. And he makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You've also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great. You enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip. I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. And I have destroyed them and wounded them so that they could not rise. They have fallen under my feet. For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose against me. You've also given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hated me. They looked, but there was none to save, even to the Lord, but he did not answer them. Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth. I trod them like dirt in the streets, and I spread them out. You have also delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me as the head of the nations. and people I have not known shall serve me. The foreigners submit to me, and as soon as they hear, they obey me. Foreigners fade away and come frightened from their hideouts. The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock. Let God be exalted, the rock of my salvation. It is God who avenges me and subdues the peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me. You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name. He is the tower of salvation to his king and shows mercy to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever. The earth shook and the foundations of heaven quaked when Jesus hung on the cross for our sins. The earth shook again when Jesus rose from the dead. And yet once more, says the Lord Almighty, he will shake earth and heaven when Jesus, our Savior and King, comes again to bring all of history to an end. While we anticipate that great and glorious day and maybe even say, come quickly, oh Lord, we understand that Jesus's reign as King is not just a future event. It is something that is going on right now. The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is bringing all things underneath his feet, even now in the midst of history. And there will be a final consummation one day, a final consummation when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Knowing that, And foreseeing that, David wrote this psalm about Jesus. And you could speak about his own rule as a king, and there are some ways in which it foreshadows Jesus, but this really must be seen as referring to Lord and King Jesus Christ. And we know that because this last portion of Psalm 18 tells about the kingdom of the Messiah, the character of our King. And we know this because Paul in the New Testament quotes this song in Romans chapter 15. I read there, but let me just catch your attention there again. Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision, that's the Jews, for the truth of God. To confirm the promises made to the fathers, that's it. There Paul is drawing out the promises made and kept and fulfilled to all of those in the Old Testament, the children of Israel. But he doesn't stop there and he says, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, for this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. There, Paul says, God's purpose is that the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Christ would not just be amongst the children of Israel. But it has always been the purpose of God that salvation would come to people around the world. And that's why this psalm is about the king and his kingdom. I want to start by looking at how David describes the king's character. This comes in verses 26 through 31. The king's character. David has told us that Jesus was crucified for our sins. He also told us that he was raised again. Raised again, as Paul says in the New Testament, for our justification. David goes on now to tell about the character of this king that is our Savior and our Lord. And this is a really striking demonstration of a fundamental Christian truth. One that I hope that you will always remember. where you see that we are not saved by merely an ideal, we're not saved by a doctrine, and we're certainly not saved by ourselves. We're saved by a person. We're saved by a person. And that makes all the difference in the world when you think about it, for the Lord God on high, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are persons. They know us. They love us. We're saved by a person, Jesus Christ, not some empty or even some profound doctrine or ideal, but by a person. And here is David, to whom the Holy Spirit has given a glimpse of the coming Savior, Jesus Christ, the coming King. And it's almost as if David is so excited that he can't find enough words to describe how great the Messiah is that's anticipated. And it comes through as as part of the progression of this psalm as well. You might remember that in the last two messages, I said you need to remember that we know the end of the story, that there is glory in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There's glory in his ascension and in his present reign for us. But before the glory comes the cross. So David has brought that home in very dramatic ways. But after the cross comes the glory. And that's where we are today. We will have this opportunity with David to be moved to worship, moved to be excited about just who Christ is. And even by the weight of words, you can tell that David wants you to know the weight of Christ's suffering. But more than that, he wants you to know the glory of Jesus Christ. So that's what we see in these verses. If you look at these verses, I want you to picture a scene in your mind. Following a great victory, The king has returned to his capital city and at a great feast, he honors those who have followed him, who have fought with him. He gives gifts to all of them. And what does he give in this case? Verse 26, he gives mercy to those who have followed him. The word there, I love to point out, it's the Hebrew word hesed, the faithful covenant love of God. It's sometimes rightly translated mercy, sometimes faithful love. Here, mercy fits because a saving God has delivered us, showed mercy to us as sinners. He also responds to his people by giving himself, the next two verses describe him, giving his own blamelessness, his perfection in righteousness that he himself is and gives to his people. And he's also revealing himself here as being pure in all of his ways. So go back to the scene I wanted you to picture. To whom does the king give these gifts? That's an interesting question, something maybe of a trick question for you. To whom does he give these? By the text he gives them to those who are merciful, to those who are blameless, to those who are pure themselves. For instance, in verse 26 just says one of those. With the merciful, you will show yourself merciful. And as it's said, that way you might say, now wait a minute. I'm not all that merciful. Certainly not blameless. And if you took a close look at my life, I'm not pure. How is it that the King Jesus Christ can bestow these gifts on me, on you? Therein lies some of the trick question side of this. Because there is one who is perfect. There is one who is merciful and blameless and pure, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the righteous one. He is perfectly righteous, as even this little portion will describe, that he is the perfect one. So another way to answer the question, to whom is this given, is to say that he gives it to those who are united to Christ by faith. Christ dispenses these gifts to you, believing in Jesus. And in Christ, God looks at you as righteous because of the righteousness of Christ that is given to you. And the Holy Spirit enables you to walk in a new path, a new path of the knowledge of God, of righteousness in action, in holy lives. And we will quickly admit that we do not do this perfectly. But when we are united to Christ, we do follow Jesus genuinely. And he brings to bear the fruit of the spirit, just to tag back to a former series that we just came from. There's genuine newness of life. And that newness of life can be characterized by mercy, blamelessness, and purity. Gifts of God that are then honored by God with mercy, blameless, and purity that is poured out on us in Christ. There's more to this that David describes the character of the king, and I'll move a little quicker through this portion. King Jesus is just, and he rules with justice. He says, with the devious, Christ is shrewd. In other words, you can't pull something over on Jesus. He knows when you're trying to fool others, and you won't fool God. He is shrewd. He saves the humble, but brings the haughty down. The king is wise and he gives wisdom to his followers. David portrays this by a lamp that sheds light in the darkness. You can understand that, can't you? A light shining in a dark place. And so here, imagine the king who is leading us, who is himself light. That bears imagination, doesn't it? The king himself is light. Think of the transfiguration, the glory of Christ that shines out. But he's also the light of truth and the light of wisdom personified. And he gives wisdom to his followers, to you. The king is steadfast and gives stalwart faith to his followers. He enables you to live for him, running against a troop, leaping over a wall. Because you are united to him, he is a shield to all those who trust in him. So you can say with David that Jesus is my salvation. Jesus is my righteousness, he's my mercy, my blamelessness, my purity, my justice, my wisdom, my shield, King. It's the character of our King, our Savior Jesus. And the King has a kingdom, which is the next portion of this passage, the King's kingdom. And I love how this turns and how David draws our attention to this. Again, remember that David's been moved by the spirit to foresee these things and to foretell these things. By the spirit of God, he is speaking about Jesus to come. And he gives not only a vision of Jesus, but of the kingdom that Jesus establishes and builds up. Now, you can't apply this to David. He was a king. He was called by God to be a king. He served as a king. And in David's case, the enemies in his time period were not only spiritual. I mean, he's faced the same temptations. We've seen that. But he also had literal armies, armed soldiers, who were invading Israel and attacking them. was right for him to protect God's people, was right for him to fight against them. But ultimately, this psalm is indeed about Jesus. So we see the kingdom being established and protected and built up by the king himself. And so he talks in this passage. You may have noticed this, David uses very blunt language that is the language of warfare. God trained David to fight against his enemies. And Jesus trains us. God is a shield to all who trust in him, a rock, strength, power, making his way perfect. God directs David's feet like the feet of deer. And that's a poetic way to describe the swiftness of the soldiers that might run to a battle. And he said on high places, a defensible place. That blunt military language gets even more graphic in the verses beginning of verse 38. I chased my enemies. I destroyed them. In fact, he says destroyed three times. I destroyed them and wounded them so they could not rise. My foot is on the enemy's neck. I beat them into fine dust and walk all over them. It's important for us here to pause and I want you to hear very clearly that This is not a passage that instructs us to take up the weapons of this world. And it is unfortunate that some people have argued in this direction. So I will say, be on your guard. against anyone who would quote verses like this and say, see the Bible, the Bible tells you to use weapons. Take this gun, take this bomb and do the Lord's work. Reject such a one. That is not the work of Jesus Christ and of his kingdom. By Christ's own words, his kingdom is not of this world. If it were, his followers would take up weapons and fight. Instead, Christ chases his enemies with the gospel. You might remember that the New Testament will use similar language. And think of the Book of Revelation where the Lord Jesus Christ rides out on a horse to do battle. And there is a sword coming out of his mouth. Sword is the word of God. And his triumph and his victory over the nations is a triumph of spiritual victory. That comes in two fashions. Some, the Lord Jesus Christ converts by the gospel. Maybe in your own life, you look back and you say, I was hell bent. The Lord pursued me. The Lord pursued me and converted me. That's the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel ministry that is described here that we pray for. But there is also in this passage, those who in time who will look for help and they will not find it. They will even cry out to God, but God will not hear. That's because the time of repentance has passed. And the defeat of those who reject Jesus Christ will be even more terrifying than this language of warfare in Psalm 18. Because it is the language of this world. Jesus' defeat of those who reject him is an everlasting defeat. Everlasting rejection and judgment of non-Christians in hell. What we see now, though, is the Lord Jesus Christ progressively fulfilling this promise, sending out his people, his church, with the gospel to pursue those he is saving from their sins. And that salvation is indeed, even now, going to the ends of the earth, to the Jew first and to the Gentiles. And so we apply this in this way. We follow the Lord Jesus Christ in applying the gospel to those around us. We go on from day to day and from strength to strength, based on the promises of the Lord, that he will indeed bless the gospel ministry, wherever it goes. He will make it to be that tool of salvation that will bring men and women and children from every race and language and tribe and tongue. That's how Paul applies this. He could say, of Jesus Christ, and so can we, that the Lord is fulfilling this promise. He is sending out his church to the ends of the earth to bear that fruit of the gospel, to bring men and women into the kingdom of God. So we can see that David foresaw this great gospel promise, a promise of a messianic king that would indeed rule over all things. He would save those that he has elect, those that he is calling to salvation, so that they would come and bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. Gordon Keddy describes this portion of Psalm 18 as nothing less than a vision of the eschatological triumph of Christ. That's a big word, but eschatological means the fulfillment of all of the ages at the end of times. Eschatological are things of the end times, when Christ comes again. And what is it that Christ is doing? Well, he is about that work of a king, saving his people. defending them, delivering us from the domain of darkness, establishing and building up his church. It is quite a triumph and it leads David and it leads us in the last few verses of this Psalm to praise Christ the King, verses 47 through 51. The Lord lives, blessed be my rock. Let God be exalted, the God of my salvation. I hope you see how there's an echoing of what David said first. So he's bringing this poem to a close by restating the theme of the very beginning, which is to praise the Lord for all that he has done. And his praise that comes from David certainly reflects many ways that God had rescued him, strengthened him, established him from enemies of this world. But David also praises God for spiritual deliverance too. You can't help but associate these words with redemption. David calls God the rock of his salvation, the tower of salvation. Once again, you could turn to the New Testament and you could find in 1 Corinthians 10 that the rock is Jesus. Or from Jesus's own preaching that there is a rock of his word that we are built on. You can't help but see salvation here. Even closes by saying that God shows mercy to his anointed. Remember that's the word for Messiah, to David and to his descendants forever. So you can't help but associate these words with Christ himself. For Jesus is the descendant of David. He's the heir of the promise that God had given that there will be a son of David that will rule on his throne forever and ever. And Jesus is the anointed one, the Messiah that reigns forever and ever. So we'll close by my saying, think now of Jesus taking up this word as his own. As the promised savior, Jesus himself bursts out into praise to the Lord, the Father who lives. He blessed and exalted the Lord who made Jesus to be the rock of salvation. He is worthy of all praise as the incarnate Son of God. Jesus is the one who leads us in salvation and leads us in praise to him. For he is the fulfillment of this promise. He's the means of salvation for you and for me and for those in all times and in all places that God is drawing to himself through Jesus Christ. So we apply that to ourselves by following David to praise God that he has raised up a king and a savior, that he's our savior. And that he has dealt mercifully and justly with us in Jesus Christ. And that while we are united to him, we too become full of mercy and blameless and pure. And we know what justice is and we do justice around us and so on. And we praise God that Christ himself has commissioned his church to go to the ends of the earth. And so we dedicate ourselves to that missionary task that Jesus himself, our King, has given to us. And in our praise, we pray that the Lord would equip us and use us as kingdom workers. And here's some ways that you can pray. Pray that Christ would use you. Use this congregation right here in our neighborhood, right here in this city. That he would use you to proclaim the news with boldness and conviction that Jesus will not turn away any who comes to him by faith. That we would be convinced that there are some that the Lord is saving here, and that would move us to share the gospel boldly. pray and witness with faith based on those promises. That you would bless the invitations that we give in our neighborhoods. That the Lord would set his light to shine in you, in your workplace, or amongst your family, or in your neighborhood, or on the campus of OSU. Pray for conversions, pray for God to rescue others as he has rescued you, to pursue them and to capture them and deliver them from Satan. Pray that the Lord would bring those that are isolated by their own sin, to bring them out of that darkness and set them in the family of God, in the family of this congregation, so that they would know the grace of the Lord. Pray that God would help us as we support and send missionaries into those fields around the world. And praise the Lord. Praise the Lord because he is a great and mighty king ruling right now, progressively bringing underneath his feet all things to that great and glorious end when that kingship will be consummated at his second coming. The Lord lives. Blessed be the rock of my salvation, now and forevermore. Bless our King Jesus and his kingdom. And let's pray. Lord God, as we have done, we have called upon you to hear our cries for deliverance. And you have heard us. You have delivered us from our sin. You've set us free from that bondage into which we were born and to the uselessness of our striving after meaning and joy in this life without you. You have delivered us. We could say you pursued us. When we were not looking for you, you came and you set Christ in our lives. Lord, we do pray and ask God that your kingdom would come in all of its glory. Taught us to pray for that. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, make us servants of that prayer. May we, by the work of your spirit, by faith in the promises of God, stand steadfastly in an evil age to testify that there is a King and Savior. Pray for the fruit of that. We pray boldly and earnestly for conversions here in our congregation, in our families, amongst those missionaries that are sent out to the ends of the earth. We pray in the name of our King, Jesus Christ, amen. We're gonna turn to Psalm 18 again. We're gonna sing another portion of it now and then complete it after the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 18F, let's stand to praise God.