Psalm 110, as I've already mentioned, it is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. It's one that I think we need to spend a little time on. Last week, we just looked at the first half of verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord. We saw that the Lord Jesus ascribed it to Himself. We saw it that pretty much all the New Testament authors ascribed it to Christ. We determined that this is about Jesus. Now, let's look more into what it says about Christ this evening. Before we read God's word, let's pray and ask his blessing upon it. Lord Jesus, we give you thanks that this word. Is a sword which pierces our hearts, it shows us our sin, our deficiencies, our faithlessness, but it also is a great balm to those who trust in you. And Lord, we pray that your word would do its work this evening. Lord, that you would use it to conquer our wayward hearts and to enforce your rule and reign over us by your Holy Spirit. Lord, your word is an effectual means of our salvation. Lord, may it be effectual for us this evening. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Psalm 110, a Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power and holy garments from the womb of the morning. The dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head." Thus far, the reading of God's holy and inerrant word. You may be seated. Tonight we return to Psalm 110, the psalm which Luther said is the very core and quintessence of the whole scripture. It holds for us David's son. It presents to us he who is not just David's son, but also David's Lord, a person who is both king and priest, a person who rules and reigns and ruins his enemies. a person who is none other than Jesus Christ, our Lord. Psalm 110 is about Jesus. Psalm 110 is quoted, as we've already said, in various places. It's quoted in Acts chapter two, Matthew 22. It's quoted in all the synoptic gospels. It's referenced multiple times in the book of Hebrews. The apostle Paul points us to Psalm 110 when he talks of Christ in various places. This evening, we will peel back more of this psalm to see the great glory of our priest-king. We'll be camping out in verses 1 through 3. If we're willing, next week we'll get to the priesthood. But for now, we'll focus more upon his kingship in verses 1 through 3. And what we see here in verses 1 through 3 is that Christ is a very powerful king a king who gains victory over his foes and as a host of voluntary servants following him into the battle. It's a beautiful psalm, a psalm in which you have a king who is beautiful and strong and glorious, a king who is victorious, a king who wins the hearts of his people and stirs them to go forth into the battle through his strength. This evening, I want to see three things. The king's dominion. The king's domination. And the king's devoted people. His dominion, his domination and his devoted people. First, the king's dominion. Psalm 110 verse 1 says, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand. Sit at my right hand. Where is Jesus? Jesus isn't just a character in our Bibles. He's more than that. Jesus isn't dead somewhere in a tomb. Jesus is our resurrected Lord. But what happened after his resurrection? Well, we read about it in Acts chapter 1. As he was there, he gave a commission to his disciples to go forth, to be his witnesses all throughout the world. And at that moment, he was taken up into heaven, ascension. But where did he go? Psalm 110 tells us he is at the right hand of the Father. He's in the very presence of His Father. Now, these words, at the right hand of the Father, it's, yes, we can say it's talking about location. He is in the presence of His Father. As the God-man, He is there in heavenly glory. He has preceded us into that great place of rest. There's more to these words than just that. These words of Yahweh to his son communicates that he is in the place of authority, the place of power, the place of royal ruling and reigning. He is king. And more than that, he is Yahweh's king. I'm an American through and through, I don't have much stock in this whole notion that was so prevalent in England and still in many places today, this idea of the divine right of kings except for King Jesus. Jesus is Yahweh's king. Being Yahweh himself and of the line of David. He sits in a privileged position that only He can inhabit as the Lord, as the Son of God, as the Son of David, as the Messiah, the Christ. This is a statement of His rule and reign, His dominion. He's at the right hand of the Father. Christ even now is there. We often bring this up, don't we? recite this truth. When we're not going through the Ten Commandments, we're usually using one of the ecumenical creeds, particularly the Apostles' Creed. What do we say? We believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead." This was the core message of Peter. to those Jews who were gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. What does Peter tell them there? He brings this text to bear. In Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 32, we read this. This Jesus God raised up. And of that we are all witnesses. being therefore exalted where at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing, for David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. David's is mentioned here. David's psalm, Psalm 110 is mentioned here at the end of Peter's sermon. This is the final push of Peter's sermon. This is the decision point, right? He's laid before his people, these people on Pentecost, Jesus Christ, and he has left it here. And he's like, now you have to do something about it. This was the climax. He's saying the king has come. You killed this king. And God raised him from the dead and he is in glory now ascended at the right hand of the father. And he's calling them bow your knee to the king. Believe in him, repent of your sins. Because the king is coming again. And I love the response to this, I love I love what happens next. What do we read, verse 37, now, when they heard this, they were cut. to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? What is that? It was the King in his sovereign dominion. It was King Jesus sending his word and spirit into their hearts to cut them, that he might heal them by his grace. Dominion. dominion by his word and spirit. We also see the king's dominion referenced in verse two, what do we read there? Verse two of Psalm 110. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter rule in the midst of your enemies. This idea of the scepter Being linked, really, if you go back to the later part of Genesis and Jacob is blessing his sons and he says to his son Judah, the scepter shall not depart from you. Scepter. This emblem of power and authority and dominion, this scepter is in the hand of Christ and it stretches forth. There's this idea that his power and his dominion are spreading here. It goes out from Zion, it says. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. It seems like it starts there in Zion and in Jerusalem and and it spreads, it goes forth, it he's gaining territory, he's gaining ground. Again, acts is so illustrative. Axis. the beginning of the story of the scepter of the Messiah going forth. What does Jesus tell his disciples in Acts chapter 1 verse 8? He says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. What is Jesus telling them there? He's saying this isn't going to be a Jerusalem thing. It's not going to be a thing regarding Judea or Samaria. It's not going to be a citywide thing or a statewide thing or a region wide thing. It's going global. I want you to think about that and I want to think about where you are right now. I did the math. We are 6,200 miles from the city center of Jerusalem. That's a long way. We're in Horry County, South Carolina. We are the uttermost parts of the earth. And we bow the knee to King Jesus. His scepter has gone forth. It's gone over the world. His kingdom of grace has stretched to this place and so much farther places. To China. where a vicious dictator would seek to crush the kingdom of Christ. And yet what's happening? It's growing. The scepter goes forth. Go to the horn of Africa and what will you find? You will find believers there. A people from every nation, tribe and tongue will bow the knee to Jesus. By his word and spirit, he is expanding his rule. Dominion is happening. The gospel of grace goes forth. I want you to picture this the next time. You have this inclination in your soul to talk to the person across the counter from you at the store or the person who's sitting next to you in some occasion. And you have this inclination to speak to them of Christ. And you're a little squeamish. Christ's scepter is going forth. It's going forth. And you may be there. right there by His sovereign command to tell that person of the King. Trust me, in those moments, there's nothing you can do or say ultimately to keep them from Jesus if Jesus wants them. Just tell them about Christ. Tell them. Be a messenger for the King. And the king will bring about the results. Fear not, Christian. Your king's dominion is advancing. The king's dominion. But we see also here in Psalm 110, the king's domination. His domination. Again, we see this in verse one. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies your footstool. What is David describing here? Your enemies are a footstool, you think of maybe. Enemies collected there and you have a little Ottoman there and. King is sitting back on his throne and he has a little Ottoman and there's his enemies right there, his little Ottoman. There's more to this. in the ancient Near East, conquering kings. After they had defeated other kings, they would bring those kings before them and put their feet on either their head or their necks as a gesture. I have defeated you and I've ruled over you. You're done. You see this in places like Joshua chapter 10. Joshua chapter 10, there were five kings one of whom was the king of Jerusalem at the time, these Canaanite kings, and they had come out to battle. And these five Amorite kings there around Jerusalem, they had fought against God's people and they had failed. And this is what Joshua said concerning them to his people. He said, Joshua 10, 24. When they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings. Then they came near and put their feet on their necks. What is this? It's a display of domination, of victory. There's more to it than even this. It must have been a great joy for David to write these words. It must have been. To receive these words by divine inspiration because in these words is contained a fulfillment of a much greater and older promise. A promise which stretches all the way back to the first few chapters of the scriptures to Genesis chapter 3. You remember the tragedy of Genesis 3? Adam had failed. Adam had fallen the serpent, seemingly won. And Adam, who was this lesser king, a steward of creation, called to serve under Yahweh, but to serve as his king in creation, Adam, the king, had rebelled against Yahweh. Satan, in the form of a serpent, had lured him into sin, and Adam's sin brought ruin for himself and for all of his posterity. The kingdom was ruined because the king had failed. But there was a message of hope, wasn't there? When God came, when he came and he pronounced curses upon the serpent. And he said to the serpent, I will put enmity between you, the offspring of the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. What's the picture there? The picture there is of this singular male offspring, a he who would come from woman and he would place his foot upon the head of the serpents and all that the serpent represents and all that the serpent had brought into the world through his conniving temptation to which he lured Adam into sin. What is God saying to Satan there? He's saying your days are numbered. This ruin that you brought into my creation will be undone. You will be defeated. And that promise was still alive in David's day. And here we read that David's son, who is David's Lord, will be the one to bring the death blow to Satan. Yes, to more than Satan, to death itself, to sin, to hell. Christ will conquer. He will dominate his enemies. Even now, after the resurrection, which this is when Christ truly crushed the head of the serpent. It was in his death and in his resurrection that he undid all that Satan has ever dreamed of doing. Satan thought he had the upper hand, the Son of God being crucified by his own people. And yet, what was it? It was the means of our salvation and the means of Christ's victory and glory. And now today, Satan is bound. I know we we see the news and we see moral decay in our country and we see all of this. But yet Christ's kingdom is still advancing. And Satan, though he is definitely messing with us, he's on a leash. The dragon. of Revelation chapter 20 has been chained. He's been defeated. He's been leashed. And one day he will be thrown into the fire of hell made for him when the king of glory returns. And that day, all will see that his enemies are a footstool for his feet. We have to remember this, friends, that Jesus, as tender as he is to us, his people, as merciful as he is, as loving as he is to us, his bride, his church, will not abide those who stand opposed to him. Son of God is a warrior. Today is the day of grace. But the day of his glory will be the day when he conquers all of his enemies. Today is the day when he conquers his enemies by his word and spirit. He conquers rebel hearts like yours and mine. And he brings us into his kingdom by his Holy Spirit. But on the day of glory, he will bring down Satan and all those who follow that sinister Are you on the Lord's side? Are you under his dominion? Or will you, like Satan, be cast into the fire? Are you with Christ? Or will you be a footstool for his feet? Friends, trust the King of grace. Submit yourself to him. Run to him. Rebel though you are. Sinner against him though you are. Run to him. You will find favor. You will find mercy. You will find a king who will save you. The king's domination. Thirdly, and finally, I want to see the king's devoted people. The king's devoted people. We see this in verse three, verse three of Psalm 110. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments. From the womb of the morning, the due of your youth will be yours. There's a footnotes there, the very end saying, we don't know what that exactly means. I always want to tread lightly there, but we know this much. that Psalm 110.3 displays the king's devoted people, all we who are Christ's. We are not conscripts drafted into his army. We're volunteers. That's what's here. You know the difference. You know the difference. When a country is at war, And they're particularly losing very badly. That's when the call goes out to all the able-bodied men and they are gathered in and they're said, all right, here's a rifle. Here's some magazines. Go and fight. Are those the ones who are usually the best soldiers? Sometimes they show great acts of bravery, but sometimes they're the ones that are shivering in the foxholes. That's not that kind of soldier here. This is the soldier who is at the front of the line saying, send me. I want to serve the king. I want to fight in the name of the king against all that stand opposed to him. We're not conscripts thrust into battle with reluctance and fear. Literally in the Hebrew, this This opening line says, your people offer themselves as free will offerings. I'm ready to be poured out. I'm a living sacrifice in the service of my king. Christ's people offer themselves freely and are set apart unto him for his service, for his namesake, for his glory. They're filled with his Holy Spirit, armed with his word, winged by prayer, and they go forth into every sphere of life seeking to live for Christ the King. Willing service. And that part that's about the womb of the morning and the dew of your youth being yours. Yeah, that's a hard one. It's a tough one. But I'm convinced in this context, it's talking about a youthful vigor and freshness that is in the heart of every believer that looks to Christ and says, it's time to do battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. That when we look at our King, when we see his banner, When we ponder Him and His scepter going forth and we know that His enemies will be made a footstool for His feet, we lose our fear and we go forth into the fight. Christ is King. Satan is defeated. The guilt and power of sin in our lives has been thwarted by His cross and resurrection. Christ sends forth His Word and Spirit. How could we then not be willing servants of Him? We are on the winning side. We truly are. Oh, we are so, tend to be so pessimistic today. So pessimistic. We watch too much of the news. We hear Too many reports about Christianity's decline, though the recent reports Pew Research Center says that Christianity has kind of leveled off and it's not declining anymore. Could it be? Could it be? But even now, Christ did by his word and spirit capturing the hearts of young people. Could it be that we are seeing some signs of a faithfulness in his church to proclaim Christ. We're on the winning side. Why would we hold back now? Why would we ever hold back? We can bring this idea of being a willing sacrifice for the king, following in his battle train, following ready to go to war We can bring this into a lot of areas of life. I love, I love Luther's example, whenever he was tempted, right? You've heard of his stories of dealing with the devil, how he would throw ink bottles at the devil and, and, and he would do all kinds of bodily functions towards the devil. You know, this was Luther's way, right? But there's something to that. Perhaps in temptation, we might say, Satan, you're a puny and defeated foe. You're on a leash. Jesus has defeated you. Has not Christ tread you down by his death and resurrection? And am I not his? What power do you have over me? Or in times of temptation, when you feel your flesh raging against the spirit who indwells you, You can address yourself, your flesh, and say, oh, my flesh, has not Christ dashed your power over me through His victorious resurrection? Has He not set me free from you? Yes, you're more powerful than me, but you're not more powerful than Him. You are vanquished. And while you annoy me still with your presence, my soul is safe in Christ, and He has equipped me to fight you by the Spirit. We take our fight into our lives as evangelists, those who share the gospel. To think Christ's dominion can be spread through me, through me, through you. As you pray for your children, your children's children, as you pray and Encourage them with the gospel and you press them in their unbelief. As you see fruit in their life that runs contrary to what they claim they believe and you push back and you say, but does a Christian live this way? Have you been changed? Do you know Christ? Christ can use you. Are you a willing sacrifice for him? Part of his army? I love the alternate reading of verse three. So something along the lines of this, on the day that you lead your forces, you're part of the Lord's army. Weak though you may be, ill-equipped though you may feel. And yet how great a victory is won through your service. What mighty things he can do through a puny volunteer. Why? Because it's not ultimately you that wins the victory. It's not. It's him. It reminds me of the the worst lesson that I've ever taught in my life. You may say, well, you've had some stinkers here. But this was in Savannah, Georgia. I was given about two hours notice. I was going to teach a class on Sunday night before our evening service. We had a group from a bunch of ex-convicts who were in this transitional ministry. They were trying to help them get get transportation and places to live and jobs. It was a wonderful, wonderful ministry, the Coastal Jail Ministries of Georgia. And I had a Bible study, and I had the privilege of teaching that Bible study on several occasions. And I was told two hours before I was to teach that I was up because somebody had to drop out and couldn't teach that night. And I'm someone who likes to be prepared. I was not prepared. I went in. I was frantic in writing. I was frantic in organizing. I came in. I was a wreck. You could say that, if we're going to use the soldier analogy, my gun was dirty. I had no ammo in the magazines. I wasn't ready for the fight. I wasn't ready to share the gospel with these people. And so I fumbled through. I fumble through my manuscript. I fumble through my preparations. I'm just putting it out there saying, Lord, you can do something with this, but I know I can't do anything with it. And while that was happening, the worst lesson I've ever taught in my life. There was a man in the front weeping, weeping, Not because of anything I've said, ultimately, but because the Spirit of God was working on his soul. And that evening, he said, I need Christ. It wasn't me. It was Christ. It wasn't me. It was His Spirit. It wasn't me. It was His Word. I was a puny little vessel, ill-equipped, ill-prepared. Magazine's empty. But there was one shot. And it landed, why? Because of God's grace. God's grace to him. So friends, are you a willing follower, devoted believer in the service of your king? Are you enrolled in his army? Are you ready to fight? You may feel ill prepared, but Christ can use even you. You may feel like you don't have the words to say, but Christ can use you. You may feel weak in the hour of temptation. You may feel weak when you're in that situation to share the gospel. You may feel weak all the way around, but it's through your weakness that God shows his strength, that Christ shows his glory. Are you a willing soldier? Go to Christ, say, use me. Maybe pray that this evening. Lord, you have used people in the past, weak as I am, for your glory, for the spread of your kingdom of grace. Lord, use me. Use me this week. Give me an encounter in which I can testify concerning your son. Give me the ability to give a reason for the hope that is within me. When the time comes, Go forth, knowing that Christ gets the victory, knowing that Christ has dominion and Christ will dominate by his word and spirit. Go forth valiantly, believer, under the banner of your king as we pray together. Father, we do pray that you indeed would give us strength and boldness, Lord, but not in ourselves. We are so insufficient. But you are strong. Christ, you are at the right hand of your father. You are ruling and reigning over us even now. Your scepter is extended. Your kingdom is advancing. Oh God, use us. Use us, we pray. Lord, we indeed are insufficient, but you can use even the smallest words of Christ to bring a sinner into your kingdom. Oh God, help us. Remind us of Christ, our King of grace, our King of glory. We ask this in his name. Amen.