Please open your copy of God's Word to Psalm 72. Psalm 72. We have another prayer from the Psalms for you this morning. For one of a better title, call this the prayer for a good and godly king. Psalm 72, and it's entitled Of Solomon. Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son. May he judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice. Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people and the hills in righteousness. May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor. May they fear you while the sun endures and as long as the moon throughout all generations. May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may the righteous flourish and peace abound till the moon be no more. May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute. May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him. For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life and precious is their blood in his sight. Long may he live. May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all the day. May there be abundance of grain in the land. On the tops of the mountains may it wave. May its fruit be like Lebanon, and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May people be blessed in him, and all nations call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we thank you for your good gifts to us. We thank you that you have given us your word and that you have given us your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, in him we have the hope of eternal life in every sense of the word. Father, in him you have given us life everlasting and a life of joy and peace. Father, through him we have the hope of a righteous kingdom, one where justice and righteousness prevails. In Jesus, those of us who are poor and needy, and we indeed are poor and needy, have abundance. In him we are clothed and fed and loved and cared for. Father, we thank you for your mercy and compassion on us in Christ. And this morning, Father, help us to see him. May we catch a glimpse of great David's greater son and what you have done and are doing through him. Amen. So it's an election year. I say that with a sigh. And although we, am I, I was going to ask about that. Thank you. So even though we don't know the outcome of the election, we do know that barring unforeseen circumstances, this coming January, we'll have a new president. And this coming January, the new president will give an inaugural address. On January 20th, the new president will try to be witty and will try to be wise. They will try to say something worthy of memory. You know, like Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Or like John Fitzgerald Kennedy, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. And for the sake of equal time, In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem. Ronald Reagan. And I can tell that some of you are probably better students of history than I am. Maybe you remember more inaugural addresses than I do, but when I sat down to think of this, those were the only three quotes that came to mind. So the new president is going to try to be witty and wise, try to leave us with a memorable quote, but he or she is probably going to fail. How many inaugural addresses do we actually remember? But in their attempt to inspire us, the new president will try to lay out their aspirational priorities and policies for their presidency. Their inaugural address is their agenda, their wish list. And I bring that up because something like that is happening in Psalm 72. Granted, it's not an inaugural address, But it is a prayer written to mark the end of the rule of one king and the beginning of the rule of a new king. So let me flesh that out a bit. Let's put this in context. First of all, we have a clue in the title. We also have a bit of a problem. The psalm begins, of Solomon, and it ends in verse 20 with these words, the prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended. Now the words of Solomon could be taken a variety of ways. It could easily be translated about Solomon, for Solomon, or even to Solomon. The Hebrew would support any of those translations, at least that's what I read. So which is it? And the mystery is compounded in verse 20. We might ask, is this a prayer of Solomon or of David? Well, here's what we know. There are only two Psalms in the Bible that share this title of Solomon. The other Psalm being Psalm 127. And since I preach intermittently at Redeeming Grace, I have inaugurated a two-sermon series called the Psalms of Solomon. So you're getting the first of those sermons this morning. So Psalm 127 is written in reference to the temple that Solomon would build or built. However, most of the psalms have something similar at the top of the psalm. They're called Psalms of David. And most translators, and more than likely every Bible interpreter in this room, would say that this means that David wrote those psalms. Wouldn't you agree? We are also told in 1 Kings 4.32 that Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs and his songs were 1,005. So I would argue that if we're going to be consistent, it's likely that the best way to read Psalm 72 title is by Solomon, not to Solomon. But what about those words, the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. I would point out that most scholars would state that these words did not mark necessarily the end of the Psalm, but the end of this particular book of Psalms. As you're already aware, by just looking in your copies of God's Word or paying attention to the sermons, the Psalms are divided into five books. And these divisions are ancient, not new, and they reflect the fact that there were different collections of Psalms in use, probably from the time of David's kingdom. It should be noted that most of the psalms attributed to David are found in the first two books. So it is possible that the closing verses were added by an editor to close out book two and perhaps both books one and two. Now whether that is true or not, the words are fittingly placed. This psalm is strategically placed at the end of book two and marks the end of David's reign and the beginning of Solomon's. I think that it's most likely that the psalm was written by Solomon to commemorate the beginning of his kingdom. If we read 1 Kings 3, we see similar expressions for Solomon's desire for a righteous kingdom. On the other hand, if we read 2 Samuel 23, a chapter which contains David's last official words, we also see parallels with Psalm 72. And this can probably be explained by the fact that David's words were well known, particularly to his own son, to whom David's final words were at least partially addressed. But whether we read the psalm as a benediction or blessing of a dying king or the prayer of a newly crowned one, it is clearly a prayer that marks the end of one kingdom and the beginning of a new one. It can be seen as Solomon's inaugural address. It is a statement of kingdom priorities and the desires of a good and godly king. And let me just note, we are obviously at peak Solomon here. What Solomon wants is good and very, very good. And we know that that was not always the case. And let's also take this moment to acknowledge that there's a lot of ground to cover here. This psalm is 20 verses long. When I began preparation for the sermon for Psalm 127, I was relieved to find that it was only five verses in length. So we're going to just hit the high points here this morning. So first of all, let's establish what the king wants. And there are a lot of requests here, so I'm just gonna kinda hit the high points. The first thing that we notice is that the king wants a just kingdom. Willem van Gemmeren notes that Solomon wants to be an instrument of God's kingship on earth. So Solomon writes, give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the Holy Son. And in the Hebrew, those words justice and righteousness mean basically the same thing. Justice has to do with judgments, and righteousness means to be right. So what the king wants his kingdom to be is one where the laws are upheld and applied evenly to everyone. Special note is made of how the poor and the needy are to be treated. There's a reason for this. Typically, whom does the nation's justice system favor? Those who are wealthy and powerful. It's the way of the world. But the godly king and the godly judge, for that matter, are not to prefer the wealthy, the powerful, or the people of their own tribe over others who are not wealthy or powerful or from their particular tribe. Derek Kidner makes an interesting point here, and I apologize for this bit of a digression, but I think it's worthy of note, particularly in our current political situation. Eric Kidner observes that the Mosaic Law specifically lays out the case that people should not be given preferential treatment simply because they are poor and needy. Exodus 23, 2 through 3 states, you shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit siding with the many so as to pervert justice. And note this, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. Perhaps this is instructive to us in the United States of America in 2024. Being partial to the poor simply because they are poor is a perversion of justice. But God's word goes on to add in Exodus 23.6, you shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Brothers and sisters, God's word has much to say about the oppression of the poor and needy, but the balance is this. Whether a person is poor or wealthy, their treatment needs to be based on principle and the rule of law. This tells us much about the desires of the king in Psalm 72. His desire is that this kingdom is one in which everyone, no matter what their status, receives judgment according to what is right. Secondly, the king wants a peaceful and a prosperous kingdom. In Psalm 72, 3 we read, let the mountains bear prosperity for the people and the hills in righteousness. In verse 7, in his days may the righteous flourish and peace abound till the moon be no more. And then in verse 16, may there be abundance of grain in the land, on the tops of the mountains may it wave, may its fruit be like Lebanon, and may people blossom in the cities like the grass in the field. So I would point out here that there is nothing particularly godly about poverty, or anything necessarily wrong with desiring abundance. What Solomon wants is to create the conditions for peace and security, for abundant food and clothing, and for more than enough to eat. I'd also like to point out that there isn't anything particularly spiritual about these first two desires that Solomon brings up. Even godless people will claim to want justice. We all will say that we want what is right and fair, Wouldn't we say that we wanted things to be done right and for there to be peace and prosperity in the world? But there is something particularly wise about what Solomon has to say here, and that shouldn't be too surprising considering the source. And once again, this is Solomon firing on all cylinders, as we say. Here are a couple of things that Solomon understood. First of all, the king understood the nature of his job. The desires laid out in Psalm 72 are the desires of a good, godly, and wise king. He understands that his role as king was not first to enhance his reputation and expand his kingdom, but to be a guardian of justice and a protector of the poor. This is evident in this psalm, but also in Psalms prayer recorded in 1 Kings 3. In that prayer Solomon prays, give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil for who is able to govern this your great people. Note that Solomon sees the poor as God's poor and he sees the king's role as one who is the protector of the weakest and most vulnerable of his people. The wealthy and the powerful are more capable of ensuring justice for themselves, but the impoverished ones need a powerful defender. The word righteousness, as Derek Kidner points out, dominates this psalm, and that in scripture, righteousness is the first virtue of government, even before compassion. This point is made explicitly in the Mosaic Law, which forbids partiality, whether it favors, surprisingly, the poor or the rich, as we've already noted. Secondly, Solomon demonstrates that he understands the close association between justice and prosperity. Look again at verse 6. May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may the righteous flourish and peace abound till the moon be no more. Compare that to verse three. Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people and the hills in righteousness. Solomon understood that where there was justice, prosperity was likely to follow. And that's the point of those two lovely similes. May he be like a rain that falls on mowed grass, like showers that water the earth. Now, very few of us are agricultural people, but we've probably mowed the lawn. So you can imagine this. You've mowed the grass, and the sprinklers come on, and you can almost see the grass green up and flourish. It's like they've just been given a drink of water, which they have. So let's take a moment to make a short application here. It is the role of a leader, whether that's a husband or a parent, a teacher, a manager, a CEO, pastor, or president, to create conditions where their charges can flourish. Paul expresses this goal this way. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. So pastors, parents, husbands, managers, whatever leadership role you have, take note. This is your God-given duty to do all in your power to create the conditions necessary for those you lead to flourish. And one of those conditions is to do right, to advocate for the weak and to seek their good. There's a third thing that Solomon understood. He understood the source of righteousness. Note that the king requests in verse one, give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the Holy Son. Solomon is not trying to establish his own idea of justice or righteousness, but he sees himself as an instrument of God's justice and God's righteousness. This is why in Deuteronomy 17, 18, we read of the new king And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law approved by the Levitical priests." Solomon understood that the justice he meted out needed to be God's righteousness and God's standard of justice. But that's not all. He understood that the fear of the Lord was foundational to that righteousness. He requests in verse five, may they fear you while the sun endures and as long as the moon throughout all generations. So although there may not be anything particularly spiritual about the desire for justice, righteousness, and abundance, there is something particularly godly about Solomon's understanding of what righteousness is and where it comes from. Well, let's go back for a moment to what Solomon's asks are. What is he asking for from God? And I would point out that Solomon's next two wants are a little unusual and a sign that there's something else going on here. So Solomon's desire is for a boundless, timeless, universal kingdom. Take a look at that third stanza in your psalm if your Bible divides them up by stanzas. Verse 8, May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute. May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him and all nations serve him. And later on in verse 15, we find this idea repeated. Long may he live, may the gold of Sheba be given to him. And in verse 17, may his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun, and may people be blessed in him, and all nations call him blessed. I know that some of you are getting ahead of me here, but stay with me. Solomon's desire is that his kingdom will be a universal kingdom that will last forever. Now it's possible that Solomon is referring to the Davidic dynasty. After all, in 2 Samuel 7, David was promised an everlasting throne and a son to sit upon that throne forever. Perhaps he thought that Solomon was that one. We don't know for sure what David understood about God's eternal purpose. He was a prophet after all. But it's also possible that Solomon, or David, was simply being hyperbolic. This could be seen as standard blessing format. Derek Kidner points out that this was the common way to address a king in Old Testament times. Do you remember the way that Daniel addressed King Nebuchadnezzar? Whenever he addressed the king, whichever king he was addressing, he began with the blessing, O king, live forever. Bathsheba and Nehemiah spoke to kings in a similar way. But as you can probably guess, that's not what's going on here. Let's take a look at Solomon's fourth want, and it's a similar desire. Solomon wants a glorious kingdom. Verses 9 to 11, let's look at those again. May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute. May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him. All nations serve him. And then the parallel passage is in verses 15 and 17. May his name endure forever. May his fame continue as long as the sun. May people be blessed in him and all nations call him blessed. Solomon's desire was that his kingdom extend over seas, rivers, and lands. He foresaw a worldwide dominion and desired the extension of his kingdom. In these verses, he's not defining the limits of his kingdom, but is establishing that it is a universal one. The extension is over desert tribes, enemies, distant shores, Tarshish, Sheba, and Seba, et cetera, as far as the world was that he knew. Van Gimmeren points out that the idea is that both willingly and unwillingly nations will recognize the wisdom, justice, and success of Solomon's kingdom. That's his desire, and that the nations will submit their tribute as acts of obeisance and submission. Solomon saw not only a worldwide universal kingdom, but a glorious one which received honor and wealth from all the nations of the world. You'll note that that want, Solomon wants, for his kingdom is one of worldwide fame and acknowledgement of God's kingdom. The point of the gold was more than just monetary, it was what the gold represented. Well, we could say more, but for time's sake, we need to move on. Let's address what's the most important thing to take away from Psalm 72, and I suspect that many of you have already foreseen this. But let's talk about the fulfillment of the king's desires. First of all, we have to be aware of and acknowledge that in scripture, there is often more than one fulfillment, and then sometimes there's a partial fulfillment, and then later, a complete fulfillment. So in this psalm, we have a sort of fulfillment even in the life of Solomon. In fact, we'll call it the Solomon effect. So let's note the Solomon effect in two parts. So part one is, note what the author of the book of Kings has to say about Solomon's rule and reign. First Kings 4, 20 through 21 read, Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. Speaking of Solomon's kingdom, they ate and drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. Then later in the same chapter, and all the people of all the nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and from all the kings of the earth who heard of his wisdom. And anyone who's ever been to Sunday school probably knows the story of the Queen of Sheba. You're familiar with this, right? We read in 1 Kings 10, 1-6, Now when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind, and Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her, and when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her." So that's sort of a fulfillment of Psalm 72, is it not? But what's the problem with that? Well, first of all, we know that Solomon died. His kingdom was not an everlasting kingdom. But we also know the rest of Solomon's story. There's a second Solomon effect, isn't there? As we read in 1 Kings 11, Solomon loved many wives, took many concubines, built altars to their gods, worshiped at those altars, and brought about God's curse on his kingdom. And that's not all, when Solomon died, as you recall, his people had this to say to his son Rehoboam, 1 Kings 12.4, your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us. Seems that at least the perceptions of Solomon's subjects was that he had ceased to seek their good and they become a burden to them. And let's note, Solomon established, the Solomon effect is to establish a pattern of failure. The Book of Chronicles lays out the history of the Davidic Solomonic dynasty. It ignores the northern kingdom that split away from David's descendants. And what's the ratio of bad kings to good? I don't know if you ever worked it out. I looked it up on a website. It looks like it's about, well, there were eight good kings out of 39. There were 39 kings and eight of them were bad. And even those good kings are a disappointment. Solomon, we've already discussed. Jehoshaphat, maybe he was the best of Solomon's descendants. But we read of him in 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles. in First Chronicles 20, that he was a king who walked in God's ways. But even of him, it was said, the high places, however, were not taken away. The people had not yet set their hearts upon the God of their fathers. And my personal favorite, King Hezekiah, he pouted before the Lord when he was told that his life was coming to an end. and he behaved foolishly with the ambassadors from Babylon. The point is this, taken in the aggregate, David's sons were failures and didn't live up to the desires stated in this psalm. The point is this, the problem is that these leaders, like the simply human sons of David and Solomon, are just that, simply human. And this leads us to the actual fulfillment of this psalm. I suspect that at least a few of you had a problem as you read verses 8 and 9 in Psalm 72. If you didn't have a problem, you could probably see how a modern reader might have difficulty with verses 8 and 9. May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust. You could see why that might be a problem. We're talking about an empire here. Isn't that a wicked thing? But there's something that I want you to notice and there's something that we need to pick up from the nature of Hebrew poetry and I'll try to explain this as best I can. Hebrew poetry is a little different than ours. Hebrew poetry does make use of things that we use, like acrostic and figurative language, like hyperbole, metaphor, simile, those sort of things that we do in our poetry. But Hebrew poetry makes use of not word rhymes, but thought rhymes. It uses a repetition of a variation and a variation of ideas. And Psalm 72 is full of these things. I'll let you note those at your own leisure. But as a development of that, Hebrew poetry is often written in what's called a chiastic structure. If you look at Psalm 72, you see there are ideas that we find in the first 11 verses that are repeated, starting in verse 15. There's a reason for that. The psalmist is trying to make a point, but they're also trying to focus our attention on something. So that type of writing is called a chiastic structure. And so, when you have a chiastic structure, you have something called, and sometimes, a chiastic axis. So, the psalmist is trying to focus our attention on something in the middle of the psalm. Let me just tell you the most obvious example of this type of structure, the Book of Lamentations, right? The Book of Lamentations is written in a chiastic structure and it has a chiastic axis. So you know that the book of Lamentations is full of, well, lamentations, right? And you've got chapters one and two with lamentations, and then you've got chapters four and five with lamentations. But in the middle you have this powerful expression of faith and hope. You know your favorite verses from the book of Lamentations? Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him. There's a reason that those verses are at the center of that book. It's a way to focus our attention on something of primary importance. Now, as American authors, we'd probably put those lines at the end. We'd want to end with that. But the Hebrew writer is focusing our attention on what's at the center. Okay? Christine Miller points out that there's a chiastic axis in Psalm 72, and it's verses 12 through 14. Take a look and think about what the psalmist is focusing us on in these verses. For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence, he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight. Why is it okay for the king to desire for all nations to submit to the king described in Psalm 72? It's because of who he is. This is no tyrant. That's not his character. He is the one who delivers. He's the one who saves. He is the redeemer. It's right to submit to this king because he is worthy. He is worthy because of his character, wisdom, purpose, his perfection, and his worth. The nations come to him because they recognize who he is, not just his power. I hope this is okay to say, but I confess that I am one of those Tolkien nerds. I don't want to tell you how many times I've read those books. As I read this, I can't help but think about that scene in The Return of the King, where Aragorn is crowned and takes his new name. Those who are gathered there rejoice, Why? Because evil has been defeated and a king worthy to be crowned has taken his throne. There will be good and right and justice. There will be peace and prosperity. And I wonder if Tolkien had this and other passages from God's word in mind when he wrote that. You see, Psalm 72 isn't about Solomon or any of his sons. It is about Jesus. And verses 12 through 14 are at the heart of this passage. Why do the nations come to him bringing tribute and bending the knee? It is because of who he is. Why have you come to Jesus bringing tribute and bending the knee? Because of who he is. He's the one who delivers the needy. He delivers the poor and the one who has no helper. He is the savior of those who are in need. He's the Redeemer. The nations just don't come cringing to him because of his might, although there are those who do that, right? But many will come to him because they recognize who he is, his character, his worth, and his work. They will come to him because he is Deliverer, Savior, Redeemer, the one who puts all things right. So you see, Solomon is just a picture of us to point us to the fulfillment of God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. Here's what Jesus had to say to the Pharisees in Matthew 12, 42. The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Derek Kidner once again points us to Isaiah 11, verses 1 through 5, which reads, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. For the sake of time, I won't have you turn there, but I'll just mention Isaiah's chapter 60 through 62. I'll just give you a taste of it. Isaiah parallels so much of this 20-verse psalm. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness of the peoples, but the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you and nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. Kidner points out that this psalm can't help but be labeled a messianic psalm simply because the parallels to these passages in Isaiah are just too great. So Jesus is the fulfillment of Psalm 72 because he is worthy. Listen to the song of Revelation 5, 11 through 12. John tells us, then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Psalm 72 is about Jesus. So let's briefly make some closing applications. So what should we do with this psalm? First of all, we have to note that the King has come, and with him justice and peace and prosperity and glory. If you doubt it, Jesus tells us plainly in the Gospels, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In Colossians 1, 13 through 14, read this way. He, Jesus, has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And note that he comes not with justice, but with grace and mercy, redemption for his poor. We should never forget that Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So second application I would make is just this question. Unbeliever, what will you do? Paul tells us in Philippians 2, 10 and 11, that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. There are two ways to come to Jesus. Some people will come cringing to his feet and make the confession because they can't help but do anything else. But some people will do it with joy because they recognize their precious brother, savior, and friend. Unbeliever, Jesus Christ doesn't want to harm you. He does what he does for your good. He would bring you into a place of abundance and joy and peace. He would bring you into a kingdom where things are just and right and glorious. He will transform you and make you what you were created to be. He would not simply be your king. As we've already said, he's no tyrant. He would be your savior, brother, and friend, and he would transform your will and live with you forever in harmony in his presence with the Father. How do you do that? Well, simply you recognize that you are a poor and needy sinner. You are one of those oppressed by sin and Christ's chief enemy, Satan. Recognize your need for a Savior and acknowledge that Jesus is both Savior and Lord. Thirdly, believers, some of you might be saying, you know, if the King has come, where's my stuff? Why don't I have that? Well, you do. You have all these things and more. You have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's beloved Son. And if you can't see it, it's because you have taken your eyes off of Jesus and the promises of God's word. And if you suffer, understand it's for his sake. You see, the king has indeed come, but he is a king who is at war. Hear what Jesus says about his reign. He says, how can they say that the Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. So do you see what he's saying there? He's the king, but he is in the process of making his enemies his footstool. So let me say it again. The king has come, but he is a king at war and at work. What is he doing? Well, in Matthew 16, 18, he tells us. He says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So you see, you may not feel like you have the benefits of the kingdom, but it's because the kingdom is under construction and under assault. If you struggle, it's because you have a small part in this. You have a small part in the building and in the battle. And take comfort, the kingdom is here, but we have this sense of the already and the not yet. I'm sure you're familiar with that expression. Take comfort, the kingdom is here, but it's not here yet. In Luke's gospel, we read these words. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So the last thing that we need to do from Psalm 72 is to give God glory. Brothers and sisters, let's take delight in what God has revealed to us. History is not a series of random events controlled by chance. Our God is working out his purposes in history. The issue is not in doubt. Give God glory for that. And he's also given us his word. He has chosen to reveal this over thousands of years to us. Can you imagine? That's why it's so weighty. And to respond to this hymn, well, the psalm has inspired many hymns. Isaac Watts wrote, Jesus shall reign where the sun does its excessive journeys run. His kingdom stretch from shore to shore till moons shall wax and wane no more. To him shall endless prayer be made, and praises throng to crown his head. His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice. And then James Montgomery wrote, I think maybe my favorite of these Psalm 72 hymns, Hail to the Lord's anointed, great David's greater son. Hail in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun. He comes to break oppression, to set the captives free, to take away transgression and rule in equity. He comes with succor speedy to those who suffer wrong, to help the poor and needy and bid the weak be strong. To give them songs for sighing, their darkness turned to light, whose souls, condemned and dying, are precious in his sight. And how does this psalm end? Well, it ends with a doxology and an amen. So you see, Solomon recognized that if his wishes were to be fulfilled, it would be God's doing and to God's glory and not his own. And he ends the psalm with these words, and we'll end our sermon with the same ones. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. And what do we say? Amen and amen. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we take delight in what you have done and what you are doing through the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you that you have chosen to reveal yourself to us in your word, to reveal your purposes in the Lord Jesus Christ, even from the very beginning. And Father, we thank you that you reveal, that over time you revealed more and more of yourself and your son through your word. Father, we pray that as your people that we would delight in what you were doing and to give you the glory for what you are doing in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, I pray that if there is one here who is rebellious, who who doesn't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Father, I pray that you would impress upon him the benefits and blessings of being in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that they would turn to him in repentance and faith. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.