Let's take our Bibles at this time and turn to Psalm 45. This is the psalm of which there is so much to say. and of which, therefore, we'll only touch the beginning themes of this psalm. And God willing, as we revisit the psalms in our summer series of psalms, next year we will pick this up again. But I wanted to highlight the themes, and there's three themes that I find in this psalm that will help us to celebrate our salvation, our God, and do this in a manner that's pleasing to Him. In the psalm, there's a subheading to the chief musician set to the lilies. And this is one of the three psalms in the Bible, Psalm 69 and Psalm 80 being the others, that are set to the lilies. And it's hard to understand exactly what this is referring to. Perhaps it is referring to a tune, some other thing, some understanding the Hebrews had of the lilies. We should know that lilies were a part of the sacred building of worship, the tabernacle and then the temple, and therefore maybe they were to remind the people of worship and what worship is about. But lilies are said to be very beautiful, and we will find as well that the beautiful king is being celebrated here. Not only the beautiful king should we look to, but the way the beautiful way the psalmist is celebrating the beautiful king. And this is a contemplation as well, or maskil, an instruction of the sons of Korah, the sweet singers of Israel. It's a song of love. My heart is overflowing with a good theme. I recite my composition concerning the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men. Grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, with your glory and your majesty. And in your majesty, ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness. And your right hand shall teach you awesome things. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies. The peoples fall under you. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. or your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces by which they have made you glad. King's daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear. Forget your own people also, and your father's house. So the king will greatly desire your beauty, because he is your lord, worship him. And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The rich among the people will seek your favor. The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace. Her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the king in robes of many colors. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you. With gladness and rejoicing, they shall be brought. They shall enter the king's palace. Instead of your fathers shall be your sons, whom you shall make princes in all the earth. I will make your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore, the people shall praise you forever and ever. Thus far we read the sacred word of God. The version we read from was the New King James Version. May God bless our reading and our hearing. From heaven, this wonderful word. of God. Psalm 45, and especially verse 1, is that on which I would contemplate with you a few moments this morning. My heart is overflowing with a goodly theme. I recite my composition concerning the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. The psalmist is celebrating the king, the king of the Jews, the king of the universe, the king of salvation. In fact, the psalmist is celebrating the king and his marriage to a people unworthy to be his and certainly unworthy to be married. That's the people of God. In fact, if you look, the theme of the king is his being fairer than the sons of men and going about and conquering and to conquer and so that he may make a bride. And the king who is the bridegroom is celebrated, but also his court, his court of daughters and honorable women are celebrated in the first nine verses. And then there's a word with regard to the daughter and the maidens and the queen of the king in verses 10 through 15. And then finally, the offspring of the marriage of the king and the queen are celebrated in the last verses as well as they are throughout, but there's a summary of the celebration and that celebration of sons and daughters who will sing to his name. So we want to consider at this time the celebration that is going on here of a king who is a groom, marrying a queen who would be the bride, and of their offspring and their reaction to this. And again, I do this in broad strokes. There's so much glorious truth here that we cannot hardly do justice to it in one sermon, but just to get your appetites whetted. So we would consider the incomparable king, first of all, that is set forth here. And secondly, that glorious and beautified bride, and that would be the church. And then finally, that among the sons and daughters who are born of that marriage of God and his church, There is this wonderful song that arises. The psalmist leads the way in reciting his composition and singing with the tongue of a ready writer the praises of God. And so, the incomparable king who's a bridegroom, that first of all. The psalmist is celebrating a king. Look at the first verse. He's reciting his composition. Something he's worked on. He's going to tell it now. And it's all of or to a king. The king, he says. And he's going to be focused on that. That's the theme. His goodly theme, he says. His heart is overflowing with that. And the Hebrew word for theme here is davar. It means word. And we know then what the word is going to be about. Because the word in a psalm and the word in all the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is the word of God, Jesus. Striking here, we have a presentation of Jesus. Jesus, the King. Jesus, the Messiah King. Jesus, the Savior. Jesus, the head of the church, who will purchase her to be his bride. And this is what the Bible's all about. And this is what we teach here. The Bible is about King Jesus, Priest Jesus, and Prophet Jesus, Savior Jesus. And here, this king who is revealed in Jesus is celebrated as one who is fairer than the sons of men and who goes about conquering and to conquer among the sons of men so he can claim for his own the bride he has ordained to be his. This is very important that we understand here. The subject of the psalm is a word, and the word is a king, and the word which is the king in all the Bible and here is King Jesus. Now, usually we have said there's types and shadows in the psalms. There's pictures of Jesus. We've looked for and found Jesus in all the psalms. But we've seen also that, well, maybe King David is a picture of Jesus in the Old Testament, and maybe his marriage to one of his brides is celebrated here. But look as we can in the history of the sacred writ of David and his marriages, you can't really compare this psalm to any of the doings of David or the marriages and celebration of marriages of David. Some have said that this is maybe a picture here of Solomon and his marrying one of the daughters of Pharaoh. Well, hardly, because Solomon was not fairer than the sons of men, and all of the other things that are said of this king cannot be said of Solomon. So I believe, beloved, we look in vain for any kind of historical type here. There may be, there may be someone that the psalmist has in mind here, but certainly on his mind, by the inspiration of the Spirit, is King Jesus. And I want to make that clear to you now, and by turning with you to Hebrews chapter one, where we find, in fact, the reference of this psalm to Jesus. And Jesus in Hebrews chapter one is being compared and contrasted to angels and other beings who might be created as someone who's far above them. And the book of Hebrews will be about exalting Jesus as the only and sacred high priest. And now his divinity is being set forth here in chapter one and verses six and following. And here we have a reference to our psalm. When he again brings the firstborn in, well, let's go back to verse five. For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son today, I've begotten you. And again, to none of those angels. Jesus is the only begotten son of God. And again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. Now this, but when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire? But to the sun, he says, and this is quoted in Psalm 45, verse six, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You've loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions." And so he goes on to speak of the greatness and even divinity of Jesus Christ. And that's the first thing I want to bring out to you. When the psalmist speaks of this king, and calls him God, this is a reference here to the divinity of our sacred savior. The psalmist says, in the Old Testament, mind you, this is his word, this is his composition. There is a king who's God, and he's my king. and he's the bridegroom of the church. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Just on that. You see here, proof for the divinity of Jesus Christ, Hebrews 1 quotes this of Jesus, the throne of the king in Psalm 45 is the throne of a God, the only God. Your throne, O God. More, it is said of this throne, and therefore of the one who occupies it, that he is eternal. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. More, it says of this throne that there's a scepter. There is a rule proceeding from this throne that is perfectly righteous, unlike the very imperfect kings of Israel. There's a scepter of righteousness. That's the scepter of your kingdom. Besides, in the heart of this divine king, there is a love and there is a hate. There is a love for righteousness and there is a hate of wickedness. There is nothing here merely human and far from perfect in this King who is God. This is our Jesus. This is the first principle of the Trinitarian religion that we preach in this church and that all churches do teach, the divinity of Jesus Christ. This is the creed of the church, the summation of all that the Bible says about the word of the God of our salvation. More, you will find here a reference to not only God the Father, but also to God the Holy Son and God the Holy Spirit. When further, it is said, therefore, in verse seven of Psalm 45, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions, and this anointing is then described as a beautiful thing, and it is, we know from the Bible, because oil is a symbol of it, the anointing that our God has given to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit. And this anointing of Jesus Christ in his office of Savior, prophet, priest, and king here emphasized is something that pictures the Trinity communion. There is in heaven, I would make this clear, a God who is one. There is no other God beside him, but he's one Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not three gods, but three persons of the blessed Trinity. Not three forevers, but one forever. Not three righteous gods, but one righteous God. And the communion that Jesus is said to appreciate here and enjoy here in his mediatorial salvation is something that reflects what he had forever. before the foundation of the world. He had communion with God in the love bond of the Holy Spirit, mysterious person of the Trinity. He had this fellowship with a father that he loved. and that he adored. He had a glory of the covenant life of father and son in irresistible, wonderful desire of Trinity. The God who is love loves himself in this communion before he loves any created thing. And so this is celebrated here and this is proof positive against all of the idolatry that denies the Trinity in our day as also the idolatry very much so in David's day, the Psalmist's day, the days of the early church, the days of Antichrist. There is denial, children, of a mysterious thing about Christianity, that God is God Triune, and that Jesus is the incarnate God who represents this God Triune, who comes to do the counsel of the Triune God, who is nothing else on his mind as king than to be king on behalf of the God that he represents. So when the psalmist says, my heart is overflowing with a good theme, a good word, it's the good word of Jesus that would be recognized in the New Testament as being said of him. He is lovely. He is incomparable, this Jesus. Don't you know? And that's why we preach him. That's why for us to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's why the glories of Jesus, which God had in mind by whom and for whom he created all the worlds, ought to be on our mind. The goodly theme of the church and of every child of God who confesses Jesus Christ and who is baptized in his name ought to be Jesus Christ, my God and my Savior and my King. This is the theme of the psalm and the theme of the Church of Christ. The psalmist says, I recite my composition concerning the king. Shall we not as well recite our composition, learn all our catechism with regard to Jesus? Shall we not sit at his feet and learn of him who is God, our instructor and our savior. More, this one who is fairer than the sons of men because he's not just a man, he's God, is nevertheless a man. The marvel of the Christian faith is that God is with us. The marvel of the nativity of that babe of Bethlehem is that God is with us in that babe. And so there's an incomparable-ness of the one who's God, but also of the one who's fairer than the sons of men among them, as one of them. And the psalmist is speaking of one of his kind, his humankind, as someone who among them shows himself to be fairer than the sons of men, Jesus. So in his birth, he shows he's not a mere son of man, though he is a son of man. He's Ezekiel's son of man, the one who comes and who claims for For God, God's people, ordained his salvation. But in his nativity, his holy conception by the Holy Spirit, he's not an impure son of man. He's pure. And therefore, he can deliver sons of men like you and I, who are born sons in Adam and dead in sins. He's pure. He's fairer than the sons of men that way. and he is in his childhood. Children, think of this. He was the perfect child of Mary and his stepfather, Joseph. The perfect one whose perfection and wisdom was recognized at an early age, about 12, in the temple when he answered the questions and asked questions of the Jewish leaders, and he showed that he was from above, an ordinary student. No ordinary one who had to sit at others' feet, he would be the teacher from day one. In his words especially, he's emphasized the perfection of Jesus, the mediator among men. Grace is poured upon your lips. The Lord has blessed you forever. You love that? Grace is poured upon your lips, the psalmist says in verse two. This king has great things to say. Grace is poured upon your lips. Everything he said was as to its matter and as to its manner, full of grace and truth. For John says in John 1, 17, the law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus. And so when he spoke, when he spoke things, How he spoke showed that he was no mere man. It wasn't like your dad or your mom who misspeak themselves and who say things maybe unkindly or harshly or having themselves on their mind and their causes. It wasn't like your minister who's just a man and very weak. and who stumbles and stammers with regard to mysteries and even plain things. And you must bear long with ministerial love for your humble pastor. But Jesus, how perfect. No one could ever say anything against him. Oh, his sermon was too long. His sermon was too short. Oh, he spoke too harshly. Oh, he spoke too kindly, whatever. Oh, he was always speaking and it was wonderful, this speech. So that in John 7 we read, never man speak as this man, never. The end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7, it is said that they marveled at this Sermon on the Mount. They didn't complain about it, they didn't do anything but marvel because he spoke as with authority. as one representing someone above, even God, and not as the scribes and the Pharisees, whose cause was their own. There's Jesus. Jesus who spoke in the winds and the waves, whom he was commanding, they ceased at his word. Never man spoke like this man so powerfully. that Jesus, who was God in his human nature, hated wickedness and loved righteousness as it is said of him. And so, the government upon his shoulders was a righteous government. And his commanding devils to come out of God's people was his speaking with grace poured into his lips, saving among the sons of men. Amazing. Jesus. Jesus. So much could be said more of his words and how grace was poured into his lips and came from his lips and wonderful. But I would say this, that as he executes, performs the will of God to save his own, he's described here as this king. fairer than the sons of men, and in verse six, he's God forever. And upon whom grace is poured in his lips, upon his lips, and blessed forever. He's described in verses three and four as going forth to battle. And I believe, beloved, we should not leave very quickly the fact that this battle is still, though it's with swords, and his swords are described even here as mighty and sharp and so on, and arrows, in verse five, as sharp in the heart of the king's enemy. I say we do not want to miss that Jesus' sword and Jesus' arrows are his words. The grace that's poured upon the lips of the Savior, who is the Word of God, who in the beginning was God and is God and made all things by himself, this Word, he is the one by whose Word he commands all things, who also does battle with his Word. At the end of time, we read, 2 Thessalonians 2, he will in fact destroy by the breath of his mouth the Antichrist, the usurper. And so that's what he's described as doing here, destroying with the breath of his mouth, with his words, which are arrows sharp in the hearts of the king's enemies. and with His words gracious to save His own, and kind and powerful to save from those who are natural enemies, His own to be friends of Him. His words are His sword. And that's why it says to us in Ephesians that the Word of God is the sword that we are to take up, take up on behalf of Him. And our weapons, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." They are arguments. They are propositions. They are declarations of truth. That's the battle. That's the panoply. That's the sword. Those are the arrows of the church of Jesus Christ because, first of all, they are the swords and the arrows of Jesus, the King. Beautiful. And he rides in his divinity, in his perfect humanity, prosperously. Isn't this amazing? He's called to gird the sword upon his thigh. He's described as the mighty one with his glory and his majesty. And in your majesty, the psalmist here speaks a prophetic word and compels, as it were, the word himself in his majesty to ride prosperously, be victorious. It's like the psalmist is pronouncing a blessing upon the blessed one. And because of truth, he says, and humility and righteousness, actually we could describe or we could interpret this and translate this verse as saying this, in your majesty ride prosperously that is successfully on truth, on humility, and on righteousness. And Spurgeon describes this as his riding on three horses. Jesus, the one who rides the white horse through history, ride on truth. Come with truth. Ride on humility. Come with humility. Ride on righteousness. Come with righteousness in the salvation of your people, the condemnation of the wicked. Be yourself, Jesus, King Jesus, God of gods. We call upon you to be God in saving sinners. Be the perfect mediator we know you to be. Be the truth, the true revelation of God. Be the humble one who condescends from heaven to be among men and to save his own. And be the righteous one because we will not have mercy without righteousness, nor will you. We need righteousness and mercy meeting together. And this is the amazing thing about this Jesus. And I can't go much further on than this. He goes to the cross. He goes all the way to the cross. The Bible describes him remarkably as learning things. Verse four, your right hand shall teach you awesome things as you go about this saving work. We learn in Hebrews as well that Jesus, by the things that he suffered, learned obedience. You imagine that, children? The king of the universe, the catechism instructor, par excellence, the preacher, the one who's far more learned than your parents, he had to learn something. Part of his humiliation, he had to learn something. And he had to learn, as the very perfect human he was, so that he could experience passions, or he could experience suffering like no other for our sake. And you see this king, celebrated here as the king of the cross, who dies for sinners like you and me, who atones. who loved righteousness and hated wickedness on the cross, and that's where we see it. And that's where we see when blood is poured out of his veins, grace poured onto his lips, and upon his lips, when he cries out, Father, forgive them, they know not when they do, in all the words of the cross. And when he commands by his own word himself to rise on the third day from death, There's Jesus the King. And when he comes, and this is the rest of this psalm really, and takes his own to be a bride, takes his own, that's you and that's me, to be a bride, and adorns us with his own righteousness, with the gold of Ophir, and justifies us who are guilty sinners, that's what we celebrate. That's our song. Would you sing that song, beloved? In sermons to come, we're going to talk about this thing in more detail. But the psalmist here leads the way. His heart is overflowing with a good theme. It's yours. It's yours in the house of God. It's yours as a man of God, as a woman of God, as children of God, young people of God, overflowing, bubbling forth with just one thing. Or are you distracted? Am I distracted by all kinds of internet things and themes of the world and things that the world seems important? Will we not be as the psalmist whose heart is touched by this King who comes to save us, this God, this Savior, this one whose work is battle and who claims his own everyone in the battle? Is that where hearts are? Then you see, we'll show we're actually the issue, the fruit of the marriage of Christ and his church. Instead of your fathers shall be your sons, verse 16, whom you shall make princes in all the earth. And the psalmist again leads the way, I will make your name to be remembered in all generations, therefore the people shall praise you forever and ever. Beloved, be that, be that people. Have Jesus on the mind, Jesus the King, the great King of our salvation. He was bride, we as children, for the sake of his praise. Amen.