110. And I wanted to thank you for your prayers for us over the last few months. We've had lots of things going on and we are thankful for the prayers for God's people. We were able to go to Peru in January.
And while we were there, we were wondering if we were going to go because Peru was going through some political strife and we weren't sure if we would actually be able to get where we had to go. It was just to give you an idea. We flew in on the way home. We flew into Lima and we had a friend there who picked us up at the airport because we weren't sure if we should leave the airport because there was a lot of unrest in the city.
And he said, no, no, you're okay. There's nothing around where you're going. So we took us there. You have to remember Lima is around 12 million people in Lima.
So it's a good city. So he takes us there, brings us back to the airport later today. So instead of waiting 12 hours in the airport, we got to rest, get back to the airport. Next day I'm looking at my phone checking the news on Peru.
All the protests had moved, guess where? To the airport. So thanks to God. We got in and out and we had a little break.
And then I was in Bolivia and again there were protests. The teachers were on strike and when they strike they close all the roads. But they don't strike on the weekend or Mondays. I was traveling on Mondays so I got to go free.
So just thankful to see God watching over us and providing for us. I'd like to take a next few minutes to look at this song. So I'm 110 and I'm going to read through it first and then we'll open with a word of prayer and think of a few thoughts from that. So Psalm 110, follow along in your Bibles, please.
It says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, tell I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power.
In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning you have to do of your youth. The Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand.
He shall execute kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the nations. He shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall execute the heads of many countries.
He shall drink of the brook by the wayside. Therefore, he shall lift up the head. Let's take a moment before we start looking at this to ask God to help us to first of all be able to listen. That's probably the most important thing is that we can hear.
There are many things that distract us and God wants to communicate to you and to me. One thing we need to understand, God is a message for you and for me from his word. He's able to teach us that by his Holy Spirit. Let's pray that he do that.
Secondly, let's also pray that our hearts will be receptive because it's one thing to hear something but it's another thing to apply to the things we've heard. Let's just ask God for that as we pray. Dear God, we come to you this morning, the name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we are weak and frail and so we pray that you would help us this morning.
First of all, just to listen. O God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would be free to speak to us today, to communicate the truth of your word to our hearts. And Father, may our hearts be receptive. May you be able to indicate those areas that need to be changed, those areas that need to be repented of, areas of growth, Lord.
And so I pray, O God, would you just move among us? O God, and show us the Lord Jesus Christ that we may become closer and closer to Him. We pray this now in His name. Amen.
As we look at this Psalm, the one thing I want you to kind of keep in the back of your minds is that we're talking, this is a Messianic Psalm, and that means it's focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And above all things that you and I need, if there's one thing we need in our life, of all the things that are pressing upon us, there's one thing that is important. I don't know if you remember the story of Mary and Martha and Mary had gone, or Jesus had gone to the house of Mary and Martha Lazarus. And Martha was the hostess.
She was the consummate hostess. So she's busy in the kitchen doing all this stuff, but where was Mary? Mary was there and she was sitting at the feet of Jesus. I don't know if Jesus was sitting by a drummer, what he was sitting by, but there's Jesus sitting there.
And there is Mary at his feet. And Martha comes out of the kitchen and she's frustrated because there's Mary sitting at Jesus' feet and she's busy in the kitchen. And it's like, Jesus, won't you tell her to get up and come help me? And what did Jesus say?
Do you remember what Jesus said? He said, Martha, Martha, you said you're trouble but a lot of things. Now listen to this. Mary has chosen the better part.
She's chosen the better thing. What was that better thing? It was to come and to sit at the feet of Jesus and to listen to him. Folks, the one thing God wants for us to do is to get close to Jesus and to sit still and to listen.
The world doesn't want that because you know what happens when we get close to Jesus? There's two things. Isaiah chapter 6 tells us one thing. We realize where we've sinned.
As we spend time with him, we start to look in our hearts and we realize, this is sin in my heart and I have to confess it. But you know what else happens? We begin to see what he's really like. And you know what?
It overcomes us. You know what's amazing? I've got it. Because later on when Lazarus died and Jesus comes to her, do you remember what she said?
She was one of two people that would say this. Great exclamation. Because she would say to Jesus, I know that you are the Christ the Son of God. She got who he was.
Folks, let's get close to Jesus. Let's look at him and see who he is and what he's like. Let's just spend time in his presence because when we do and we leave to go into the world, what happens? The world is different.
They 12 disciples went into the world and then the people that grew came out of that and people would say, the people who have changed the world are come here. Oh, that we would be like that and change the world. Why? Because we spend time in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
So let's take a few minutes to look at this Psalm and to see what it says. As I mentioned, it's a messianic Psalm and what we're going to be doing in this Psalm is we're going to be looking backward. All right? We're going to look backward at the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
But we're also going to look forward on what's yet to come. There's a prophetic aspect of this, of what's going to come. And there's something we need to remember when we look at prophecy. Most people like to look at prophecy.
I love the book of Revelation to see all this going to come on. But there's something very important about prophecy. Number one, there's a warning. There's a warning.
When we lived in Peru, we used to travel up north and we'd go to this one village to preach. And as you're driving through there, right in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the main road, there's a speed bump. And so you're traveling down the road at, you know, 60 miles an hour, whatever it is, and you're driving around all of a sudden there's speed bump. Now, sometimes there was a sign.
And when you saw the sign, you knew you better slow down or you're going to hit it. It's like bang, it's just bang. And everybody, usually they were sleeping in the back and then everybody fly off the benches and go everywhere. If you saw the sign, you'd gear down and go over it and keep going.
But quite a number of times there was no sign. And guess what happened? You're driving down the road 60 miles an hour. And it's like, or you might just see it just at the last minute.
Somebody's saying, they'd say in Spanish, heeba! And it's like, whoa, and you're hitting the brakes and everybody falls off the seat anyway. And then you make it over. God's giving us a warning.
There's a big speed bump coming. Get ready. That's number one. But there's something else.
As we look at prophecy and look forward to what's coming ahead, it's, it's, it should have an effect on us. As we look at these things that, wow, this is what is ahead for us. It's not only what's ahead for us, but what's ahead for the Son of God, but the One who died and saved me. Okay?
So there's a warning, but there's also what should stimulate us to worship as we look at what's coming through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when we look at this Psalm, we're going to really, it picks up after the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus. So the Lord Jesus has died. He's been buried and risen again.
But you know, the ministry of the Lord Jesus doesn't finish there. We focus on that a lot, but there's so much more yet to come. And that's what we want to look at today. And so I start, I've kind of called this, it's a Messianic Psalm, but I call this the Exalted King.
And so we begin by seeing here in verse one, it says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit in my right hand till I make your enemies, your footstool. Now notice two things. There's two names here in the first verse, the Lord, which is Jehovah. John mentioned that title during the break in the bridge.
That's the name I am. Okay. So Jehovah is, it's I am, but instead of saying I am, it's he is. We say I am you are he is.
Well, in this case, that's Jehovah's name. He is. So when we say Jehovah, we're really saying that name, I am the one who is not only eternal, but self existing. He alone is God.
And so he is speaking. And what is he saying? The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, tell I make your enemies, your footstool. And so the second name there is the word add on and it's a Lord or master, someone who has a 40.
All right. So Jehovah is speaking to the Lord, the mass and he says to him, sit at my right hand, tell I make your enemies, your footstool. Now David, of course, is speaking prophetically, but let's turn over to get some context to see who is this talking about. And we're going to look at Matthew chapter 22, Matthew chapter 22.
And the Lord Jesus here is talking to the Pharise and the scribes. And look what he says. He goes to a little discussion with the mass and who they think Christ is. And they agree that he's the son of David.
But then in verse 43, he says this, if he's the son of David, he says, how then does David in the spirit call him Lord? Because David said, we just saw on the Lord said to my Lord. So David is saying the Lord, Jehovah said to my Lord. And they understood now get this.
So we get the context here, they understood the Jews believe the Christ, the Messiah was going to come. They believed he would be a son of David. But that's where they stopped believing because they did not yet believe that the Christ, the Messiah would actually be who the Lord, the Son of God. That's where the conflict came between them and Jesus because he was telling them that he was indeed the Son of God.
And so Jesus asking this question and they've got no answer for him. But let's turn over to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. And we'll hear Peter because Peter understood it in Acts chapter 2. And on that day of Pentecost, Peter was preaching and listen to what he says here, because he's quoting back.
We're in Acts chapter 2, verse 34 and verse 35. And Peter is quoting here from Psalm 110 and we'll read what he says there. He said, for David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, said at my right hand, till I make your enemies, your footstool. All right.
So he's quoted that and he's telling them that this is what the Lord had said. But now look at verse 36 because this is where it really comes home. He says, therefore let all the house of Israel know shortly or know for sure that God, Jehovah has made this Jesus whom you crucified, who did he make him? Look what it says there.
He says he's made him both Lord and Christ. Oh, they believe the Christ part that there would be one who would come and be Christ, but he wasn't just Christ, he's Lord. All right. That means he's the Son of God.
And that's where they ran into problems. They did not want to believe that he was the Son of God. But the truth is, if he were not the Son of God, there'd be no salvation for anyone. He had to be the Son of God to be able to come and to die in our place.
And so Peter says this, that this is the eternal Son of God. Now I want to touch him very briefly because sometimes we get this mixed up in our head and John actually touched us. He did a good prelude to what I want to touch on this morning. When Jesus rose and went to heaven, he seated right now, we see this at the Father's right hand and something new happened.
What happened? Well, Jesus ascended and the Father is inviting who to sit at his right hand. He's inviting the Christ, the Son of man to sit at his right hand. Now why do I make this distinction?
Because Jesus always was and always is and always will be the Son of God. He always had all the glory that there ever is as the Son of God. He never ever lost that. He's understand that.
Even in here he's here on earth. He was the Son of God with all the glory. Now he didn't display that glory, but it was his. So he always was that all that glory.
But what happened? What was different? When he rose from the dead, when God raised him up, God then said to him, sit at my right hand, who a man? He asked a man to sit at his right hand.
Who was that man? It was Jesus Christ. So now in heaven, for the first time, there is a man sitting at God's right hand. And who is it?
One who died on the cross for your sin and for my sin. It's Jesus. He still bears the marks. If you don't, go to Revelation 5 and it talks about that.
So now in heaven, that God's right hand is a man. And God is saying to that man, as we read in our Psalm, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Now just turn to Matthew 26 because Jesus understood this. Matthew 26 verse 64.
So Jesus is before the council, the Sanhedrin. And the high priest comes to him and he says to him, I put you, and this is verse 63. He says, I put you on your oath by the living God. Tell us if you're the Christ.
Now notice this, the Son of God. Listen to Jesus answer. Verse 64. He says to him, Jesus said to him, it is as you said, nevertheless I say to you, look at this hereafter.
And this is the idea from now on. Look what's going, where are they going to see him? You will see, notice the title here, Jesus uses. He doesn't use Son of God.
He doesn't use Christ. He says, you will see who? I think it's up here. The son of man, he's wrong attention that he would be raised up and he would see that said at the Father's right hand as the son of man.
Why is that matter? Because it was a man who died in your place and mine. It had to be a man. Give you an example.
If I go to court, I've done some heinous crime and I'm condemned to die. Now I don't can't, they don't do that anymore. They don't execute people for their crimes. But let's suppose I'm somewhere where they do.
And they say to me, you were sentenced to be executed on such and such a date. I say, could somebody take my place? Oh, well, I suppose the law allows that most. Places will allow somebody to take your place.
And I say, well, I'd like my dog to die in my place. I didn't even allow that. No. They might allow a person to take my place, but they won't allow a dog to take my place.
A man had to die for you and for me. And who was that man? It was Jesus. And where is that man today?
Seated at the Father's right hand. Amazing, isn't it? That's what God's playing was. And so you see him here saying, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your foot.
So when Jesus says that, we'll finish the verse here, he says, here after you'll see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Now that brings us to our next verse in our passage back in Psalm 110. And look what it says next. It says, the Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of your enemies. So here the Lord Jesus now seated at the Father's right hand and he says to him rule in the midst of your enemies. And the idea in the verse two is, the Lord shall send the rod of your strength. The idea is a scepter.
The king would carry a scepter that was a sign of his authority. And when he carried that sign, if he would extend it, he could extend it in mercy. Like you see in the book of Esther, when she came close, he extended and she received mercy. Or he could do without in judgment to put someone to death.
And you see Nebuchadnezzar had a bad habit of doing that all the time. Well here he has that scepter and he's extending it to rule. Now I want you to see a verse that's connected with his turn over to the book of Daniel chapter seven. Daniel chapter seven.
And it shows you again here, the Lord Jesus, Daniel chapter seven, we're going to read verses 13 and 14. And Daniel says there, Daniel chapter seven verse 13 and verse 14. Look what it says there. And watch close.
See if you pick it out. It says, I saw, I was watching in the night visions and behold, one like that noticed the title here, one like the who, the son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the ancient of days. Now if we were to go to proceeding verses, we'd see that Daniel saw the, so God exalted on his throne, the ancient of days.
And so here comes this son of man that's brought to him. And what happens? Verse 14, look what it says. Then to him, to the son of man was given what?
Dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and language should serve him. His dominion is never lasting dominion, which shall not pass away and his kingdom, the one which shall not be destroyed. That's the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ that you have to come. This is what he's promising him of what's to come.
And so when we read this in our verse, the Lord shall son the rod of your strength out of Zion, rule in the midst of your enemies. We see the Lord Jesus Christ one day. He will come and he will reign. You ever get tired of the way things are handled by governments on earth?
And I can look in around you. We've got a multicultural group here, international group. And I know that all of us have seen somewhere around the world, governments that don't act correctly. That abuse their powers, that abuse their people.
Well, I'm telling you, based on the word of God, that one day the Lord Jesus Christ himself is coming to reign and he's going to rule over all. And we read there that his dominion and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. No one can overthrow his kingdom. No one will be able to overthrow his kingdom.
And so his power will extend overall and he will rule over his enemies. And then if you just quickly go back to Psalm 2, Psalm 2, and look at verse 8. And this is another psalm that speaks about the Lord Jesus. And it's Psalm 2 verse 8 to myself.
It says there, listen to it. The father is speaking to the son. He says, ask of me and I will give you the nations for inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. So one day the Lord Jesus Christ will refer, will rule overall.
And as such, when he rules overall, everybody will be subject to him. Now just turn to Psalm 45 to see the character of his kingdom, Psalm 45 verse 6. Because what kind of ruler will he be? Will he be a good one or will he be a bad one?
Part of the problem we had him perude this January when we went was that in December the president had tried to, the congress had tried to impeach him three times, they were going to number four and he said, no, this is enough. And he tried to then shut down the congress and say, I will rule by decree. So basically as a dictator. And the congress then said, no, you won't and they booed him out.
So you see the government doesn't even know what it should be doing or not doing what it should be doing. However, what happens here? What's the character of his kingdom? Well, in Psalm 45, look at verse 6 and 7.
It says, your throne of God is forever and ever. And notice now this scepter. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness, more than your companions. One day when the Lord Jesus reigns, he will do what is right all the time. You will know that when you go to him, you will receive a right judgment. Now that's not always the case here on earth.
We've seen examples in different countries where we live that somebody goes to the judge and you expect this answer. But if somebody else pays a little extra money, he doesn't do what should be done. This king will reign in righteousness. He will always do what is right.
He will be faithful to his character in every way. Now notice then right after that in Psalm 110, what it says next to both the people. It says, your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power. And so you see that the relationship of God with man is one right from the beginning.
God has called and asked to obey him to believe him first and then obey him. He did that right from Adam and Eve, right in the garden. He asked them to obey him. Don't eat from the fruit of this tree because the day you eat of it, you will die.
So they had to obey, believe him and obey him. Did they believe him? They didn't believe God. They instead believed the lie of Satan.
Satan came along and he told him. He says, basically God is not good. He's holding out on you. And they believed the lie rather than the truth.
And today God is calling on us to believe him and to obey him. And what is it we are to believe? Well we are to believe. Yes, I am a sinner.
I sinned against the holy God. But then the part of obedience is that I recognize that I recognize that but then I confess it and I can trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who has died from my sin. We are to believe him and we are to obey him. And so as such when we obey him, then we can offer ourselves to him and that's what these people are doing.
Because he's looking for those who are ready to listen. And so for us nowadays, Romans 12, 1 is a good example. What am I to do? Because no, I'm not living in those future days now.
I'm living today. What are you and I to do? Because the idea is when those people offer themselves in our verse, it says that people shall be willing and the idea here, folks, just look up front here, that when they're willing, the idea is offering a sacrifice, a free will offering. They're offering themselves to God.
Well that's what God wants from you and I. Romans 12 verse 1 says, I beseech you there for brethren, by the mercy of God that you present yourselves. And then your body's a living sacrifice. So he's not asking us to cut our throats and to die.
He's asking us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. You know something? I won't step on the table, but I thought of it. But pretend that I step on this and this is the altar.
If you read through the Old Testament, especially in the book of Leviticus, once something went on that altar, once it went, it was given to God, it was holy and it could never be taken back again. It was his. And once I present my body as a living sacrifice, it's not mine anymore. And that verse is true.
It's no longer I that liveth. But Christ has lived in me. Is that true for you? You know, it's some days the truth is that the reality is that we have to keep reminding ourselves it's not me anymore.
It's Christ. And I have to surrender day by day, my eyes, my ears, my mind, my hands, my feet, day by day. Remember that I am on that altar, never to get off the altar again. So he's looking for willing sacrifices.
Are you willing to offer yourself to God? These people did that. Are you willing to offer yourself to God? Is that that free will offering?
So it says your people will be volunteers in the day of his power. But notice something that those who refuse to obey him will ultimately bear the judgment because God is inviting us to come today. But there will come a day where he will judge all those who refuse to listen. Why?
Because they've rejected him. And ultimately they've rejected his sacrifice to Lord Jesus Christ. And the reality is he has nothing better to give. He's given to you and to me his very best.
And one day if we stand before him and we've rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, that will be really the only question. What did you do with Jesus? Did you believe in him? And if you say, no, well, there's nothing else.
There's absolutely nothing else because God has given to us his very most precious thing. And what is that? It's his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he then goes on from there.
He says in verse the rest of verse three, he says, in the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth. Now there's some different translations of that. But the idea is there when you think of it, the Lord Jesus as he comes out one day to execute and to reign over all to execute judgment and rule and reign over all, he will do it on the basis of his character as holy. And what does that mean?
I know you would often I was associated with holiness just kind of with that part of God separate from sin. Do you realize that his love is holy? Because the idea of holiness is something that's separate. It's something unique.
His love is unlike any love there ever is. It's holy. It's untainted by any bias or anything like that. His, his grace is holy.
There's no grace like his grace. And we could go down the list, his mercy, his judgment. Holy, separated. Unlike the judgment or the mercy or the grace of the world, his is so unique.
It's pure, untainted by anything evil or sinful. And so here he comes and he's coming in the beauty of holiness separated from all that would tarnish or, or my is character. You know, when you look at political leaders around the world, you don't even have to go very far. And every one of them has some blotches on their reputation, don't they?
They fail to do something, even the very best of them. We could say, yeah, but did you hear about this? Yeah, that's right. But when he comes and he establishes his kingdom, no one will be able to say, yeah, but did you hear about this?
Why? Because his record is perfect. And really, where did his record start? He started with him coming here and dying for you and for me.
See, he wants us to come to him on the basis of the work that he's done. Wouldn't you be willing to offer yourself to him, someone who's died in your place? We were meeting with a couple this week and just talking a little bit about marriage and that. And I said to the wife, if your husband was willing to die for you, like if he had that attitude that he was at any moment to lay down his life, what kind of attitude would you have for him?
I said, I hope you'd have one that you love him and that you respect him and that you just, this is what a guy. Look at him. He's right to die for me at any minute. He's literally and not just to die, but to sacrifice himself for me.
Well, that's what the Lord has done for us. And how do we respond to that? Do we respond? Just like we saw earlier that I want to get myself to him.
Or do we hold back and say, yeah, not really. I'm kind of hanging on to this part. This is mine. He's given it all.
He gave his life. Why do we hold back on him? And so he says there in the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning. And this is the idea, from what I understand, it's the idea of that daybreak.
What's amazing about that is when you look through the scripture, you see Jesus is described. For example, he says in Revelation chapter, in front of my notes here, he says, Revelation chapter 22, he says, I'm the bright and morning star. In Luke chapter 1, Zacharias, speaking about the Lord Jesus, called him the day spring. That first light, when you look at the horizon and you see the rays of light coming up, he's that light that shines up and illuminates the darkness of the world.
Remember, that's what the prophecy of the Lord Jesus, that the light has shined in darkness. And who is that light? It's the Lord Jesus. He's everything for us.
He's the light in the darkness. He's the food for my soul. He's the water of life. The Lord Jesus is meant to be everything for us.
So there he comes. You see that the light shining and then it says you have the due of youth, that he, remember the due shows up first thing every morning and you wrote. And the idea is it refreshes the grass, it refreshes the ground. That's what the Lord Jesus does.
Only spend time with him. I don't know about you, but my time is in the morning. I like to get up. Usually I'm able to do that now with no kids in the house.
I was able to, they were not really rises. To get up and to spend time with the Lord, to read the Bible and to pray and just to spend time with him. And it's just so refreshing for the soul. Just like that, do refreshes the grass.
He refreshes our soul. He kind of gets us firm and ready to go for the day. Well, look at the next verse. We can move along here.
It talks about his priesthood because this next verse kind of stands almost, it seems, out of place. We're talking about a king. He's exalted. And suddenly we come to this, the Lord is sworn and will not repent.
You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. And at first it may stand out as different. But when you look in the Old Testament, you see two offices that were both important. One of course was the office of the king, the one who ruled over the land.
But the other one that was equally, if not more important, was the high priest. The high priest was the one who would go into the presence of God for the people representing them before God. And what you find here is that what has God done? He's showing that the Lord Jesus is not the one who ultimately rules over all, but he's also the one who can save all, who can deliver all of us.
And how did he do that? Well, by offering himself as a sacrifice for sin. And so he says that here, he says, the Lord has sworn and will not repent or relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
And so the Lord has put in him this office of high priest. Now, just a few words about Melchizedek. If you turn over with me to Hebrews 7, now he's mentioned back in Genesis chapter 14, but Hebrews 7 kind of gives us the quick overview of what it says there. In Hebrews 7, it says there in verse 1, Hebrews 7 verse 1, speaking about Melchizedek.
And we're going to notice three things that tells us about Melchizedek. And this is not by chance. It's kind of exciting when you see pieces starting to come and you have to look what it says here. For this Melchizedek, remember he met Abraham when Abraham was returning after rescuing the Lord.
And then the king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, blessed him to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, being translated. Now notice this, these are the titles of Melchizedek. First of all, he's called King of what? Righteousness.
Then secondly, then also King of Salem, which means king of peace. And he's also so he's king of righteousness, that's his name, Melchizedek. Secondly, he's King of Salem, which is king of peace. And thirdly, what's his other title?
He's priest of the most high God. Wow. And then hundreds of years before Melchizedek, who was also presented to us as a king and as a priest. Well, he was just a little picture, just a little snapshot.
He's only there a few verses. God brought him out. So ultimately he could show us that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to, in him, would meet all those important offices, the office of the king and the office of the high priest. Because Lord Jesus, God has made him everything to us.
And so here he is king and he's also high priest. Because what had happened was this, if you remember, God gave Moses the law and he set up the priesthood of Aaron. And then Aaron's son took over. And then after Aaron's son, it was Eleas or Eleas, it was Phineas, and so it went down the line.
What was the problem with these priests? Well, this year it's Aaron going in presenting the offering before God. But he had two problems. Number one, he was sinful himself.
He had to offer a sacrifice for himself, didn't he? But the other problem was he was going to die. And so he couldn't keep on representing the people before God. But here comes the Lord Jesus.
Was he sinful? He didn't have to offer a sacrifice for himself. He could go into the presence of God and he could bring an offering to God. But here's the key.
What was the offering he brought to God? Well, he tells us this actually, it tells us several places. But if you look over in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14, Hebrews chapter 10, we're just over a few pages, unless you're on your cell phone, then there'll be a few scrolls. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14.
Notice what he says there. It says for by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. And what was that offering? It was the offering of himself.
What happened there? The Lord Jesus is not only high priest, but he also is the offering that pleased God. He's the one who pleased God. He is the one when he went to the cross and he died in the cross for our sins.
God was satisfied. Someone had to die for your sin and for my sin. You know, I think sometimes in all the scriptures and all the word in that we spend time in, we forget how awful our sins really are. How much God hates sin?
Sin is against him. It's against his character who he is and you've sinned and I've sinned. We've gone against the holy God. And his judgment on that is death.
He merit death. What praise God? See, this is the amazing thing. God then gave to us the sacrifice that we needed.
What was the sacrifice? Was it an animal? No, an animal could never pay for my life. Just like the dog couldn't die for me and an animal couldn't replace me.
It had to be someone who was perfect and who was that? He was Jesus, the Son of God. He died for you. He died for me.
How awful is sin that it took the Son of God, the perfect Son of God, his life to pay for your sin and for mine. Stop and think about that this week. In the next day or so, think about what a price it was. But you know something, notice now.
The Lord said to my Lord, sit in my right hand. Okay? So he says, sit down. I'm going to take care of things for you.
Now notice in Hebrews chapter eight verse one. And notice what it says about him. It says now, this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is, look at the word there.
What does it say? He's seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heavens. Why would he be seated? If you were to go to the tabernacle in the Old Testament, you know you discover there was no chair there.
Because the high priest and the priest work was never done. They would always be bringing new sacrifice because it was sin was not paid for. But once Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice, it was paid for no more offering for sin. So if the work is all done, what do you do?
I don't know about you, but when I'm done working, I sit down or sometimes lay down. It depends on how tired I am. But you sit down and so there is Jesus now as King. He's seated at the Father's right hand, but not just as King.
He's also seated there as what? As my high priest because the work is finished. Now go back to chapter seven. One last verse before we move on.
Chapter seven verse 25. Because this promise was, he says you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Look what it says then. Look what he's able to do.
He was in verse 25, it says this. Therefore he is able to save to the, I don't know, is the idea is he's able to save forever those who come to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. There is Jesus seated at the Father's right hand and his very presence with the wound still visible are there to prove that he has died for you and for me. And it says he lives forever to make intercession for us.
Now please understand Edgar wants to ask about that. And she kind of says is it kind of God's not quite sure he wants to forgive us and she's going to say look look I paid a paid no, You have to understand that the Father and the Son are in this together. That when Jesus went up to the cross, it wasn't like God was standing with His arms and saying, yeah, you better do this right because you only got one shot. No, it's like Abraham and Isaac going up to that altar.
And you can imagine the heart of Abraham as he went up, knowing that he was going to offer his Son. Imagine the heart of the Father as his Son was laid in that cross and the spikes were driven into his hand. What would he have felt? If you're a Father, you can only imagine what the Father felt for that to happen.
Oh, you read Jesus, keep saying, and John over and over. I and the Father are one. And there they've provided for that sacrifice. And so His wounds, it says for us, are pleading.
And so He ever is forever to make intercession for us. We need never doubt. You know, I think that's as much for you and me as it is for God. Why?
Because maybe I don't think it'll happen, but suppose it did. I mean, heaven, oh, what about that one? And then I look and there's Jesus at the Father's right hand. Everything is paid for.
No need to worry. It's all been settled. And so He ever lives to make intercession for us. Now, moving on then, we'll just take a couple more minutes to finish up.
You'll notice the last part of the song. In verse five, it says that the Lord is at your right hand. Now, it's saying there, speaking to the Father, seated on the throne, Jehovah, and He says the Lord, Adonai is at your right hand. Now, it's amazing.
It's this title for Jesus is only used of divinity. It's only used of God. And so He's speaking about Jesus. And He says, He's at your right hand.
And then He goes on to begin to describe Him. And He tells us about Him. And He says that He will come ultimately in judgment. Jesus is going to return.
And there's going to be judgment. And if you read the book of Revelation, you will know if you come to chapter 6, that at the end of chapter 6, you see that the Lamb is angry. It says, the day of the wrath of the one who's seated on the throne and the Lamb has come. Now, as strange as that is, because if you know anything about sheep, especially lambs, they don't have a, they're not mean by nature.
They're not angry. And yet here is the Lamb who was angry. Why? Because of the consistent rebellion, not only against Him, but against His Father.
And He's come to judge. And so you see in our passage, it says, He will judge. He's going to judge against those who were refused to believe Him. And you have to remember that God has waited so long for men to repent.
And that's why in Acts, chapter 17, Paul would say to him that the time has come to repent. God calls on all men to repent. And we can go out with that message that the time of repentance is now because there's a time of judgment that is coming. And you know, I won't read again.
John actually read this too for me. The next passage I was going to read is at Revelation, chapter 19, verse 11 to 16. And you see the Lord Jesus Christ coming. And He's coming and it says, He comes to the vesture dipped in blood.
And He has a name written that no one knows. And then it says, it's what's his title? It's his title is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will rule overall.
There is no one higher than Him. He's coming to rule and to reign overall. And then notice on the next verse, it says, He will judge among the nations. He will fill the body, places with dead bodies.
He shall execute the heads of many countries. Just very briefly, I'll point out to you there that He's going to do what is right. You know, you look at the horrors of war around us. I was reading and following a bit about the war in Ukraine and between Ukraine and Russia.
And you read of all the men have died. And it's just heart wrenching to think that these young men have been sent into war and they've died. And so many am pointlessly, but how much more pointless is it to suffer the judgment of the Son of God when He's offered us salvation? There's no need to be under that judgment.
He's paid the full price. And it's almost like He's loath to do it. And yet He will do it because that's His nature. He's holy even in His judgment.
And so ultimately He will judge. But as it says in Jeremiah, it says really that judgment is His strange work. That's not the first thing He wants to do. The first thing He wants to do is show His mercy.
So it finishes up. It says He shall drink of the brook by the wayside. Therefore He shall lift up the head. And so you see Him being refreshed as He goes on.
Unlike the earthly leaders, He's not going to be discouraged. You read that in Isaiah 42. You see earthly leaders, they just keep getting bombarded and bombarded and find His like quit. Or else they lower their standard.
But that's not Him. He will continue on and He'll be unfazed. He's going to be faithful right to the very end. Carrying out the judgment that God has demanded for those who rebelling.
And so to wrap up, I'm sorry, I'm not hasting along here to wrap it up here. I just like you to turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, and there's verses you all know, but they're always worth repeating. Because if I can finish off where we started, when we come and we as a word sit down by the foot of the throne in heaven.
And we look up and we see there is God. And see that His right hand is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we start to reflect on who He is and what He's done. And we think about what is yet to come.
How does that affect us? How should I then live in the light of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done? The life that He's offered. Remember that we're called to be like Him.
I'm supposed to be like Him in this world. I'm to be a little Jesus in Moncton, New Brunswick. You are to be a little Jesus in darkness, Nova Scotia. Imagine if we live that out how this world would be transformed.
Jesus everywhere. Look what He says here. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 9 and 10. With this we will close.
Speaking about Jesus, how it says there in verses 5 on how we humble Himself. And it was obedient to death, the death of the cross. We look at verse 9. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him.
And He's given them the name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Those in heaven, those on earth and those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess.
That Jesus is where we started. Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father. Shall we pray?
Father we come to you this morning, this afternoon. And we're thankful for Jesus. Oh God we thank you that you would send Him into the world. Father that He would come into this world that hated Him.
That hated Him. And yet He would please you and you would be delighted with Him. And that He would ultimately do your will. Father we're thankful that your will was to provide a means of salvation for us.
Father we're thankful that the story didn't end there with His death. That you raised Him up. And you've seated Him at your own right hand in heaven. That's your right hand.
Is the Son of God the Son of man. Lord we thank you for Him. And I pray now for everyone here today. Father may the truth of that truly change us.
May we go from here to live a life devoted to you. Father may we reflect the glory of your Son in this dark world. And may we draw many sons and daughters to glory. Oh Father we pray for the lost around us.
Help us to be witnesses in this dark world. We pray this now in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for listening.