May turn in your Bibles to Psalm 45 for our meditation this evening. Psalm 45, the glory of Christ. Spurgeon says, with reference to the subject of Psalm 45, of whom the author is writing, he says, some here see Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter only. They are short-sighted.
Others see both Solomon and Christ. They are cross-eyed. He says, well-focused spiritual eyes see here Jesus only. I agree with Mr.
Spurgeon. We have divine commentary and interpretation of this psalm in the book of Hebrews and it is applied to our Lord Jesus Christ. Just pick up reading in Psalm 45 beginning in verse 1. To the chief musicians set to the lilies, a contemplation of the sons of Korah, 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, oh 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, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. All your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cashew 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, oh 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. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for this wonderful and glowing description of Christ and his love for the church.
We just pray now that you would guide us by your spirit, that you would cause us to think good thoughts concerning our King, that we, like the psalmist, would take up our pen as a ready writer and compose songs of love for the Savior King. How we thank you that you have not dealt with us according to our sin nor rewarded us according to our transgression. We thank you for the grace of God Most High and for the glory of the Gospel, a free and sovereign grace. We thank you for forgiveness.
We thank you that you have made us acceptable in your sight through your beloved. And we just pray now that you would bless our time together, and may it truly be worship. And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, the psalmist is writing here, composing a song concerning the Lord Christ. The New Testament shines that light for us. I don't think anybody would take need the time of persuasion. Obviously what he is writing here is concerning our beloved Lord Jesus.
And he sets out his theme in verse one. He highlights his particular intention. And then he highlights the glory of the Savior, first in his person, secondly in his attributes, and thirdly in his work. So similar to what we did this morning, we're going to continue in that vein.
If we are told to look unto Jesus, this gives us great fodder and great ammunition for our souls that we may indeed consider the Lord of Glory as we run with endurance the race that is set before us. Just quickly,
The Psalmist's Theme Introduced
let's look at the glory of the Savior stated, or introduced. Verse 1, my heart is overflowing with a good theme. He says, I recite my composition concerning the King, my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. The overflowing heart could also be translated, it boils or it bubbles over.
You've seen a hot spring or you've seen something bubbling before. That's his soul, that's his heart as he's concerned or as he's considering the Lord Jesus Christ. And that ought to be true of us at least to some degree at some point in our Christian experience. We may not be poets, we may not be composers of music, we may not have the artistic skill that this psalmist was endowed with, but we ought to have the overflowing heart of love and adoration for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Spurgeon says it is a sad thing when the heart is cold with good matter. In other words, we have the best of matter with reference to our Lord Jesus. It's sad when the heart is cold. He then goes on to say, and worse, when it is warm with bad matter.
In other words, if we're artists, it's wicked to use it in an evil way. He says, but incomparably well when a warm heart and good matter meet together. And this is precisely what the psalmist is doing. My heart is overflowing with a good theme.
He is looking on to Jesus. He is considering his Savior. He is reflecting upon the Messiah. He is reflecting upon God's King, God's man, for the particular task of salvation.
He sets forth the theme in verse 2. He says, you are fairer than the sons of men. The Hebrew word is double. It's literally, you are fairer, fairer.
Or we might say, you are beautiful, beautiful. You ever looked into the eyes of your beloved and said, you are beautiful, beautiful. You are handsome, handsome. I don't think your beloved would say, why do you say it twice?
I think the emphasis highlights the reality that you really think there's something good. And that is what the psalmist is doing. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. I've got a bubbling heart, I've got a flowing heart, I've got this desire, and I've got this wonderful theme.
You are fairer than the sons of men. You are the fairest of all. Or you are more beautiful than every other single thing on the face of this earth. Again, Spurgeon says, Jesus is so emphatically lovely that words must be doubled, strained, yea, exhausted before he can be described.
It's a great concept, a great thought. Listen. He goes on to say, Among the children of men, many have through grace been lovely in character, yet they have each had a flaw. But in Jesus we behold every feature of a perfect character in harmonious proportion.
You will never be let down meditating upon Jesus. You will never be let down describing Him, the Pharaoh, than the sons of man. So that's the theme, that's the direction the poet wants to take us.
Glory of the Savior: His Person
Now notice the glory of the Savior in His person. He describes him as the God-man. Notice in verse 7, he highlights the humanity of Christ. You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. This is precisely what we find in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ comes. He is man.
He is fully man. He has true humanity. He sorrows. He weeps.
He hungers. He thirsts. He's tired. He lays down in a boat and he takes a nap.
The Lord Jesus Christ is true man and we must never diminish that reality from our Bibles. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only man, though. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is deity.
The self-same one described in verse 7 is also given this statement in verse 6. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. This is the mystery of the second person of the Godhead.
He is deity. He takes on flesh in the incarnation, one of the most glorious and wondrous things that ever took place. Paul the Apostle describes this in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9 in a passage where he is appealing to the church to give liberally to those who have need. He uses the Lord Christ as an example, and He points to this reality in terms of His incarnation. 2 Corinthians 8-9, He says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, refers to deity.
He was rich. He is Almighty God. The verbs that the apostle employs are the same sort that we find in John's prologue in John chapter 1. It tells us that the Word was with God.
It also then tells us that He became flesh. He took on flesh. And this is what Paul goes on to say, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. When you look at the Lord Jesus Christ, you have one that is fairer than the sons of men.
Not simply by virtue of his perfection, but by virtue of his person. He is not like any other man. And so when the psalmist here composes this song of love concerning the king, he highlights his person. And we need to think on that.
We need to meditate on who Christ is. I think at times, and it's not bad, but at times we look at what God gives us. It's not wrong to do that. Please don't go from here and say, I can't thank God for what He's given me.
But we need to think on who God is. We need to dwell on who Jesus Christ is. Not only what he has accomplished for us. Theologians refer to that as the work of Christ.
And that is very important. Atonement, substitution, sacrifice, expiation, propitiation. reconciliation, redemption, salvation. All those terms apply to the work of Jesus Christ. But we need to know Him in His person.
We need to know this theanthropic one. That means the God-Man. We need to marvel. We need to be amazed.
We need to realize that when Christ comes into this world, He is God Most High. He is from everlasting to everlasting. The eternal comes to the created. And it truly is an amazing reality.
So as he takes up his pen to write, as he comes to compose this song, he states his theme, you are fairer than the sons of men, and he highlights the reality that this one is in fact man, but he is in fact God as well. Again, Spurgeon said, the psalmist cannot restrain his adoration. His enlightened eye sees in the royal husband of the church, God. God to be adored, God reigning, God reigning everlastingly.
He says, blessed sight, blind are the eyes that cannot see God in Christ Jesus. When you get to the New Testament, what do you find? You find specifically this, the God-Man. You find the One who in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And we beheld the Only Begotten, full of glory, full of truth. We see Him expressing and exhibiting that divine nature. We see Him expressing and exhibiting that human nature in such a way that we ought to just marvel. at what is going on in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he doesn't stop there.
Glory of the Savior: His Attributes
He now goes on to describe the glory of the Savior in his attributes. And by attributes, we mean those things you say about someone. You met a new girl, you met a new guy, and you were describing him to your friends. You'd say, He's about six feet two, he's got great big guns, and he's just solid.
Those are attributes. You're attributing something to him. Hopefully he'd say, he's godly, he fears the Lord, he's in church, and he does all those things because he loves the Savior. Hopefully that would be the first thing.
I was just kind of giving you an illustration. Attributes. Think about those. What is, or what does the Bible say concerning God?
He is everlasting. He is holy. He is righteous. He is just.
Those are the attributes of God. Theologians classify that in the incommunicable and the communicable. The incommunicable are those things that are true of God alone. God is everlasting.
He doesn't communicate that to the creature. There are those, however, that are communicated, goodness and righteousness and justice. Those are communicable attributes. Well, when this psalmist takes up his pen to write, when he declares that the king is fairer than the sons of men, he highlights his glory in his person.
He is both God and man, but he's also glorious in his attributes. And the first thing to notice is that he's eloquent.
Christ Is Eloquent
And what do I mean by eloquent, but that he's a good speaker. And he's a good speaker because of what he says is true. Notice in verse 2, grace is poured upon your lips. There is an incident in Nazareth when the Lord Jesus Christ teaches.
He goes into the synagogue, he takes the scroll of the prophet, and the people marvel. the people are amazed at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. The Lord Christ in His promises, the Lord Christ in His invitations, the Lord Christ in His encouragements, the Lord Christ in His reproofs, the Lord Christ in everything that proceeds from His mouth is calculated to do good to His sons. Grace is poured upon His lips. We need to understand this refers to His blessed Word, to His blessed Gospel, to that statement concerning His person and His work, the reality that He came into this world, the reality that He obeys the Father's law, the reality that He dies as a sacrifice and He rises again.
And then that blessed statement of invitation, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Is there any more lips in this universe more glorious than Christ? Isn't it the case that the sons of God can say grace is poured upon your lips? Where do you find comfort in this world?
Hopefully from your spouse, hopefully from your children, hopefully from your friends and whatever social network you tap into. But hopefully as the believers in the gospel, as the children of God, you find comfort in the scripture. You see, that's something I think that people who have been Christians longer than a year can testify. When all is said and done, you know where our strength lies?
When all is said and done, you know what is the secret to our perseverance on this race? It's the powerful word of Christ. We need to value and we need to prize that word. If you're not reading your Bible, I don't want to beat you up tonight.
I don't want to say, you horrible, wretched, perverse sinner. I want to say, take and read. Grace is poured upon the lips of our Savior, and that grace flows through His Word. Genesis to Revelation declares one true and living God.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit declares His works of creation, His works of providence, and His works of redemption. Take and read for the goodness of your own soul. Listen to the Savior. There is no surer word in this world than what you have in your lap right now.
We need to prize and we need to value this book. We need to esteem this book. We need to make it a part of our lives for the glory of God to be sure and for our well-being. Sometimes people say, you know, when I read, it's just like I'm just not getting it.
Well, then read more. Discipline yourself. Something I fear for the young people. The young people, and even to a degree when I was growing up, everything is image oriented.
To sustain thought anymore. I mean, we go from information, from information. We can click and learn of a bombing at a Boston marathon, and then you go check Canuck scores in like 10 seconds. We don't take the time to agonize and weep and sympathize and empathize for the people that just lost loved ones.
We click on this. Oh, wow, that's too bad. Well, how did my Canucks do last night? Wait a minute.
Something's wrong with that. Maybe you saw last week that plane. Somebody caught on their dashboard cam a plane just crashed, just into a fireball. It feels weird watching that, seeing people die.
And yet we can go from that image to the next image to the next image. And very often, young people and children, you're not being trained to think. You have to spend time in the book. You have to carve out time for the book.
You have to be alone with the book. And you have to have the spirit who gave the book. You don't just say, well, I tried to read Psalm 45 and it just didn't make any sense, so forget it. No!
God help me to get what the psalmist sees here. Help me to understand, Lord. Help me to know something of the grace that is poured upon the lips of this one called Jesus of Nazareth. Brethren, the book is most valuable for your Christian growth and maturation.
If you're not valuing the book, your running the race isn't going to be good. It won't be with endurance. Christ is eloquent. Christ is the best preacher who ever lived.
I know I speak with fondness of C. H. Spurgeon. There's no comparison.
There is none whatsoever. Christ is the best, and Christ has spoken, and we have His written word.
Christ Is Mighty
Secondly, the psalmist says that He is mighty. The psalmist says that He is mighty. Verse 3, gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one. Do you understand that your Savior is mighty?
Your Savior is almighty? Your Savior is powerful? One of the blessed truths that the Bible sets forth concerning the person of Christ is that he fulfills three offices. He is our prophet.
He speaks from God to man. He's also our priest. He takes our longings and our intercessions and our prayer requests to the Father. But he's also a king.
And the catechism speaks and the confession speaks of his role as a king to defend his church. to protect His church. Yes, to rule and governor, to be sure, but to protect and watch over her. Our King is almighty. There is nothing that can happen to you when you are walking with the King.
He will keep you. He will watch over you. If you go through the trials, if you go through the travail, you have the Mighty One of Israel with you in the midst of the trial.
Christ Is Blessed of God
He is, thirdly, blessed of God. Blessed of God. Therefore, God has blessed you forever, is what he says in verse 2. Therefore, God has blessed you forever.
And I love this passage. I love the concept. I love what we find in the New Testament. You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled His work as the surety of a better covenant, when the Lord Jesus Christ poured Himself out unto death, When He, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and actually accomplished and executed that task, what does the Scripture say was the Father's response to the Son?
Therefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name. that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." So God Almighty is pleased with the work of Christ and He blesses Him forever.
Christ Is Glorious
Fourthly, the Lord Jesus Christ, this King that is being written of here, is glorious. Glorious. Notice in verse 3, "...gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, with your glory." Now if you're a student of the prophets, you'll remember the prophet Isaiah who says that God will share his glory with no other. Doesn't he?
Does God share his glory with others? Does God say, you know, you're such a wonderful guy or you're such a wonderful girl, I want people to glorify you. That doesn't happen. He does not share His glory with a creature, but He certainly shares His glory with His only begotten Son.
The Lord Christ is glorious. The Lord Christ is wondrous. The Lord Christ is to be glorified in His churches, and this is what the psalmist is telling us.
Christ Is Majestic
Fifthly, he is majestic. Notice verse 3 again. With your glory and your majesty. If you want to get a view of the majesty of Christ, turn to Isaiah 6.
Isaiah 6 sets forth the majesty of Christ in a most blessed way. Isaiah 6, beginning in verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. This was actually 740 BC, in case you want to date this particular time in history.
You see, the Bible isn't myth. The Bible isn't fable. The Bible isn't story calculated to make you feel good. The Bible is rooted in objective history.
And this is what the prophet recounts. The year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood Seraphim. Each one had six wings.
With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. and the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Now you say, how do you know that that's referring to Jesus?
John chapter 12, John the Apostle tells us, these things Isaiah spoke when he saw his glory. Majesty of Christ, you see the theme or the scene here. His robe filled the temple. Attending to him were these seraphim, were these cherubim, were all of these holy angels crying out non-stop.
I know we read verse 3, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Doesn't even take us about five seconds. But this is what they continued to say. back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
That's their job. If you ask these seraphim, what is your job in the eternal state? I stand at the throne and say, holy. What a great job.
You know, we hear that and say, come on, how could you do that for eternity? It's Jesus Christ. You wouldn't want nothing more than to stand in his presence and say, holy, holy, holy, holy. He is that glorious.
He has attendance. Just exclaiming his holiness. This Lord is majestic. This is the king.
This is the one of whom the poet is composing this song of love. And then
Christ Is Righteous
he says, sixthly and finally, that he is righteous. In verse 4, he says, and in your majesty, ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness. We need a righteous Lord. We need a righteous Savior.
Remember how he embarked on his gospel ministry in the book of Matthew. It's been some time ago, but in Matthew chapter 3, when he comes to be baptized by John the Baptist, John the Baptist tries to rebuff him and tries to stop him. But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Christ must fulfill all righteousness.
Christ must obey the Father. Christ must do the law. Christ must be the obedient son. And the psalmist here does not see that as some tack-on, but he realizes that this is an attribute and a characteristic of his blessed Lord.
He is righteous. You know, we need a righteous one because we're unrighteous. 2 Corinthians 5.21 tells us that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So you see the attributes of this Blessed One. The glory of this Blessed One is seen in these perfections.
But the psalmist doesn't stop there.
Glory of the Savior: His Works
He goes on finally to speak of the glory of the Savior in His works. The glory of the Savior in His works. And we see this predominantly in verses 4 and 5, and then later in verses 10 to 14.
Christ Wages War as Warrior King
The first work is that he wages war. He wages war. 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. He wages war against sin and against unrighteousness. He wages a war against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
And he rides prosperously in this. What we have here in the poet's composition is a picture of the warrior king riding victoriously on behalf of his church. It is that same image, it is that same picture that we find in Revelation chapter 19. You may turn there.
Revelation 19 verses 11 to 16 are something of commentary, or amplification rather, on what we find stated in Psalm 45 verses 4 and 5. Whether this was intentional by the seer in Revelation, I'm not sure, but it certainly seems to be the case. Notice in Revelation 19 verses 11 to 16. He says, now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.
And I know a lot of people, a lot of interpreters take this as the second coming, that what John is now describing is Jesus is on a horse and he's going to ride to earth to judge the nations. I don't think that's what's in view here. I think this is Jesus going forth, conquering and to conquer in the church age. The Bible never tells us that Jesus will return on a white horse.
You say, well, it tells us right here. Again, the flow of the narrative, the flow of the thought in the book of Revelation, I take 1911 to 16 as a description of the work and power and majesty of Christ in the church age, when he goes forth riding prosperously because of, or in truth, humility and righteousness. If you disagree, that's fine. Let's just look at what the text says.
Now, I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with the robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.
And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." Now when we go back to Psalm 45 and we consider the poet's statement that he is composing this particular song, when he is speaking about Jesus being fairer than the sons of men, Do not make the mistake that what we have typified or pictured here is some effeminate fellow, sort of trotting around the hills of Israel doing nice things for people. He is the warrior king.
He wages war. He rides prosperously. He is victorious. He most assuredly accomplishes the task for which the father sent him.
You see, we need a king to rule. We need a warrior to win. Dale Ralph Davis describes the scene this way. He says, the popular image of Jesus is that he is not only kind and tender, but also soft and prissy.
So don't make that mistake. When we read Psalm 45.1, my heart is overflowing with a good theme. I recite my composition concerning the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Face it, some of you are not poets. You say, oh, poetry is for sissies. Who sits around and composes love songs? Who does that?
Why does the psalmist do this? Well, realize that the subject of the composition isn't soft and he's not prissy. He goes on to say, as though Jesus comes to us reeking of hand cream. Such a Jesus can hardly steal the soul that is daily assaulted by the enemy.
Davis says we need to learn the catechism of Psalm 24. Question, who is the king of glory? Answer, Yahweh, strong and mighty. Yahweh, mighty in battle.
We must catch the vision of the faithful and true sitting on the white horse, the one who judges and makes war in righteousness. No mild God or soft Jesus can give his people hope. It is only as we know the warrior of Israel who fights for us, and sometimes without us, that we have hope of triumphing in the muck of life. So you see what we find here in verses 4 and 5 are a description of our warrior king riding prosperously and rendering judgment upon his enemies and bringing great blessing and joy to his friends.
We see the conquering Christ set forth and certainly that elicits from the psalmist this love, this composition of love, this worship and praise and adoration. We are to love him and honor him for his person. He is God. He is man.
We are to love and honor him because of His attributes. He is all the things the psalmist sets forth. We are to love and honor Him because of His works. He wages war.
Decisively, He deals with sin at the cross. Decisively, He renders a death blow to the devil. Decisively, He deals with us at the cross. And in this, we greatly rejoice.
And then the psalmist ends on this particular note of Christ's love for His church.
Christ's Love for His Church
Notice verse 10. He directs his attention now. Listen, O daughter, this is the church. This is the covenant people.
This is the people of God. Consider and incline your ear. This savior, this king, this Lord, this warrior that he has described is worthy of his church leaving all for. Listen, oh daughter, consider and incline your ear.
Forget your own people also and your father's house." You see what he's saying? This Christ, this King, this Messiah, He's so glorious. Forget everything behind. Forget your own father's house.
Leave it and come and cleave to the Savior. The song is a wedding song. The song describes the bride cleaving to the bridegroom. And here the emphasis falls on the worthiness of the Redeemer, the glory and majesty of the Christ, such that we leave everything, that we forget our own people also, and our own Father's house, and we run to Him.
No, I ask you, if Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000, and worthy of us leaving our Father's household, certainly He is worthy of us leaving our sin, leaving our filth, leaving our garbage, leaving our wickedness, leaving our evil behind, certainly this to the daughter plays into that reality as well. What is there in this world that you'd rather have than this one? What is there in this world that you'd rather value and prize than this one? What is there more glorious than the God-man, described as he is, waging war for the good of his people and the glory of his Father?
He is altogether lovely. He is chief among ten thousand. Flee to him. Leave to Him.
Do not let go of Him. Notice, the church is Christ's desire. This is one of the things that really bugs me about people that rip on the church. Now, there's probably a lot of things we can rip upon the church for.
We're not holy like we ought to be. I get that. We're not more earnest like we ought to be. I get that.
We don't give more money like we ought to. We don't show love for each other as we ought to. But it's very much the trend today to just rip on the church. It's terrible.
Jesus loves the Church. Jesus prizes the Church. Jesus values the Church. Jesus dies and rises again for the Church.
There's a great book by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Gluck called Why We Love the Church. If I had money, I'd buy a copy for everybody. Not just in this room, but for every professing Christian. Because they see this reality.
To love Christ, brethren, is to love the Church. Because Jesus loves the church. It's easy to pick on her, it's easy to see her spots, it's easy to see her wrinkles, it's easy to see her shortcomings, but we need to appreciate the church. Look at what verse 11 says.
So the king will greatly desire your beauty. He beautifies you, He cleanses you, He purifies you, and as a result, He desires to commune with you and to be present with you. What better place to be than the church? I don't mean simply this building, I mean the covenant people of God.
What better place to be than what Christ greatly desires? When you meet your spouse or you meet your girlfriend or your boyfriend, you want to know what they love and you want to know what they hate. The Bible tells us these six things Yahweh hates. Yea, seven are an abomination to Him.
We ought to stay away from those things. But the Bible also tells us what Yahweh loves. And according to the scripture, He loves us. He loves this church.
He loves His people. He beautifies us. He purifies us. He cleanses us.
He washes us. And then, amazing I know, but He desires us. It's beautiful. The church worships Christ.
Notice in verse 11, so the king will greatly desire your beauty because he is your Lord. Worship Him! Isn't it the no-brainer here? What are we supposed to do in light of His works?
What are we supposed to do in light of His power, in light of His majesty, in light of His attributes, in light of His person? Worship Him! Don't play games. Don't enter in here on a Sunday and say, man, it's so hot, I'm going to tune out.
Worship the Lord! You can do all manner of things that you set your mind to in all manner of circumstances and conditions. Certainly, for an hour on the Lord's Day, or an hour and a half on the Lord's Day, we can tune our minds, we can discipline our bodies, we can respond the way the Bible says, and worship our Christ. That's what it's about.
It's a wonderful thing to come in here on the Lord's Day and see people, isn't it? It's a wonderful thing to catch up with people that you haven't seen for a week. It's a wonderful thing to hear the blessings reported by a brother or sister. Yeah, I got a promotion, or yeah, good things happened to me.
That's good. But you know the primary emphasis on the Lord's Day Sabbath is on the Lord of the Sabbath? The primary emphasis as to why we come to church is not first and foremost to encourage the brethren, though that does happen. The first and the primary emphasis of Lord's Day worship is on worship.
Not entertainment. Not playing games. Not having fun. I guarantee you, if you wanted to have fun, this is not the church you're going to come to.
I understand that. The king desires us, what's the inevitable response? Worship. The church is glorious as a result.
Verse 13, the royal daughter is all glorious within the palace. You see, this is because of Christ, because He wages war, because He has those attributes. Because He is the God-Man, because He saves, because He beautifies, because He purifies, the royal daughter is all glorious within the palace. Not an intrinsic glory, but what is happening is that we reflect the glory of God Most High.
In other words, if someone was standing in that parking lot and they looked in here tonight, it would reflect the power and the glory and the majesty of the One who saved us. We are not here because we're wise. We are not here because we're good. We are not here because we are law keepers.
We are here because Jesus is wise, Jesus is good, Jesus is a law keeper, and Jesus died for us and rose again. The church is a trophy case to exhibit the power and the majesty and the excellence of the Lord Jesus Christ who saved us. That's the emphasis of the passage. And then finally, notice what verse 13b says, the church is clothed by Christ.
Her clothing is woven with gold. We know what it took for the Lord Jesus Christ to put together this garment to put upon His bride. It was His blood, it was His life, it was His death, it was Him to the uttermost suffering on behalf of His church so that He might be able to cleanse us, to wash us, and to clothe us in a righteousness that avails with God Most High. So the psalmist takes out his pen.
He's considering his theme. He says to Christ, you are fairer than the sons of men. He ascribes to him humanity and deity. He ascribes to him these blessed attributes.
And then he tells us what Christ is all about in terms of saving his people. in waging war and in conducting all of these things for their well-being. Verses 14 and 15, the church enjoys communion. 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. Brethren, in light of this morning's message, please take Psalm 45, or may I encourage you to take Psalm 45. And looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Run with endurance the race that is set before us. not in your own strength, not in your own performance. Don't run because you read your Bible. Don't run because you prayed. Don't run because you went to church.
Run looking unto Jesus, doing those things as a means of looking unto Him. And if you're not a believer here tonight, this, as imperfect as I set it forth, is the Lord Jesus. There's only one way of salvation in this world. It is not through Islam.
It is not through other philosophies or other religious systems. Jesus Christ, the one spoken of here in Psalm 45, says in John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you are in your sin tonight, may I encourage you to look at this Psalm to see the power, the glory, and the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And by God's grace, cast yourself upon His mercy. Believe on Him. Believe the truth of the Scripture concerning Him. And you will be saved.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank You for the Lord Jesus. We thank You for this description in Psalm 45 of this blessed King. God, help us to marvel, help us to adore, help us to run with endurance, looking unto Jesus Christ. how we thank you for him, how we thank you for his work on our behalf. God, as we consider what we are about to do in terms of the Lord's Supper, it does truly amaze us that one so glorious would come to such like us, who would die and who would rise again for us.
We just praise you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.