Tim Badger - Class 5: Exhortation

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Thank you, Brother Glenn, and good morning, brothers and sisters, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, in a sense, our words and our thoughts of exhortation this morning, God willing, sort of bring to a wrap-up our studies on the Psalms. And with the intent of using the Psalms and being inspired by the Psalms to come closer to our God through prayer and the different elements of prayer.

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   But what we're going to do this morning, by way of exhortation, is see how the Psalms also bring us closer to God through the hope of the Messiah that is riddled throughout the book of Psalms in the hopes of God's people from the time of Moses all the way forward. And Psalm 45 is going to be the center of our focus this morning.

3. 1:00

   You know, brothers and sisters, back where I live in Adelaide in South Australia, there's a shop not too far from my house on one of the main roads. And they have a sign outside the shop. And the sign says, Come here and you can get married in 30 minutes for $199. It's an interesting idea.

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   It gives the impression, though, doesn't it, that marriage is cheap. And just a simple formality, if it even is that. And it's a trend in the world in general. Marriage is crumbling on many fronts. And Australia has witnessed that just recently. And it's interesting, you know, when it comes to marriage and the process of marriage, the Bible actually doesn't say too much about the process or the ceremony itself.

5. 1:51

   And we'll come back to that later. But this is actually exactly the theme of Psalm 45 this morning. And we're going to see the emphasis that God puts on it. For us as the Ecclesia and his son as our bride is enormous. We're going to come to Psalm 44 to start with. Since we've been looking at the Psalms, what we want to do is just give a little bit of context to where Psalm 45 shows up.

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   And this is definitely something to look out for when you're looking at individual Psalms. They're not individual necessarily. Sometimes they come in a context that we've seen a couple times over the course of our studies this weekend together. And Psalm 45 is no exception. It belongs in a group that starts with Psalm 44 and goes all the way to Psalm 48.

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   And these are the Psalms of the king. Have a look at Psalm 44. Now, this is something to mark in, or at least have a pencil to circle if you can, or make note of for later. So Psalm 44, you'll notice that the theme of this psalm is the king. And it's a contemplation of the sons of Korah.

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   This is also a lament psalm. It has an area of confidence, an area of complaint, and also a plea. Those are the ones that we looked at, if you remember, yesterday in our studies. But look at the focus of this psalm. Verse 3. Now, that's just a hint of what he's going to mention in verse 4.

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   Look at the sense here. The focus is the king. So this psalm, brothers and sisters, is a psalm of the king, who will deliver his people. That's the focus of this psalm. And the psalmist takes comfort and refuge in that concept of the messianic king to come. But Psalm 45 is also about the king.

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    And we know that from verse 1. As he says, I recite my composition concerning the king. We'll come back to Psalm 45. Then we have Psalm 46, which doesn't mention the king. But the theme of this is that God will save his people through the king. And through his strength. Psalm 47 mentions the king a number of times.

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    Have a look at this, also of the sons of Korah. Verse 2. For Yahweh Most High is awesome, and he is a great king over all the earth. Look at verse 6. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our king. Sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth.

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    Sing praises with understanding. You can see what the psalmist is trying to get other people to do with the hope of the king to come. And Psalm 48 is also about the king. Verse 1. Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation.

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    The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north. The city of the great king. God is in her palaces. He is known as her refuge. And if you go through those psalms in a little bit more detail on your own brothers and sisters, they each have a slightly different emphasis on the king.

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    Psalm 44. The king will deliver. Will deliver. Psalm 45. The king's preparations and marriage. Psalm 46. God will certainly save his people. That's at the center of this collection of five psalms. Psalm 47. At this stage, the king is over all the earth. You can see the progression that's happening in the story of the king, in God's plan for redemption.

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    And by Psalm 48, this is when the king is worshipped in glory. So, Psalm 45 is right in the middle of this collection of the story of the king that will happen. The Messiah to come. Tracing the promise of the king all the way through to when he is literally worshipped in all the earth.

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    In glory. In Mount Zion. It's a beautiful story. So, let's have a look at Psalm 45. It's all about the king. And here's a basic little structure to it. Verse 1 introduces the king. Verse 2 to 8 describe the king. They describe his majesty and his divinity in that sense. His divine position.

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    Verse 9 to 12 describes the king's bride. Verse 13 to 15 describes the king's wedding. And elements of that. And verse 16 to 17 describes the king's family in a number of different aspects. It's all about the king. This is actually, brothers and sisters, an amazing royal wedding psalm. And it is absolutely unique by far in the psalm's collection that we have.

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    The emotion and the imagery here about the king are almost unparalleled. Almost in all of scripture. We will see the New Testament uses this psalm, though, extensively. You know, it's an amazing thing. We cannot miss verse 1. This is all about our king. And this is who we remember this morning, brothers and sisters.

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    It's an element of him that we want to focus on. But look at this. Psalm 45. Look at the heading. To the chief musician. Set to the lilies. A contemplation of the sons of Korah. This is a song of love. Now, just by the way, and we'll see this a little bit later as we go.

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    You cannot read Psalm 45 and not realize that its absolute parallel in scripture is the Song of Solomon. Brothers and sisters, this is the key that unlocks the entire book of Song of Solomon. And if we try and interpret the Song of Solomon without Psalm 45, we will definitely be on the wrong track.

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    This is all over it. The sense and the wording and the feeling and the emotion of Song of Solomon. And it proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that the sense and the feeling and the words and the imagery of Song of Solomon are a great detail about Christ and the ecclesia. Because we know that this psalm is exactly about that.

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    Set to the lilies, a song of love. And all the other words in here have overtones that match the Song of Solomon in quite an amount of detail. So look at how this person starts off. And this is Song of Solomon as well. Psalm 45 verse 1. Now, I'm reading from the New King James.

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    Look what it says. It just captures a little bit more clearly the sense of what the meaning is here. The King James says, My heart is indicting a good matter. Now, I never knew what indicting meant when I was younger. It's a bit of an older word. But here's the sense. My heart is overflowing with a good theme.

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    That's the sense. The word in Hebrew has this idea of effervescence. Like it's bubbling over. This person cannot contain. And that's what he's trying to tell us. He cannot contain what is in his heart. And what is in his heart is a very, very good theme. And it's absolutely welling up inside him.

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    So much so that he has to write it down. I recite my composition concerning the King. That is what the theme is. That is in his heart. That is overflowing. And he can't contain. And he says, My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. I will write it down. Because I cannot contain it.

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    Now, brothers and sisters, this is an extraordinary thing to keep in mind. This entire psalm is about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this person, in prophetic terms in the Old Testament, is so appreciative and in love with the concept of the Messiah and all that it means, that he cannot contain it.

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    That's his love for the Lord Jesus Christ in prospective future. And it makes us think this morning, brothers and sisters, when we come before the emblems, just to what extent our heart overflows with this same theme, the Lord Jesus Christ, in all of his kingship and all of his position in the plan of God for redemption.

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    You can see here, can't you, brothers and sisters, when we were considering that Sunday school this morning, this is the exact same sense as you find in Song of Solomon, chapter 5, when the daughters of Jerusalem say to the Shulamite, what is your beloved more than any other? And she launches into this amazing description of her love for the fairest among men.

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    And that's exactly what Psalms 45 is doing just the same. It's a challenge, isn't it? We ask ourselves this morning as we reflect and examine ourselves, how much do we love the Lord Jesus Christ? Because certainly in Scripture, we are given a picture of those who are faithful of old all the way into the New Testament.

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    that are in love with his appearing and everything that he stands for in their life. So much so that they can't contain it, they have to tell people about it. You know, I wonder, brothers and sisters, what it would be like, and this is possibly a little challenge, what would it be like for us to do what Psalm 45 is telling us?

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    Have you ever thought what it would be like to sit down with a piece of paper and a pen, or you could type it, it doesn't matter, sit down and actually write a description of why you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Because that is exactly and precisely what Psalm 45 is. Would you have reasons in your mind and ways to express and things that you appreciate and understand about the Lord Jesus Christ to such an extent that you could sit down and write down and say, this is why I love the Lord Jesus Christ?

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    I challenge us to do that. Maybe try and do that this week. I think you've got a few Psalms to write now. But think about that, brothers and sisters. I can just sit down and think, and even in a prayer, to God, why you love his Son, all that he stands for, what he has done, what he will do, what you're looking forward to.

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    All of those elements are in this Psalm. And that's part of an exhortation ourself, to think about where we're at with that, whether we think about him during the week. And if we do, is it in these terms of emotion and passion for all that he is?

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    Our excitement and our emotion for our hope in Christ and our desires and longing for what is to come is something that we need to focus on and articulate and say. And this can easily wane if you're like myself. We're not always in this position where we feel in the same place of this psalmist, where they can't contain the love of the hope that they have.

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    Let's stop about that and stop and think about that this morning. Things can get in the way of this. There's easily things that come during our week that can suck the passion and the joy and the awareness of our appreciation for Christ during the week. And we need to identify what those things are.

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    And I think, in reality, it's pretty easy to do that. Well, some people have tried to give a historical background to this psalm to try and figure out what it was actually originally talking about. But if you remember, last week, one of the features that we, yesterday, one of the features of the psalms that we looked at is that almost always the psalms don't give us exact historical details to tell us this is what it was applying to.

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    Only some of the psalms do that just in their titles. So we can sort of look and see, well, some people have thought this maybe is a psalm about Hezekiah and Hefzabah, which is possible. Maybe this is a psalm describing Solomon and his Egyptian princess. Possibly. But I believe, brothers and sisters, that this is one psalm where we are deliberately steered away from the historical application.

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    The point of this psalm, without any shadow of a doubt, is that this is the Messiah and His people. And that has always been what this psalm is about and how it has encouraged brothers and sisters for many, many thousands of years. Look what it says about this Messiah, this King.

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    It says in verse 2, this is the first thing he says about the Messiah that he can't hold in. Verse 2, You are fairer than the sons of men and grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore, God has blessed you forever. Now, God is in this picture. Do you see what's happening? You've got this king who's going to be married to a bride and God is blessing this whole situation.

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    He's blessing this king. This is a specific person, the Messiah himself. And we're told that he's fairer than the sons of men, which is reminiscent of the descriptions that we find in Song of Solomon. Grace is poured upon this Messiah's lips, brothers and sisters, and that has all the overtones of Luke chapter 4, verse 22.

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    When they wondered when Messiah came and read from the scroll of Isaiah that this man was full of grace, well, that's what John says in John chapter 1, but they marveled at the gracious words that poured out of his mouth. And that's coming straight from Isaiah 40, sorry, Psalm 45. Grace is poured upon his lips, and so it was all through his ministry and still is.

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    Do you know, this Messiah is referred to as God directly in this psalm. And we notice, typically, I've looked at this psalm in the past from a first principles point of view, but let's just have a look at it from what we're seeing this morning from an exhortational point of view. Look at verse 6.

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    The psalmist says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Now that's clearly a reference to Jesus. He's talking to Jesus there as the Messiah, prophetically. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you.

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    And therein, B.C. lies the easy understanding in that sense of what God means in the Hebrew. We know when Thomas approaches the Lord Jesus Christ and says, My Lord and my God, that does not mean that he is the everlasting Father in the sense of the creator, from Genesis chapter 1, part of the Trinity.

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    No. The idea of God here is a mighty one. An Elohim. And it's used of other people in the Old Testament too. And the judges of Israel are called God. That's what they were supposed to be. That's Jesus' argument in John chapter 10. But here, the Messiah is given that title by the psalmist himself.

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    And he himself has a God that has anointed him. That's an amazing thought to think about. We're going to come to Hebrews chapter 1.

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    The psalmist realizes the position of this Messiah. But just have a notice of this. This is absolutely beautiful. Hebrews chapter 1 quotes Psalm 45 and gives us absolute assurance that this is talking about Jesus. So we know in Hebrews chapter 1 this is a chapter that's describing the elevated position of Christ compared to the angels.

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    And it quotes a number of Old Testament passages to prove that. So let's have a look. Let's start in just at verse 6. But when he again, Hebrews chapter 1 verse 6, when he again brings the firstborn into the world he says, quote, let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he says, quote, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire.

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    But to the Son he says, quote, Psalm 45, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom and you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. And, then he quotes Psalm 102.

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    So in Hebrews chapter 1 he quotes Psalm 45 but did you notice the difference, brothers and sisters? Look what it says in verse 8. But to the Son he says, and the implication from all of this is that God is saying this to the angels or this to the sons. So Hebrews chapter 1 is saying, no, Psalm 45 is not the words of the psalmist.

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    This is the words of God himself. Now, you come back to Psalm 45 and think about it that way. This just takes it to a whole nother level.

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    Not just the words of the psalmist, one of the sons of Korah, no, this is the words of God himself to his son. And he's saying to his son, the father is saying to the son, the Lord Jesus Christ, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. But that means verse 1 must be coming from God too by implication.

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    And I think it's true. Look what it says. Imagine God saying these words because Hebrews is telling us it's actually God who's composing this. my heart is overflowing with a good theme, says the father. I recite my composition concerning the king and my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men.

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    Now that, brothers and sisters, takes this to a whole nother level. This is the emotion and the passion and the love of God for his son who will be the Messiah of all the earth. And what a beautiful thought that is. And the son, the Messiah in here is 100% related to the righteousness of God.

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    And God has anointed him more than anyone else and his name will endure forever. Now, brothers and sisters, we just mentioned before, as we go through, you can see language of the Song of Solomon. Look at verse 8. All your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and Cassian. Out of the ivory palaces by which they have made you glad, king's daughters are among your honorable woman.

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    And at your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. Listen, O daughter, verse 10, consider and incline your ear. Forget your own people also in your father's house. Now, all of that's language of Song of Solomon, which confirms our interpretation of Song of Solomon. But it's also one of the few places in scripture where you have a description of some of the elements of the marriage ceremony and some of the rituals surrounding that at the time.

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    That's almost completely missing from the rest of scripture. There are many people who are married in scripture rather than sisters, but God puts emphasis and importance on it, of course. But we know little about the process. But, and this is amazing to me, where we do have insights into the marriage process, almost every single instance of that has to do with Christ and the occasion.

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    Song of Solomon gives us some. Psalm 45. Where else? Where else do we get a little bit of insight into some parts or aspects of the marriage ceremony or events around it?

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    You know? Revelation 19. The marriage supper of the Lamb. I want to show you something about the sisters that brings this psalm a little bit to light. I want you to come to verse 14.

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    Look what it says in verse 14. She shall be brought to the king in robes of many colors. This is his bride. Us. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you. Now look at verse 15. With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought. They shall enter the king's palace.

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    Now the reason why the virgins, her companions, have gladness and rejoicing is because they're basically rejoicing around the fact that this marriage is happening between this king and his bride. And they have gladness and rejoicing surrounding that exciting ceremony in marriage. And it's kind of like their own blessing on it with their gladness and rejoicing.

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    Now we find that also in Song of Solomon chapter 1, verse 4. Come to Song of Solomon chapter 1. This is a blessing or a benediction on the marriage ceremony itself. The gladness and rejoicing of others who are there to witness it.

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    Notice that this shows up in Song of Solomon chapter 1. This is coming from the daughters of Jerusalem. Verse 4. Now the start of verse 4 is probably the end of her words, the Shulamite, from verses 2 to 3. Draw me away. Then it says, we will run after you. That's the daughters of Jerusalem speaking.

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    And then the Shulamite says, the king has brought me into his chambers. That's actually exactly the picture you find in Psalm 45. And then the daughters of Jerusalem say, we will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine. You see that same idea in Psalm 45 verse 15?

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    The gladness and rejoicing, the benediction and the blessing of those who are around and watching this marriage ceremony, they bless it. Now we only find that in Psalm 45 and Song of Solomon chapter 1. But we also find it in Revelation 19. Come to Revelation 19.

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    Gladness and rejoicing. Look at Revelation 19. verse 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. And here it is. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.

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    Now brothers and sisters, that ties together Song of Solomon, Psalm 45 and the marriage of the Lamb in Revelation 19. And that's an extraordinary thing. That those are the, some of the only really accounts in scripture that we have of any of the details of the marriage ceremony. And they're all Christ and the Ecclesia.

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    That's the focus of the whole scriptures. Marriage now, as kind of harsh as it seems sometimes, but we have to get this right, marriage now is just a shadow, a temporary shadow of what God had planned from the foundation of the world. Christ, us, and Christ, Christ in the Ecclesia. And that's an amazing thing.

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    And I think one of the things that we want to kind of keep with us day by day is that we are waiting for our husband to come. And that marriage is going to be amazing. It's going to be full of gladness and rejoicing. and to use that as an exhortation for ourselves to stay faithful to our bridegroom who is coming.

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    To have fidelity in our life. Because we collectively and individually are going to be joined with him as his bride. Look what it says about that bride. Us. This is us, brothers and sisters, in verse 10. Listen, O daughter, Psalm 45, consider and incline your ear. Forget your own people also and your father's house.

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    And look what it says. So the king will greatly desire your beauty. Really? That's Christ. We well and truly know that that's the son of God. That's Christ. That's the bridegroom. And it says that he is going to greatly desire our beauty. That's a beautiful thing to think about, brothers and sisters. And we come here on a Sunday morning thinking that, no, we don't have beauty of ourself.

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    And there's truth in that. Nor did Israel in Ezekiel 16. But it was the beauty that God had bestowed on them by his love and care and compassion and washing of them. And so with us this morning. The washing away of our sins is a real thing. Not just temporary. the beauty that we have is truly not our own.

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    But he's going to look at us and desire that beauty of faithfulness and the washing of our sins that have made us clean. And I think that's an extraordinary thing to think about as a brotherhood, brothers and sisters. And this morning that Christ desires the beauty that he sees in us, the reflection of his own purity.

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    And it says, look at, this relates to our Sunday school this morning. Because he is your Lord, worship him. That's an instruction to us. He is our Lord and we worship him. And we will do. Because he is the great bridegroom of all the earth. What a beautiful thing. You know, when Paul in Ephesians chapter 5 is talking about husbands and wives, he says, doesn't he, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ in the ecclesia.

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    just as Song of Solomon is doing. Just as Psalm 45 is doing as well. And also, Revelation 19. There's so many great things said about the king in Psalm 45 and we don't have time to look at them all in detail. But it's worth personal contemplation and meditation, brothers and sisters, looking at this.

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    Look, there's some extraordinary elements that's described about him. Look at the change in verse 3. We've previously looked at his fairness and the grace upon his lips and we know that or we would assume that it's not because Jesus physically looked better than most people, but the fairness there is clearly because of his righteousness and his purity and his separateness from sinners.

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    That's why he's fairer than the sons of men. But look what it says in verse 3. 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 we think, whoa, why are these qualities being brought up in a description about the marriage between the king and his wife, the bride and the bridegroom?

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    What does war have to do with love? Well, the same question is there in Revelation 19, isn't it? That's right in the context of war. But this war, brothers and sisters, is a holy war against sin and the destruction of all of that. And that is one of the things that we absolutely love about the Lord Jesus Christ.

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    That not only did he overcome that sin in his life, leaving us an amazing example now, but he will come again and he will absolutely remove sin and all of the corruption from the earth. And that's got to be part of our love for the Messiah. It was for the people of God for every century.

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    They're looking forward to that great day when our bridegroom will come and we'll be with him, married to him, to rid the world of sin and death, sorrow, and all of those things. And so we love that element about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is a mighty warrior fighting against sin. And so if we want to be married to him, doesn't it fit, brothers and sisters, that if we're to be, in a sense, one flesh with him, how can we have a different perspective and a different outlook on sin and corruption and evil in the world?

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    And that's something that as we take the bread and the wine, let that penetrate into us to examine ourselves that if we are married to this one, then what do we have to do with him by the way we live if we want to collectively be his bride when he comes as we wait for him now?

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    That's a beautiful thing. Do you know, there's other extraordinary things that are said about this king, that he's different and better than everyone else. He's been awarded by God above his fellows. And these are other little pictures that we also see in the Song of Solomon, that he is better than everyone else.

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    I want you to come back to Song of Solomon chapter 2. Just as a little example of this. I don't know if you've looked at this bit before and I know that Song of Solomon is of course challenging with all the metaphors and how to sort of understand it, but here's one that we can sort of look at.

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    Look what it says in Song of Solomon chapter 2. It's in exactly the same line as Psalm 45. It's saying that he is better than everyone. Song 2, verse 1. The Shulamite is saying, I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. You might think, oh, like if that's the Ecclesia, why would you say you're the lily of the valleys?

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    That's kind of bold? Like you might think lily of the valleys that that's really beautiful and like you're amazing. But no. In context, the lily of the valleys are really, really common. So the Shulamite here is saying like, I'm, you know, one of these common flowers that you might see. They're beautiful, but they're just common.

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    The beloved says, like a lily among thorns, that's who you are. Whoa. Do you see what's happening about this? is that we have to really engage and sort of spend time to think about the love that Christ has for us. He certainly does. And as warped and twisted as all of us are in our own human nature, we bring here on Sunday morning, let's be really encouraged by the fact that Christ loves us, his bride, and he sees beauty in us.

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    And where we may think we come in, we're like, we're just a lily of the valleys. No. Christ says, yeah, but you're amongst thorns. That's how I see you. I love you. So is my love among the daughters. Now, the Shunwite says in verse 3, like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons.

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    Now, remember Psalm 45, you are fairer than the sons of men. This is exactly the same thing. But an apple tree? Right? Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. Well, it just so happens when the sisters, and I didn't know this before. But when she says that, and she talks about the apple tree, she's referring to something that's actually very uncommon in Israel.

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    The apple trees were not native to Israel. And what she's saying is that you're unusual, and you're a nice surprise. You're a brilliant thing that I wouldn't have expected. They're not native to Palestine. They had to be imported and cultivated if people used them, and they did. But to find a cultivated apple tree among other native trees would be unusual and exciting, and it would stand out as something, as a wonderful surprise.

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    And that's what she's saying. And we're told that so many times about Christ. Never man spake like this man. John 7. Hebrews chapter 7 says he was holy, innocent, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and he's become higher than the heavens. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, who we love, and who we follow, and who we wait for to come.

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    Do you know, of all of these descriptions, brothers and sisters, we sort of think, well, that's the Old Testament. It's looking forward to Christ. But let's be really clear, and just because this is a bit of a study as well as an exhortation, I want to share this with you so we can appreciate this element of Psalm 45.

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    This is not something that's kind of left in the past. This same passion for this Messiah and all these qualities that you see in Psalm 45 is exactly relevant to us today. We should be able to say exactly the same words ourselves about Jesus Christ because Revelation 19 extensively uses Psalm 45 to paint the picture of what it's going to be like when Christ returns.

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    Now, we won't go through these all, but I do have another handout with all of the links that I could find between Psalm 45 and Revelation 19, and it's mind-boggling, but it makes so much sense because it's the same idea. There's a marriage there. There's us and Christ, and there's a warrior who's overcoming the corruption in the world.

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    So, just quickly, let's just have a look at a couple to be impressed with this as we remember him this morning. And this is part of our understanding of him, the picture that's painted in Revelation 19, who we love. So, a hand in Psalm 45 and a hand in Revelation 19 will just give a little taste of where this vision is going.

95. 36:32

    First of all, you remember that Psalm 45 says, gird your sword upon your thigh. And that's exactly what we find in Revelation 19. This king is associated with a very sharp sword. Verse 15, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. Verse 21, and the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded out of his mouth.

96. 37:03

    The king in Psalm 45 is strongly associated with glory and same in Revelation 19. Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. And in verse 7 of Revelation 19, give him glory. That's what God did in Psalm 45 to his Messiah, to his king that he would send.

97. 37:29

    Did you notice that it says in verse 4 of Psalm 45, in your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness. Well, look at Revelation 19 verse 11. He was on a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true. Psalm 45. And in righteousness, Psalm 45, he judges and makes war.

98. 37:56

    Verse 2, for true and righteous are his judgments. And verse 19, against him who sat upon the horse and his army. You see what's happening in Revelation 19? This is future brothers and sisters. This is our Messiah who we're waiting for and we can't wait to be with and he will be riding on a white horse in truth and righteousness and we will be with him as his bride.

99. 38:21

    You know, it begs the question, doesn't it? If we are looking forward to this Messiah brothers and sisters, then how much are we aligned with him in our life? If we want to be one with him and we claim to be so now, well, this is who he is. This is part of who he is and what he stands for.

100. 38:42

     And we need to let the vision of Psalm 45 and Revelation 19 speak to us and encourage us as we reflect. If we want to be with him, we need to be like him. He loved righteousness and hated iniquity. There's a throne in Revelation 19 and so is there in Psalm 45. There's an emphasis on forever and ever in Psalm 45 and also Revelation 19.

101. 39:09

     We understand that he hates wickedness in Psalm 45 and that's why he judged the great harlot who corrupted the whole earth in Revelation 19. It is the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. That's the hatred of wickedness. Because he is your Lord, worship him. Well, they worshiped God who sat on the throne and they're told to worship God in verse 10.

102. 39:31

     The same thing. We're told of the bride in Psalm 45 that her clothing is woven with gold. Gold is tried faith, brothers and sisters. And she shall be brought to the king in robes of many colors. When we come to Revelation 19, verse 7 and 8, we're told that his wife has made herself ready and she was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright.

103. 39:57

     And the armies in heaven are clothed in fine linen and white and clean in verse 14. There's the gladness and the rejoicing that we looked at. And there's praise that waits for this king both in Psalm 45 and Revelation 19. So, brothers and sisters, there's a picture of our Messiah that we're waiting for.

104. 40:16

     That's the picture of our king. I think we need to be encouraged this morning that we're waiting for one who loves us and wants to be with us. And we too need to have a love for the Lord Jesus Christ and we find that hard in this day and age. When we feel so remote from Christ in some aspects because he's not with us.

105. 40:34

     But clearly, neither was the psalmist in Psalm 45. But he had a love for everything that this Messiah stood for. And so do we, brothers and sisters. We have no life without you. So, the call to us is to make ourselves ready. He's soon to come. There's an individual application just as the ten virgins tell us, but also a collective one as an ecclesia and as a brotherhood.

106. 41:02

     We together are one bride of Christ. And we need to see ourselves together making preparations together, collectively helping each other to be that bride arrayed in fine gold waiting for his return. And I think what Christ will find when he returns in his bride is those who collectively are holding fast to the truth.

107. 41:27

     Those who have the same qualities that he does. Those who are developing faith, the clothing of woven gold material. Those who are building each other up as part of the bride. Seeing each other is this way. And it's an amazing thing to think about for the sisters to realize this morning in this context of a marriage between the king and his bride that each one of us here this morning are part of that.

108. 41:55

     And we need to see when we come together as each other being part of that. Not individuals or separateness. And maybe that would change the way we treat each other. If we all see each other as part of this bride and we all want to be there together and are all helping each other to be part of this bride to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.

109. 42:12

     not just individual brothers and sisters, no. We're collectively the bride of Christ. Let's see each other that way and help each other as if we believe and truly live in that sense. So brothers and sisters, just come back to Psalm 45. here is a divinely written picture of our king. Brothers and sisters, let's be encouraged by this.

110. 42:53

     That the day is soon to come when this Messiah that is here will come and redeem us as his bride because as we're told in verse 11, the king will greatly desire our beauty and brothers and sisters, because he is our Lord, we worship him. Thank you.