Lord, You have offered as a command in Your Scriptures. You command us to delight ourselves in You. And so we ask that as Jesus is lifted up, that You would cause Your saints to delight in Him. Father, we do pray that Your Spirit would communicate Your love and Your glory and Your power, Your might and sovereignty your tender love and care, your sacrifice, and the death and resurrection of your Son to us, that you would, as we sang, fill this temple with your glory. Fill us with your Spirit. Our desire is to commune with you and live with you, live before you, and to be conformed and transformed into the image of your Son through your preached Word. Cause us now, Lord, to be filled with joy as we hear Your words. Cause us to cherish them in our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. Would you please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 110. As you turn there, as I was meditating on this psalm, I thought of a historical event. In the 1970s, the king of Iran, fled his country. Now some of you might know that in the 1970s the nation of Iran would have been hardly recognizable to modern eyes. The king at that time prided himself in progressiveness. He prided himself in being progressive. He prided himself in being a forward-thinking monarch who was concerned with the advancement of women's rights and education, the flowering of the arts. His rule brought joy to secularists, religious minorities, and the middle class. There was one problem, and that was corruption. The king was unbelievably corrupt in his nearly 40-year reign. And so a revolution took place, bringing that reign to an end. And that reigning king became a king in exile. And as he went into exile, countless Iranians became exiles as well. They despaired at what their country had become. It was mired in Islamic fundamentalism. And they despaired at the powerlessness of their exiled king. There were hopes of a return sometime in the future. All of this stuff was pretty fresh in 1979. But these hopes were temporarily dashed when the king died in Egypt. I wonder if we think about the Lord Jesus Christ along similar lines. Certainly we wouldn't admit as much. Maybe we feel this in our hearts. He's exiled, he's away, he's left his people to struggle on earth with God's enemies and even their own sins. He himself is raised but distant. exalted, removed from our circumstances, our troubles, and our lives. Does the reign of Christ as our priest-king factor in our thoughts in the slightest? To us, he might become another king in exile. Well, friends, Jesus Christ isn't a king in exile. He isn't sent to some faraway land, leaving the earth to its enemies, only to hopefully return at some later date. Jesus is already a reigning priest-king, seated at the right hand of the Father. And yet He will come in fullness to gather the people of His rule and conquer His enemies with His mighty power. He rules, even now, in the midst of His enemies. Our priest-king conquers many of their hearts, even now, through the sword of His Word. And yet, in the future, He will defeat all His enemies and bring His willing, obedient people to Himself to behold His glory. So, brothers and sisters, what do we want to accomplish or know of this God through this Scripture this Sunday morning? Well, I hope you will, firstly, delight in this priest-king, offer yourselves to his service as his soldiers with greater abandon, and rest in his supreme, sovereign reign over his creation even now. And just as a side note, reading this, I was just taken aback at these views of Christ as priest-king. I almost wanted to bypass application and just look, stare at Christ in this office. But we'll go through some applications together. Let's look at the text together now. Psalm 110, beginning in verse one. Psalm 110, a psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power and holy garments. From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind. You were a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of His wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, He will lift up His head. Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus, our priest-king, reigns. Delight yourselves in Him. Offer yourselves to Him afresh. Rest in His supreme sovereignty. Looking at the text, we're going to get four views of this priest-king. Let's look at Psalm 110 in four parts. First, as our enthroned priest-king. Second, as our ruling priest-king. And I'll give you the verses too. First, as our enthroned priest-king, verse 1. Second, as our ruling priest-king, verses 2 and 3. Third, as our eternal high priest-king, verse 4. And fourth, as our conquering priest-king, verses 5 to 7. But first, a look at the text at large, just briefly, orienting ourselves around these seven verses. A couple of things to notice about the text. First is the superscription, a psalm of David. And by the way, these are inspired. This isn't an addition that the ESV editors kind of put in there or an artistic sort of flourish. David wrote this psalm. David through a spirit-breathed prophetic vision is reporting two conversations between Yahweh and Adonai in verses 1 and verses 4. So you have two conversations between the LORD all in caps and the LORD with a capital L and then lowercase letters, two conversations between them in verse 1 where the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand. And at verse 4, where he swears that this Adonai, this Lord, would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And following each of these conversations, we're given David's praise-laden commentary on each of these conversations. So verses 2 and 3 and verses 5 and 7 are David's commentary on the conversation taking place between this Adonai and this Yahweh. That's the orientation around the text. Maybe one more thing, two characters besides the Lord and Adonai, the Lord's soldiers, those who offer themselves freely to him, and the chiefs, and those kings that are the object of God's wrath. Okay, we've oriented ourselves around the text. Let's begin at our first point, beginning in first one, our enthroned priest-king. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. In verse 1, David is made privy to a throne room conversation between the Lord, Yahweh, and His Lord, Adonai. He tells Him to sit by Him. It's clear for us if we're Familiar with the Bible, who the Lord all in caps is, that's Yahweh. But who is this second Lord? The Lord is speaking to another Lord, telling him to sit by him. Well, Jesus asked the Pharisees that very question in the Gospels. He asked them, what do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he? Answer him, David's son. But Jesus points them to the dilemma found right here. How can this be David's son, David's Lord? They couldn't answer him because David's descendant would be his Lord, the son of David, who would be the Lord over him and the God over him. The Lord said, to my Lord. And thus, we don't just have Jesus's authority concerning who this is. For there is to be a future king who comes after David, who will also be his Lord, can only mean one thing. This Lord, this Adonai must be Jesus Christ, one truly God and truly man, the creator of David and his son, his ruler and his descendant. So David sees God the Father calling for Jesus to come sit at his right hand. And in the ESV it says, he says, says to our Lord. The Hebrew isn't just like says, it's not just something low like that as our translations have it, but it's an oracle, oracle. It's a weighty, solemn oracle from God the Father to God the Son, come sit at my right hand. Now as you're orienting yourself around this text, you may be wondering, where does this take place? When is God the Father telling His Son to sit at His right hand? And again, we have the word of the New and Old Testament itself. Jesus Himself takes this text and mixes it with another text and testifying about Himself. This text is what the Lord Jesus Christ experiences at His ascension and arrival to heaven. This is narrated in Daniel 7 verses 9 and then 13 and 14. Listen as I read from Daniel chapter 7 verse 9 and 13 and 14. Daniel sees this vision, and this is what he sees. As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. So God the Father takes His seat on a throne. And then verse 13 and 14, I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, remember Jesus ascending with the clouds of heaven, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed." So brothers and sisters, that's what you're seeing here. Jesus is raised triumphantly from the grave and then ascended into heaven, brought before His throne next to the Father, and taking a seat of sovereign power and lordship next to Him. The author of Hebrews puts it, Jesus Christ is sacrificed for our sins and then He sits down. Last phrase you might be wondering about is the phrase, at God's right hand. Does God have a hand? I thought He was immaterial and spirit. Well, that's just figurative language for the Lord Jesus is sitting in a place of absolute power and sovereignty, being co-equal with God and reigning with Him in power. Think of the song sung by the Israelites as they left Egypt in Exodus 15, 6, when they praised God, saying, your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. So here Jesus is, taking a seat at the Father's right hand until God makes His enemies His footstool. You know, kings rest their feet on a footstool. What we should be thinking of is when Joshua defeated the five Amorite kings in Joshua 10 and commanded the chiefs of Israel to put their feet on the necks of these kings. And here is one, brothers and sisters, greater than these chiefs, who will finally and fully bring all his enemies beneath his feet, all those who oppose his rule. So friends, Jesus is actually enthroned, actually seated at God's right hand, till all his enemies are brought victoriously under his feet. A few things to note about this verse. First, friends, what you're seeing here is an Old Testament instance of a revelation of the Trinity, the triune God. Here you have God the Father speaking to God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who 1 Corinthians 2 tells us, searches the deep things of God and reveals them to us. is revealing this to David. The Spirit of God breathes this revelation out, testifying of these two persons conversing with one another. Brothers and sisters, praise God for the many instances of revelation of three persons bearing the divine nature throughout the Old Testament. This isn't the only one. You could point to many passages where the angel of the Lord bears the divine name, and even the Spirit So brothers and sisters, as this is a psalm, a song sung by David, we ought to ask ourselves, are we relating in our fellowship with God as a trinity of persons, three divine persons sharing one divine essence? Or is God just, you know, God? He's a blob or he's just this name that we call out to without any consideration of three divine persons sharing one name. Oh friends, imitate David in fellowshipping and becoming aware of this one God who exists as three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. See God the Father, relate to God the Son in this text. See God the Holy Spirit searching the deep things of God and revealing them to you. Relate with them. Fellowship with each of these persons. Secondly, to the young people in the congregation. Maybe you yourself are unbaptized, you've not made a profession of faith. Notice David in this text doesn't say, the Lord says to the Lord. He says to my Lord. He's saying that right there, that Adonai seated at the right hand of God, that's my Lord, that's my master, that's my sovereign. Maybe mom and dad have said that. Your friends might have said that. Church members around you might have said that. But can you yourself say that? And not just with the lips, but with the heart. Can you say like Thomas when he saw the risen Jesus, my Lord and my God? As it is in the Greek, the Lord of me and the God of me. Are you grabbing a hold of him, cherishing him as your Lord in your heart even now? Young person, we'll find out later in this text what the destiny of those who don't bow the knee now is. But today is the day of salvation. Bow the knee of your heart this morning to this enthroned priest-king. So friends, verse 1, the Son of God, by an oracle of his Father, is seated at his right hand. The priest-king is enthroned. What about his rule? Our second point, beginning in verse 2, verse 2 to 3, is our ruling priest-king. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments. Brothers and sisters, in verse 2, gone is the reed put in Jesus' right hand by the mocking Roman soldiers. The reed is taken. God the Father gives Jesus' Son a mighty scepter to rule with. And so much for being a king in exile, David makes clear in this commentary in a shout of praise in verse two, rule in the midst of your enemies. That's part of God's very design for Jesus to rule in the midst of hostility. There's something called an already not yet dimension to the kingship of Christ. He's already enthroned king, he rules in the midst of his enemies, and yet in the future he will come and bear judgment and rule on the earth himself. Now notice that word rule. The first Adam failed to obey God's commandment of rule over creation in Genesis 1, 26 to 28. But Jesus, the second Adam, will truly rule in the midst of his enemies. But where does Jesus rule? Verse two tells us the scepter extends out of Zion. When we see that, when we see Zion in the Psalms and in the Old Testament, we should think for us the church. the assembly of the firstborn, the meeting place of the people of God. Hebrews 12 makes that clear. It's a version on a separate kind of sermon, on a separate text. It says of Zion, which is very helpful, Now, if Zion is ever a type of the Church of the Living God, and everywhere the Church of God is singular and for that reason noticeable, it is a power altogether unlike all other powers, a kingdom quite different from the kingdoms of the earth. It uses not the force of arms. It has no defense except the indwelling deity. It knows nothing of the pomp of earthly splendor. It exists for God's glory and for no other purpose. So friends, the gathering of the saints, the assembly of the regenerate is where the ascended enthroned priest king extends his scepter of rule. Okay, so much for the place of his rule. What about his subjects? We see in verse three, his people are a people who spontaneously obey and offer themselves up to the Lord. Notice in verse 3, the priest king has a people who will offer themselves freely. And that word in the Hebrew, offer freely, is the same word used throughout the Old Testament for the free will offerings the Israelites, the God's people, would have brought to him. So in other words, friends, you, if you're part of that people of God, you're a Romans 12.1 people. You present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. We see further that they're wearing something. They're wearing holy garments, priestly garments. Those following the priest king are like arrayed in holy, priestly garments. We see in verse 3, further on, one of the most strange and esoteric phrases in the Bible. Commentators, they just struggle to find out what this means. There are some ideas. We have that poetic phrase, from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. What does that mean? Again, a number of thoughts on that. I think probably this is a poetic expression that speaks about the new fresh vigor and power given to the enthroned priest king. in His dominion. This King, seated at the right hand of God, is given an unlimited supply of strength and power to exercise in His rule. It's a new day. Jesus has now risen, is now seated, and is clothed with power to exercise in His rule. As one commentator notes, helpfully, this youthful vigor will be continually refreshed as by morning dew. It's inexhaustible. The power of Jesus Christ, seated at the right hand of God, knows no end, is fresh. So to summarize this point, King with fresh power and ever-renewing strength, ruling from Zion, is given a host of priest-warriors at his disposal, spontaneously willing, offering themselves freely for his cause. So just a couple of things to note here. Firstly, Grace Covenant members, if you speak to a non-Christian about the Kingdom, and about Jesus's rule. And they wonder to you, okay, what does that look like? How does Jesus rule? Where does he rule? Best thing you can do to that friend is to bring them to church. The world sees Jesus's purity when they see and behold, for instance, church discipline at play. They'll see his saving power and holy people when regenerate church membership is practiced. Non-believers behold His loveliness and glory and the right preaching of the Word. And in Zion's members, unable to contain their affection for their Master in deliberate fellowship with one another, speaking about the sermon, speaking about their Bible reading, speaking about what the Lord has done in their lives throughout the week. Friends, the church is where Jesus' saving scepter touches unregenerate hearts and saves. So brothers and sisters, as a free will offering, freely offer yourself to these things. Be a free will offering in this way. Get after the one another in commands. Show up to prayer meeting. As spiritual priests, offer up petitions to God. Realize the weight behind membership meetings. We're doing kingdom work under the rulership of our king, and he rules in Zion. Secondly, we the priest king's people are devoted to offering ourselves up even as our own priest king offered himself up for us. We're a spiritual priesthood who the text says are to be devoted in presenting our bodies, presenting ourselves, not under compulsion, not as hired servants, but presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice freely and willingly before God. We are, as Titus 2.14 tells us, those whom the Lord Jesus gave Himself up for, so that He might, what? Purify a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works. A Christian friend, related to the first point, be busied with the work of daily offering yourself up to Christ. The priest king has lovingly conquered your sinful heart. He's freed it from its sin. He's recreated it. What he's done with your heart is he's taken a heart that's been obstinate and opposed to him. He's opened your eyes to his loveliness so that you could not bear or even imagine rejecting him. And He's recreated, He's put a new heart in you, filled with the love of God. Filled, not being a debtor to sin, but a debtor to righteousness. Not being inclined to wickedness, but inclined to obedience and His commandments. Since He's put a principle of holiness in you, to love the things He loves, hate the things He hates. Since He's put the Word of His Gospel in your mouth, He's made you a Christian soldier to be busied in the work of holiness in His kingdom. So, as one hymn puts it, onward, Christian soldier. Be what you are. If He's written His law in your heart and given you a heart of flesh, recreated with His desires, run in them. See a Savior who laid down His life of His own accord for you and loved you freely and offer your life afresh to Him. Take it as a priestly duty. You're spiritual priests. Imitate your Savior's offering by offering yourself wholly to the Lord every day. Brothers and sisters, Romans 7. is so much of our existence. The things that I would not want to do, I do. And that which I would do, I do not do. But what defines you as a Christian is this principle habit of holiness that makes you freely offering yourself to the Lord's service. What defines you as a Christian is your refusal to stay down. So maybe you yourself are finding yourself here in a lengthened state of spiritual deadness and dryness. You're in a state of backsliddenness and prayerlessness. You're not watching over the things that you're consuming in media or music. The times of joyful prayer and times in the Word of God where you overcome with revelations of Christ's goodness and we're being taught daily by the Word of God are far before you. The call of this text, as a soldier of Christ, is to get back up. Be as willing, as you were in your conversion, as you are in the day of His power right now. Friends, just to bring it home, what better time to repent, renew, and refresh our commitments than at the Lord's Supper? with those emblems in front of you of Jesus' body given for you, His blood shed for you, offered for you. I challenge you to look at those emblems of our King. Offer yourself afresh. Confess the sins of backsliddenness and lukewarmness to Him and commit your priestly duty in offering yourself to Him again. We're teasing the next point here. The one who gives priestly garments to His people is, thirdly, our eternal High Priest-King. That's found in verse 4. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So David's brought into a second conversation between God the Father and His Son, and this time He's privy to an unchangeable oath, that oath that we've just read. We're given a further revelation of this enthroned king. It's not just a king. This enthroned Christ is a priest as well as a king. The observant Jew, those who had the Old Testament and cherished it, would have waited for one who would combine both the offices of king and priest in his one person. How that would have happened would have been a mystery, but he would have read texts like this one, Zechariah 6, 13, the second part. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. So God swears that Jesus is to be a priest, not only a king, but a priest. And notice that God swears that Jesus will be made a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Another mystifying, maybe, passage. What does that mean? Who is Melchizedek, first of all? I mean, I heard about him in Hebrews 7 just now, but who is he? And what does it mean for Jesus to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek? Conversely, Melchizedek is a human figure who appears, he just kind of appears out of nowhere in Genesis 14, to Abraham, blesses him, it's clear that he's a priest-king, and then he just kind of disappears. We don't see him again. There's no record of his origin and no record of his death. He comes on the scene, he blesses Abraham, and then he leaves. What does it mean for Jesus to be after the order of Melchizedek. What does it mean that God himself appointed Jesus, the enthroned king, to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek? A few things. Firstly, that Jesus, like Melchizedek, would have both the offices of priest and king combined in his person, something not seen before. Secondly, Melchizedek, which in itself means the king of righteousness, And Melchizedek of Salem, the king of peace, Melchizedek was a king of righteousness and a king of peace. Brothers and sisters, in Jesus Christ, if you've read in the Bible that righteousness and peace kiss, they meet. Well, friends, the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace, these two attributes kiss and meet in Jesus Christ, who is a King of Righteousness and makes peace for us by His blood, as we'll see later. Thirdly, Melchizedek, like Christ, was a priest from a separate line than that of the Levites. God had ordained that the priests come from the Levitical line, and Christ is not of the Levitical line. He's from the line of Judah. Melchizedek, like Christ, or rather Christ like Melchizedek, is a priest from a separate line than that of the Levites. And lastly, Melchizedek has no recorded origin. So we have genealogies galore in the Old Testament. I'm sure they're your favorite part. Just genealogy after genealogy, there's no recorded origin of Melchizedek. And there's no recorded death. He appears on the scene suddenly, and then he leaves suddenly. Friends, this ought to point your mind to the fact that God would ordain a priest who would have a pre-existence, live eternally before the worlds began, and an immortality. He would never die. Jesus has no beginning and will have no end. So here's what God does, as we heard in our scripture reading from Hebrews 7. God takes away a weak priesthood from the Levites, which He could never save, and He institutes a new priesthood that will never end, and the priesthood of Jesus Christ. We heard that those previous priests, sinners that they were, had to keep offering sacrifices for their own sins on top of the people. But in this new priesthood, Jesus himself is the spotless, sinless sacrifice. He is the priest who offers himself as the sacrifice. So in other words, it's not Jesus just kind of offering separate sacrifices for people. He offers himself. He's both the priest and the sacrifice. Then he doesn't just offer himself, he's declared by God to be a priest forever. After offering himself, he goes with his blood, with this resurrected body, into heaven. And by virtue of his indestructible, immortal life, he continues to be a priest forever. As Hebrews 7.25 tells us, he's able to save us because he lives forever. Brother, sister, you have an immortal high priest who goes into the holy place, who has suffered on earth for your sake and offered his own body for you. Instead of instituting a way for different priests to be elected till they die to represent you before himself, God made a new oath. God swore a new and better thing concerning you. The One who bore your sins in His body now, the One who bore the temptations and sufferings that you bear in your body due to sin, now lives forever not only as your King, He lives forever as your Priest. He ever lives to present Himself, to intercede on your behalf to God the Father. Maybe we hear more about King Jesus than we do about the priesthood of Jesus. It's a question to bring home to you, brothers and sisters, members of Grace Covenant Church. Do you yourself fellowship and commune with Jesus Christ? Do you receive the benefits from the office of Jesus Christ as our heavenly high priest? Paul couldn't even separate the two, it seems. In Romans 8.34, it's like he summarizes Psalm 110, verse 1, and mixes it with verse 4. Romans 8.34, this is what Paul cries out. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God. That's Psalm 110.1. But then he sees Jesus exalted at the right hand of God, seated there, and his mind immediately goes to who indeed is interceding for us. Brothers and sisters, His exaltation at God's right hand as King means His intercession for me and for you as priest. Notice how the priesthood of Christ makes all of His exaltation, all of His righteous, sovereign power for you and for your good. His exaltation is good. His rule is good because of this priesthood of Christ. God sworn that His Christ would be a priest forever for us. So how do we take hold of the priesthood of Christ and commune with Him in it practically? A priest does probably four things. Three of those things are unique to the priesthood. Let's go through these three things and delight in Him through these. First, delight in the sacrifice of this high priest. Take as your delight one who was appointed not to offer animal sacrifices for you. Instead, he lived in perfect purity in your place and offered up his own body and blood as your sacrifice. He lived to give himself up in sacrifice. Secondly, delight in the intercession of this high priest. Delight in one who through His constant, ever-living intercession purifies your stumbling obedience and presents it as perfect before God. In your sin, in your wandering, dear Christian, as you wander and stumble and sin, He never ceases to present His perfect sacrifice before God on your behalf and never stops in praying for your faith not to fail. Remember, He prophesied Jesus as He was on earth that Peter would deny Him. Satan seeks to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." Friends, Jesus never stops praying for you as this high priest in the order of Melchizedek, in your sin, in your wandering. He ever lives to do this. You have one greater than all previous intercessors and mediators. Moses was an intercessor. There's countless intercessory figures in the Old Testament. They all wither away at Christ's never-ending intercession for His people. And thirdly, delight in the blessing of this high priest. Jesus, as the high priest of old, blesses you with peace as the king of Salem, the king of peace. We are given access, as Paul says in Ephesians 1, to every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. And he turns everything that would be a terror, including his righteous reign, to be a blessing to us. Exaltation at God's right hand. He intercedes for us there. His return and judgment. He comes to gather us into his presence. All that God is passes to us through this high priest and redounds to us in unspeakable blessing. Brothers and sisters, the king is your priest. Like Melchizedek, the king of righteousness and the king of peace. Righteousness and peace meet in him. He comes in his kingship to serve and to offer himself up for sinners. What about those who will not take part in his sacrifice? And that's where we come to our verses five to seven. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of His wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, He will lift up His head. The stone, as Jesus said, that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." From verses 5 to 7, we see clearly that this priest king is out to conquer. He was at the right hand of God, as we saw in verse 1 of Psalm 110, but now God is at His right hand. The Lord, Yahweh, is at His right hand. And he busies himself with the business of shattering the rulers of this world who would oppose him on the day of his wrath, the day of his coming. And here we have imagery that might be unsettling to you of corpses in the road, shattering of kings, all this kind of violent imagery. Well, this is just a further, first of all, revelation of the seed of the woman in Genesis 3, Jesus Christ conquering the seed of the serpent. Back to that dew imagery, remember what I'd mentioned in verse 3, the youthfulness, the power, the vigor of this king seeded. We see it again in verse 7, Jesus won't grow tired of doing this. At the end of this judgment, he will drink, verse 7, from the brook in the way. The king isn't wearied. He refreshes himself and he lifts up his head in victory. Brother, sister, the priest king will return. He will gather you to himself in the air and he will execute judgment on the earth. He will drink from the brook and he will lift up his head victoriously. and maybe talk of corpses filling the earth that disturbs you. How does this chapter, it seems like almost schizophrenic, how does it go from a merciful high priest to graphic language of shattering and judgment and corpses? Maybe as a non-Christian this just strengthens your resolve. I don't want anything to do with the God of the Old Testament or the New. He's obsessed with violence and bloodshed. A few things to say about that. First, I have to say that this is a real consequence of opposing and of denying the Lord Jesus Christ in His reign. If you are not in Him, you are against Him. Your sins are stacking up against you. There's a record against you in heaven, and judgment will come to you. But secondly, more pertinently to the text, How does this conquering priest-king conquer now? There's a reason why verse 4 is there, and verse 4 is near verses 5, 6, and 7. You could cut this psalm in two. 110 verses 1 to 3, and then 110 verses 4 to 7. Friend, look at what we've addressed in verses 2 to 4. One day the prophet Zephaniah tells us, God will consecrate, He'll set apart disobedient sinners to be sacrificed. It's a very eerie, almost horrifying image. God will consecrate disobedient sinners to be sacrificed. But at this time, Jesus, our priest king, consecrated himself to be the sacrifice for sinners. Instead of shedding your blood Jesus sheds his own for sinners like you. One day this king will rule over the disobedient with a rod of iron, but now he seeks to rule over you as your sympathetic high priest. One who's been tempted in every way as you have been, one who sympathizes with your weaknesses and bore your very sins, you'll trust in him. such as the tender love of this priest king. Do you want to escape the coming judgment? Hellfire, the wrath of God being poured out upon you. The lion here, the lion of judgment is also a lamb slain. The reigning king as a priest, bears your sins if you'll trust in Him. And He'll make you a joyful soldier in His army. That's how this King reigns. He reigns now by stooping low, by getting on a cross, by redeeming sinners with His blood. So friend, if you're not in Christ, turn from those sins that will lead you to the destiny that these kings and chiefs, these heads of those, of the seed of the serpent opposing the seed of the woman. Repent of those sins. Look to the one who lived the perfect life for you as your priest, if you'll trust in him. Every way you've stumbled and wavered in the law, Jesus, your high priest, firmly holds up and obeys. And the death you deserve, he offers himself readily, willingly, not under compulsion, but gives himself up for you. And he takes that blood shed for your sins, and he travels on up into heaven in his ascension. And He stands there. He sits there and stands to intercede for you by His blood. Friends, if you yourself are not a Christian, you have questions about this, all of this is kind of confusing. How do I believe on Christ? How do I trust in Christ? Feel free to talk to any of the elders that you see up here, the people that might have brought you. We'd love to talk to you more about what it means to trust in Jesus Christ, what it means to come to Him savingly. So friends, This reigning king, whose rule is in the midst of the church, offers himself up as our sacrifice, as our high priest, and lives forever to intercede for us. In conclusion, we've been treated to four distinct views of our priest king. Rest in this sovereign king. Offer yourselves up to him in service afresh. Delight yourselves in his priesthood. Run to Him, if you're not in Him, for refuge. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You so much for the feast that You've given us of Christ. You give us many views of Your Son. We thank You for Your Son as reigning enthroned King who rules over us. We thank You, Lord, that as He is seated there, we will be seated with Him at God's right hand. Father, we thank You so much that He rules in our midst, in the Church. We thank You that His saving scepter is extended through the preaching of the Gospel, through our attention to the ordinances. Father, we thank You so much for instituting Your Son as a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. He offered Himself up for us. Lord, we thank You for His continual intercession for us. Listen to Your Son. Look to His blood. Look to His perfect obedience. Lord, we thank you that you will come again in power and in judgment. Your Son will do that. You will gather us to yourself. We ask that those who are apart from you, those who are in their sins, would turn from their sins and trust savingly in your Son. Pray this in Jesus' name.