Anchor Your Soul in His Majesty

0:00 Our sermon text this morning is Psalm 110. Psalm 110. I've been looking forward to Psalm 110 for a long time. It is a special psalm. You'll see why. It is the most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament.

0:26 Psalm 110. 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 in 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 are 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.

1:22 He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head. These are the words of our God. I know Psalm 110 sounds difficult maybe you've read it many times before maybe you're hearing it this morning for the first time in a long time whether you're familiar with it or not it's hard it's Hebrew poetry from 3,000 years ago it is a masterpiece but it is not easily accessible without some help. Just pick it up in 2026. Martin Luther said about Psalm 110, this beautiful Psalm is the very core and heart of the whole of scripture.

2:20 No other Psalm prophesies as abundantly and completely about Christ. It portrays the Lord and his entire kingdom of comfort for Christians. That's what I hope this morning. I do think it's understandable. I'll try to explain that in these next few moments. And that's my prayer, that you too, like Martin Luther, would find Psalm 110 to be full of comfort. One of the ways Psalm 110 is full of comfort is that it can provide assurance for Christians. Hebrews makes this point, Hebrews chapter 6, where he talks about Psalm 110 as an anchor for the soul. I wonder if your soul needs an anchor. Floating on the waves, here they come, there's a current taking you this way. Do you need an anchor?

3:22 Hebrews 6 says,

3:50 that and coming to Psalm 110 this week. I don't usually think about that first with Psalm 110, but I came across an article just this week called An Overlooked Argument for Christianity, Why the Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy Still Matters. And what stands at the very heart of that is Psalm 110. Part of that argument is the Jewish people had these great expectations over thousands of years, various, varied expectations of the Messiah, and a major stream is this coming king, the anointed king like David. And another major stream is the priesthood, the priest who offers sacrifices so that a sinful, unholy people can be in the presence of a holy God.

4:43 And in Psalm 110, for the first time in Bible history. The kingship and the priesthood come together. So Psalm 110 is right at these two rivers, these two great rivers coming together, and it's a powerful evidence for the truth of Christianity.

5:10 I've heard it said before. I don't know who said it. I've heard it said many times that you could sum up the New Testament as Psalm 110 came true. That's how profound Psalm 110 is, in that the New Testament is, in a sense, an expanded realization and narration of it. But more than apologetics and more than assurance, Luther said this is a great psalm full of comfort for Christians.

5:43 want to hope for this morning. I know for many of us, if not most of us in the room, it has not been a comfortable 2026 in every respect. Very uncomfortable at times. And part of that, at least, I think the bottom of it, what God's doing in that, is he would have us know his son better. He's doing a bunch of other things besides. But at the bottom, in all the discomfort, he wants us to know his son better. And so it's remarkable timing here. We get to the end of the summer, state fairs going on, talking back to school and getting ready for the fresh start of the fall. And here God gives us a gift of Psalm 110, a fresh vision of Jesus in his majesty. what God has for us, I believe, this morning as a church. At this juncture in our church life, a fresh vision of our Savior, Jesus, in his majesty. He wants us to see. This is the main point of Psalm 110. He wants us to see an infinitely great person. That's what Psalm 110 is about.

7:01 and it's one thing for me or anyone else to make the claim Jesus is infinitely great and then we just move on to the next thing. It's another thing to say he's infinitely great and we're gonna talk about it for the next half hour. Would you ponder with me the infinite greatness of our Lord? Let me give you details. Let's explain it. Let's ponder it. Let's celebrate it. Let's have a taste and some fresh glimpses and maybe even see some things we don't typically expect and think about when we think about the glory of Jesus. So that's our plan this morning. I have four sights, four looks at the majesty of Jesus for your comfort, City's Church, and of the Jesus who is seated right now. As we do this, he's seated right now at his Father's right hand, reigning over the nations.

8:07 Number one, City's Church. Your Lord has conquered and he is ruling. has conquered and he is ruling. psalm 110 has two stunning claims that it makes and it puts both of them in the mouth of god you can see the quote marks in your translation i'm sure verse one verse four

8:39 these are declarations not just from david who's writing the psalm these are declarations from god himself to Jesus, his son. So right out of the gate, verse 1, the Lord. Now that's Lord in all caps. You know, that means God's first covenant name, Yahweh, the Lord. Says, David, David says, he says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. what this is right out of the gate in verse 1 is an enthronement declaration now we don't know this well because we don't do a whole lot of coronations that's a good thing i don't want there to be any kingship coming back till jesus comes back and he's manifest king on the ground

9:30 praise god for democracy republican democracy now we're not familiar with these declarations of the throne. But what happens, when you have a king seated on the throne, there's the declaration, there's the words of right, the initiation. And here in Psalm 110, we have God himself making the declaration to the king as he sits on the throne to be crowned,

9:59 sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Which means not just that he's king's enemies. He's going to make the king's enemies serve the king's good. He's going to prop them up so that the king can put his feet up on the enemies and be served by them. But the surprise here, what makes this surprising in Psalm 110 is that David's writing the psalm. See that at the beginning, a psalm of David. And David is the king in Jerusalem. David has one Lord we would expect. God himself. The king's under God himself. So what is David doing when he mentions having another Lord? The Lord God says to my Lord. What does it mean when King David mentions another Lord?

10:56 That's just so strange about this psalm. We'll come back to that. The second strange thing is this move in verse 4. the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. Here we come, another declaration from God. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

11:25 what's so stunning about this is that in israel the kingship and the priesthood are strictly two different offices they don't come together they are expressly not to be joined kings like david are from the tribe of judah and priests like aaron moses brother are from the tribe of Levi, and you can't be both. And Psalm 110 is clearly from David, the king from the tribe of Judah, and he's addressing a future king. And then in verse 4, God says the imponderable, he says to the king, you are a priest.

12:20 which brings us to this strange figure, Melchizedek. Outside of Psalm 110, in the book of Hebrews, there is no other mention of Melchizedek but one. It's Genesis chapter 14. It's only three verses. He pops in, pops right out. He's gone. What's going on here? In Genesis chapter 14, there are four kings from the east, kings of little city states. They come together. They come in and make a raid in the land where Abraham is against five other kings. And they defeat him. And they take Abraham's nephew, Lot, with them. Abraham's not involved until that point. When Lot gets taken, he gets involved. So he gathers his trained men. and apparently Abraham's a really formidable guy in the ancient Near East because he chases down those four kings and he overtakes them and he defeats them with his guys.

13:24 And then they come back and they bring the spoils and when he comes back as a hero, there's this priest king from an area called Salem which will one day be Jerusalem Melchizedek and he comes out and he brings bread and wine to bless Abraham and thank him for going and making this raid and saving the area, bringing Lot back. And then Abraham gives a tithe, gives a tenth of his spoil to Melchizedek. And Melchizedek blesses him in the name of God most high. Abraham can get on board with that. He knows God most high. And then Melchizedek's gone for a thousand years.

14:12 And King David, a thousand years later, on the throne in Jerusalem, reads about Genesis 14, that there's a king priest that's possible. It's not possible under the terms of the Mosaic covenant. It's not possible under the first covenant, but it's possible. and David has this vision, these words, an oracle coming from God that there is a future son of David's who will be declared by God to be a priest. Now David has no delusions of grandeur. He's not going to pretend to do this. He's not going to dare do this. This is what Saul did. Saul booted. Saul tried to play priest alongside being king. Samuel said, no way. You can't do that. I'll get

15:05 Stick to the throne, priests stick to being priests. But David has received these amazing promises in 2 Samuel 7 that one of his descendants will be on the throne forever. under the terms of the first covenant, the priest king is strictly forbidden.

15:28 But in Psalm 110, David has a vision of a new day. This is a vision of a new covenant. When one of his sons will somehow be greater than him, and that son will not only be king, ruling over the people, but priest making atonement for the sins of the people, like this Melchizedek figure. And the New Testament book of Hebrews is largely an extended meditation on this striking declaration in verse 4. The big deal here about the king being a priest is not that he's compassionate. And it's not mainly that he's sympathetic, that he's got a big heart. The main focus is he makes atonement for sins.

16:26 That's the main work the priest does. The kings make laws, render judgments, enforce justice. The priest serve the people by offering sacrifices to cover sin so that a sinful people can have peace with God and not be destroyed by him. So I believe what's mainly in view here is the offering of atoning sacrifices. And the significance for us we know is that Jesus has made the sacrifice. That's why I say he's conquered. It is a once for all sacrifice at the cross. His work is complete. And so seeing the finished work, the Father says, sit at my right hand.

17:14 rest to show your work is complete. So Jesus is conquered. He's made the final sacrifice as high priest. He presently rules as king where he is right now. We'll say more about that. A quick note here about this coming together of kingship and priesthood. We have a church plant coming called King's Church. Maybe our next church plant will be called He doesn't have the same ring. There is something in many of us that is drawn to the glory of the king. His power, his authority, his strategy and decisiveness, his wisdom, his perfect justice, the Lion of Judah.

18:06 There's also something in us that's drawn to the priest. his compassion, his holiness, his sympathy, his sacrifice as the lamb who was slain. And we need both. I know King's Church means to be both. We're gonna be both.

18:27 Jesus is amazing as king and priest, as lion and lamb. So City's Church, your Lord has conquered through his priestly sacrifice ruling as the king of heaven. Number two, your Lord never grows old and never gets tired.

18:51 This was new to me this week. I wasn't expecting it. It's a fresh glimpse of Jesus's majesty, that he never gets old and never gets tired. Look at the second part of verse three. This is a hard verse. Some people say this is the most obscure verse in the Psalms. All right, you ready for this? Verse three.

19:17 From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. Got that? Do comes in the morning. It's on the grass in the morning. It's a picture of the morning, the new promise, hope of the day.

19:39 Womb, of course, is where the emergence of new life comes. Youth, of course, is the young part of life. Morning is not only a reference to the day, morning, midday, evening. It can also be a reference to life, that there's a morning of life, the youth of life. There's a midday. There's an evening.

20:00 there's youthful vigor and energy and strength the vitality of the morning of life and I think the point here is that this infinitely great person of psalm 110 doesn't grow old he stays in the morning he doesn't grow weak as the day goes on one of the great ironies of life in our fallen world is we often come into our best wisdom right as our bodies begin to fail us. Over and over, I think of my dad. My dad was a dentist for more than 40 years. And as he approached age 70, man, he knew dentistry. 40 years practicing dentistry. He'd been around the block.

20:55 Been around the mouth a few times. But you know what? But he couldn't do it 40 hours a week anymore. The difficulty it took, the emotional toll. So he had a transition plan, sold his practice. He's now retired. And he still knows dentistry really well. I think about a dear brother, maybe one of the wisest counselors I've ever met. A man in our church who in his 60s, he's at the top of his game. He did so much, studied so much, spent so many years of his life listening to people, providing counsel. His golden years of wisdom. But as he approaches 70, he realizes, I can't do this 40 hours a week. I can't keep doing this all the time.

21:51 So there he is, the irony of his greatest wisdom as he begins to fear the weariness of the body. And I know a great pastor friend who, in his 80s, knows the Bible as well as he's ever known the Bible. And the human heart. And he can craft beautiful sermons. But he doesn't have the energy to be a pastor all week. He's getting older. His body's failing him, even as he's at the top of his wisdom. That's how it is in our fallen human age. City Church, that is not the story of your Lord. And it never will be. There is no transition plan for Jesus. The dew of his youth is his.

22:45 And it always will be his. It's still the morning of his reign. 2,000 years later, it is still the morning of his reign. His energy is not diminished. No evening is coming for King Jesus. He's full of wisdom greater than Solomon. And he is full of life and vigor as much as any Olympian or warrior.

23:14 Which brings us to verse 7. Verse 7 is about a warrior. So we've got this king. We've got this priest in verse 4. And now we end in verse 7 with a warrior. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head. Now what is that about? It's almost as obscure as verse 3. The picture here is of a great hero who has expended himself in battle. And as the enemy concedes defeat and retreats, he goes after him. down. He's going to end it. He's not going to let them live to fight another day. He's going after them. And as he does it, God gives him water to refresh him on the way, to revive him. God supplies for him to keep going.

24:16 there's something similar in the story of Gideon in the judges chapter 8 but the closer parallel though may be with Samson this is judges chapter 15 Samson has struck down a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey it's understandable if he's tired Closed Captioning provided by Stay реalisc possibilities from South Virginia west coast 26

24:39 and judges 15 18 and 19 says samson was very thirsty and he called upon the lord and said you have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant and shall i now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised and God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi and water came out of it. And when Samson drank, his spirit returned and he revived. That's the picture. It's a picture in verse seven of Jesus hunting down the defeated enemy and being continually refreshed by his father in the pursuit.

25:30 I know some of us have been wearied in various ways in 2026. Some of that, our life together. You've got your own ways at your job, your extended family, in your own house. As you come up on a new school year here, maybe you feel a weariness.

25:55 That happens. It's normal. us and is a great solace for us in weariness to be able to turn to the king priest who doesn't get weary that's why he's able to renew you he doesn't get old there's no transition plan he won't leave the throne he doesn't get weary he is ever available to restore and strengthen you in your weariness. So number three,

26:28 your Lord, City's Church, is God himself in our own humanity. This is the truth that's almost too great to say. It almost cheapens it to put it in a sentence.

26:48 there's a scene in the gospels where Jesus calms the storm and the disciples realize only God himself can calm the storm like what just happened we know he's human we see him eat we can touch his skin he's clearly human and so they ask who is this who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him

27:18 The answer is God himself. But it's almost too great to say. So he's asked a question. Jesus himself lives this in Matthew chapter 22 when he brings up Psalm 110 to the Pharisees. If you remember this famous scene, this is one reason Psalm 110 is so famous for how Jesus quotes it. The kind of riddle that he stumps the Pharisees with.

27:46 And he says, what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? And they say, son of David. Right answer. And he said to them, how then is it that David, in the spirit, that means Psalm 110. Psalm 110 is inspired by the spirit. Calls him Lord, saying, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. if David calls him Lord how is he his son

28:21 and the Pharisees are stumped. Matthew says, and no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare ask him any more questions. The missing piece for us on why this is a stumper for the Pharisees is the assumption in the ancient world that a father is greater, by definition, than his son. Father sires sons. Father comes first and produces sons. So the older generation is, in that sense, greater than the younger generation. go at once.

29:06 Yet what Jesus points out is that David here in Psalm 110 is speaking about his own offspring. Because he's king. But he calls him Lord. He says, my Lord. The Lord, God, Yahweh, says to my Lord. How can that be?

29:31 Jesus just leaves it right there. He doesn't give them the answer. He's going to answer it as he goes to the cross, as he rises again, as he ascends, as he reigns. He's going to embody the answer in himself. He is the living son of David and also divine son.

29:57 John Calvin put it well when he said about Psalm 110 there is something in Christ more excellent than his humanity on account of which he is called the Lord of David his father if it's just based on humanity David's greater he's the father but there is something greater in him than his humanity Calvin says So Jesus is so plainly human Standing before the Pharisees In human flesh In a body that will be broken on the cross Coursing with blood That he will shed as the sacrifice To atone for sins He is manifestly human Verse 7 says He drinks from the brook Drinking water He's human And yet this is God himself second person of the triune Godhead who is among us as one of us. In Psalm 110, you see these two lines come together of God himself, Lord all caps, and David's Lord, the coming Messiah. Look at verse five. The Lord, so now Lord is referring to God. Earlier that Lord was the son. Now this Lord, word is referring to God. He's at your right hand, Messiah. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. In verse 1, we've got David's offspring on the throne as king. And now in verse 5, we got him on the battlefield. He's moving. He's battling. And God's at his right hand. And he, who's the he? Who's shattering kings on the day of his wrath? Whose wrath? Is that about the human king? Or is that about the divine Lord? Verse 6 continues. He will execute judgment among

32:10 the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. So is it God or is it the king who's shattering the enemy and executing judgment and filling the unbelieving nations with corpses?

32:31 I think the ambiguity is on purpose. It's not either one or the other. The Lord God and the Lord King act as one. There is an intentional conflation of God and his coming King that only now we know is embodied in Jesus.

32:58 City's Church the greatness of our Lord Jesus as God himself in our own humanity defies easy articulation Jesus is God. It's true. This doesn't capture the glory. Two plus two equals four. Jesus is God. Now go off and do something else. It misses the glory and the weight. Which is why the best language is the language of worship. This is what we're doing when we gather on Sunday mornings. Declaring him great. saying out loud for our ears and anybody else who will hear that he's worthy. And singing, there's none like him. Our Lord is great beyond description. He is too marvelous for little simple formulas.

33:54 We grasp for words. Which is why this gathering every Sunday is so significant. Despite whatever opposition his enemies throw at us. This is the most important thing we do. Week in and week out. So we don't take this lightly. Number four, finally. City Church, your Lord shatters his enemies and thrills his people. He shatters his enemies and thrills his people. Finally, this is verses two and the beginning of verse three. Look at verse two. The Lord, Lord God, all caps, 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.

34:55 So there's a seam, as it was, between verses 2 and 3. Verses 1 and 2 have talked about your enemies twice. and then verse 3 says your people he's got people and he says God says to the king rule in the midst of your enemies which we might note here it's not a flaw that Jesus has enemies Jesus didn't do anything wrong to get enemies they're not a reflection of his lack of wisdom. There's no sense of a flaw in Jesus because he has enemies in this fallen sinful world. It is right that he would have such enemies who oppose him. And those who reject him, this infinitely great person of Psalm 110, will not escape the day of his coming wrath. If you reject his priestly work for you, there is no other sacrifice for your sins.

36:03 You will bear what you deserve for your sins. As Jonathan wrote this week, which are more heinous than we typically remember. We all treat our sins so lightly. The only escape from your sins before a holy God is to embrace the king of the universe who offers the only sacrifice. And those who do embrace him as Lord, verse three says, this is glorious. This is where we end as we come to the table. says they offer themselves freely

36:49 In other words, no coercion. No arm twisting. No confessions at gunpoint. Jesus' people don't declare him Lord through gritted teeth. They rally to him from the heart. And he looks so much better when his people love him than just when they acknowledge him under force.

37:20 They obey from the heart overflowing with joy. Which means, City Church, your joy really matters. Our joy is a part of the vision of Psalm 110. That's 3A, Psalm 110. His people offer themselves willingly, a part of his majestic vision in Psalm 110 is joyful people who worship him from the heart. Vital to how our king priest looks is that his people offer themselves freely and that he doesn't force them but he wins them from the heart and he looks great in their joy in him.

38:10 we did baptisms this morning and i can promise you we didn't baptize anyone against their will no infants were baptized this morning only those who freely offered themselves to jesus to his glory and now we don't have baptisms in this service we come to the table and you have a chance to express the offering of yourself freely in joy to this Jesus just like Melchizedek brought out bread and wine for Abraham so the true Melchizedek offers bread and wine here this morning for us and you have the opportunity here to receive it freely.

39:04 This is first a meal for the members of Cities Church. But if you're here with us this morning and you'd say, I bow with joy to the infinitely great person of Psalm 110. Jesus is my Lord. And we'd have you eat with us.