Revering the Word
Psalm 45 Jesus is the Anointed One
Good morning everyone. This morning, we are in Psalm 45. It is a unique song, which is a song, that appears to have been written to celebrate the marriage of a king. We're not entirely certain whose marriage it is, but that is the focus of the Psalm, is the marriage ceremony. You know, Jesus is referred to as a king, and he comes from the family line of David. We don't know that this was David's marriage, but David of course was a famous king of the Old Testament, and Jesus came from that lineage. So, when you reference a king, it's a picture also of God, because God is a king, and Jesus is a king. So, at times when you are lavishing praise or acknowledging a king, it allows you to also think of God, who is king. Some of the aspects of this psalm that I refer to a king seem to be focused more on the worldly king and the marriage ceremony of the literal king who is getting married. However, a portion of this psalm is specifically about Jesus, and others may be inferences to Jesus. I would like to focus on some verses in the psalm that have been used in the New Testament to talk directly about Jesus. So, my focus this morning is going to be on verses 6 and 7 of this psalm, 6 and 7 of Psalm 45. Let's pick it up there. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Let's just pause there for a moment. That's so important to just take that in. You know, God was there at the beginning. He created this world. He created us. And He's on the throne. And although at times we live in a world of crazy, and although at times we live in a world where Satan is having his way, God is still upon the throne. And one day we are going to see him on that throne. And until we actually see him literally on that throne, we are to know that God is on the throne. And he's the one that we answer to. He's the one that we live for. He's the one that we are going to go home to. And He is our reason for being. And, you know, we need to remind ourselves of that every day of our lives. That, you know what, no matter what's going on in this world, God is on the throne. And one day I'm going to be before Him. And I want to live to honor the one who's on the throne. And who's on the throne forever and ever. The scepter or staff, which was a, you know, there's a shepherd's staff. There's the staff of the king, the scepter of the king. And it shows dominion and power. And the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. And God is upright. And He is a king over a kingdom. And, you know, one day He's going to be a king over His kingdom here on earth. Jesus is coming back to rule and reign. But until that time we are supposed to live as though your kingdom come, you will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So although He's not physically ruined and reigning right now in this dispensation on earth, He's going to do that again one day. But until that time, spiritually, we are supposed to be living for His kingdom now. And may we do that well. Lord, help us through the power of your Holy Spirit to see through the lens of your kingdom. And may we live as though your kingdom come. And it is coming. Your will be done, God, on earth as it is in heaven. You know, this world can be distracting. It can kind of pull us into its jet stream. But, you know, every day, it's such a good thing, even that you're doing right now. And spending time with the Lord and spending time in the Word and renewing ourselves and Him day by day and remembering what we're here for. It's so incredibly important because it can shape our focus today. As we go about our day, we all have things, if you want to call it earthly things that we are going to do today, things that we do living on this earth. But the more that we can make them kingdom minded, even though we may be doing earthly things, the more that we can make them kingdom minded and heavenly minded and represent our Lord while we are living in this land. That honors the Lord. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. I think that's a really important verse. And it's something that's been very much compromised today. The Lord loves righteousness. He loves upright living. He loves be holy as I am holy. He has asked us to honor Him, to live for Him, to live according to His Word, to His guidance, to think about and act upon what would please Him as we're living out our days here on earth. And He wants us to turn away from wickedness. I don't know if I'll put my mind on it right now, but whoever loves the Lord would turn away from wickedness. There's a verse that's just like that. Do not do evil but seek good and pursue it. God hates wickedness. And sometimes we get confused to think, because we paint God in a picture, because God is love and the Bible does say God is love that simply. But God is not only love the way that we see it. Sometimes we think, well, it's bad to tell someone they're wrong, or it's bad to call out sin, because that's, I don't know, mean spirited, or that's being judgmental. People will say that's being judgmental. But God hates wickedness. And we should judge between what's good and just and right and what's bad and evil. And we should turn away from what is evil and what is wicked and what is sinful, because our Lord loves righteousness and He hates wickedness. And yeah, I really, really do feel like that's lost today. He hates wicked things. He hates lying deceit, deception, sin, sexual immorality, homosexuality, lying, cheating. You know, He wants us to love. And one of the ways that we love our neighbor as ourself is we do what's right. We do what's honorable. We do what's good. And we stay away from what's evil. One of our problems is that sometimes we don't hate wickedness enough. And we use the grace of God as a permit to embrace wickedness and act like it's not a big deal. And when really we should hate wickedness like God hates wickedness and acknowledge it and say, "You know what? No, that's wrong. That's bad. That's evil. I'm not doing that." And yeah, that's a word. God loves righteousness and hates wickedness. And then it says because of that. See, listen, because of that, therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows. Because you've loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows. The word they're anointed is the verb for anoint, to anoint, to consecrate, to anoint someone. But did you know that in the Old Testament, the word Messiah comes from that word anoint verb. And in the noun version of the word Messiah, it's the Messiah. The anointed one and that that's Jesus. He is the anointed one. In fact, that's where his name comes from. In Greek, the way that you would say the anointed one, noun version, would be Christ. Jesus, the anointed one, Christ. That's what it means, anointed one. Here we don't have the noun version. We have the fact that he has been anointed, meaning the act of anointing. Therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy. God has joy over his son above your fellows. And he's high above everyone else. Jesus Christ is. Because he is God's anointed one. And this is where it comes into the New Testament in the book of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews in chapter one of Hebrews is trying to point out that Jesus is far above any other angel. He's not an angel. He's far above all the angels. It's really what it's being said, is that he is worthy to be worshiped. He's worthy to be worshiped like God because he's God's anointed one. And in fact, in picking it up in verse six of Hebrews chapter one, and let all the angels of God worship him. That's a reference to the Old Testament as well, but a reference to Jesus in the Old Testament. All the angels actually worship Jesus. And of the angels he said, who makes his angels wins and his ministers a flame of fire. So that's talking about angels. But then he says, but of the son, because he's trying to show us that Jesus is far above angels. But of the son, he says, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever. Meaning Jesus's throne is forever and ever because we're talking about the son here. And the righteous scepter is the scepter of his kingdom. Jesus's kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions. So the author of Hebrews is bringing in this passage of Psalm 45 to say this is speaking of Jesus that he has a throne forever and ever. That he has the righteous scepter of his kingdom that he loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God has anointed him Jesus with the oil of gladness above everybody else. And isn't that awesome that this in Psalm 45 at a king's wedding, we have a prophetic word about Jesus who is a king who is anointed and he is above the fellows because his throne is forever and ever. This anointed one, this Messiah, this Greek Christ, it's important to understand this because this gets brought up several times, both in the Old and New Testament, Jesus is the anointed one. He is the one that was promised to come. God has anointed him and in fact, Jesus in Luke chapter four refers to this, you remember when Jesus came into his own town in Nazareth and he went into the synagogue and they handed him a scroll of Isaiah and he picks up the scroll and he starts reading it and this is what he read. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me and read from Isaiah 61, but Jesus read this in the book of Luke in his hometown in Nazareth in the synagogue. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and listen to this and the day of vengeance for our God because ultimately, you know, that's coming as well. But what Jesus did in his hometown in that synagogue is he read this Psalm, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he had the Lord has anointed me to bring good news. He said, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing in Luke four. That's what he said because he said, I am the anointed one. I am the one who was promised to come. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. I'm God's anointed one who's bringing good news. And one day, when he returns, he's bringing the vengeance of God and all who have not believed in him. And the good news is, as you can be, we can be saved from that now, Hallelujah, by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, what a wonderful passage. May we see God lifted up on his throne forever and ever. And may we realize that Jesus is the anointed one and he is worthy to be followed. Hallelujah. God bless you all. [BLANK_AUDIO]