”The Father’s Song to the Son—Part 2” | Sun AM | Psalm 110

Psalm 110. This morning I'm continuing

part two of the series we started last

Sunday, working our way through Psalm

110

titled The Father's Song to the Son.

The Father's Song to the Son. I think

every boy and probably girls somewhat,

but I know for a fact every boy

askked this question at some point in

their adolescent years and probably

multiple times throughout their those

years.

The question is, what does dad think of

me?

What does my dad think of me? Is he

proud of me? Um, does does he think that

I'm strong? I think that as a young boy,

if there's anything we want to impress

our dads with, at least speaking for

myself here, it's our strength. I grew

up with a wood stove. And um, that wood

stove taught me a lot of things. In

fact, my work ethic. That wood stove

probably has more to do with my work

ethic than maybe any other item in the

world. My dad used to say that the wood

stove kept you warm three times. when

you cut the wood, when you split the

wood, and when you burnt the wood. And

that is true. We worked hard during the

fall to cut wood, split wood, stack

wood, and then we'd carry it in the

house when it got cold, and the wood

stove would keep us warm, and it kept us

really warm. It would be freezing

outside like it is this morning, and

we'd have the screen door open. The wood

stove was just pumping the heat through

the house, and it was wonderful. when we

would go cut wood, there was uh I I

remember as a boy, man, I wanted to

impress dad

with my ability to cut and stack and

split wood. We would go, Dad was the

Saul man because we were just boys and

he would cut the tree down and then he'd

start blocking that tree up into blocks

of wood. And we cut wood on national

forest up in the mountains. So it's down

over the bank 50 yards, 75 yards. So we,

us boys, there's three of us, we'd go

down over the hill and we'd start

loading up those blocks of wood and our

arms and we'd just load them up as high

as we could get it till you couldn't

almost see. And then we'd scoop that

other arm under there and stand up and

we'd take off up the hill stumbling and

falling and running and just trying to

make it up to the top. We'd make it up

and we'd dump those blocks onto the

tailgate. And then one of us, whoseever

whoever was lucky that day was in the

truck and he was stacking the wood in

the truck. Everybody wanted to stack.

nobody wanted to carry. I remember

carrying that wood up the hill. I wanted

to have the biggest load, right? Cuz I

wanted dad to say proud of him. He's

strong. We'd get home and we'd start

unloading the wood and we'd take it and

I don't know if this was safe or not.

OSHA probably would not approve, but dad

would get in the truck and we would

stand, you know, yay far off the

tailgate of the truck. And there was

three of us boys. So we'd just be in a

line and he'd grab a piece of wood and

just pitch it and we'd catch it and go

put it in the shed and the next one and

as fast as dad could pitch it where next

boy was there ready to catch it. And

that's how we would unload the truck a

lot of times. Dad would pitch it out and

we'd catch it and go stack it in the

shed and I wanted to catch every block.

Never drop one. Which, by the way, when

I got to when I got to college, I

realized I could catch a football better

than anybody. And they say, "How do you

catch a football like that?" I said,

"I've been catching wood my whole life.

Football is a lot easier than a chunk of

wood."

We'd catch that wood and we'd go stack

the wood.

And then we would come time to split the

wood. We had an 8B maul and a sixb mole.

And I got to tell you, I didn't like the

sixlb mall. I wanted to use the 8lb

mall. No matter how bad it hurt or how

slow I swung it, I wanted to use the

eight pound mall because I wanted my dad

to say, "He's using the eight pound

mall. My boy's strong. Now, I don't know

that I thought this through. I I

wouldn't have articulated it like that,

but looking back, I can say

definitively, I wanted dad to say that

he was proud of the work that we had

done. We would go inside. There was

nothing more satisfying than spending

four or five, six hours in the cold

cutting wood, stacking wood, splitting

wood, and you'd come inside and sit down

on the couch, and you'd hear dad in the

kitchen tell, "Mom, the boys worked hard

today." And man, as a little boy, that

just that made the day. That was worth

it because dad was proud of me. I wonder

if God the Father

has anything to say about his son,

God the Son, Jesus Christ.

I believe, and you can do further study

on this and see if I'm right, but I

believe there are three times in the New

Testament in which God the Father speaks

in an audible voice and approves his

son.

But those are not the only three times

in scripture. There is another passage

in which God the Father speaks on behalf

of his son. He speaks to his son's

approval and he speaks to his son's

authority. And that other passage is

Psalm 110, which is our text for the

month of December. Let's go back and

let's read Psalm 110,

verse number 1 through3, the father's

song to the son. We noticed

last week in verse one, we noticed the

son's person

and we noticed the son's position. And

then today in verse two and verse three,

we will notice the son's power.

Look with me at verse number one.

The Lord, notice all caps, said unto my

Lord, capital L, lowercase rest,

God the Father, speaking of God the Son,

said, "Sit thou at my right hand until I

make thine enemies thy foottool." Before

we go to verse two, let me briefly

review what we learned last week because

the context will help us when we get

into the following two verses. We see

his person immediately and that is

simply that Jesus is God. God the father

is announcing and confirming the deity

and the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. The

Lord Yahweh, all of who God is, said

unto my Lord, that is Jesus Christ, sit

thou at my right hand. He is seated

because his sacrifice is sufficient.

He's at the right hand because he has

all authority. And then he says, until I

make thine enemies thy foottool.

And that is his position. He's placed

there on the right hand of God the

Father. He's seated and he's preeminent

over all. The message of verse one is

that Jesus is God. Jesus is sovereign

and Jesus is in control. There's coming

a day when Jesus will claim his enemies.

There's coming a day when he will reign

over them. They will become his

foottool. We're going to see more about

that in verse two and verse three.

And so with that brief review, let's

look at verse two.

The Lord shall send the rod of thy

strength out of Zion.

Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

Thy people shall be willing in the day

of thy power. In the beauties of

holiness from the womb of the morning

thou hast the dw of thy youth. And today

from these two verses we want to

consider the power of Jesus Christ the

Messiah. God the father has communed his

communicated his son's person. He has

spoken on the person of Jesus Christ. He

is God. Jesus is God. And God the father

has already communicated his son's

position. Jesus is sovereign. And now

God the father will communicate his

son's power. Jesus is omnipotent.

I notice four ways in these two verses

that the father shows the power of the

Messiah Jesus Christ. Write down number

one, the symbol of his power.

The symbol of his power is in verse

number two. The Lord shall send here it

is the rod of thy strength.

The symbol of his power is the rod. It

is the rod of iron. It could be stated

as a scepter.

It is a picture of the authority of our

king as he sits upon his throne.

When a king is seated on a throne, at

least in these times, he had in his hand

a scepter. And that scepter was the

picture. It was the symbol of the

authority that the king contained. So he

is seated on the throne and he has the

rod in his hand which is the picture. It

identifies that this guy who is on the

throne contains the authority.

And God the father looks at his son who

is seated on the throne at his right

hand and he said, "I have given you the

rod of of your strength, the scepter. I

have given you authority. You have all

power."

This rod, I believe, is seen in other

places in scripture. It is the the rod

that symbolizes the power of God.

It's the rod that's seen in the hand of

Moses that becomes a serpent before

Pharaoh. It's the rod that turned

Egyptian water into blood. It's the rod

that when raised up parted the waters of

the Red Sea for the nation of Israel.

It's the rod that Moses held up and gave

Israel a military victory over the

Amalachites. It's the rod of iron that

David writes about in Psalm 2. It's the

rod of comfort that David sings about in

Psalm 23. It is the rod of power and it

dwells today in the nailscarred hands of

Jesus Christ.

So we see the son as the father

communicates as the father speaks of his

son, God the father communicating to us

his approval of God the son. We see

Jesus seated at the right hand of God

the father. He is seated because his

sacrifice was sufficient. It was

approved. It's it's payment for the sins

of the whole world. There's no more work

to be done. So he is seated at the right

hand which was a place of honor and

authority. And we see in his hand the

rod of all power, the rod of thy

strength.

So that's the symbol of his power. Now

notice number two.

Write down number two. The setting of

his power.

the setting of his power.

>> The Lord shall send the rod of thy

strength here it is out of Zion.

Zion here equals Jerusalem.

The event here, I do not believe, is so

much the birth of baby Jesus, but it is

the final battle of King Jesus.

When Jesus leads his army, and we'll see

this in context when we get to the next

verse, when Jesus leads his armies out

of the sky and he defeats his enemies

forever, making them his foottool in

fulfillment of the prophecy of verse

number one. We have for a long time seen

Christmas as a baby in a manger and

nothing more.

Sweet little Jesus boy.

And we sing the songs. And listen, I

have nothing against the songs that we

sing and the hymns of Christmas. I don't

believe the Bible has anything against

the sentiment of baby Jesus because the

Bible records the story of baby Jesus

for us.

But I do think it is a disservice

to think of baby Jesus as baby Jesus

alone. And I think the message of Psalm

110 is that yes, he was coming as

Messiah. Yes, he was going to make the

sacrifice, but he is coming as king.

He's coming again. And when he comes

again, he will make his enemies his

foottool. When he comes again, he will

come as reigning king. Here's what we

have done. We have taken in our culture

and we've commercialized Christmas and

we've made it all about the the gifts

and the money and and here's what we can

do as Christians. We can go through

Christmas

the whole season and never experience

the power, the kingly authority of Jesus

Christ in our life all while focusing on

Jesus himself because we don't see him

as king in Jerusalem.

We see him as baby in the manger. The

Bible's very clear that the Lord shall

send the rod of thy strength out of Zion

in Jerusalem. Here's what the text says.

The rod of his strength, the scepter of

his strength will be ultimately realized

in the city of Jerusalem. There's coming

a day when he will rule and reign a

physical kingdom on this earth. And he

will rule out of Jerusalem. He will not

rule just Jerusalem but his rule will be

seated in Jerusalem and he will rule the

entire world. That's the prophecy. Now

that kingdom has already been

established. Jesus is right now seated

on the right hand of God the father and

right this minute holds the rod in his

hand. His authority has already been

given. The kingdom has already been

established but it has not yet been

realized on this earth. But there's

coming a day when all will bow before

him. Every knee will bow. Every tongue

will confess that Jesus is Lord to the

glory of God the Father. There's coming

a day when it won't be sweet, sweet

little baby Jesus boy, but there is

coming a day when he will be king of the

world and every person will see him for

who he is. So we see the symbol and we

see the setting. But I want you to

notice number three, the sovereignty of

his power.

He said, "The Lord shall send the rod of

thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in

the midst of thine enemies.

Rule thou.

Don't just have authority, but exercise

authority." And who is he ruling over?

He's ruling in the midst of his enemies.

This reminds us at the end of verse

number one where the father declares the

victory of his son over all of his

enemies. Jesus has not been defeated. He

was not defeated in the wilderness at

the 40-day temptation. He was not

defeated by death. He was not defeated

by sin. He was not defeated by man. He

was not defeated by evil. He was not

defeated by the grave. Jesus has

conquered every battle placed in front

of him. And one day when God the Father

says enough is enough, he'll look at

Jesus Christ who will come out of heaven

on a cloud and take his bride home to be

with him. And you and I will be in

heaven in glory with Jesus. and we'll

prepare ourselves for battle and we'll

come with Jesus out of the clouds and he

will rule on this earth in sovereignty.

He's the king. He's the king of kings.

Jesus is sovereign and his kingdom is

coming. I like to say this statement to

wrap my mind around sovereignty. What

does sovereignty mean? Here's what it

means. Jesus is sovereign means that

Jesus can do whatever he wants, whenever

he wants, however he wants, and with

whomever he wants. He's sovereign. He

controls it all. He's in complete

control. So God the Father

looks to his son and says, "Son, you're

seated right now on my right hand

because you have accomplished the

necessary payment for the sins of the

world. The sacrifice is sufficient.

Here's the rod of strength." And and

Jesus holds the rod of his strength, the

symbol of his power. And there will be a

day when he will reign and rule from

Zion, from Jerusalem. And he will rule

over his enemies in complete

sovereignty. His rule will be

universally realized.

Philippians chapter 2 and verse 9-11. I

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

mentioned the verse a moment ago. Let me

quote it for you in its entirety. Verse

9. Wherefore God also hath highly

exalted him, that is Jesus, and given

him a Here's our theme for the day, a

name which is above every name, that at

the name of Jesus, every knee should bow

of things in heaven and things in earth

and things under the earth, and that

every tongue should confess that Jesus

Christ is Lord to the glory of God the

Father. That day is coming. It's coming.

Let me ask you a question this morning

before I give you point number four.

Have you submitted to his power

right now? This morning, have you

submitted to the power of King Jesus?

There's coming a day when you will by

choice

or by default. You will bow the knee

before Jesus Christ. Every knee will

bow. Every knee will recognize and

realize his kingdom and his authority.

God has given this world a space of

grace, a time to choose. What will you

do with the omnipotent son of God? And I

ask you this morning, have you submitted

to his power? Friend, it is much better

to submit today. Call on the name of

Jesus and ask him to save you and to be

your savior and allow him to flood your

life with his goodness and his grace and

his mercy. Do that today. It's far

better today than to do it on that day

because on that day you would be labeled

his enemy and today you can be labeled

his friend.

He's sovereign. Let me give you number

four.

And this is where I've been trying to

get all morning. And that's verse number

three.

The subjects of his power. Number four,

the subjects of his power.

Verse three begins with two words,

thy

people.

>> God the Father is going to make an

interesting note in verse number three

as he's talking to and about God the

Son. He's approving his son, Jesus

Christ. He's labeling Jesus Christ as

the son of God, as God himself.

But in this verse, he's going to notice

someone else,

and that is the people of Jesus Christ.

In speaking to his son, he's now going

to reference the Messiah's people. Who

are the Messiah's people? It's a good

question. I want you to notice a few

things about these people. You can write

these down if you'd like. First of all,

it says, "Thy people shall be willing."

They are a willing people.

They're not they're not fighting against

him. This is contrasted, by the way,

because in verse one and in verse two,

we notice that Jesus Christ is sovereign

and ruling over his enemies. Right? But

in this verse,

we don't see his enemies, we see his

friends. In this verse, we don't see

those who are opposing him, but we see

those who are with him. We see those who

are behind him. Who are these people?

She might be one someday.

We're not there yet. Y'all pray for her.

We're talking about the church,

thy people, believers.

And notice it says that they are a

willing people.

One day there will come a day when all

of God's people will be willing to

follow him into battle. And we will

mount our horses behind his white horse

and he will lead us into battle and we

will go with him willingly. He will not

have to coersse us. He will not have to

pay us. We will recognize him as king

and leader and we will willingly follow

him to battle. But listen friends, God

is looking for willing people today as

well.

Are you a willing follower of Jesus

Christ?

Thy people shall be willing.

And then notice that they are not just

willing, but they are washed. He said,

"Thy people shall be willing in the day

of thy power in the beauties of

holiness."

That phrase, we could say it like this,

in the garments of purity.

Oh, we have been washed. We have been

put clothed in the purity and in the

righteousness and in the holiness of

Almighty God. We're washed. We're

cleansed. If you're saved today, then

you are, as the old hymn says, washed in

the blood. You have been purified. WHEN

GOD THE Father looks at your sinfulness

and your wretchedness and your evilness

and your wickedness. When he looks upon

you, he doesn't see any of those things.

If you're saved, he sees the

righteousness and the perfectness of his

son. You're washed. You're clothed in

the garments of purity. So thy people,

they're a willing people. They're a

washed people. And by the way, one day

this will be fully realized.

One day we'll sit behind King Jesus as

he goes into battle and we'll sit in

pure white robes and we will finally be

in complete purity and out of this

sinful flesh and it's going to be

glorious. But listen friend, you can

live like you're washed today.

You can live like you've been saved

today. Far too many Christians say

they're saved, profess with their mouth

that they're saved, but then they they

don't live like they're clothed in

purity. They live like the world. They

act like the world. They partake in the

things of the world. God's looking for

willing people and he's looking for

people who will act like they've been

washed.

And then notice that they are a

worshshiping people.

This is a really interesting phrase.

He said, "From the womb of the morning,

thou hast the dew of thy youth."

I I've spent considerable amount of time

the last few days studying this phrase,

and most commentators skip over it. Most

that I have read just don't bother to

say anything about it. But I have found

a few and I've looked at the words and

I've done my best to study. I may be

wrong here because it is an obscure

phrase. But I'll give you what I've come

up with and you can take it if you like

it. You can leave it if you do not. I

think that what is being communicated

here is a picture. When you go outside

in the morning

and the sun is just cresting up over the

ridge and there's dew laying on the

ground. As that sun rises and the rays

of that warm sun hits the dew that is

laying on the ground, that dew begins to

rise. Now, the dew is a miracle. I you

could probably look it up and figure out

why the dew is on the ground in the

morning. I I don't know. To me, God puts

it there and that's enough. God puts the

dew on the ground in the morning. But

here's the picture that I see. And maybe

this is oversimplifying it, but this is

what I think when I read this. There is

in the morning a freshness, the womb of

the morning, the very early morning

time, that moment when the dew is still,

excuse me, laying on the ground and you

walk outside and you breathe in that

crisp air and there is a freshness to

the morning. There's a purity to the

morning. It's not been polluted. The day

is still young and and everything is as

it should be as the sun rises.

And it does your heart good.

I think that the picture here is that

God's people

should be to a dry and desert world what

the de is to the early morning.

You and I should be worshiping and

praising and in this world providing a

freshness and a purity so that when

people see our lives, they know

something's different about you and I.

Hey, those people have been washed.

Those people have been cleansed. Those

people are different than everybody

else. Well, every time I get around that

person, there's a freshness to them.

They're not always angry. They're not

always upset. They they're always got a

smile on their face. They're always

praising God. it. It's as if I'm walking

outside first thing in the morning and I

sense the dew lifting off as the sun

rises and warms the ground. That's what

it should feel like around God's people.

A freshness,

a worshshiping people.

There's coming a day when you and I

behind King Jesus, the world will be in

perfection. He'll rule and reign. He'll

make his enemies his foottool

and it's going to be glorious. Go to

Revelation 20 through22 and read about

the new heaven, the new earth, all that

God's going to do for us. It's going to

be beautiful. But let's not wait till

that day to live in the purity and the

freshness of our great king. We can do

that today.

>> Now, there are two possible ways to take

verse two and three.

I'm going to teach for five minutes. I'm

going to preach for two minutes. We'll

be we'll go eat. Okay.

There are two possible ways to

understand verse two and verse three and

they both hinge off of how we interpret

a phrase that I skipped over.

The phrase is found in verse number two,

excuse me, in verse number three. He

said, "Thy p thy people shall be willing

in the day of thy power."

How we interpret that phrase, the day of

thy power,

will make all the difference. And how we

interpret this passage, I like both ways

to interpret it. So I'm going to give

you both ways. The first way that we

could interpret it is that the day that

is being referenced here, the day of his

power is the day of his second coming.

That day when he will make his enemies

his foottool. And I believe that based

on the context so far of Psalm 110, that

is a great way to interpret it. That the

day of his power is coming. It's

prophetic. And one day we will rule and

reign with Jesus Christ just as this

passage has clearly articulated already.

The second way that we could interpret

the day of his power is to be that day

when you experience the power of God at

the moment of salvation. There was a

moment in your life where you realized

you were a sinner. You needed God's

help. You bowed the knee in humility and

you say, "Dear God, help me. I need

help. Save me from an eternal hell. I'm

placing my faith, my trust in you and

you alone. At that moment, you

experience the power, the saving power

of Jesus Christ, the day of his power. I

like that interpretation, too.

When Christ saved your soul, Ashlin,

come help me finish this up. When God

saved your soul,

you experienced his power. That's on

this side over here. Excuse me.

You got saved. You experienced his

power. There is coming a day

over here where you will one once again

experience his power. There's coming a

day when he will make his enemies his

foottool. You'll be behind him. You will

be a willing people. You'll be ready to

go to war with Jesus. You won't have to.

He'll just speak a word and defeat his

enemies and it'll be done. And you will

get to experience sitting right in the

first row of seats on your horse in your

white robe. You will get to see Jesus

display his perfect omnipotent power.

That's coming. That's prophetic.

And back here, you've experienced it. If

you're saved this morning, you've

experienced his power already cuz he

saved you from your sin. He washed you

from your sin and you're on your way to

heaven.

Here's my application this morning. What

are you going to do between right here

and over there?

A lot of Christians

get saved here

and then they grieve the Holy Spirit and

they quench the Holy Spirit and they go

through their life living like the

world, looking like the world, acting

like the world, and wondering where is

God at in my life? They make decisions

like the world. They raise their kids

like the world. They they don't attend

church like they ought to. They they do

all of these things and they're going

through their life and they've

experienced his power. You're saved. And

one day you're going to experience his

power again. But you are living in a

desert place between that moment and

that moment because you are not a

willing people.

We come to the Christmas season and and

we love to think about Jesus and the

little baby and it makes all of our

minds go to the the manger scene and the

stable scene and and oh yes, it's it's

it's beautiful. It's a great sentiment,

but I'm afraid that we have so

sentimentalized and commercialized and

minimized Jesus Christ that we can

experience Christmas and everything that

it has to offer and never experience the

saving power that we experienced on the

day of salvation. Here's my prayer for

us this morning, church. My prayer for

this church is that this Christmas

season, this month, would not just be

about baby Jesus, but that it would be

about King Jesus. And in this place, we

would be a willing people. And we would

say, God, whatever you would have for me

to do, I'll do it. Wherever you want me

to go, I'll go because I want to

experience your power today. That

situation that you're thinking about

right now that you need a miracle. Why

are we not seeing God's power? Could it

be that we have become distracted by all

of the things of Christmas that we're

missing the fact that we have access to

the omnipotent King of Kings, Lord of

Lords, the one who is seated on the

throne, who has the scepter of strength

in his hand, who has all power given to

him. And one day he will rule and reign,

and you'll rule and reign with him. But

you don't have to wait till that day to

experience his power in your life.

I see the church family and I hear the

stories and I know what many of you are

going through.

Here's what always confuses me about

church people. Now, this isn't all of

you,

but we might as well just put it out

there. It's some of you.

It always amazes me as a pastor how

Christians

will say they desire the power of God

and then they will continue to make

decisions

that avoid the power of God. But we just

don't see God's power in our churches

like we used to. And I haven't seen that

person in church for three months. Well,

you don't know what's going on in

church. You ain't even been there.

Well, we say that we want God's power in

our life, that God would would do a

miracle in our life, that God would come

through in our life, but when's the last

time we fasted and prayed for it? When's

the last time we became a willing people

and said, "God, I'm willing to do what

you would have me to do. Just show me

your power again." We say we want

revival in our churches. We say we want

revival in our country. And yet we just

go through the motions and no time more

than this month, right? We just go

through the motions and we go through

the rituals and we say, "I got to buy

the gifts and I got to get the cards and

I got to think about Jesus a little bit

and sing a couple Christmas carols and

then we'll be to January and we could

finally get some sleep and rest."

And then we get to January and we think,

man, seemed kind of dry.

Christmas just didn't seem to have the

punch this year.

Maybe it would be a good idea

for our church to say, "God,

today

I'm a willing person.

I'm saved. I know I'm saved. I'm on my

way to heaven." If you don't know that,

then that's the first step. You've never

experienced the power of God. You've got

to get saved today

and then you can go from there. But for

those of us who are saved, why are we

running from God's presence? Why are we

running from God's power?

Where's the dads

that say, "God, I want your power

on my kids' lives."

And we'll earnestly seek God for that.

Where's the mamas who will be praying

mamas and fasting mamas and will get

serious about seeing the power of God? A

willing person willing to do whatever it

takes to see God do a great move. Where

are the church members who will say,

"I'll be faithful. I'll give. I'll do

what it takes. I just want to see God's

power in our church. I want to see

people get saved. I want to see the

baptistry be used again. I want to see

God bring revival. I want to see

Christians get right. I want to see

marriages be restored. I want to see God

do a great work." Where are the people

who make a decision and say, "God, all

we desire is your power." He has the

power. God has not lost his power.

The reason we don't see it is because

we've stopped looking for it.

Why don't you stand to your feet this

morning all over