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Well, howdy. Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 45. Psalm 45. This is the Psalm that the author of Hebrews referenced and preached in synagogues. At least one part of it he did. And so I want to spend some time this evening just thinking through it, thinking through this psalm and appreciating what it says in its own context as we appreciated how our preacher in Hebrews used it this morning in Hebrews 1.

But imagine with me, if you will, a wedding, a royal wedding. In fact, if you can imagine the royalest wedding of them all. If you think about what's going to be present, you're going to have the majesty of the groom or the beauty of the groom. You're going to have the beauty of the bride.

And then there's going to be this great anticipation of what they are going to be together. It's the union. It's that cause of celebration. Now, imagine that you are commissioned to write a song about the couple and put it to music for the wedding. Has anybody ever done that?

Been asked to actually write something for a song, I mean, a wedding. I know some that have actually written a song for a wedding. Well, that's exactly what happened in Psalm 45. Look at Psalm 45, verse 1: For the choir director, according to the Shoshanim, a masculine of the sons of Korah, a song of love.

It's to the one conducting, literally, to the one supervising in front of the lilies. Soshaniim. Or pipes. It could be pipes as well. It's a song of Korah. And this, because it's one of the songs of Korah, they associated that this is a wedding of one of the Davidic kings, a wedding somewhere in the lineage, a maskil, that is, a poem with instructive purposes, a song of love.

A song of love. The Septuagint translates it, Ode to the Beloved One. You ever heard a song, an ode? I remember after being in Russia for a long time and drinking warm soda pop, one of the guys, when we got back to the United States, said, Write a poem called Ode to a Code Drink.

Well, that's Ode to the Beloved One. Same expression that God uses in Matthew 7:13 to refer to Christ. Listen to him, he is my beloved son. There's three major parts to this psalm. If you can think about this as a song in an instructive song, something to think deeply upon the occasion.

Three major parts, movements. First, there is the beauty of the king, and that is in the first nine verses. And let me just read those. My heart overflows with a good theme. I address my verses to the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men.

Grace is poured over. On your lips, therefore, God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and your majesty, and in your majesty ride on victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you awesome things.

Your arrows are sharp, the peoples fall under you. Your arrows are in the heart of the king's enemies. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows.

Those are the two verses that are picked up in Hebrews 1, 8, and 9. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows.

And that is explicitly referencing to Christ in Hebrews 1. And it's specifically referencing to Christ here. Then he goes on, All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. Out of. Ivory palaces, stringed instruments have made you glad. King's daughters are among your noble ladies. At your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophar.

So there's that first movement, that first picture or reference to that beauty of the king. Then the second movement, the second part of this song of love, focuses on the beauty of the bride. Verses 10 through 15, let me read those. Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear.

Forget your people and your father's house. Then the king will desire your beauty. Because he is your Lord, bow down to him. The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The rich among the people will seek your favor. The king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is interwoven with gold.

She will be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, will be brought to you. They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing. They will enter into the king's palace. Palace. That's the second movement in this song of love. And then there's a third.

This is the blessing of God upon their union, the happily ever after. So you can think about in any wedding ceremony, there's the beauty of the groom, there's the beauty of the bride, and then there is the blessing of God. Verse 16, in place of your fathers will be your sons.

You shall make them princes in all the earth. I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore, the people will give you thanks forever and ever. So as I said earlier, the writer probably wrote this song, this song of love, this ode to the beloved one, for an actual wedding in the Davidic house.

But it's clear, certainly in parts of this psalm, that the wedding described here goes far beyond a mere human wedding. That was understood by the psalmist of the day. That was understood by the author of Hebrews. He celebrates much more than just the union of two people in time, but he looks to what that wedding symbolizes.

Like, that's what we do. Many times. When we have a wedding, we sometimes will look at the bride and the groom, but then we will lift our mind to see beyond that to Christ and his church and future union for eternity when he returns. So, what he does is he looks to the ultimate David.

Even as he's looking at one of the sons of David, they understand the promises made to David's house that one is going to come forth who is going to be ruler over all nations. One who will forever be joined to his people. And this is the theme. So you look at verse 1.

Back to verse 1. My heart overflows with the good theme. I address my verses to the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. My heart is overflowing. It is bubbling up within. It's gushing forth inside me. And the word emphasizes the noise that a well, a Narcesian well, would make as it's springing up.

It's making noise within him. My heart overflows. I am deeply moved within with a good theme. With a Good way. My heart is moved and stirred and overflowing in a good way, in a joyful way. And so I am addressing my thoughts, my verses, to the king. Directed to the king, capital K.

That's where his mind goes. I'm looking at this way, and I'm going to the king, the true king, king above all kings. And I'm addressing my verses to him. And my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. My tongue is a stylus used for engraving. And I am a ready writer.

His tongue, it's not just that he's getting words down on paper, but he's getting truth on the hearts of people. My tongue is a stylus to engrave eternal truth and love for the king upon the hearts of mankind. You see, the author is somebody who deeply loves Christ.

Even though he had never heard the name Jesus, he loved him. And he loved him with all the affection of those who did know him personally. He loved him. He knew him by anticipation. And his heart. Overflowed with love for him. And so, out of this abundance, the psalmist pinned the words of Psalm 45.

His heart was captivated by the beauty of the king, captivated by the beauty of his bride, and captivated by the beauty of their union. And so, tonight, what I want to do is focus on the heart of this psalmist who is overflowing with love for the king. Because what I want to take away from this, I want us to love Christ like this psalmist loved Christ.

And so, I want you to see his heart. I want you to go back and see this overflowing well and see three overflowing expressions of love for Christ. Because I want us to be moved as he was moved. And indeed, that's what he wanted. He wanted, in the contemplation of this wedding, he wanted his people, his readers, to be moved with the same theme of the glorious king married to his beautiful bride and the blessings of that union and all.

That it touches upon. So that's where we're going tonight. I want to look at a heart overflowing with love for Christ. A heart overflowing with love for Christ. First of all, a heart that overflows with love for Christ is captivated by his beauty. And this goes down verses 2 through 9.

Now, as we think about, and he's going to describe, he's going to give several descriptions of a heart that is captivated by Christ's beauty. And we want to look at those. A heart that is captivated by Christ's beauty, first of all, knows that he surpasses the glory of all other sons of men.

Look at verse 2. You, king, are fairer than the sons of men. You are literally fairer. You are more pleasant. You are in a state of more attractiveness than any of the sons of Adam. That is what he's expressing literally there. Grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore, God has blessed you forever.

He is fairer than all the other sons. Sons of Adam. He is fairer in speech. Notice that he says, grace is poured upon your lips. Literally, grace is upon you and pours forth from your lips. And therefore, grace, the idea of favor, that which is agreeable, that which is kind, that which is favorable, that which is certainly true, he is fairer in speech than any of the sons of Adam.

And because of that, therefore, God delights in his speech, and therefore he is fairer in the degree of God's blessing. Notice, therefore, God has blessed you forever. He is fairer than all the sons of men. His words always speak that which is true, which is favorable, agreeable. And he is fairer in the sense of being blessed by God forever.

Second, a heart captivated by Christ's beauty wants the world to know him and his ways. Look at verse 3. Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and your majesty. And in your majesty, ride on victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness.

Let your right hand teach you awesome things. Your arrows are sharp. The peoples fall under you. Your arrows are in the heart of the king's enemies. What is he saying? Gird your swords like he's commanding him. Gird yourself, make yourself ready. Make yourself ready. Put on your sword, your splendor, your majesty.

What is majesty? Things that cause people to have a sense of awe, cause trembling. Put on your royal majesty. He's commanding him. Gird on your sword, O mighty one. Rush victoriously. Ride on. Go out in a rush, in a rush of triumph. Go ride victorious. Put on your majesty, your highness, so that people can see your highness, your beauty, and ride on in triumph.

And do so for the way of truth, for the cause of truth, for the cause of meekness, for the cause of righteousness. Right on. These are the qualities. Truth, meekness, and righteousness are the characters, the very virtues of God Himself. Let your hand teach you awesome things. Your arrows are sharp.

Let the peoples be collapsing under you. Your arrows are in the heart of the king's enemies. You see, the psalmist knows the virtues of Christ. He's captivated by the beauty of Christ and longs that the whole world will know the beauty of this majestic one. He wants the world to know who he is.

He wants the world to see his majesty and his beauty. But that's only going to happen if the mighty God makes it happen. Gird on your sword on your thigh, O Mighty One. It's a name for God. God is the one that has to make it happen. And this is true.

And it's right. He is fairer than all the sons of men. And he needs to make the sons of men know that. And only God is going to be able to bring that about. And so a heart captivated by Christ's beauty wants the world to know him and his ways.

Third, a heart captivated by Christ's beauty recognizes his deity, recognizes his deity. Look at verse 6. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. This is the king. He's addressing his verses to the king. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

Looked at this this morning. This is what the author of Hebrews in those synagogues preaching and teaching to the Jews. He is, Jesus is God, and his throne is forever and ever. Therefore, pay attention to him. It's Paul's heart to get this message into the hearts of his people.

He is fairer than all the sons of Adam because he is God. The king is God. And therefore, rules righteously. That is the scepter of his kingdom. Your throne, your seat, your ruling power is forever. Fourth, a heart captivated by Christ's beauty delights in what he delights in.

Look at verse 7. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows. He is fairer because of what he loves and hates. He is fairer than all the sons because he is God. He is fairer than all the sons of men because of what he loves and what he hates.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. This is the disposition of the king. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you. That's the cause of the king's joy. Your God has anointed you with the oil of joy. So the cause of the king's joy is God's anointing with the oil of joy.

Fruitfulness. The oil of joyful exaltation connected to his love for righteousness and hatred of wickedness. It's that joy of loving what is right and seeing right done. But look at the extent of the king's joy above your fellows, above your fellows. It's above his associates, above his comrades, above all of his kind, above all of his companions.

Now, when you think about it in the context of Hebrews 1, he's talking about angels above all the angels, his joy. And here, he's talking about in the context of a wedding. Who do you think is the most joyful in a wedding? Certainly in our weddings that we do.

What do you think? Who might be the most joyful? Any idea? You've got a couple of options. You've got the bride, got the groom, maybe the dad of one of them finally married her off, or finally my son's got something. So who's the most joyful? Well, in this one, it's the groom.

It's the groom in this wedding. It's the groom. It's the king that is the most joyful. Think about that for a moment. He is joyful with his bride. He is the most joyful in the whole ceremony. Fifth, a heart captivated by Christ's beauty celebrates the blessedness of the union with him.

Look at verse 8. The psalmist just is celebrating, all your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes, cassia. Out of ivory palaces, stringed instruments have made you glad. I love that statement. Glad. Something has been in verse 7: God has anointed him with the oil of joy, oil of gladness.

And here it says, the praises that are coming out of ivory palaces, these stringed instruments, have made you glad. The praises being sung to him, the music, the celebration of the king has certainly Played a part and a role in his gladness. Part of God's anointing of Christ is the praises of his people.

The stringed instruments have made you glad. And then look at verse 9. King's daughters are among your noble ladies, your nobility. At your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophar. Literally states: the queen has taken her stand as one ready to carry out his wishes. She is stationed for service.

That's the language. And so he is captivated by the beauty of the king. And he is looking at this and his mind goes beyond, and he just sees the glory that awaits Christ. That is, belongs to Christ. And so a heart captivated by Christ's beauty knows that he surpasses the glory of all other sons of men, wants the world to know him and his ways, recognizes his deity, delights in what he delights in, and Celebrates the blessedness of union with Him.

So, a heart that overflows with love for Christ, first of all, is captivated by His beauty. You have a love for Christ, you will be captivated by the person of Christ. Do you love Jesus? Are you captivated by Him? Do you continue to grow in study of Him?

He is the greatest source of joy in heaven or on earth. Second, a heart overflowing with love for Christ is beautiful to Him. Now, this is surprising. A heart that overflows with love for Christ is captivated by His beauty. But a heart that overflows with love for Christ captivates His attention, it is beautiful to Him.

So, I'm going to talk about the beauty of the bride for just a moment. This captivating beauty of the bride. First of all, her devotion to the King is beautiful to the King. Look at verse 10. Listen, O daughter, singular. Listen, daughter. Give attention. Attention, incline your ear, forget your people and your father's house, then the king will desire your beauty.

Because he is your Lord, bow down to him. Look at that phrase at the beginning of verse 11. Then the king will desire your beauty. It's like the psalmist is admonishing the bride here. Let me tell you: in light of the beauty of the groom, in light of the beauty of the king, you become beautiful.

How do you become beautiful? What is the proper response to this king? And there's five commands that he gives in series. Five commands. You want to talk about a good place to understand how God wants you to respond to Christ? This is it. Five commands. This is a theology of a proper response to Christ.

Five commands. First of all, listen. Listen. And it is listen carefully. Listen carefully with the intention to understand. Second, give attention. Give attention. And that word says, go see. Go to him and see. Or come and see. Come and see. Give attention. Pay a visit so that you will see the face of the king.

Go out to him. Go see him. Pay attention. That's the idea. Does that sound familiar in Hebrews chapter 1, chapter 2? What's the whole sermon series about? Pay attention to Jesus. Isn't it interesting that the preacher in Hebrews is studying Psalm 45? He goes into a synagogue and he preaches to the Jews, and he's saying, Pay attention, daughter.

Pay attention. Listen to the king. Pay attention to the king. Give attention. Number three, incline your ear. Incline your ear. That's a stretch forth your ear. Bend towards him. Lean into him. Pay very careful. Make sure you are causing yourself to take in what he has to say.

Listen, daughter. Listen, you who have heard, who listen, you. Who the king has taken an interest in, listen to him. The king has taken an interest in you. And us here tonight, listen to him. Give attention to him. Incline your ear to him. Number four, forget. Forget your people and your father's house.

Isn't that great? There are some things we can be forgetting and be feeling good about. My age, that's great news, right? You be forgetting. You be losing memory of. You become oblivious to your father's house. And there it is. There's the call. Listen, give attention. Incline your ear, forget.

And then in verse 11, he says, bow. You be putting yourself in a state of homage to him, homage to him. Worship. Posture of worship. A posture of the highest respect, the highest honor. That's what a proper response to Christ looks like. The very fact that the gospel has drawn near to you through the preaching of his word, and there is an expression that God is interested in you, that Christ has died for you.

The message is listen to him. Come and see. Incline your ear. Forget, forget your heritage as a son or daughter of Adam. You are now to be wed to the King of Kings. Bow. Be putting yourself in a state of homage to him. I probably shouldn't say this, but this kind of reminds me of a funny story when we were in Malawi.

One of my sons with Mitt was with me, and I can't remember which one it was. I think it was Josiah. But one of the guys in the seminary came up to Josiah afterwards and said, Josiah, you need to marry a girl from Malawi, not America. Josiah's like, why?

Well, because if you marry a girl from Malawi when you come home, she will bow down to you. They don't do that in America. He goes, yeah, come to think of it, I don't think they really do. But she will respect you, and she will show you that respect.

I'll let Malawi be Malawi. I'll let America, I won't enter into that. Say this, it's proper, and this is what we've lost that in our culture, these outward expressions of respect. And it's proper in this context to bow to Christ because he is your Lord. Bow down to him.

The beauty of the bride is seen in her devotion to the king. I mean, her devotion to the king is beautiful to the king. But it's also clear that her devotion to the king is beautiful to others. Look at verse 12. The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift, tribute, a gift, an offering.

The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The rich among the people will seek your favor. They will entreat you. They will want to come close to you because of the devotion and the relationship that you have with the king. The beauty of the bride is also described as being internal as well as external.

Look at verse 13. The king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is interwoven. With gold. The whole of her, the king's daughter, is all glorious. All her, and describes glorious within. It speaks of the inner territory, a region on the inside. The inner realms of her person is beautiful thoroughly.

Wouldn't that be nice to be, oh, that the inner realms of our existence be all glorious, all splendid within. The word for glorious speaks of something that is highly valued by the owner. The king's daughter is all, the whole of her is all glorious within, the inner realms of her personhood, beautiful.

Her clothing, her external, she's beautiful on the outside. Her clothing is interwoven with gold. Really, golden threads have embroidered her clothing. She is beautiful on the inside and on the outside, captivating. The beauty of the bride is also. Seen in that her celebration is beautiful. The way she celebrates.

You can see this. The king celebrates her beauty. He publicly displays her. But look at the way she celebrates. She will be led to the king, verse 14. She will be escorted. She will be led to the king in embroidered work, in the finely finished, very colorfully woven garments.

She will be led to the king in embroidered work, finely clothed, colorfully clothed. Get the picture of the wedding. Think about what that looks like. She will be led to the king in procession. The virgins, the young women, her companions who follow her, will also be brought to you.

So you get the picture of the bride, and then you get her companions coming in, following her, or coming in after her, and they too will be brought to the king. So you pictured this scene. Look at that. They will. Be led forth, these companions, with gladness and rejoicing.

Again, there's that joy. They will be conducted forth with joy and celebration, with jubilation, gladness, and rejoicing. Now, the word for rejoicing is actually circle dancing. They will, you can get the picture of this dancing, a joyful, rejoicing kind of dance, circling dance, much celebration. They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing, and they will enter into the king's palace.

So, there's the scene: the bride, the clothes, beautiful procession, the companions coming in, joyful celebration, entering into the king's palace. That is the beauty of the bride. So, a heart that's flowing, overflowing with love for Christ is captivated by his beauty, is also beautiful to him. May our response be as beautiful as his beauty deserves.

Yeah, and that's not something we do in our own strength. We have to be made beautiful by The work of the Spirit of God. But that's what He does. So cooperate with Him. Let Him have His work. Let Him elevate Christ before you. Let Him transform you to more and more love what He loves and hate what He hates and to listen to Him more carefully, to forget and to bow down to Him.

He is deserving. And third, a heart that is overflowing with love for Christ, is captivated by His beauty, is beautiful to Him, and finally will never cease loving Him. Will never cease loving Him. The next thing the Psalmist does is He describes the blessedness of their union. Look what He says in verse 16: In place of your fathers will be your sons.

You shall make them princes in all the earth. So His children, their children, will be exalted. Children will be exalted. I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations, an exalted name. Therefore, the peoples will give you thanks forever and ever. That is eternal praise. Giving thanks forever.

You know what I love about this word, and I love about Hebrew. You know what giving thanks is, this expression here? They will be throwing the hand forward. That's what thankfulness is. It's the idea of pointing. They will be throwing the hand forward in the idea to draw attention to something.

There he is. Look at what my king did. There it is. Let me tell you who he is. Let me show you. That's what thankfulness is. It's throwing the hand forward and declaring what God has done and what you are thankful for. And so forever, the peoples, the peoples, the union, the psalmist has looked beyond and has seen a union of the king and the peoples.

And they will be giving thanks to him forever and ever. Eternal praise. And so, think about it this morning. There's so much to say, so many things that could be said on this psalm I think. It's just so rich and full, and of course, there's a lot that can be said.

But I thought tonight I just wanted to reflect on some of the themes to show you that the writer of Hebrews, when he uses this text that he does, he's using it appropriately. He's picking up the same themes, and his heart is overflowing with the same theme that this psalmist.

I asked you this question this morning: What is the solution to an epidemic of joylessness in our lives and churches? And the answer is royal joy. The answer I said this morning is: we need to let the king's joy become our joy. Royal joy, this heavenly joy, the joy of the king, needs to become our joy.

How do we do this? Well, in the context of Hebrews 1, I gave an answer. You're to love what he loves, hate what he loves, hate what he hates. And my answer this evening is in the same vein with a different emphasis from Psalm 45. You know what you need to do to put on this royal joy?

Boy. You need to exercise your royal privilege that is extended to you in the gospel and take it for all that it's worth. Take in the beauty of Christ. Incline your ear. Respond to him beautifully. Look, this individual is God. You see the very same thing throughout Scripture.

Remember, what does he want? What captivates God? I'll tell you what it does. And God said in Isaiah 66, too, but to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word, that captivates him. Hosea 6:6, God says, I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice.

Loyalty. This kind of loyalty that has been described in Psalm 45 is the proper response. That is the loyalty that captivates God's attention. Yes, it's a work of the Spirit. I'm not elevating man's work and role, but this is what the Spirit of God does. We should want that.

We should welcome His work. We should. Because then the king delights in the beauty of loyalty. 2 Chronicles 16, 9 says this, For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his. That's what he looks for.

That's what captivates God, is a heart that has heard and responds to him beautifully. So take in the beauty of Christ. This is your royal privilege, and the gospel is extended to you. Respond beautifully to him. And you know why? Because, number three, it's the right thing to do.

It's the right thing to do. And you will experience his joy. You are called to royalty. Take in Christ's royal highness. Respond royally to him. And then experience his royal joy. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that your joy is written throughout the pages of scriptures that we hold in our hands.

Father, I confess. That oftentimes we don't see your joy. It's eclipsed by our misperceptions or our distractions. But you really are glorious, majestic. So, Father, help us to respond beautifully to your Son. We ask this in Jesus' name and for His glory. Amen.