Ivory Palaces
Lessons From Lyric Titles • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
As we continue our Sunday morning theme “Lessons From Lyric Titles” we will be looking at which we just sang, Ivory Palaces.
This idea for the hymn comes from the psalmist there in Psalm 45:8.
In Psalm 45:8 we read…
8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad
You might, as I did at first, be asking what does that verse have to do with Jesus?
Like with all passages, when we look further into the context of the passage we end up finding a “love song” between a king and his bride, one that the psalmist begins by writing…
1 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.
What is the “pleasing theme” that makes the psalmists heart overflow?
It is the fact that this king came out of the ivory palaces and into this world of woe.
Why, because his great eternal love made our Savior go.
Let’s begin our lesson by learning about our king who gave up for a time the ivory palaces.
The King
The King
His Charm
His Charm
In Psalm 45 we find five different aspects of the king described, beginning with his charm.
2 You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.
Jesus, didn’t grow up to be a man considered by his peers as very handsome.
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t handsome, but handsome in the eyes of God, who looks at one’s inner beaty.
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Jesus’ charm first comes from his perfect heart before God.
Jesus’s charm didn’t end with the beauty of his heart however, it was also found coming from the grace poured upon his lips.
When Jesus taught, people took notice that he spoke like no other man.
46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
The psalmists heart overflows for his king not only for his charm but also…
His Conquests
His Conquests
The psalmist writes in Psalm 45:3-5…
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty! 4 In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds! 5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; the peoples fall under you.
This king, the mighty one full of splendor and majesty is a conqueror.
Jesus “rode out victoriously” in his ministry demonstrating truth, meekness, and righteousness.
Jesus demonstrated what living truth looks like.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus demonstrated what living meekly looks like.
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
Jesus demonstrated what living righteously looks like.
22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
This king, the mighty one full of splendor and majesty conquered as human, living a life complete in truth, meekness, and righteousness.
Because of this God the Father, has anointed him as king.
This is seen in…
His Crown & Clothing
His Crown & Clothing
The psalmists writes of the king’s “crown” in Psalm 45:6-7…
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions
Jesus, is king of his kingdom for whom God the Father has appointed and anointed him as such.
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
The psalmist writes of the king’s clothing in Psalm 45:8…
8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia…
When Jesus did and his body was taken by Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph was assisted by Nicodemus, the same one from John 3, who brought with these spices for Jesus’ body which was wrapped or clothed.
39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
In even death, Jesus the king, was clothed in precious and rare spices.
Lastly, the psalmist tells us about…
His Court
His Court
The psalmist’s writes in Psalm 45:8…
8 …From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad
The Hebrew write of the joy it brought Jesus knowing the outcome of his leaving the ivory palaces to come to this place of woe.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Summary
Summary
Jesus the Christ, our Savior, is one who should make, “Our heart overflow with a pleasing theme.”
The theme of a king as a savior is one that should make one’s hearts overflow.
And the reason, OUR hearts should over flow is because we, as Christians, are the bride of Christ the King of kings.
In this love song, the psalmist gives two reason why the bride’s heart should overflow for her husband the king and what it takes to please thing.
As Christians we are…
The Bride
The Bride
Her Clothing
Her Clothing
The psalmist tells of his bride, the queens clothing, Psalm 45:9, 13-15.
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
13 All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. 14 In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her. 15 With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.
Jesus has always striven to clothe us in the very best clothing.
As Christians we are clothed in the very best because we are clothed in Christ.
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
People today worry about the clothing they wearing, but in reality as Christians we know we are clothed in the most wonderful and highest quality of clothing, Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is why Christians are clothed with joy and gladness in their hearts.
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness
Every Christian’s heart should overflow knowing that our husband the king, cares so deeply for us.
He isn’t giving us his “hand-me-downs” he is arraying us in the finest possible clothing himself.
Not only has the king clothed his bride in the very best which makes our hearts overflow, but the psalmist also declares that our hearts should overflow because of…
Her Coming Glory
Her Coming Glory
The king will glorify his queen in two ways.
First, the king will glorify his queens by making certain her sons are princes in all the earth.
16 In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth.
The point here is that they are royalty.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Second, the king will glorify his queen by giving her honor.
17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
Any parent physically or spiritually trying to raise faithful children should find great comfort in knowing that our husband the king sees the value in our children and seeks to honor us in our efforts to raise for him faithful children.
This is all made possible only if the bride understands something extremely important in any marriage.
She understands…
Her Commitment
Her Commitment
The bride of Christ must accept two things, to be his queen.
First her separation.
10 Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house
To be the faithful bride of Christ we must separate ourselves from this world and be fully and completely dedicated to our husband the king.
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Second, her submission.
11 and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.
This is the role that is based on gratitude not inferiority.
3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Summary
Summary
Being the bride of Christ has its benefits.
We are clothed with the very best clothing.
Not only are we honored, but so too are our children.
We don’t have any burdens because we have submit to our king and he has taken those on for us.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Ivory Palaces:
“Out of the ivory palaces into a world of woe, only his great eternal love made my Savior go.”
Today, we have been able to honor our king by worshiping him in beautiful submission.
However, when we go outside those doors and must live amongst and within the sinfulness of this world we can find ourselves become tangled in its sinful snares.
Maybe this morning, you realize you have become entangled and ensnared.
Don’t stay that way.
Maybe there is someone here that has not been “clothed” with Christ.
That hasn’t tasted of the wonderful and bountiful blessings of what it means to “be clothed with Christ” after coming out of that water grave of baptism.
Why, wait?
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
