Brethren, Luke chapter 1. Songs
went so well with the message this morning. Our subject is Jesus the Great
King and Savior. We have history speaks of men
like Alexander the Great. Our text declares Jesus the Great. Jesus the Great. Verse 31, the
angel said, Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring
forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus, he shall be great,
and shall be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall
reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there
shall be no end. Notice the certainty with which
the angel speaks. There's seven shalls in three
verses. Our gospel is not a maybe gospel. Our gospel is a yes and amen
gospel. Paul said, the son of God, Jesus
Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus
and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in
him are yea and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Let's take what the angel said here and see what scripture says
about these things. First of all, the Lord's name,
Jesus. Thou shall conceive in thy womb
and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. According
to the Greek lexicon, Jesus means Jehovah is salvation. And we
don't have to go to a man-made lexicon. We can look at Matthew,
he said, the angel said it, In Matthew's account, thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. We've looked at this many times.
He shall save. No possibility of failure. He
shall save. The Lord said in Isaiah 42 concerning
Christ, he shall not fail, nor be discouraged till he hath set
judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.
Notice Matthew said, he shall save his people. Christ came
to save a particular people the Father gave him before this world
was made. He shall save his people. Our Lord prayed in his high priestly
prayer, and he said, Father, glorify thy son, that thy son
may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. There are people chosen by God
and given to the Son to save. He shall save his people. He said, I finished the work
thou gavest me to do. By his own blood, he entered
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
it. He shall save, he has. He shall
save his people from their sins. That's what he's saving us from,
from our sins. Before the law of God, our Lord
Jesus laid down his life and when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
high. In the new birth, he said, I will sprinkle clean water upon
you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from
all your idols will I cleanse you. and then at last he's gonna
save us out of this world into glory. Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many and to them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Salvation
is all of him. We're sinners, that's all we
contribute is sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is salvation. Stop trusting your will, stop
looking to your work, stop looking to anything in you or anything
in this world, and look to Christ only. He is salvation, none other
but him. Then secondly, look here in our
text in Luke 1, the angel's word here now, it's spoken in future
tense, but it has come to pass. Verse 32, he shall be great and
shall be called the son of the highest. and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David. Our Lord Jesus
in his person is great. He is great. He is great in his
person. He is the great God and the great
man in one person. That's who the Lord Jesus is. As God, he's the son of the highest. He's the son of God the Father.
And as man, he's the son of David. David was his father according
to the flesh as a man, fully God and fully man, and yet completely
one, one person. That's who he is. God could not
suffer and die, and man could not satisfy divine justice, but
the God-man could both bear the sin of his people, suffer the
curse, and satisfy divine justice for us, and that's exactly what
he did. That's what the Lord Jesus accomplished. The same
as he's God and man in one person, the mediator is the only one
between God and man who brings God and his people together in
himself in one. He is the mediator. He's the
one who makes us one with God. His propitiation is great. Our
Lord Jesus was made sin for us who knew no sin, and he propitiated
God for his people. He was made a curse for us. And
by what he's accomplished, he's made every one of his chosen
people the righteousness of God in him. As we saw this morning,
we arose in him and our life is hid in him at God's right
hand. He is everlasting righteousness
for his people. That's who he is. His propitiation
is great. That means there's no wrath in
God left toward his people. Christ bore it all. He satisfied
God. God said, fury's not in me. He
completely satisfied God. He bore the stripes and the wounds
and the bruisings that it took to satisfy justice, and God satisfied. Fury's not in him toward his
people. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. That's blessing. People say,
have a blessed day. Oh, you can't imagine how blessed
my day is. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute Sin, that's all of God's grace, brethren.
There's no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. That's what
Christ did for us. I'll write unto you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. He's great as the high priest
of his people. He is there in God's presence,
and he advocates for his people. He is great in his high priestly
office for his people. Seeing then, we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. John said, my little children,
I'm writing to you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous, and
he's the propitiation for our sin. He is the propitiation for
our sin. He's great. In every way, the
Lord Jesus Christ is great. Look at the next thing he says.
Christ Jesus is our king, and we've been born into his kingdom. That's how you get in his kingdom.
You're born into his kingdom. We've been born into his kingdom,
and right now he's reigning, and he shall reign forever, and
he's making you and me to reign by his power and his grace through
preaching his gospel. He says here in verse 32, the
Lord God shall give unto him the throne, the throne of his
father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Now listen, you and
me don't make him king. He came into this world the king. The wise men came and they said,
we came to see him that is born king of the Jews. He was born
king. He is the king of all God's elect,
those circumcised in heart, the true Jew. He's the king of the
Jews. He was king when he rode into
Jerusalem on his way to the cross. Zechariah 9.9 says, rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion, Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem,
behold thy king cometh unto thee, he's just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass. He came into Jerusalem, the king. And now that he's accomplished
the salvation of his people, our covenant Lord God has given
him the throne of David. That's what the earthly throne
of David typified. It pictured Christ's throne in
glory. Physical, earthly, political
Israel pictured God's, Christ's kingdom, the true Israel. And
he's now on that throne. David wanted to build him a house.
Go with me to 2 Samuel and look at verse seven. David wanted
to build him a house, you remember. And the Lord said, I'll build
you a house, David. 2 Samuel 7. In verse 12, he said, and when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
I will set up thy seed after thee. Our text said, according
to the flesh, he is the son of David. And God said, I will set
up thy seed after thee. He's not talking about Solomon.
He's talking about Christ, greater than Solomon is here. He said,
I'll set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy
bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a
house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever. I will be his father, and he
shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with a rod of men and with the stripes of the children
of men. And he, when he was made sin for us, that's what happened
on the cross. He said, but my mercy shall not
depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away
before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall
be established forever. Now you know that can't speak
of Solomon, because Solomon was a man and he died. This speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ, man's salvation. made their attempts
to break God's bands asunder and to crucify the Lord Jesus
Christ, and God laughed. He has men in derision. And he
said in Psalm 2, yet I've set my king on my holy hill of Zion. And Christ Jesus right now is
in the mount of God, seated on the great throne, that throne
of David, and his kingdom is forever and ever. This is what,
go to Acts 2, this is what, when Peter given the ability to preach
in the language and tongues he had never learned. This is the
wonderful works of God that he declared on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2 and verse 30, he says,
David being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn, Acts 2.30,
David being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He seeing this
before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all our witnesses. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth
this which you now see and hear. For David's not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand till I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you hath crucified, both Lord and Christ. The Lord Jesus is great, brethren,
and he's great in his preeminence as the blessed and only potentate,
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is reigning and
ruling over everything and everybody in heaven, earth, and hell. That's
what our Lord is doing. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sin. You know why you believe? Because our sovereign king and
savior ruled everything in this world. to send you the gospel
and put you under that gospel. And he gave to you repentance
from trusting in anything about yourself. And he gave you faith
to cast all your care on him. Christ Jesus, our King and our
Savior did that. That's what God raised him to
do. He is the Prince and the Savior for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. That's what he has accomplished. He's the lamb upon his throne.
I love how John saw him. A lamb as it had been slain,
but he's on the throne. The king, sovereign in power. Nothing comes to pass in this
world but by his will and his power. Everything coming to pass,
he's bringing it to pass exactly according to his will and his
power, saving his people. Go with me to Isaiah 9. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. Unto us a child is born, and
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder. I'd like to hear people quit
talking about the president like he rules anything. The government's
on Christ's shoulder. The government's on his shoulder.
And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, to Mighty
God, to Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase
of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne
of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish
it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. He is right now reigning in righteousness. The Lord Jesus is. He's made
us his princes. You that he's called and given
faith in him, he's made us kings and priests unto God. And we're
his princes. Go to Isaiah 32. Look here, Isaiah
32. And he's using, we're more than
conquerors through him that loved us. He's using us to preach the
gospel, and this is how he's reigning, and how he's causing
you and me to reign. He's calling his people, teaching
his people, and he's doing it through this gospel. Look here,
Isaiah 32, one. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall
be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest,
as rivers of water in a dry place, as a shadow of a great rock in
a weary land. And the eyes of them that see
shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the
tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. That's what he's done for you
and me. He's given you ears to hear, He's given you faith to
believe and he's given you, he's given our stammering tongue the
ability to preach his gospel and through it, he's reigning
and calling others and making them his princes unto God and
using us all together to preach his word. Yes, it's gonna get
better and better. The increase of his government,
it's gonna increase. He's calling, he's gonna call
every single one of his people. And one day when he's called
all his people and birthed everyone into his kingdom, then the rest
of the world is going to be cast out and we'll be in a new heaven
and a new earth with our king in his kingdom. But Brethren,
right now, he's ruling and he's reigning and we're more than
conquerors through him that loved us. Scripture says in those days
and at that time, will I cause the branch of righteousness to
grow up under David and he shall execute judgment and righteousness
in the land. That's what he did on Calvary's
cross. That's what he did in our hearts.
And that's what he's doing in Providence in this world right
now. He's executing what's just and right and what must be brought
to pass. He's the righteous branch. He's
that righteous branch that God said would come from David. That's
who Christ is. and he's the king reigning and
prospering. He executed judgment on the cross
and put away all the sin of his people so that God is just to
be merciful to his people and he was just to be merciful to
you and give you a heart to believe him and he's just to to be merciful,
to call out each of his people, because he satisfied justice.
And everything he's doing in this world, you don't have to
fight with men, you don't have to try to overcome men in this
world. The Lord is going to vindicate
his people and work what's just and right in this world for you
and for me, and he's doing it every day, every day. He continues
to do this through the gospel, and he's birthing each of his
people into his kingdom. This is the name wherewith he
shall be called, and this is the name wherewith she shall
be called, the Lord our righteousness. And he's gonna continue to do
this till he's made every enemy his footstool. I think I've told
you this before, but Solomon had a footstool that was connected
to his throne. And the church is called his
footstool. And you and me, we're enemies
in our minds by wicked works, but he gave you a new heart to
bow to him, and he's made you a place where we, what do we
bow to? We bow to his feet. We bow down
to his feet. We've been made his footstool.
We're united to him, to his throne. And every other enemy that's
not chosen by God, that Christ did not redeem, that will justly
face God one day and justly be condemned because they rejected
Christ, he gonna make them. He gonna cast them out. But everybody's
gonna bow. And you're gonna be a conqueror
only through Christ our King. But through him, we're more than
conquerors. Revelation said, these shall
make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them. That's
what Christ has done and is doing. He's Lord of lords and King of
kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen and
faithful by his grace. I guess the three most powerful
men in the world right now is Trump, Xi, and Putin. But they're not ruling things.
Christ is ruling things. He put them where they are. and
he's ruling everything, and they're puppets, and he's pulling the
strings. That's just how it is. That's
so everybody in this world, they're not a hair falls from your head
without him. They're not a sparrow falls to
the ground without him. Our Lord Jesus is bringing his
eternal will to pass, and it is his counsel that shall stand.
We saw Thursday, there's a lot of devices in a man's heart,
but that's not what's gonna stand, it's gonna be his counsel that's
gonna stand. And as for you and me who he's
called, our king is our great shepherd. That's what scripture
said. Our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep. While he's ruling everything
that you and me can't even comprehend, he's ruling things we can't see. He's ruling, he's head over angels
invisible that we can't see. Good and an evil. And he's ruling
everything in this world. But as he's doing that, he is
our great shepherd. What does that mean? Go with
me to Psalm 23. Here's what it means for you
and me, brethren. Psalm 23. Verse one, the Lord is my shepherd. Is he your shepherd? Has he given
you a heart to trust him? Is he your shepherd? Then here's
what you can say. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. That means you won't lack. You won't be without. Here's
what he's going to give you. This is what you need. This is
what we need. And here's what he'll give you.
He's gonna give his child rest. Verse two, he maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. He's my rest. This great shepherd
is my peace. Verse two, he leadeth me beside
still waters. Peaceful waters. He's my peace. He is my spiritual life that
keeps renewing me. He's my righteousness. He's my
forgiveness with God. Verse three, he restoreth my
soul. He's holiness. He is our holiness. And verse three says, and he
leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. That's what
he's doing for every one of his sheep. He's all our protection
and he's all our fellowship with God and our fellowship with one
another. He says, verse four, yea, though I walk to the valley
of the shadow of death. That's not just when you get
to the end and you're on your dying pillow, that's right now.
That's how this world is, the vale of tears, the valley of
the shadow of death. But you ever been hurt by a shadow?
You ever had a shadow hurt you? A shadow can't hurt you. He conquered death. He conquered
it. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with
me. What about comfort? Do you need
comfort? Here's what our great shepherd
promises. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. What's the rod
and the staff? The shepherd's crook. That shepherd's
crook is how they numbered the sheep. That's how, if a sheep
was going astray, took him and pulled him back, the shepherd
pulled him back in, and he used that rod to comfort his sheep
because he's protecting his sheep. What is this rod and this staff?
The preaching of his glory and his power and his full accomplishment,
his person, his work The gospel is the rod in the staff. This
is how he numbers the elect. How do you know who the elect
are? He makes them hear the gospel and bow and believe him. If they're
going astray, how's he going to bring them back? Same way
he brought them in in the first hour. He's going to renew us
in heart through this gospel. What about comfort? This is how he comforts his people.
He says to his preacher, comfort ye my people. Tell them their
warfare is accomplished. For all our provision, verse
five, thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
and my cup runneth over. That's what he's doing right
here through this gospel too. He's prepared us a feast right
here in the midst of our enemies, and whatever you need, he's providing
it for you in this life. But spiritually, that's what
we need, and he's anointing our head with the oil of the Spirit,
and he doesn't just give a little, he gives an abundance. He makes
your cup run over. And our whole pilgrimage through
this life, verse six, surely goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life. Goodness and mercy. shall follow
me all the day. See, he's leading you before,
and as we saw from Isaiah 52 the other day, and he's your
rear ward. He's following behind you with goodness and mercy,
keeping you. And this will be so, brethren, for all eternity. He said, I'm gonna establish
his kingdom forever. His throne's gonna be forever.
His kingdom's forever. This world and everything in
it, everything you and me see is passing away, but his kingdom
is forever. And he says here, verse six,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This is
our great shepherd, our great king, our great savior. Brethren,
come with me to Hebrews 2. Hold fast this profession. Hold
fast. You know why? Because this is
called in scripture, so great salvation. Only a great savior
can work a so great salvation. Look here, Hebrews 2. Verse three, how shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the
Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him. God also bearing them witness
both with signs and wonders and with different miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. A great savior
works a great salvation. And that's what we, he's worked
for his people. for you and me. And you know
what's gonna happen in the end? All creation, not only is all
men and women, all creation's gonna praise Him. He made everything,
it's made by Him and for Him, and it's been made to praise
Him. Revelation 4.11 says it's all gonna praise Him. Listen
to this, Revelation 4.11. This is what all creation's gonna
say. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created. And Philippians
2 tells us this. I already touched on this, but
Philippians 2 tells us this. Every knee, every knee, He's
gonna bow and every tongue gonna confess. That's friend and foe.
That's the righteous and the wicked. But everybody, everybody,
Philippians 2, he says here in Philippians 2 and verse 9, he
exalted the Father by what he accomplished by his obedience
to the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him and given him 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. You know what Paul's point is
there? He says, so brethren, in all the things you have to
do in your daily life every day as brethren in the church, he
says do it all without murmuring and disputing because God right
there with you. Christ is right there present
working His will and His good pleasure. This is our King. This is our King. And all God's
elect are gonna praise Christ alone for the whole of our salvation
forever. That's what we're gonna do. That's
what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1 and chapter 30. Here's why
he revealed the gospel to us right here. This is the purpose.
that no flesh, verse 29, 1 Corinthians 1, 29, that no flesh should glory
in his presence, but of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. And there's what our text says
in Luke chapter one and verse 33. It says at the very end,
and of his kingdom there shall be no end. No end. Brethren, we saw this morning,
he has delivered us from the power of darkness and he has
translated us, God our Father, he's translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son. We're in it right now. We're
in it. and it's just gonna get better
and better and better. And in Him, we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin. I got one application. Fear our King, reverence our
King, and do not fear man. Do not fear man. Turn off the
news, if you have to turn off the news, and turn on the good
news. turn off the bad news and turn
on the good news, and hear the proclamation of Christ, and know
everything He's working, He's working it all together for the
good of His people, and He's doing exactly according to His
eternal purpose, and if God be for us, who can be against us?
Nothing's gonna separate His people from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus. This is Jesus, the great, King
and Savior. Do you believe Him? Do you trust
Him? He's salvation. There is salvation
in no other. Absolutely salvation in no other. I can't make you, I can't make
you believe Him. But He, He does in all His people. And He's gonna keep Himself in
your heart, renewing your heart, and everything He's promised,
He's gonna bring to pass. and he will not lose one of his
people. We're saved, and we're safe,
and we shall be forever. That's the truth. Father, we
thank you for trusting this work into your hands of your son. Thankful, Lord, that you chose
him. Thankful that you gave him. Thankful that Christ has saved
us and is saving us. And we trust, Lord, that by your
grace, you'll keep us resting in him, trusting him. Lord, don't
let us look to ourselves. Don't let us look to this world.
Don't let us trust in anything that is of us. Keep us trusting
him only, Lord. Oh, we're just, our hearts are
so deceitful, Lord. and we just, we depend on you
every moment, always. Keep us, Lord, please keep us. Thank you so much for this sure
promise and this sure declaration of Christ our King and our Savior.
Oh, what a great, great blessing you've given us, Lord, to know
Him, whom to know is life everlasting. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Lord, be with your people here, be with each one. You've promised
it. You know all things and your
presence is with your people at all times. Hold us and keep
us, Lord. Be our great shepherd. We thank
you so much for salvation, full and free. In Christ's name we
pray, amen. All right, Brother Greg.