I want you to open your Bibles this morning to the book of 1
Timothy. 1 Timothy. And I want to read to you some very important verses. Very important. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 14 ends with speaking of
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says this, which
in his times, He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate. That word means sovereign. Who is the blessed and only potentate,
the King of kings and Lord of lords. who only hath immortality, dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Oftentimes in conversations with
people and with things that I'm told
and things that I hear and things that I see, it seems that the
Lord will bring to my attention something
that he would have me to dwell on a bit in what I preach, to
preach it to this generation. And it was one such conversation
I had that reminded me how little this world knows about the King
of Kings. The Lord Jesus Christ will one day shone. It will be
known to all that He is the King of Kings. Listen in Revelation 17. These shall make war with the
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of Lord
and King of kings. Again, in Revelation 19, And
He hath on His vesture and on his thigh a name written, King
of kings and Lord of lords." The Bible says, I believe it's
in one of the Psalms, that the Lord had set his king on his
holy hill. And if you'll turn over in the
book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 7, beginning in verse 1, he says,
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High
God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings
and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of
all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after
that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. The Lord hath put all things under his feet. You can read in the first chapter,
or rather the second chapter of the book of Hebrews. And it
says in Hebrews 2 and verse 8, thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now
it doesn't appear. We don't naturally see that.
We don't naturally know that. We see not yet all things put
under him, but we see Jesus. Whenever our Lord came into this
world, He was rejected in every way
imaginable. But it all came down to the final
hours and moments. And what took place in that time
was just simply a picture. It was simply an evidence of
how man naturally responds to God's King. He's king of kings. And so when they crucified the
Lord Jesus Christ, Mark's gospel tells us some things that transpired
in that crucifixion and in Matthew chapter, Mark chapter 15 rather,
Beginning in verse 16, we find those awful details. Mark 15, 16. And the soldiers led him away
into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the
whole band. The whole shooting match. Everybody. And they clothed him with purple
and plaited a crown of thorns and put it about his head. And they began to salute him. Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him on the head
with a reed and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees,
worshipped him, mocked him in worship. And when they had mocked
him, they took off the purple from him and put his own clothes
on him. and led him out to crucify him. The Jews had overall rejected the kingship
of Jesus Christ, saying, we will not have this man reign over
us. And the soldiers on this occasion
began to mock the Lord Jesus Christ. They began to ridicule
him in a specific character. The fact of his kingship. They rejected him as God's king
of kings, and they mocked him in it. They gave all the ornaments of
a king in a base and foul way to mock him in his claim to being
king. Pilate asked him, are you a king? He said, to this end came I into
this world. But my kingdom is not of this
world. It's not of a worldly kind. As a matter of fact, all worldly
kings and kingdoms are under this king of kings. But I'm afraid, just as he was
ridiculed and scorned on this occasion in his flesh by these
people and men, he almost is more so in our day
by people, especially religious people and preachers. He is already set as God's king. And nothing that is done by anybody
in this world, great or small, no action of man is ever gonna
change that. He's king of kings and lord of
lords. And yet he is in this hour and
will be in the next hour many times ridiculed as a king by
such things as free will. Man's free will. People will
hear about man's free will. There's only one sovereign will
in this universe that counts. And that's the will of the king
of kings. They'll say things like, let
Jesus come into your heart. That's so foolish in the light
of his person and offices. Let him do something? The king
of kings? They'll say things like, let him be king, or make him
king, or allow him to be king of your life. This is utter foolishness
and blasphemy in the light of the fact that God has already
anointed him his king. You remember there were three
offices that were anointed in the Old Testament economy. The
prophet, he's God's prophet. The priest, he's God's priest. And the king, he is absolutely
God's king. They say things like, accept
him. Accept Jesus as your personal
savior. It is not we that can or must
accept him, he must accept us. The king rules over all and he
must accept us. When Esther went in before the
king, before she could be received, he had to hold out the golden
scepter. He's a king. No, he's the king. And I'm afraid all of these religious
cliches and expressions just simply reveal the ignorance of
who he is. They reveal the natural rebellion
of the heart for who he is. They tie the hands of him who
does what he will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of men, and none can stay his hand. He's the King of kings. And you gather up all the powers
that be on the earth at any given time, right in this hour ourselves,
as it goes on in the world, every one of those kings or presidents
or whatever they are, they're under this king. There's no other. It'll be shown
who is the king of kings. Every knee shall bow to him and
every tongue shall confess that he's lord and king to the glory
of God. Every single one. And when you come to things like
free will and the notions of Man having to accept him and
receive him or make him something or allow him to do something.
All that is, is a satanic resistance to God. What did Satan say when he fell? He said, I will be as the most
high. How is the most high? He's the
sovereign king, Lord. And so when we begin to spout
off like little puny fleas against heaven, against all this that
God has put in his king, it's just utter blasphemy. We don't
let him be anything. John Gill said this. He said,
they came and prostrated themselves before him. bowed the knee unto
him, addressed him in a mock way, as if he was an earthly
monarch just come to his crown and whom they wish long to live,
thus mocking at his kingly office. and despising him under that
character. As many do now, some will not
have him to reign over them, but reject him as king, and others,
though in the words they own him as king, yet disregard his
command, and act no better part than these soldiers did. They
read these verses and they say, oh, that was a terrible thing. That was a terrible, awful thing
they did. They spit on him. They beat him
with a reed. They crowned him with thorns.
My friend, that is almost nothing to compare. with the attitude
of deceived people in our day as to the kingship, the rule,
the sovereign dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when they did that, when they did what they did to
Him, Without knowing it and without wanting it, without believing
it, they did to Him what God had ordained, and they showed
us in a picture the gospel of our Savior, of our substitute. Verse 17 here in Mark says that
they clothed him with purple. John tells us a purple robe,
a scarlet robe. And the truth is that Christ
wore this robe of shame in order that we might wear a
robe of righteousness. Isaiah, the prophet, records
these words. He says, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels."
Because when he was having that robe put on him, It was a picture
of how he bore our sins in his own body and how God imputes
to us the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
over to Ezekiel 16. This is one of my favorite, my
very favorite passages of scripture because it describes what God
in grace has done for His people, His bride, the church. Verse 9 says, I thee with water. Yea, I throughly
washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered
work, and shod thee with badger skin, and I girded thee about
with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I deck thee also
with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on
thy neck, and I put a jewel in thy forehead, and earrings in
thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus thou wast
decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen
and silk embroidered work. Thou didst see fine flower and
honey and all thou wast exceeding beautiful. Thou didst prosper
into a kingdom. and thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect. Here's a picture of this clothed
woman, dressed in such fine array and apparel, which represents
all the gifts of God's grace, the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he says, for it was perfect
through my comeliness, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord. God, because Christ bore the
filthy rags of our righteousness and sin, we are clothed in the
very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I say righteousness because the king and his kingdom
When they're spoken of in Scripture, they're always associated with
righteousness. Look with me in Matthew chapter
6. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33. Now, the only place that you're
going to find a kingdom is where there's a king. So he says, but seek ye first,
verse 33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God. Where's the kingdom? Well, the kingdom of God. Being
not of this world, being not of a worldly kind, can only be
seen and known by faith, and faith is in the King. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto thee, unto you. Look over in Hebrews 2. Rather, Hebrews 7, where we read
before. Hebrews 7 and verse 2. Because Melchizedek, if he wasn't
the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, he was at least a good
type of him. And how is he known? Why does
Abraham honor him and pay tithes to him and all these things?
It says, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, being
by interpretation king of righteousness. And after that, also king of
Salem, which is king of peace." In other words, in the righteousness
that this king gives as a gift, in the righteousness that he
establishes by his cross work, in the very righteousness of
God that is in him, Peace. People want peace. They talk
about peace with God. He made his peace with God. You
can't make your peace with God. Because you can't establish a
righteousness before God. You can't do anything to establish
a righteousness before God, which would be the basis of that peace. Look over in Romans chapter 14.
Romans chapter 14 and verse 17. Listen now. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, simply stating that the kingdom of God does
not have to do with external things, earthly peace, wealth,
health, any of these things. But the kingdom of God, being
not meat or drink, is righteousness. That's all about this king's
kingdom. And the result of the righteousness
that he establishes and gives to his people as a gift, he made
peace by the blood of his cross. He reconciled us to God. He did
all that was necessary and all that had to be done and could
be done to make peace with God. So the
kingdom of God is righteousness and the result of righteousness
is what? Peace. And the result of peace is joy. Always joy. It doesn't mean that we don't
have sorrows and troubles and trials and affliction in this
world, but if we are in the kingdom of God, worshiping the King,
believing on the King, trusting in the King, trusting in His
righteousness, we know by virtue of the fact that God has said
it, that we have peace with God. So whatever else happens, We still have joy, only true
joy. And the fact is, if you look
in Romans 10 in verse 3, that the evidence that this righteousness,
that this King are inseparably joined together, that you cannot
have one without the other, Paul says of his own people,
Romans 10 verse 1, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel that they might be saved. Well, here are all
these people, all these Israelites, his kinsmen after the flesh.
And they're in religion. They've been in religion since
they were born. They were born into religion.
Hebrews. People of God, supposedly. You mean to tell me, Paul, that
you don't think they're saved? You don't think that they're
believers? You don't think they know the truth? Aren't we all
just going the same way, looking to the same God, just different
way? All these things? Do you mean to tell me your own
people you have to view as condemned before God? He says, for I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God. Oh, they're zealous. They're
keying a heartbeat for God. They'll sacrifice anything for
God. They'll give anything for God. They'll do anything in the name
of God. Just how can you question their
zeal? He said their zeal is not according
to knowledge. Their zeal, their zeal is all
right, but it evidences in the way that they seek to stand before
God and be accepted before God and worship God and be saved
by God. Their zeal is not according to
knowledge, true knowledge. Well, how in the world do you
know that, Paul? For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted." What do you do to a king's rule?
What do you do to a king's authority? What do you do with a king who
can do anything he wants, whose words are the rule of the land? What can you do except what he
says. But they have not submitted themselves
to the king and therefore they have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. They're just rebels. They've
not been brought to bow and submit to the king. They don't know
the king. You can tell by their expressions. They have no awe. They have no
true honor for this king, who, if he be known, we cannot say
the things that they say. That's why when we preach the
gospel, we preach about a king. And as Paul said in Romans chapter
1, we preach the gospel for therein is the righteousness of God revealed,
the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ alone. We preach God's gift, as Paul
says, the gift of righteousness, which is in the king. And back over in Mark chapter
15 again, verse 17, it says, they
clothed them with purple and they plaited a crown of thorns
and put it on his head. Oh, that's terrible. Yes, but it's showing something
that is wonderful. It's showing that he is the one
who bears the curse. It's showing that God has laid
on him or made to meet on his head, as Isaiah said, the iniquity
of all his people. You think about that crown, that
golden crown that surrounded the top of the Ark of the Covenant. Beautiful, shining. But when
the priest went into the Holy of Holies with that blood, What
he did is just symbolic of what was done to Christ. Awful that
it may seem to us. He took blood and he spattered
all that mercy seed. He spattered all that golden
crown. That's what's happening to Christ. He's bearing our sins on the
tree. We have a crown of righteousness
because the Lord Jesus Christ has borne this crown of thorns,
this crown of sin. But when he became that, when
he was made sin for us, who knew no sin? He was crowned with that
great redemptive glory, that great mediatorial glory, that
crown of salvation for His people. And then verse 18 says, and they
began to salute Him. They began to mock Him by saying,
Hail, King of the Jews. You and I would be guilty of
saying such things to our friends and people when they do things kind of silly
or stupid. We'll say, well, look at the
big man or look at the so-and-so. Look at the smart one. It wasn't to glorify you. But though he was rejected by
these outward Jews, he is king of kings to those who are Jews
inwardly. The Bible speaks of us having
crowns, but it speaks of us casting our crowns at the feet of the
king. In other words, we submit in
every way, we acknowledge his kingship, we acknowledge his
rule, and we worship him and we're grateful for it. Man by nature wants to decide
who rules him. And in this country, we do. How's that worked out for us? When Saul was head and shoulders
above all in Israel, they wanted him to be king. But he wasn't
the king. David was. Young, ruddy David. And we are the true Israel who
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ and have no
confidence in the flesh. And we do all those things looking
to Christ. Looking to the King. Then verse 19 says, And they
smote him on the head with a reed, and did spittle upon him, and
bowing their knees, they worshipped him. It was phony. It was ridicule. And people who talk about Christ
being a king, and then on the next breath talk about him letting
him be king, or making him king, or any of these foolish things. They don't really know Him. They don't really know Him. Hebrews 1 says, But unto the
Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. And verse 20 says, And when they
had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put
his own clothes on him, and they led him out to crucify. I think most of the preaching
in our day about Christ is just like that. Put him up there,
Adorn him, mock him, and then close your sermon by talking
about allowing the king, letting the king, making him king, accepting
the king. They put his own clothes back
on him, and they let him out as a common criminal. There is many, many a preacher
in our day that's guilty of that very thing. The truth is, because of this,
because of what Christ endured on this occasion, He's not on the cross anymore. He's not being taken out by soldiers
anymore. He's on the throne. But all through it all, he always
was, he is, and he always will be the king of kings. King of righteousness, king of
peace, king of grace, king of saints. That means that everyone that
God has separated unto himself in election grace and everlasting
love, in the death of Christ and by the Spirit of God, everyone
separated unto God, these saints, He is our King. We struggle sometimes in this
flesh which naturally rebels against Him. But in the end, He always gives
us grace. He always works in us by His
Spirit to bow down. And say, not my will, but thine
be done. Not my will. I'm nobody. You're the king. King of grace. King of mercy. Look back at our text again.
1 Timothy chapter 6. At that 15th verse. which in his times he shall show." God's clock is different from
ours. He doesn't run on our schedule. He doesn't do things like we
think they ought to be done. We're like the apostles. We walk
out of a place where we've finished dealing or trying to tell somebody
the truth, and they reject it and despise it, and we say, Lord,
give us the power to call down fire on them. No. Because they might be, one
of them, the king's subject. And in his times, he'll show
He'll reveal to them the majesty like he did Saul of Tarsus on
the road to Damascus. He'll show them what we cannot
show them. Because when he got through with
Saul of Tarsus, he said, who are you, Lord or King? I'm going to bow down to you,
whoever you are, you are the king." And then he'll show everybody else. As Brother Tim
James says, when it's time, he will show them who is the blessed
and only potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords. Oh, how thankful we ought to
be if he has revealed that to us. If we have been shown his
majesty, his authority, his success on our behalf. It's easy, when
the Spirit of God makes us willing in the day of His power, it's
easy for us to fall down at His feet. When John saw Him in the Revelation, in the first part, he said, when
I saw Him, I fell down before Him as one dead. It's okay, John, because better
to be dead at his feet than imagine yourself alive anywhere else,
because he's life. He's life. He'll show, he'll
convince everybody, some in grace and some in judgment. who is
the blessed and only potentate or sovereign King of Kings and
Lord of Lords." Somebody said, most all error is born out of high visions of
man. and low visions of God. Jesus Christ is the King of Kings. If I were a pauper, if I were
a beggar, if I were a needy person, and the only thing or the only
one who could help me was a king. I don't believe I'd walk into
his kingdom unannounced. I don't believe I'd walk into
his presence like people do in our day when they walk down the
aisle waxing gum, accepting him. I'd bow down to his feet. and say, if you will, you can
make me clean. If you will. If you will, you can save me.
If you will, you can show mercy to me. I don't have anything. I need everything. And you're
the only one that can give it. But you gotta come before him
as a king. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father, we thank you this
day for our blessed King, who is none other than the King of
Kings. We rejoice in his majesty, in
his saving glory, in his mercy to us, in his grace, in his righteousness,
in his peace that he gives. We thank you that you put us
into his kingdom. We bow before him and worship
him and thank you. We pray in his name, amen.