Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to John chapter 18 and reading
from our text, verse 36. John 18 and verse 36. Jesus answered, My kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
Then would my servants find that I should not be delivered to
the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. John 18 and verse 36. We're thinking today very much of the
anniversary for our Queen, that on this day, 70 years ago, that
our Queen started her reign after her father King George VI passed
away in his sleep at the age of 56. While we seek God's continued
blessings on her, we would remember that there is a sovereign above
her, and a king of kings and lord of lords. And her kingdom is of this world,
and her kingdom, her being the queen, will soon pass away, as
we saw this morning, the many times in the word of God, where
it is stated that The kingdom passes from one to another. One rain finishes, another rain
begins. And each one of those times is
appointed by God. But one day the kingdoms of this
world will become the kingdoms of our Lord. But we have the
sovereigns, the monarchs here below as types, as illustrations
to us. They mentioned this morning concerning
the difference between us now as a nation and how it was in
Bible times or even up until Cromwell's time, the 1600s. In
this country, when the monarchs had a lot more power, sovereign
power, now that power is devolved to the parliaments, the governments
of the day, and for the most part it's ceremonial with our
monarch. But nevertheless, we have those
types still in our nation, and we think, how with the children
of Israel, that they first had a king like the nations of the
earth. That's what they wanted to be.
But the Lord said that he was their king, and that if they
and their king served the Lord, then both would be preserved,
both would be blessed. And we need to remember that
the righteousness does exalt a nation. is a reproach to any
people. Our Lord sets forth here concerning
his kingdom. He speaks in answer to Pilate. Pilate had asked him in verse
33, aren't thou the king of the Jews? And in the passage that
we read, It is a theme that reoccurs again and again, this question
concerning Jesus of Nazareth being the King of the Jews. Our Lord asked him whether he was saying that thing
of himself or did others tell it be of me. As we read that,
it struck me that there are many right truths of God that we might
be able to articulate because we have learnt it from others
and just learnt it in the head. Really what our Lord meant Are
you actually convinced of this yourself? Is this a question
that has arisen in your own heart? Or is it something that you're
just uttering, passing it on without any real engagement in
one's own heart? We may ask ourselves with Whatever
questions that we might have of the Word of God, of the Lord
Jesus Christ, whatever profession of faith that we have, and we
know that all God's children shall be taught of God. But they
shall know those truths in the heart, and when they utter it,
it is from the heart. Like the man born blind, he didn't
need anyone to tell him of what had happened. He said, one thing
I know, for as I was blind, now I see. King Agrippa said to Paul, when
Paul was reasoning to him of righteousness, of judgment to
come, and he trembled, and he said, almost, thou persuadest
me to become a Christian. Well, the apostle said that I
would that thou was not almost but altogether such as I am,
except this chain. Really all of God's people should
have that persuasion and belief that they know the truth in their
hearts and would that others be as they were. Others be upon
the rock, others believed, others born again, others saved. But
there'll always be something that they would not wish to put
upon anyone else. Their besetting sins, their infirmities,
their weaknesses. Paul wouldn't want to bestow
on others his chain, his captivity, or is thorn in the flesh, a messenger
of Satan. But as one that was born again
and called of God, that he would desire others. And it was for
a personal experience of it. And there's no such important
need of being persuaded in this, that the Lord Jesus Christ is
a king. We perhaps could put it in a
slightly different way. Instead of king of the Jews of
which they felt threatened or felt that if they had a king
then Rome would come and take away all of their heritage. But to have not just the king of the Jews
as a nation but the king the King of the Church of God, the
King of Zion, that came through the Jews. When Balaam was sent
to curse the children of Israel as they went through the wilderness,
he had to bless them. And one of the blessings was
that there was a shout of a king in them. And the scepter should
not depart from Judah. There was to be a king brought
forth. It was again the saying in Nehemiah's
day, when they were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, that
one of the things that the enemies wrote back to Babylon was that
there was a king and that they would raise up another kingdom
and defy those that were in authority over them and not give any more
tithes. And all the time there was the
thinking that it would be an earthly king, it would be in
the same way, the same line, as what the secession of kings
were. The disciples themselves, when
the Lord ascended up into heaven, they said, will thou at this
time restore the kingdom unto Israel? They were still thinking
it was to be an earthly kingdom, even though the Lord had said
in the words of our text, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants find that I should not be delivered to
the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. This evening I wish to just speak
briefly, firstly, on King Jesus, the King himself. And then secondly,
his kingdom and thirdly, his servants. All of these three
things mentioned are set before us in this verse. Jesus the King,
his kingdom, and his servants. But firstly, the Lord Jesus as
King. This is the question that runs
right through here. And Pilate, and no doubt, appointed
by God put the writing, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the
Jews, over top of the cross. Again, the Jews make a distinction,
you might say it's a fine distinction, but it shows how important things
really are. They would have been quite happy
if it had read that he said, I am the King of the Jews, but
to state as a fact that he is the king of the Jews, they objected
to that. And we can see the need of clear
statements of fact, and while we're on this, although maybe
it comes to under the heading of servants, especially in a
time when we may suffer persecution for the Word, it is easy to say,
well, it is written in the Bible this or that, as if, don't blame
me, I'm the messenger. This might be an unpalatable
truth, but actually that is what is written, instead of stating
it. as an absolute truth and setting
forth the truth. And you see the difference there,
whether even we in the ministry come and bring before you things
that we say while they're in the Bible and we are to preach
the word. It's a different thing when we
set it forth as knowing that truth in our own hearts, we believe
it, and we proclaim it and we set it forth. And that's what
really all of God's people should be able to do. John, the one
thing that he emphasized right through his gospel is really
summed up towards the end of it when he speaks about those
things that are written And he says at the end of chapter 20,
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book. But these are written that
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that believing ye might have life through his name. It would
be a strange thing for God to send his only begotten son into
this world and he not be a king, he not be a sovereign, he not
be the highest in the Church of God. He is the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords and Jesus was very clear of this That I and
my Father are one. If you've seen me, you've seen
my Father also. That He is the eternal God. We have in this chapter two statements
in chapter 19 concerning the Lord. Firstly, there is that
emphasis of Jesus as being the King. And then there is an emphasis
of him being the man. When Pilate brings him forth,
he says, behold the man. And if we go back to the prophecies
of that which was written of him, in Isaiah 32, the first
two verses, we have this prophesied. 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 cupboard from the
tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as a shadow of a
great rock in a weary land. The King and the man are one. They are both fulfilled in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one righteous one, of which all that heard him, saw him,
saw His miracles, saw the witness of His Father, they testified
of His righteousness. Never man spake as this man. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfiller of that prophecy. He is the fulfiller of all of
the prophecies. If we think again in the Book
of Psalms, And Psalm 2 and verse 6, we have in that psalm, Yet
have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. That is the Church of God. I
have anointed in the margin my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The
Lord has said unto me, thou art my son. This day have I begotten
thee. And in that prophecy is joined
together, my king, my son. And so with John, he emphasizes
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal son of God. He is
the son of God. And so also he is. the King that
is prophesied and the one that the Father has set upon the Church
of God. Jesus, the King. May we believe it and see it
in the Word. May we truly know that He not
only is a King, but that He is our King. God, man in one person,
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. I want to then think secondly of
his kingdom. Our Lord clearly states here
in our text, my kingdom is not of this world. In John 3, the Lord speaks of
his kingdom, and he speaks of those that shall enter into it,
or rather those really that will not be able to. Our Lord says
to Nicodemus, Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom
of God. And throughout the Word we have
Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, almost interchangeable throughout
the Word. Our Lord says in Luke 17 that
the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation, that it is
within you, an internal kingdom. with our sovereign, it is observed
that she is the king or queen of a people, the people of Britain. There's a number of people, there's
the land, it is a visible kingdom. And this is, as we said before,
what even the disciples somehow expected, that it would be as
it was before. with Israel. But the Lord says,
no, that is not how it will be on this earth. It is to be a
kingdom of grace. It is to be an internal kingdom
of the people of God. And those people of God gathered
together make up the church of God, of which the Lord is king. Paul writes to the Corinthians
in chapter 15, he's speaking of the resurrection, and he says
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Corruption
cannot inherit that. To enter into that eternal kingdom
above, to enter into heaven, we must die, The mortal must
put on immortality, this corruption incorruptible. The Lord has decreed
man must die, but through his work is made a way that they
shall enter into heaven. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and
receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. So it is vital for us that we
be part of that internal kingdom if we are to have an interest
and a hope of that kingdom which is not of this world but is to
come. The kingdom of God's grace. Those that are born again into
it Beautifully set forth when Paul writes to the Colossians
and he says in his first chapter to them, who hath delivered us,
he gives thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by Him and for Him. And our Lord is
greatly exalted by the Apostle there as being King and over
all, and a great blessing, personal blessing, those who have been
changed, translated, from the power of darkness and into the
kingdom of his dear Son. May we have a clear views of
that then throughout all the world in every nation, kindred
and tongue. Those that are born again of
the Spirit, those of whom Christ is King, and they are part of
his kingdom, of grace here below, grace reigning in their hearts,
and then when death comes they shall be with him forever in
heaven. He shall give grace and glory,
no good things shall he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Well then thirdly, I want to
consider his servants. Our text says, My kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants find that I should not be delivered to
the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. The Lord had a path that was
before him, that was a cup, the cross, the sufferings, part of
which that we have read of here. And we read when Peter preached
on the day of Pentecost that, he who was delivered by the determinate
counsel and full knowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands crucified and slain. The son of man, said our Lord,
goeth as it is determined, as it was determined, but woe unto
that man by whom he is betrayed. That was Judas Iscariot. But it was determined, and our
Lord says, I have power to lay down my life, I have power to
take it again, this commandment have I received of my father.
If you remember one time, Peter was listening to our Lord telling
of his coming sufferings. And Peter said to him, This shall
not be unto thee, Lord. And the Lord turned and rebuked
him, Depart from me, Satan. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou
savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that
be of men. Here was one and Satan speaking
through one of the Lord's dear apostles and trying to get him
to not go to the cross, not offer his sacrifice, not fulfill the
Father's will. A bloodless sacrifice. Really
that was what Cain was trying to do. Abel brought to the fatlings
of his flock The Word says without the shedding of blood there is
no remission, no cross, no crown. That was the case with the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the Garden of Gethsemane as
well, it was Peter that takes the sword, cuts off the servant
of the high priest's ear. The Lord says, put up thy sword
within its sheath. the cup which my Father hath
given me to drink, shall I not drink it? And then he says, Thinkest
thou not that I may pray the Father, and he shall give me
twelve legion of angels, six thousand in the legion, and seventy-two
thousand angels? But how then should the Scriptures
be fulfilled? And we see at the very offering
of the sacrifice of our Lord that the, shall we say, hindrances
or possible obstructions to what the Lord is doing and what is
happening is actually coming from His own servants, His own
disciples. seeking, as it were, thinking
it a good thing to prevent his sufferings, prevent his being
taken, prevent his crucifixion. And you see how those felt on
the way to Emmaus in Luke 24. They were very sad. We trusted it should have been
he that should have redeemed Israel. Beside all this, it is
the third day since these things happened. And the Lord gently
reproved them. He said, O fools and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have written. Ought
not Christ have suffered these things and enter into his glory? That's a lesson to us. When we
look at this sacrifice the Lord was offering, upon which the
hope of all the people of God is that their sins be laid on
him, that he puts away their sins, that he suffers in their
place. and here are they having to be
restrained from stopping that happening. Really all of the
types and shadows of the Old Testament, they relied on man
obeying God, and that those types were then fulfilled, like we
said with Cain and with Abel, And that's why the Lord was not
pleased with Cain's sacrifice. It didn't properly set forth
what his beloved son should be. That's why God was angry with
Moses when Moses, he'd already smitten the rock once. And then
he was told to speak to the rock, but Moses, he smote the rock
again twice and spoke Unadvisedly, in anger, really, must I bring
you water out of this rock? He rebels. And because he didn't
sanctify the Lord before the people, he couldn't go into the
Promised Land. The Tite was being destroyed
too. Christ only suffers once at Calvary,
not again and again. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper
that we observe later here, that is a remembrance service. It is not amass. It is not a
sacrifice. It is a showing forth his death,
this death, recorded in the Word of God until he doth come. The church has got to remember
that. So we're thinking of his servants. His servants are to do his will,
his bidding. Obey what he has commanded. And we see how necessary it was
that those servants shouldn't obstruct even at this time of
his sacrifice. And how much that applies as
well in the preaching of the Gospel, in the observing of the ordinances, baptism, and the
Lord's Supper, going into all the world, preach the Gospel
to every creature, He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved,
he that believeth not shall be damned. And we are to go forth
as he has commanded in his way. He says, when they persecute
you in one city, then go ye to the next. And so the description
of God's people, the description of those in his kingdom, is of
servants. By nature we are servants to
Satan, we are servants to sin. We serve ourselves. He is a strong
arm keeping his palace, but the Lord is that one that is stronger,
that comes and takes away his throne, his kingdom, and lifts
up a righteous throne, a righteous kingdom. It is like we said this
morning concerning Manasseh and the change of kingdom from Hezekiah
to Manasseh. Well, Manasseh at first was a
wicked kingdom. Hezekiah's was a good one. When
the Lord worked in Manasseh's heart, when he was converted,
then there was that re-repentance and godly sorrow, a real change.
in Manasseh. And that change will be in the
heart of all of God's people. Instead of saying, we will not
have this man to rule over us. Instead of saying that, well,
we are going to do this or that. It is as the Apostle Paul said,
what will thou have me to do? The desire is that we do serve
not self, but the Lord. Paul says in Romans 6, that ye
are servants to obey whom ye obey. And the warning is that
if we serve sin and serve Satan, then we are actually yielding
to him. He says, what then shall we sin?
Because we are not under the law, but under grace, God forbid.
Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey? His servants ye are to whom ye
obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. And he says to them, But God
be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, that ye have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. And it is a lesser thing if we
are the servants not of sin, and not of self, and not of Satan,
but servants of the Lord. Our first parents, they fell
when they disobeyed the Lord, broke the law. But under grace,
the Lord has fulfilled that law that we broke, and he's given
us those new laws of love, and of mercy and of obedience from
the heart, serving the Lord with fear, the fear of the Lord, filial,
childlike fear, as a loving God and loving servant, loving service
to one whom we know has suffered and bled and died in our place. The three things that are set
before us here. May we know the Lord Jesus Christ
as our King. May we know that we are part
of His kingdom of grace here below, and that we are His servants,
and that day by day we serve Him. His name is in our foreheads,
The Lord says, the kingdom of God standeth sure. Having this
seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And let every one that
nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. We have the solemn
case where our Lord told of those appearing at the last judgment
and saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. And the Lord says, I never
knew you. Depart from me, all ye that work
iniquity. And yet those were saying, Thou
hast taught in our streets, we have been called by thy name.
They professed to know him, but he never knew them, and they
never departed from iniquity. The king here, Jesus, was given
that name for he shall save his people from their sins. It is
not just saving from the eternal condemnation due to them, but
saving them from the power and dominion of them day by day here
below, giving them a will and a desire to serve the Lord. And we will find many rebels
in our hearts will find many that will rise up and they will
kick against the words of the Lord. So he would say with the
Apostle Paul, the good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would
not, that I do. But he says this, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? I thank God. Through Jesus Christ,
my Lord, so with the mind I serve the Lord, with the flesh I serve
sin. We have one then that is still
a sinner, but instead of loving sin and not resisting it, they
desire to serve the Lord, seeking grace and help from Him to do
so, mourning over their sin and confessing their sins before
Him, and desiring that grace might reign, and reign triumphant,
and the Lord reign in their hearts. Is that my desire? Is that your
desire? Are we those marks of being in
Christ's kingdom? He our King, and we his servants. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.