1 Corinthians 15, verse 25, For he must reign till
he hath put all enemies under his feet. With all the apparent unrest
in this world today, all the uncertainties and all the fears
that we encounter, one thing, according to the Scripture, is
certain. God reigns. And aren't we glad? Aren't we
glad that we can truthfully say, according to these Scriptures,
Almighty God is in control. David penned a psalm In 1st Chronicles
chapter 16, you might want to just go back and read it. It's
a psalm. But I want to just pick one verse
out of that psalm in 1st Chronicles 16. It says, verse 31, let the
heavens be glad, let the earth rejoice, and let men say among
the nations, the Lord reigneth. Let the everlasting covenant
of Almighty God be the foundation of our joy. Let's be thankful
for Him and for His marvelous grace and compassion that He's
been pleased to show unto undeserving sinners. Mercy. The Lord hadn't left us, hadn't
left His people to ourselves. Now I've got three points. Here's the first one. He must reign that the Father's
will, the redemption and salvation of the sheep is accomplished. That's what we just read last
time. He said, My will, My meat is to do the will of Him that
sent Me. This is the will, He said, of
Him that sent Me that every one that seeth by faith the Son and
believeth on Him may have everlasting life. I'll raise Him up at the
last day. Now He's reigning. Christ Jesus
the Lord is reigning. And let me tell you how He's
reigning. Now remember, He is God, He is
man. Totally God, totally man. Not half and half, not a mixture.
Half God, half man. That's nothing. He is God Almighty. and man in one person. And as
the God-man mediator, the scripture says that all power, power over
all flesh has been given unto Him by the Father that He should
give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. He's got a people. They've got
to be brought to Him. So He's got to reign. He's got
to be in control. He's got to be the boss. The
Father elected a people, and Christ redeemed them by His shed
blood, and the Holy Spirit has covenanted to call them out of
darkness, and to teach them, and to keep them by faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So therefore,
God Almighty says, my counsel is going to stand. Salvation
is not a maybe. I hope so. If everything works
out right, He must reign in the world. Because the Lord has been
pleased to show mercy to God's people, the world of false religion
animosity and hatred toward God. The world hates God's people. Satan opposes them in the carnal
heart. Listen, Satan throws his fiery
darts at God's people. The world hates them because
they're chosen out of the world. That's what the Lord told His
disciples. Because I've chosen you out of the world, the world
hates you. World hates God's people because God was pleased
to show mercy. But let me tell you another problem
I got. I got a carnal heart that lies to me. I got a carnal, I was born with
a heart. The heart is desperately wicked,
deceitful above all things. Who can know it? So he must reign. He must be so that the fathers
will be done. He must reign. Secondly, He must
reign that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, gets all the honor and
all the glory and all the praise for salvation. He got to reign.
He can't leave it up to us. What in the world are we going
to do? What is a bunch of nobodies, dead nobodies, spiritually dead
nobodies, what are we going to do about it? Listen, the scripture says that
he is God's prophet. What does that mean? Well, a
prophet is one that speaks to people on God's behalf. That's what a prophet is. And
obviously, the Eternal God was pleased to speak to His people,
to communicate to them. And Scripture says in Hebrews
1.1, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners, different
types of manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son,
whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made
the world. So, He's God's prophet. He got to reign. because I've
got to hear from God. I've got to hear from God. We're
going to stand before Him. I want to know. I want to know
what does God have to say. I mean, doesn't that make sense? If Almighty God is going to hold
men accountable, don't you think it'd be wise if we would hear
what God has to say? Now look, God's prophets in the
Old Testament, they were prophets and they were given the gifts
and anointings of the Holy Spirit. But their anointings to be able
to prophesy what God had to say was only in proportion. They were given the Spirit by
measure. This is what Ephesians 4, 7.
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
of the gift of Christ. The Lord's called me to preach,
but I don't know everything. Man, I tell you what, by the
grace of God, I was able to just get maybe a little light on we
are more than conquerors. I was struggling with that this
morning. No, what does that mean? I don't know. We know in part,
we prophesy in part, we see through a glass darkly, it's just dim,
it's like a shadow. What do we know? God's prophets
were like that. But concerning Christ the prophet,
John was moved by the Spirit of God to say this, John 3.34,
For he whom God has sent speaketh. That means he ever speaks the
words of God. For God giveth not to spirit
by measure unto him. He's speaking right now. He's
still speaking. I'm going to tell you, Aaron's
dead. Aaron the prophet, I mean the priest. He was, he's dead. Those prophets, Ezekiel, you
know, Jeremiah, they're dead. Now the words that God spoke
through them, those words are beings, but whose words are those?
They weren't the prophets. Those were God's words. My sheep
hear my voice. God did not give Him the Spirit
as the God-man mediator without measure unto Him. He must reign
for God's glory and our eternal good. He's the prophet from God
who speaks to God's sheep, revealing unto us God's will, God's heart,
God's counsel. He must reign. Because God's
people must hear. He's the prophet. He must reign.
He's the priest. He's God's priest. He must reign. Because, strictly speaking, there
is but one priest of Almighty God. One priest. He is the great
high priest of His church. The Lord Jesus Christ. Every
priest appointed by God in the Old Testament, they were just
types. They were pictures. They were
shadows of the Lord. And they weren't allowed to continue
because of death. They died. What is a priest? A prophet speaks from God to
God's people. A priest is one that approaches
God on behalf of God's people. Well, when Aaron and all the
priests back in the Old Testament, they ministered for a while,
but they died. He's got to reign. We need a
priest that Hebrews 7, 24, continueth ever and hath an unchangeable
priesthood. Aren't you glad that there is
a priest, a priest of God's providing? that ever liveth, that never
changes, that never dies, he must reign. And I'll tell you
why he must reign. We need a priest. We need a priest
that can satisfy God on our behalf. We need a priest that ever lives
and continues to rehearse before God on our behalf that which
He has done for us. There needs to be a continual
remembrance, a continual intercession. We need a priest that ever presents
his own merit. and His own, the efficacy of
His blood. What does that mean? That blood
that gets the job done. That got it done. We need Him who is able to save
us to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. He must reign. He must reign. And God's priest,
He must be sovereign. God's priest must be sovereign
and well-pleasing to Jehovah. He must be just. He must be holy. Why? Because God will in no wise clear
the guilty. Can you imagine a priest, someone
calling himself a priest, that's a sinner? Trying to approach
God? Trying to come into the presence
of God Almighty and claiming to be a priest? And God who will
in no wise clear the guilty. Man, I try to approach God on
my own merit. I'm done. I'm done. He must reign. Because I need and you need a
priest that is faithful, that's just, that's holy. I need a priest
that knows the extent. of God's demand for righteousness
and judgment. Our priest is going to have to
be a man. We just looked at that last time. That's going to have
to be our priest. He's going to have to be a man.
A man that God's accepted. He's approving himself to be
the seed of a woman, a man to redeem the lost inheritance that
was forfeited by Adam in the garden. He's got to be God. He's got to be holy. He's got
to be just to be accepted by God. He's got to be God Almighty. What's God going to accept? He's
going to accept Himself. That's all He's going to accept.
Be ye holy for I am holy. How am I going to approach God
and I'm not holy? I'm not. I'm not. I can tell
you right now, I'm not. He must reign and He's got to
be a man. A man in order to suffer. on
the tree and conquer death and hell in the grave by dying. I have to have a priest that
can conquer sin by being made sin. I've got to do something. Something's got to be done about
my sin. I've got a problem. I've got to have my debt. I've
got to have my debt paid for. And if the only way that that
debt is going to be paid is death, the soul that sinned is going
to die. Wages of sin is death. Well, where does that leave me?
I have to have one die for me. One that God will accept. One
God who is well pleased. I have to have a priest who is
a man who can die and who can be buried and can rise from the
grave and conquer death and conquer the grave and conquer hell. And that's the only hope that
He must reign. I've got to have a priest that
will walk before God and fulfill the law of justice. I have to
have a priest that's going to be suited to act on both parties,
on behalf of both parties. He's going to have to be God,
because God demands justice. God demands justice. That's what
the priest's got to be. He's got to be one that can satisfy
the justice of God, and he's got to be one because I need
mercy. He's got to be one whereby God
can justly show mercy to me. I'm telling you the truth. This
thing of thinking he's going to sweep it under the rug, he must
reign. He's the king. He's the prophet.
He's the priest. He's the king. He must reign,
ruling in providence and creation, salvation. He has lived the life
of obedience before God as our representative, representative
of His people. He died as the absolute substitute. He was made us, made what we
are. Now because He has all power
in heaven and earth, He has the right. He's conquered all. He came in to this dominion of
the mighty man. He scaled the city. And I tell
you what, he's got the right. He earned the right. He came
into this world and now as king, king, he rules. And then thirdly,
my last point, he must reign that all rebellion against the
holy and just God as substitute. This is what it says, 1 Corinthians
15, 25. For he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet. He will not, he cannot relinquish
his rule and authority over this universe as God's mediator for
his people until the end comes and the last of his sheep are
recovered. He's got a people in this world,
and He's going to have them. He must reign. He absolutely must reign until
the entire will and purpose of Almighty God's been accomplished,
until He's put all of His enemies under His feet. It's what Psalm
110.1, it declares the glorious promise of the reign of our prophet,
priest, and king, the Lord. Jehovah Himself said unto my
Lord, that word, if you're looking at it right now, it's the capital
L, capital O, capital R, Jehovah said to my, capital L, little
o, little r, little e. Jehovah said to Christ, sit thou
at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
What's he doing right now? He's raining. He's sitting down. Why? He's finished the work,
ain't nothing else to do. He's finished the work of redemption.
And Jehovah, who's been satisfied by the Son, is through the Son,
as the prophet, the priest, and the king, who's ruling, who speaks
to God's people from God, and who intercedes to God for His
people, and rules, and reigns. God, Jehovah, is putting all
of Christ in Him. He's under Christ. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ that's doing it. And He, Jehovah, is putting them
under hell. Let me tell you how He's doing
it. He's putting all of His enemies
under Christ's feet. Now this is going to amaze you.
I knew it, but it still amazes me. Do you know how He's doing
it? Through the preaching of the Gospel. That's how He's doing
it. That Word, the Scripture says,
that is quick. It's alive, it's powerful, and
it's sharper than any two-edged sword. That word, according to
John 12, 48, that shall be the judge of all men in that last
day. The scripture says in Psalm 110
verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord, you sit, you sit at my
right hand till I make all thine enemies. And then in verse 2
of Psalm 110, it says the Lord, that is Jehovah, shall send the
rod of thy strength out of Zion. the rod of God's correction and
power and truth, the gospel of God. That is the rod of God's
strength. It's the preaching of the gospel,
the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be sent forth
into the world. And that's going to be the distinguishing
judge in the last day. Hold your place right there and
just turn as I wrap this up. Mark 16. Mark chapter 16. Mark 16, verse 15 and 16. I said
a minute ago, what is the Lord using in the putting down of
all of the enemies? What's going to be the distinguishing? What He's using is the preaching
of the gospel, what we're hearing right now. Look at Mark 16, verse
15 and 16. And He said unto them, Go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. Now that which Almighty God is
using as the means of putting down, calling out, saving His
people, and the very ground of condemnation to those that believe
not, is the gospel. The Lord said in Psalm 110 verse
2, when Christ was commissioned to sit at my right hand, I'm
going to send the rod of your strength. He says, rule thou
in the midst of thine enemies. Oh, the glorious rod of Christ's
strength, the gospel of power to save to the uttermost. them
that come unto God by Him is going to go out through preaching.
And it's going to go to a people that's everlastingly loved of
God, who are by nature the enemies of God. The Lord told them, He
said, you sit right here till all of your enemies are put in
you. Thy strength is going to go out through Zion. It's going
to go out through the preaching of the gospel through the church
itself. And you're going to rule in the midst of thine enemies. Two thoughts on that. Number
one, right now, in the midst of this whole world, and all
men by nature hate God. That's what the carnal mind,
we all have one when we're born, is enmity against God. We all
hate Him. You know, until the Lord gives
us a love for Him, you know, I can speak for myself, I can
tell you I sure did. You know, and I got an old man
about me that still hates Him. We still have a battle going
on inside. But I'll tell you this, there's
a, in the very midst of the Lord's enemies, in the midst of this
world that hates Him, in the midst of Satan's going about
as a roaring lion, in the midst of all of His enemies, who's
ruling? Who's calling out His people
in the very midst of all of His enemies? But I'll tell you another
point. I said there was two points on
that? Yeah. Right now in the midst of this world that hates
Him and despises Him, God is reigning. Christ is reigning.
He's reigning. And He's calling out His people.
He must reign right here in the midst. But there's another enemy
that's being taken down, ruling in the midst of his enemies.
I'll tell you who it is. It's his people. It's his people
as they were born in Adam. They were all in their own minds
enemies of God. They were born in sin. This is
what scripture said. Now all of God's people, all
believers right now, we were all children of wrath against
him. Even as others. But these enemies,
who were enemies in their own mind and heart, not in God's
mind. God always loved them, always
loved His people, but they were enemies in their minds against
the Lord. And the Lord, through the preaching
of the gospel, that rod of His strength, went out, and by grace
and power and compassion, Almighty God did something that they would
never have done for himself. He gave them a new heart, and
here's what happened to them. They were willing in the day
of his power. I want you to sit. He must reign. He's reigning right now as the
king, the prophet, the priest, the king. He's sitting right
now, ruling and reigning, and the gospel is going out through
the preaching, through the church itself, and Almighty God is ruling. in the midst of His enemies,
and when He pleases God, God's going to call His people out,
and they're going to be willing in the day of His power. They're
going to be saved. They're rebels by birth, but
then they're going to be willing servants, being born again, willing
to come, willing to be saved by grace, spontaneous, willing
to own Him as their Redeemer and Savior, and willing to renounce
every work of salvation in which they once trusted. We're needy
sinners. Sinners who have no ability to
save ourselves. He must reign until He's put
all enemies under His feet. Aren't you glad? He must. He must. I hear people say, well,
the Lord wants to. I've said this, if Almighty God
wants to, He does. He does. I mean, it's not like
he's desiring to have something done that he wished would happen
if people would let him. I'm telling you, he rules in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And for that, God's people are very, very glad. I pray God bless
these words to our hearts, to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.