The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, is before all things. And by Him all things consist,
whether they're things in heaven or things in the earth. He's
the firstborn of every creature. that in all things He might have
the preeminence, because it pleased God the Father. That's one. Because it pleased
God His Father. that in His Son, Christ Jesus,
should all fullness dwell. If it just said all, that would
be enough. If it just said fullness, that
would be enough. But it says all fullness. All fullness of God's glory,
all fullness of God's attributes, all fullness of God's character,
all fullness of God's purpose of redemption, all fullness of
God's salvation, all fullness of God's spiritual blessings
to his people, all fullness of all things in the church, all
fullness of all things in the earth, all fullness of all things
that have ever come to pass since the first grain of sand was spoken
into existence by Him, the Son of God has had all preeminence
and in Him all fullness dwells." In final glory, when you're brought
into the presence of God Almighty, you will see Him who is the express
image of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
as a man just like you are in glorified flesh and you'll cast
your crowns at His feet and say, worthy is the Lamb who was slain
and redeemed us to our God because it pleased the Father. It pleased
the Father. The problem with you and I and
the problem with all men is that that don't please us by nature. It just does not please us by
nature. We have here in 1 Kings chapter
1 an illustration of the problem that exists with all men by nature
and the problem that exists with you and I as believers and what
we have to be saved from continually by Christ Jesus the Lord. We
see here in verse 5, our first point is, there is a false king. And in Donijah we see the problem
of our sinful flesh. Verse 5, it says, it's at the
background, He's up in years, he's about to die, and he's in
his bedchamber. So, at this time, his son, Donijah,
decides he's going to take matters into his own hands. Verse 5,
Then Donijah the son of Haggath exalted himself, saying, I will
be king. This is the desire of all men
since the fall of Adam. Self-exaltation. I will be king. He exalted himself. He said,
I will be king. Whenever a man hears that Christ
has all preeminence and is the fullness of God because it pleased
the Father, the first lashing out of the natural heart, of
the carnal heart, of the carnal flesh is, I will not have that
man reign over me. Verse 5 says, and he prepared
him chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him.
The desire of the nature, of the old sinful nature is to make
all the preparations ourselves and for ourselves. It says, he
prepared him. He prepared it and He prepared
it for Himself. The flesh desires glory to have
men to look at us. He prepared Him all these men
and chariots to run before Him so that He could have all the
preeminence before all the people. Verse 6 And his father had not
displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?
And he also was a very goodly man, and his mother bare him
after Absalom. And he conferred with Joab the
son of Zariah, with Abiathar the priest, and they following
to Nonijah helped him." We can appear good outwardly to men.
We can surround ourselves with others just like us. In the passage, David is a type
of God the Father. And God the Father may allow
us to run in our rebellion for years and years and not stop
us in our tracks. He may do that, just as Donijah
had done. And the people saw him doing
this. Just as you look around you and you see the fleshly religion of this
world, and it appears to be blessed and flourishing, and you say,
well, surely God's in that. That's what they saw in this
man. When you lean to your own understanding and you go your
own way into rebellion, and things seem to be going as you want
them to go, and you start to thinking, well, surely God's
in this. That's what it looked like to
everybody that saw this, and that's how it looks to us very
often. He was the oldest living son. Absalom was dead. He was of a different mother,
but he was the oldest living son in David's house, and it
would appear that the throne rights would go to the next eldest
son. He was with well-respected men. He was with the priest.
He had those men with him that joined in to help him. You see,
we can do a lot of things to make everything appear that we're
goodly men, that we're righteous men, that we truly are kings
and priests unto God. Verse 8 says, But Zadok the priest,
and Benehi the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei,
and Rehi, and the mighty men which belong to David, were not
with Donatia. When the sinful flesh reigns,
the sinner always separates himself from those who are God's true
servants. I'll give you one indication.
One indication that you can be sure if you hear someone who's
preaching the gospel and you rejoice in the gospel and rejoice
in Christ and other men will not invite him to their feast
or will not join in him with his feast, there's a reason.
There's a reason. There's a reason he didn't invite
these men because they were faithful to King David. They were faithful
to their Lord. And he knew that if he invited
these men, they were going to say, what's this all about, Donijah? David's the king. David's the
one who appoints the king. What's this all about? Verse
9, And Donijah slew sheep, and oxen, and fat cattle by the stone
of Zoheloth, which is by En-Rogel, and called all his brethren the
king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants.
He called their brethren. He called those who were of the
king's house, invited all them to come. But he didn't invite
Nathan the prophet, and Benihiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon
his brother, he called not. Here we see the self-exalting,
self-preparing, self-serving feast of the flesh. Everything
about this was false. Everything about it was false.
This is all we are by our first birth in Adam. This is all we
are, false sons, false kings. Even now, born of the Spirit
of God, we have this old man that tries to reign every chance
he can get, just like we saw this morning in our lesson. How is this false king within
us going to be put down? How is this false king that has
a desire to reign, that false king that is in you who have
not been born of the Spirit of God, how is he going to be put
down and the true king reign? How is that going to happen?
You notice here that Nathan had, he had, he had Beneha, the captain of
the bodyguard. And he had the mighty men. All
the host of the princes that had fought with David were valiant
men, men of courage, men who were skilled with weapons of
war. And he had Solomon with him.
He had plenty of manpower to march down there to that feast
where Donaja was and by force of hand break the whole thing
up, didn't he? But is that what he did? Not
at all, because the only way that the rightful king is going
to reign and the old fleshly false king is going to be brought
down is by Christ Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Let's see how he does it. We have a picture here of God
the Father and His Son, Christ Jesus the King, in David and
Solomon. But here's what I want you to
get as we go through this. Each man who will have a part
in exalting Solomon holds an office that glorifies Jesus Christ. So as we see these men working
this work, Keep your eye on Christ Jesus who's working in them that
which is well-pleasing in His sight. And we'll see what Christ
Jesus the King does, how glorious He is in His mediatorial office
as the prophet, priest, and king, as the captain of the Lord of
hosts, as the captain of the bodyguard, the one who is a king
like no other king. And this is what we'll see. Verse
11, Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bathsheba, The mother of Solomon. This is the bride. The bride. David's bride. Saying, has thou
not heard that Donijah the son of Haggath doth reign? And David
our Lord knoweth it not? Here's the first thing I want
you to see. Christ Jesus the King is the prophet who speaks
through his prophets. Stephen declared, he said, this
Jesus, this is the one that Moses spake of when he said, the Lord
has said he will raise up unto you of your brethren a prophet
like unto me. Stephen said, this Jesus Christ
of Nazareth is that prophet. This is him. God spoke in all
the various times and ages throughout history through his prophets. But He hath in these last days
spoken unto us by His Son. And He has appointed Him Heir
of all things by whom He made the worlds." But now get this
picture. Here's Bathsheba the bride. A picture of the church. But now let's look at this as
you in particular, as you a member of the body, you a member of
the church. Here you are going about all your daily affairs,
doing everything that you do on a daily basis. And whatever
it is that you're involved in, whatever you're doing, you think
everything's fine. And here's the word that comes
to you. Don't you know that another king is attempting to reign? She had to be awakened to the
fact that another king was trying to reign. And you know who awoke
her to this? The one who's typical of Christ
Jesus the prophet. You know how you're going to
be awakened out of your slumber and be made to realize that in
all the goodliness that you think you're doing, there's another
king that's trying to reign? You know how you're going to
be awakened to that? Even if it's something in righteousness and
truth, you think it's for the honor of God, you know how you're
going to be awakened to the fact that it's the flesh that's reigning?
It's going to be through Christ Jesus the Lord speaking in your
heart to you personally. That's what he did to her. And
what did he tell her to do? Verse 12, Now therefore come,
let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save
thine own life and the life of thy son Solomon. Go, get thee
in unto King David. Oh, this is, I pray, I do pray
that our King might speak in our hearts this morning and that
we might hear this word of His grace and hear Him say this to
us. Is there another King trying
to take the throne? Here's what He says. Go, get
thee in unto King David and petition Him based upon His covenant promise. Verse 13, Say unto him, Didst
not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying,
Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall
sit upon my throne? Why then doth the niger reign?
You know what hope we have in this world. The hope we have
in this world, right here in the year 2010, began before the
world was founded in eternity when God covenanted with himself
to save a people for himself, for his glory, by himself. That's our hope. When that old
King starts to reign in your flesh, and in your family, and
in the community around you, and in the churches around you,
this is what Christ the King says. Get in unto the Father
and petition Him based on His promise. Lord, didn't you promise
me that your Son would reign, King supreme? And as our prophet,
priest, and king, Christ Jesus ever lives to make intercession
for His people. Not only does Christ speak affectionately
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, not only does He draw
us to the throne of our Heavenly Father, He has to put the prayer
in your heart to pray to Him and draw you to the Father. Isn't
that how it had to be in the first hour? That's how it's got
to be every hour. And He draws you there, and not
only does He do that, but as He draws you there, He makes
intercession for you. Watch this. Verse 14, Behold,
while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come
in after thee and confirm thy words. Do you get the picture? Here we have Christ the prophet
who comes and wakes the bride and says, there's another king
trying to reign. He puts the prayer in our heart, get into
the Father, petition Him based on His promise. And now He says,
and as you petition Him, I'll make intercession for you. Isn't
that wonderful? That's how truly this one is
the King, like no other. Truly were many priests because
they were not suffered to continue by reason of death, but this
man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. For we have such a high priest
who became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
and made higher than the heavens. He is our intercession. He died
with the sin of his people upon him, but he is risen purged them
of all their sin, and they're risen in Him, and He's the ever-living
God. He's seated at the right hand
of God. And though He died as a man, He's risen from the dead,
and He lives as mediator and redeemer and intercessor for
His people. His intercession is by His appearance. He's there. He's there. That's all the intercession.
He's there. He's there. He's come through
the valley of death. He's gone through the grave.
He's purged His people of their sins. And now He's there with
the Father. He's the sacrifice God's pleased
with and He declares His will for His redeemed. He recommends
the prayers of His people, removes the charges and accusations of
Satan that He lays against us. He's our intercessor. So Bathsheba
went in and she did what she was told to do. And Nathan went
in. Now verse 28, Then King David
answered, and he said, Call me Bathsheba. And she came into
the king's presence and stood before the king. This is how we enter into the
Father. This is how we have those seasons
of true communion with the Father where we feel the refreshing
in our soul that God the Father speaks in our heart. This is
how. Christ drew us, Christ put the prayer, Christ made intercession
for us. And he says, now you call me,
you bring her to me. And the king swore and said,
as the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress,
even as I swear unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying,
assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall
sit upon my throne in my stead, even so will I certainly do this
day. And you know what's going to
happen when God renews that inner man through this word of grace?
Exactly what Bathsheba did. Then Bathsheba bowed with her
face to the earth and did reference to the king and said, let my
Lord King David live forever. That's how he bridles that tongue.
That's how he causes that peace in the heart. Now, none of this
has been done through hook or crook. None of this has been
done through force of hand. It's been done one way, one way. by Christ through the Word. Now
watch this. He's the prophet, he's the high
priest, and he's the captain of the Lord of hosts. Verse 32,
King David said, how is all this going to be taken care of? How
is this king going to be put down now? The prayers come in,
the father has heard the prayer, now what's the father going to
do? Is the father going to come down and take care of this matter?
King David said, call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet,
and Beneha the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.
Zadok is David's favorite priest. He's the one who's going to be
the new high priest. And Beneha is the captain of
the guard. That's who he is, the captain
of the bodyguard. He's the chief of the host, the
lord of host, the bodyguard. You remember when Joshua was
coming to Jericho. Do you remember how he saw the
Son of God? Joshua 5.13, if you want to look
there with me. Joshua 5.13. This is this office
of Bnei Ha. captain of the Lord of hosts.
Verse 13, the captain of the guard. And it came to pass when
Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked,
and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword
drawn in his hand. Joshua went unto him and said
unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he said,
No, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. That's whose side I'm on. I am
the captain of the Lord of hosts. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and did worship and said unto him, What saith my
Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so."
That's who this one is. He's the captain of the guard.
He's the captain. of all the hosts, just as our
Lord Jesus Christ is the captain of the Lord of hosts. He's the
Lord's captain. Jehovah's captain. He's the body's
guard. That's who He is. That's what
this body guard, that's what He did. He guarded the body.
That's what Christ is doing. The body is His church. The body
is His elect given to Him before the foundation of the world,
and He guards the body. He protects the body. And then
you have here the high priest, Zadok. And here's what he says
to them. Verse 33. 1 Kings 1.33. The king
also said unto them, take with you the servants of your Lord,
that is, the lesser bodyguards. These are pictures of Christ's
undershepherds. These are bodyguards too, but
they're under the orders of the chief bodyguard. the Lord of
hosts who is the chief shepherd of the body, the head of the
church. He says, you take the servants of your Lord and call
Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule and bring him down to
Gihon and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint
him their king over Israel and blow ye with the trumpet and
say God save King Solomon. Now let's get this now, get this. You've got Christ Jesus in type
who awoke the bride. He put the prayer in her heart.
He said, go in and petition the father based on covenant promise.
And he said, and I'll make intercession for you. And then the father
calls Christ the prophet, the high priest, the captain of the
Lord of hosts to make his servants to lift the king up before the
people. Christ does it all. The whole
house has been entrusted to Him. You don't believe me? Turn to
Isaiah 9, verse 6. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. I can't press upon you enough
this. God is not only sovereign in providence, though He is. God is not only sovereign in
every matter that takes place, from the very hair of your head,
to the sparrow that falls to the ground, to the king that
sits in the highest throne room in this land. He's sovereign
over all. But brethren, if He's not sovereign
in salvation, sovereign in the heart, sovereign in ruling in
the hearts of His people, than man is. And that ain't so. God
is sovereign. Christ Jesus the righteous is
the one who will receive all the glory. That means He works
in His people effectually. Now watch this. Isaiah 9, 6. For unto us a child is born. And unto us a son is given."
That was the whole purpose he came into Israel. Because they
didn't have a king that would reign in righteousness. They
didn't have a king who would provide for the people. They
didn't have a king who could be trusted with the government
of the people of God. And God said, I showed you all
that. I made you a nation and I raised
up a king. Gave you the king you wanted.
The first one you wanted was Saul, so you'd be like the rest
of the nations. Went all along, I set my king
in my holy hill of Zion. But now I've proven to you, you
can't govern yourself. You can't save yourself. You
can't make anything effects for yourself. My king's coming."
And he says, I'm given a son and the government shall be up
on his shoulder. And his name shall be called
wonderful counselor." Nathan the prophet said, let me give
you counsel. You know what I'm doing for you right now? I'm
giving you counsel. I'm saying to you, get you into
the Father. You want to come to my house?
You want some private counseling? Come on. I'm ready. I want you
to. I encourage you to. Call me.
In any time of need, call me. And I've got this word for you.
Christ Jesus, the Lord of hosts, the King of kings, says, Get
thee in unto the Father. He'll make intercession for you.
And He'll come forth and He'll put down the king, the false
king, and He'll raise up Christ the king. He's the wonderful
counselor. He's the mighty God. He's the
everlasting Father, the second Adam, born of incorruptible seed,
born of Him. We live with Him forever. He's
the Prince of Peace. You want peace, that's where
it's coming. Prince of peace. Of the increase of His government
and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David. That's who Solomon's a picture
of here. 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. This is who He is. He does all
the work. for the Father has entrusted
it to him, the whole house. Look over it, Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2. The Father said to him, he said,
now you take the Lord's servants. God said, I'll give you pastors
after my own heart. And He tells the Son in Type
here in our text, He says, now you send forth My servants, the
pastors after My own heart, and you speak through them. And Scripture
says when He ascended on high, He gave gifts unto men. He gave
pastors and teachers and evangelists. Christ did. And He's sovereign
enough to work in their heart to teach them the truth of who
God is. And He's sovereign enough to work effectually through that
word they preach to reveal Himself in the hearts of those He comes
to. Why? Because the government's on His shoulder. And this whole
thing has to be done in righteousness and truth and holiness by the
Master. Now watch this, verse 10. Hebrews
2.10. For it became Him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. That's what our Savior accomplished
when He came. He was made like unto His brethren.
He went to His brethren where He suffered all things as we
have without sin. He purged us of our sin and He's
seated at the right hand of God. Now look over at Hebrews 3.5.
Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant. for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after. God the Son is the servant of
God, but He's more than that. He's more than that. He's God. Watch the verse, but Christ as
a Son over His own house. Whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm until the end?
You see, the glory of God he entrusted to his son. The glory
of his whole house throughout all ages of time and elect people
from among Jew and Gentile, bond and free, rich and poor, young
and old, he said, I will save them through my son. The glory
of my name, the glory of my house is all in your hands, my son.
It's all on your shoulder. he came forth like unto his brethren,
and he just as triumphantly, as sovereignly, as effectually
as he accomplished the redemption of his people and putting away
the sins of his people by the sacrifice of himself, by sanctifying
his people by his one offering, even so now from his throne in
glory He's working sovereignly, effectually, in every detail
of the lives of his people to bring to pass that which he determined
before the foundation of the world, the salvation of their
souls, through the preaching of the gospel, through the truth
of his word, through pastors he sends forth, in the churches
he's planted, by the rivers of waters of life. That's what he's
doing right now, and he shall not fail. Not at all. Not at all. How shall we and
all the people know that Christ is King? How are we going to
know this? We're going to know it by the mule, we're going to
know it by the pool, and we're going to know it by the trumpet.
And it's all saying the same thing. The Word of Truth, the
Gospel through the Spirit of God. Watch this now, this mule,
verse 33. The king also said unto them,
take with you the servants of your Lord. The type of the under
shepherds, the type of the lesser body guards that are guarding
the body. as Christ the head guards the
body. And call Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule and
bring him down to Gihon. Here's the mule he's riding on
and this place called Gihon is a pool. Now watch the mule This
was the way of testifying that it was David's will that his
son Solomon should reign in his stead. This is how David testified
it. Though he didn't come forth and
tell it himself, this is how he testified that this was his
son. Nobody else had the authority
to ride triumphant on this mount but the one that the father said
is the king. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass and upon the coat of the foal
of an ass." That was prophesied by God's Word. That was preached
by God's prophet years and years and years and years before. And
when Christ came, it says in Matthew 21, He came, He told
them, He said, you go into this village, And He says, when you
get there, you're going to find an ass tied and a coat with her.
He said, loose them and bring them unto Me. And if any man
asks you why you're doing this, He said, you tell him this, all
this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the Word in the Gospel, in the Word of the Lord, that the King
is coming on the King's Mount. There's the king's mount right
here, his word. The father said, the only one
that can have preeminence on this mount is my son. If you're not giving him all
preeminence, then you're not declaring my son. You had another
feast altogether rejoicing in a false king. Well, where did
he bring him to? They brought him down to Gihon.
You remember whenever Israel was all in a fuss and they was
all bent out of shape because the Lord said, out of my anger
Assyria is coming up and I'm going to use him to wipe away
the nation of Israel. And so he began to come upon
Israel and King Ahaz in Judah was all, they said the people
were shaking like the leaves on a tree. They were just all
afraid and didn't know what to do. And the Lord told Isaiah,
He said, the only way they're going to be saved is for you
to go forth right now with this Word, with this Gospel. And declare to them that I'm
giving them a sign whether they want it or not. And this is the
sign of my salvation. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. Behold, a virgin shall bring
forth a son. And behold, that virgin shall
call His name Immanuel, God with us. He said, go preach this gospel
to him. You know where he did it? He
did it in the pool of the upper field. It's called the pool of
Shiloah. It's called the pool of Gihon.
That's where they're at. That's where they're at. That's
where the gospel went forth. That's where the word went forth.
And the Lord said, told Ahab, he said, you refused the waters
of Shiloah that go softly. Nathan didn't take up those bodyguards
and he didn't get all those mighty men and those men of war and
he didn't go down there and by force of hand and strength try
to break up that feast that was going on down there with that
false king. You know how he did it? With
the Word. You know how God said, I'm going
to save my remnant in Judah, even though the Ahaz and all
the people are trembling and thinking that everything's going
to hell in a handbasket. I'm going to do it through my
word, through my gospel. It's the waters of Shiloah that
go softly. Peace is sown in the heart, peaceably. Righteousness is sown in the
heart in peace. Not by power nor by might, but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. This is the same pool
where the Lord came to the blind man and put mud on his eyes and
said, Now, go wash in the pool of Siloam and come away seeing. This is a picture of the Word,
the Word of God, the Gospel we preach, revealed through the
Holy Spirit, the water and the Spirit, the trumpet, then verse
34. He says, And let Zadok the priest
and Nathan the prophet anoint him their king over Israel, and
blow ye with the trumpet and say, God save King Solomon. Have
you heard this trumpet this morning? I've been blowing on this trumpet
since we got here this morning at 10 o'clock. Have you heard
it? I got one thing to say to you.
Christ Jesus, the Lord of hosts, is King of kings and Lord of
lords. He's the one that pleased the
Father to have all preeminence, that all fullness might dwell
in Him. He's the King. He's the King. So here we have
the Lord's servants accompanied by the captain, the priest, and
the prophet. picture of Christ there on the
King's Mount. He's sitting on the King's Mount
by the waters that continually go softly blowing the trumpet.
Our King Jesus is declared by the power of the Holy Spirit
through the word of his gospel. That's the picture here. Well,
what happens when this happens? What does the Lord do when He's
put this prayer in our hearts and He's made intercession for
you? And He's come forth and He's exalted Himself before your
eyes through the Word of His Gospel and made you to behold
that He indeed is King? What happens in you then? What's
going to happen in you when He does this? This is the effectual
result. When God makes His people to
hear the Word of the Lord, three things always happen. The first
thing is His ministers, His faithful ambassadors follow the King with
great joy. Verse 35, Then ye shall come
up after Him. They went down before Him announcing
Him. Announcing Him. But they said
once He is exalted, now you just take your place behind Him and
follow Him. And they followed after Him.
that he may come and sit upon my throne, for he shall be king
in my stead, and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and
Judah, my people. The second thing is, all the
people in whom the Spirit reveals Christ the King follow along
with great rejoicing, just as his ambassadors do. Verse 40.
And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with
pipes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with
the sound of them. And here's the third thing. That
self-exalting false king shall be put down. Verse 41. And Onijah and all the guests
that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating.
Down there finishing up that feast, eating that self-made,
self-prepared, self-exalting feast. And they hear all this
rejoicing. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said,
wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar? And
while he yet spake, behold, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, the priest,
came. Donijah said unto him, oh, come in. You're a valiant
man. You'll bring good tidings. Come
on in and tell me, what's the good tiding? What's everybody
so happy about? Jonathan answered, said unto Donijah, verily, you
write, I come with some mighty good tidings. You're right, I
do come with some faithful tidings. Our Lord King David hath made
Solomon king. He's king. And moreover the king's
servants came to bless our Lord King David. Everybody's rejoicing
in him. The father's rejoicing over him
and the people are all rejoicing over him. Look down at verse
48. Also thus said the king, blessed
be the Lord God of Israel which hath given one to sit on my throne
this day mine eyes having seen it. And here's what happened. And all the guests that were
with Donijah were afraid and rose up and went every man his
way. Now that's how the false king
in me and in you and in every sinner that will be saved by
grace in this earth throughout the ages of time shall be saved. Christ Jesus, the prophet, priest
and king, who enters into the heart, awakes us out of our sleep
of death, makes us to go in unto the Father, who makes intercession
for us, who comes forth in righteousness and declares Himself to be the
King through the Word of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit going
forth in effectual grace, irresistible grace, bringing His people to
follow after Him and rejoice with piping great rejoicing. That's what scares the living
daylights out of those false kings. That's why they won't
invite you to their feast. Scares them. Scares them. And they fled away in fear. And
that's what will make that king flee away. It's in your own flesh
as well. It's the word of His grace, Christ
the King. Turn with me over to Ephesians
chapter 1. Let me end with a few verses
of scripture. I declare this more plainly than I could ever
declare it. Ephesians 1, verse 20. This is the working of God's
mighty power, which He wrought in Christ. That's what it's going
to take to save us. When He raised Him from the dead,
God the Father raised Christ the King from the dead, set him
at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come. That means he's ruling the show,
folks. That means he's in charge of everything in heaven and in
earth. And nobody can question him or say, what are you doing?
He's the King. And he hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church, to his Bathsheba, to his bride, which is his body,
the fullness of him. He's all fullness to us, but
his people is the fullness of him, him that filleth all in
all. That means there's no empty space
left. He fills all in all. And God has exalted Him and given
Him a name above every name. And at the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow, things in heaven, things in earth, and things under
the earth, and every tongue shall confess, Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father. Here's what the Revelation tells
us. Here's our rejoicing. Unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him
be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.