at 10.30 and 2 o'clock, also
on Thursday evening at 7 o'clock and there will be a prayer meeting
here on Tuesday evening at 7 o'clock. The collections and online giving
for September amounted to £2,530.80 Donations to the book fund were
£20. We sincerely thank you for your
continued support of this cause of truth. Let us commence our
services today by singing together hymn number 127, the tune is
Gopsal, 542. Rejoice, the Lord is King. Your God and King adore, mortals
give thanks and sing, and triumph evermore. Lift up the heart,
lift up the voice, rejoice aloud, ye saints rejoice. Hymn 127,
tune Gopsal 542. May Christ the Lord be with you,
O God and King and all, All those with tongues that sing, and triumph
evermore. Lift up the heart, lift up the
voice. Rejoice, the crown is laid. Rejoice! Rejoice, O Savior, rejoice in
God of truth and love, where He hath left the saints, Gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there. Rejoice! the bounteous reigns rejoice! This is the plan of heaven, ♪ Heroes of heaven and earth ♪
♪ The kings of heaven and earth ♪ ♪ Bound to a delicious grain
♪ Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! ♪ Behold His bow shall fell ♪ ♪
Shall all our sins destroy ♪ ♪ And every mortal torn ♪ With music
that they do, It talks a whole thing of the voice Rejoice! the crown he takes! Rejoice! Rejoice in God as home! ♪ Peace as the clouds shall cover
♪ ♪ Earth in its summertime ♪ ♪ To the rings and all around ♪ Whispered
shall in the angels' voice, The tomb of God shall sound rejoice. Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in the Book of Psalms. We'll read three Psalms. The first is Psalm 15, and then
Psalm 24, and then Psalm 47. Psalm 15. Lord, Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and
worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that
backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour,
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. in whose eyes
a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the
Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt
and changeth not, he that putteth not out his money to usury, nor
taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall
never be moved. Now let us read together Psalm
24. The earth is the Lord's, and
the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.
For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon
the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy
face, O Jacob, Selah, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be
ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come
in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, And the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King
of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of Glory, Selah. Now let us read together Psalm
47. O clap your hands, all ye people. Shout unto God with the voice
of triumph. For the Lord Most High is terrible.
He is a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people
under us and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our
inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved, Selah. God has gone up with a shout
the Lord with the sound of trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto our King. Sing
praises. For God is the King of all the
earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen.
God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of
the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of
Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted. May the Lord bless the reading
of his own precious word and grant us a spirit of real prayer. Almighty and eternal King, gracious
and heavenly Father, we do desire to bow before thy great majesty
and to call upon thy great and holy name. We desire to thank
thee for our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory, and we desire to thank thee that
through him we have access by one spirit unto the Father. Holy, blessed, divine spirit
of truth, we do pray for thy heavenly power, for thy divine
unction to be poured upon us as a church and as a congregation
in the pulpit and in the pew, even today, that we may truly
worship thee O most blessed Spirit of truth, without Thee we can
do nothing, we have nothing, we are nothing. We come as poor,
empty, ruined, wretched sinners, lost and undone, the fallen sons
and daughters of Adam. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. Gracious God, have
mercy upon us today. look upon the face of thine anointed,
grant that we may be favoured to touch the hem of his garment
and to draw from that sacred fullness that is in him. Grant
that we may have a sight by faith of the glories of King Jesus,
that we may hear his voice, that we may see his countenance. Lord,
we do pray to be made more spiritually minded and that our heart and
our affections may be set upon things above and not on things
of the earth. We pray, most gracious Lord,
for that grace that we read of in thy word. And he giveth more
grace, and he is full of grace and truth. And Lord, we need
more grace. And we pray that it may be poured
upon us even this day, even the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that we do pray, most gracious
Lord, that thou would remember us as a church and as a congregation,
and that thou would continue to work among us, that we may
still see thy goings in the sanctuary, and that the love of Christ may
be shed abroad in the hearts of poor sinners, And the blessed
Spirit may go forth in heavenly power and quicken souls and make
them cry, give me Christ or else I die. And O most blessed Spirit,
we pray that thou wouldst cause the prodigals to return and that
we might see thy mighty power and grace in this, that we might
see the pulling down of the strongholds of Satan and the setting up of
the kingdom of the Lord Jesus in the hearts of sinners. Let
thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children,
O Lord, we beseech thee. And let us see the wonderful
power of the Spirit of God in our neighbourhood, in this village
of Lamberhurst, in the surrounding villages and hamlets, that the
strongholds of Satan may be pulled down and the kingdom of Jesus
Christ set up in the hearts of sinners. O Lord of hosts, O God
of Israel, O Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. We do humbly beseech Thee. Show
us Thy ways, teach us Thy paths. O Lord, we do humbly pray and
grant that Thou would lead us forth in that right way. and
grant that we may see thy goings in the sanctuary, that we may
see thy power and thy glory as thou usest to be in the sanctuary. Let thy hand be upon the man
of thy right hand, the son of man, whom thou madest strong
for thyself. O Lord, we do beseech of thee. Lord, we do pray thy blessing
on our brethren the deacons, Bless them indeed. Give them
needed grace, day by day, in all their responsibilities. And,
O Lord, we do pray that thou, in thy precious mercy, would
remember each one of our brethren and sisters in church fellowship,
and grant thy rich blessing, we do humbly pray thee, that
we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ. Lord, we do pray that thou, Lord
Jesus, would come and stand in our midst even today. Jesus himself
drew near and went with them. Lord, we pray that it may be
so with us here today. Lord, we pray that thou would
graciously bless the children, the little ones, have mercy upon
them, May the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom,
be granted unto them. We do humbly beseech thee. And,
O Lord, we do pray that thou wouldst bless them with that
rich grace that is in Christ Jesus, our young friends also,
as they stand on the threshold of life's journey. Guide them,
O thou great Jehovah. We do humbly beseech thee. make
this world a wilderness unto them, and make the Lord Jesus
exceedingly precious, that they may behold the glory of the Lord
in the face of Jesus Christ. We do humbly beseech thee, guide
and direct them in all the matters of providence. We lovingly commend
them to thee. Graciously be with them in their
education and employment, regarding a partner in life's journey.
Lord, we lovingly commend them to Thee. Thou art able to do
abundantly more than we can even ask or think. O Lord, we do pray
that Thou, in Thy great mercy, would bless parents, give wisdom,
give grace, give help to bring up their children in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord, be with them in family worship and
help them and undertake for them. Lord, we pray for those that
do know Thee, that have felt Thy love in their hearts, that
Thou hast constrained them to come and tell to sinners round
what a dear Saviour they have found, and point to Thy redeeming
blood and say, Behold the way to God. Do so bless us, Lord, we humbly
pray thee. And that we do pray that thou
wouldst be with each and every one in the midst of the journey
of life. Graciously remember those that have lost their way,
that have wandered away, and that we pray that thou wouldst
lay hold of them. And the word of the Lord came
a second time unto Jonah, the son of Amittai. And Lord, may
it be so with those that have wandered from the ways of the
Lord, we do humbly beseech them that we may have that rejoicing.
And oh Lord, we do pray that thou would deliver us from the
temptations of Satan in whichever way he comes, whether as a roaring
lion to devour or as an angel of light to deceive. We pray
to be delivered. We pray and plead that precious
promise. When the enemy comes in like
a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against
him. Remember all in affliction, trouble,
trial, perplexity, sorrow, sadness, bereavement. Gracious God, remember
them each for good, O Lord. We do beseech of Thee. Help us
to bear one another's burdens. Help us to love each other, serve
each other. Oh, do hear us, O Lord, we humbly
pray thee. Remember those of us that are
now in the evening time of life's journey, and graciously guide
us safely unto thy heavenly kingdom. We do humbly beseech of thee.
And O Lord, we do pray that thou In thy precious mercy we remember
thy servants as they labour in word and doctrine today upon
the walls of Zion. Grant them the fresh anointing
of thy spirit. Grant them the spirit of power,
the door of utterance, signs to follow the preaching of the
word. We do humbly pray thee we live in a day of small things.
We pray that thou wouldst hear the cries of thy little remnant
that thou wouldst return unto Jerusalem with mercy as we do
humbly beseech thee. Remember our friends in Holland
and graciously bless them there, and our Dutch friends here with
us today, we pray that they may be blessed of thee, and pray
that thou wouldst send out thy light and thy truth in the length
and breadth of our nation, a nation once so highly favoured But now,
Lord, we've cast aside thy word. We've rejected thy counsels and
thy commandments. O Lord of hosts, O God of Israel,
we do humbly beseech thee that thou wouldst hear us in heaven,
thy holy dwelling place. We pray that thou wouldst give
wisdom to our leaders and guidance and direction in all matters.
We seek that thou would bless our king and the royal household,
bless them with that rich grace that is in Christ Jesus. O Lord,
we do beseech thee. We live in truly solemn days,
O Lord, when iniquity abounds on every hand throughout the
nations of the earth. We pray that thou would bring
to naught the counsels of the ungodly and that graciously deliver
thy people. We humbly pray thee. We think
of the Ukraine and the church there. We pray that thou wouldst
hear prayer and bring to naught the counsels of the wicked, overturn
their desires. We do humbly pray thee. And we
pray for the land of Israel, surrounded with enemies, bitter
enemies. And we pray that they may be
delivered and above all that they may be brought to the true
knowledge of the Messiah, of our Lord Jesus Christ, we do
humbly pray thee. Lord, hear us, we pray. Wars
abound on every hand. Wickedness increases day by day. Is not thy chariot hastening
on? O Lord, do hear the cries of
thy little remnant. We do humbly pray thee. We thank
Thee, O Lord, for the Word of God. We thank Thee that Thy mercies
to us are new every morning and great is Thy faithfulness. We
thank Thee for all Thy lovingkindness that has passed before us in
the way. But above all, we thank Thee for Jesus Christ. We thank
Thee for the glory of His name. We thank thee for the incarnation
of the Son of God, the holy life he lived as a man here upon earth,
thereby bringing in everlasting righteousness for his people.
We thank thee for Calvary, where the Lamb was slain, where sin
was put away, where divine justice was satisfied, where God and
sinners are reconciled. Lord, we thank thee that he died
for our sins and rose again for our justification, swallowed
up death in victory, brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. We thank thee that he has bodily
ascended into heaven. Those everlasting gates have
lifted their heads and the King of glory has entered in. O Lord,
we do thank thee that such an high priest have we, who is passed
into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. O Lord God, do hear
us, do come and touch one's lips with a live coal from off the
heavenly altar, that we may be enabled to speak forth the words
of truth and love. We do humbly beseech thee as
we ask all for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 539. The tune is Millennium, 551. Christians, rejoice and sing
your Maker's lovely praise. He is your God and King, ancient
of endless days. He lives, he reigns and sits
above The King of Kings and God of Love. Hymn 539, tune Millennium
551. ♪ Rejoice and sing ♪ ♪ Your angels
now be praised ♪ ♪ In this your golden year ♪ ♪ Ancient of heaven's
day ♪ In excelsis Deo, et in nobis.
♪ Him contain ♪ ♪ He mentioned
in Ephesus ♪ ♪ He mentioned in Ephesus ♪ ♪ In heavenly praise to God the
King ♪ ♪ And heaven and earth exult in his glory evermore ♪ O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of ♪ God save the King ♪ ♪ God save
the King ♪ Hail Mary, Hail Mary, All glory
to thee. ♪ Where are you to find me? ♪ ♪
Where are you to find me? ♪ ♪ Where are you to find me? ♪ Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I will direct your attention to Psalm 24, and we'll read verse 10 for our
text. Psalm 24, verse 10. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of Glory, Selah. Who is this King of Glory? We notice from verse seven to
10, must remember friends that these
Psalms were written to be sung. That was the purpose of them. and you know we have repeater
hymns and sometimes the last line is repeated twice sometimes
it's a second line is repeated twice and the different parts
come in the tenor and the bass and the treble and the alto they
come in at different times on certain tunes and when you look
at verses seven to ten And this is exactly, it was designed to
be sung. And so you could imagine them
coming in, lift up your heads O ye gates, be ye lift up ye
everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in. And then
perhaps the tenor and bass would come in, who is this King of
Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. And
then they're all together, lift up your heads O ye gates, Even
lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory, Selah. But there's something very special
and particular here, my beloved friends. We read in Luke chapter
24 of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, And he led them out as
far as unto Bethany. And he lifted up his hands and
blessed them. And he was received up into heaven
in a cloud. And this is what we have recorded
here in a prophetic way. It's the ascension of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ into glory. The Apostle says in Hebrews,
he hath made a new and living way into the holy place. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth and the light. The way was shut, my beloved
friends, when Adam fell in the garden of Eden. Sin entered
in and death by sin. And there was a fiery Flaming
sword the sword of divine justice was was put there in the way
So that man could not approach unto God Man was now defiled Unclean unrighteous altogether Now we have those solemn words
the Apostle quotes them in the Epistle to the Romans there is
none that do is good. No, not one They are all gone
out of the way. What a picture it describes human
nature. The apostle knew this by his
own personal experience. He had to cry out, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Isaiah, in the first chapter
of Isaiah, he says there, from the crown of the head to the
sole of the foot, wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
there is no soundness in my flesh. What a description of us by nature,
from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. The hymn
writer says, doesn't he, defiled I am indeed, defiled throughout
my sin. That's where we are by nature,
sinful, wretched. You know, you may have thought
I did, in my early spiritual days, you may have thought, well,
as I grow in grace, I'll become more godly, more gracious, more
righteous. I shall live more under the Lord. You know, the apostle had been
in the way many years when he wrote that. That which I would,
I do not. That which I would not, I do.
I find a law within my members that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. Wretched man that I am. You know,
friends, if I know anything about it, and I believe I do, I feel
more the defilement of sin now than I did when I was a young
man. I feel more the corruption of my heart, the wretchedness
of my nature now, far more than I ever did then. We grow in grace. and in knowledge. That is the
new man grows, the old man gets no better. The old man gets no
better. But here we have something different
in these three Psalms that we've read together. And you know in
that Psalm 15, Lord who shall abide in thy God's dwelling place. Who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? You know, here in this psalm
is a beautiful description of our Lord Jesus Christ. He that
walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
speaketh truth, in his heart, it's his Christ. We're fallen, we're sinful, we're
wretched, we're undone. He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbour, in whose eyes, because he's a godly person,
the reason One of the reasons that the Lord Jesus Christ was
despised in rejected men is because he lived a pure and holy and
righteous life. And it reflected on the wicked
lives of those that were about him. Therefore they hated him. In whose eyes a vile person is
contempt, but he honours them that fear the Lord. Now, of course,
in a lesser degree than what it was in Christ, because Christ
was perfect. He knew no sin. Those that receive grace, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, those that are born again of
the Spirit and are brought to living faith in Jesus Christ
and become a follower of Jesus Christ and of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. They know, and it is revealed
in them that, you know, the more we know of Christ, I mean now
experimentally, not just reading about him, but know the sweet
power of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts. Christ revealed
and made precious to the soul. And this is the picture of a
person that lives a gracious life we can never attain. to the holiness of Jesus Christ,
because we always have a corrupt nature. We always have the old
man. But in some measure, every true
child of God, born again of the Spirit and Christ revealed and
made precious, they follow him. Be ye followers of me, even as
I also have Christ, You see, and the various things it speaks
of here, there is a picture, in what we might say some lesser
degree, there's a beautiful picture of Christ, but there's also those
that follow Christ. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. What a standard, isn't it? David,
he says in Psalm 139, it is high, I cannot attain unto it, and
it's true. We never will attain to the purity
and holiness of Christ in this life. John Wesley went terribly
wrong and erroneous on this particular point. He believed it was possible
that a Christian man can reach such a point sanctity here on
earth that he becomes holy. It's just not true my beloved
friends. Holiness without a stain they
are thirsting to obtain and the more that we know of the love
of Christ in our hearts the more we should desire to be like him
and to follow him and to serve him in our day and generation. But when we reach heaven, we shall be like him. We shall be like him. With a
pure heart, with a pure mind, with pure desires. Who is this king of glory? It's a question, isn't it? It
was particularly this that rested on my spirit, just that clause
really. Who is this King of Glory? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is a, in the beginning of this psalm, speaks of the sovereignty
of God. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. The
Apostle says, doesn't in the Acts of the Apostles, that in
him we live and move and have our being. He says also, it is
he that has made us and not we ourselves. This earth belongs
to the Lord. In Psalm 19 he says, the heavens
declared the glory of God day unto day after his speech, night
unto night uttereth knowledge. He has founded it upon the seeds.
and established it upon the floods. Then we have this question, who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand
in his holy place? Who? That's the question, isn't
it? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart It excludes
everybody in this chapel. It does. None of us can say that we have
clean hands. None of us can say that we have
a pure heart. No. There's only one person described
here, my beloved friends. That's the person of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God that was manifest in the flesh. clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. None of us can say that, but
of Christ he is. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord. He shall. Good men there are The hymn writer
says, doesn't he? Good men there are, but be it
known, their goodness dwells in Christ their head. It's that lovely word, beautiful
word again, it speaks of Christ in Psalm 37. Mark the perfect
man. There's only one perfect man
that has ever walked this earth, Christ. Mark the perfect man. and behold the upright, for the
end of that man is peace. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we're to look to.
We're to look to Him for righteousness and strength, for wisdom and
understanding, this glorious perfect man. He shall receive
the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of
His salvation. This is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob, Sela. Are we among
those that are seeking? You know, we often speak of seeking
souls, and it often seems to be implied that a person before
Christ is revealed to them, they're a seeking soul, but after that,
they're not. But that's not true, you know.
The true living child of God is a seeking soul all the days
of their life. All the time we're on this in
this earthly pilgrimage we're a seeking soul. Are you a seeking soul? Are you
hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Do you find that
you can't find it in yourself and you can't find it in this
world? But my beloved friends, you can
find it in Jesus Christ. Him hath God exalted as a Prince
and as a Saviour, for to give faith, repentance, remission
of sins, this glorious Saviour. He says, look unto me. It's Christ
speaking in Isaiah 45. Look unto me, O ye ends of the
earth, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none else.
Who is this King of Glory? This glorious person of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, manifest in the flesh. Who is this King
of Glory? You know, we rightly speak of the exaltation
of our Lord Jesus Christ to the right hand of the Father, The
Apostle Paul in that lovely second chapter of the Epistle to the
Philippians, he says there, let this mind,
verse 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus. That's what we need, the mind
of Christ. May the Spirit of God grant us
more of this mind of Christ, this mind of love, this mind
of compassion, this mind of holiness. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He's the co-equal
co-eternal Son of the Eternal Father, co-equal and co-eternal with
the Father and the Holy Ghost, who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Now listen, this
is the mind of Christ, my beloved friends, and may the Lord grant
it to us, and may we seek it and be found hungering and thirsting
after it. He made himself but made himself
of no reputation. He made himself of no reputation,
though he's Lord of all, though he's the King of glory, though
he's the eternal son of the eternal father, though he's the creator
of the heavens and the earth, though he upholds all things
by the word of his power, yet, but made himself of no reputation. the Son of God, and took upon
Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man.
What a profound mystery, doesn't the Apostle, he says to us, doesn't
he, that great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest
in the flesh. He became a servant. He humbled himself Now, as the
son of God, he humbled himself, but then in verse 8 he says,
and being found in fashion as a man, and even as a man, he
humbled himself. He humbled himself. The Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the mind of Christ. It's
a mind of humility. It's a mind of love, a mind of
compassion. Full of love to man's lost race. Let this mind be in you. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It's the
most ignominious. He was executed as a common criminal. This is the mind of Christ. You know, my beloved friends,
we've got nothing to be proud of. And yet we're very proud. Our fallen nature is very proud.
You know, the Lord brings things into the life, into the circumstances
of His children. Things that are really trying.
Things that are really perplexing. Things that try your patience. But the Lord brings them, why?
You know we're ready to say, that is our old nature is ready
to say, oh the Lord is angry with me. We get into a legal
spirit, the Lord is angry with me. The Lord has a controversy
with me. He doesn't. And now there are
times of course when the Lord does and it's spoken of in Holy
Scripture. But why? Why this pathway that
you're walking in at this time? It may be a trial that comes so close to your heart. What's the purpose? What's the
reason? Not because he's angry. Whom
the Lord loves. He chastens. It's because He
loves you. He loves you with an everlasting
love. And He doesn't want to see you
run away in pride and deceit and worldliness and carnality.
And because He loves you, He's laid this thing upon you, whatever
that thing is. And what's the purpose? To humble
them. You think of Deuteronomy chapter 8. Thou shalt remember
all the way the Lord thy God hath led thee. But then he says, why, to humble
thee, to prove thee, to see what was
in thine heart. What do we find that is in our
hearts in deceit, corruption? Now my beloved friends, suffer
the world of exhortation, let this mind be in you which was
in Christ Jesus. So he made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was found in the
likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled
himself. and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Every tongue should confess.
Oh, my beloved friends, humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due season. You know, this king of glory
that we have in our I often refer you to the fifth chapter of the
second epistle to the Corinthians and in that last verse of that
fifth chapter, for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Who is this king of glory? Who
made him to be sin? your gracious heavenly Father,
He made Him to be seen. The doctrine of imputation, our
gracious eternal Father, in those eternal counsels of everlasting
love, He took the sin of the church, He lifted that sin off
the church, and He laid that sin on His Son. Jesus Christ he humbled himself
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin Christ
knew no sin he was made sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him and this is the hope of every
true believer my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness, who is this King of glory. The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory. Just consider our Lord Jesus
Christ in all his humiliation, public humiliation, spat upon,
scourged, crucified, that was for the sins of His
people. But the greatest, the most tremendous,
was He made Him to be seen. He laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all, who, our gracious, loving, eternal Father, laid
upon His pure, His holy, His spotless Son, who was manifest
in the flesh, He laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, who is
this King of Glory? And the Lord Jesus Christ, having
suffered and bled and died, you know, he lived for his people.
That life of Christ, that pure, that holy, that spotless life
that he lived, fulfilling, honouring, magnifying God's holy, righteous
law. That's what he's done. And this
is the King of Glory. He lived as a man for 33 years
upon earth, as the Apostle says, made of a woman, made under the
law that he might redeem them that are under the law. As a man, the Son of God as a
man, lived here upon earth under the law of God, and fulfilled it, and honoured
it, and magnified it, the behalf of his people. What you can't
do, what I can't do, what no man has ever done except this
holy God man, the man Christ Jesus, he brought in everlasting
righteousness for his people so that the church is made righteous
in him who is this King of Glory. and having suffered and bled
and died for the sins of his people, because that's why he
was crucified, because he was made sin for us. He stood in
the wrong place instead of his people, to redeem them and to
deliver them from sin and Satan's power. And he entered into death itself. Father, Into thy hands I commend
my spirit. And having said that, he gave
up the ghost. Says in John, he cried with a
loud voice, it is finished, and gave up the ghost. Into thy hands I commend my spirit. What does he mean? He means his
holy human soul. He commended it into the hands
of his eternal father. And we are instructed in James
that the body without the spirit is dead, being alone. And that's
when Christ himself entered into death. He commended his holy
human soul to his father and then he entered literally into
death. And the purpose and the object?
Well, he died for our sins. He died for our sins. Death had
no claim on Jesus Christ. He died for our sins. He rose
again for our justification. That's the commencement of the
exaltation of Christ when he rises from the dead. He rose
again for our justification. The word justification means
to be declared to be without sin. And because of the sufferings
and death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, The evidence that
sin has been put away, that divine justice has been satisfied is
in a risen Saviour. Sin, the sin of the church has
been put away. And it was then he led them out
as far as on to Bethany. He lifted up his hands and blessed
them and was received up into heaven. He was. You know, that's a beautiful
account that Luke gives us in the Acts of the Apostles, and
there in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, it says, the Lord Jesus speaking
to the disciples, verse 8, but ye shall receive
power after the Holy Ghost to come upon you, and you shall
be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in
Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.' And when
he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up,
and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they
looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee,
Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner, as ye
have seen him go into heaven. In Hebrews chapter four, we read,
For such an high priest have we, who is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God. And here in this Psalm 24, David,
he had a sight of the exalted Savior. You might say, but David
lived 500 years before Christ. Well, he did, but he saw it by
faith, and he wrote about it by faith. And he saw those gates
of heaven that were shut, opened. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up,
ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.
He said, because I live, ye shall live also. He hath made a new
and living way into the holy place. Who is this King of glory,
the Lord strong and mighty? It's Christ, the Lord mighty
in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, King of glory shall come
in. Who is this King of glory? What a statement here of the
divinity of Christ. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory, sealer. You know, friends, there is nothing
more comforting, more soul-establishing, than a sight of Christ in heaven. There isn't. Heaven's doors open,
heaven's gates open, a new and living way into the holy place.
And it's as if the holy angels, those ministering spirits, they're
singing a song here unto the exalted saviour as he ascends
into heaven. And as he approaches those holy
gates, Everlasting gates of heaven lift their heads. Now, of course,
you might say, what does it mean, lift their heads? Well, if you
go to the old castles, they usually had a portcullis that kept the gate into the castle.
And that was lifted up by ropes at the side. And if an enemy
quickly approached, they could drop the gates and it dropped
down. and the gates lifted their heads. When it was lifted up, the gates
lifted their heads, and that's the illustration. And the gates
of heaven lifting their heads and opening the way into heaven
itself. The glorious, holy, divine person
of Jesus, the son of God, now exalted in heaven. You know,
friends, as the son of God in his divine nature, He couldn't
be exalted any higher than he ever had been. But as the son
of God in human nature, when he humbled himself and became
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, he lived that holy
life. He suffered those awful sufferings. He entered into death itself.
And on the third day, he rose again. And now he's exalted far
above all principalities, powers, And every name that is named
is exalted in heaven above, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. My mind seemed much drawn when
I was thinking of this subject yesterday to the 11th chapter
of the book of the Revelation. Christ exalted in heaven. verse
15 of chapter 11 in the Revelation. And the seventh angel sounded
and there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall
reign forever and ever. He shall reign forever. This
is the King of Glory. and the four and twenty elders.
What do the four and twenty elders represent? They represent the
Old Testament Church and the New Testament Church. They represent
the twelve tribes of the children of Israel and the twelve apostles
of the Lamb. And the four and twenty elders
which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces
and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty, which art and wast not to come, because thou hast
taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned." Reigned in
the glorious person of his son. He's destroyed the works of the
devil. He's bound him forever and ever.
He's cast into that eternal pit. The devil and his angels. and
all those that know not God, we give thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty, which art and wast and art to come, because thou
hast taken to thee thy great power and reign. Jesus shall
reign where the sun does his successive journeys run. He shall
reign from shore to shore, He will reign eternally. He will. There can be no change. You know,
and He will reign with His people. If you look at Revelation chapter
7, verse 13, And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What
are these which I arrayed in white robes, and whence came
they? And I said unto him, sir, thou knowest. He said, these
are they which came out of great tribulation. This is the whole
church, the redeemed church. These are they which came out
of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, notice the connection.
The glorious everlasting robes of the righteousness of Christ. the precious blood of Christ
that he shed to redeem his people, have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before
the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.
And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them
unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Who is this King of Glory? O my beloved friends, may the
Lord give you a view by faith of this King of Glory. Who is
this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts. He is the
King of Glory. Now we read together in Psalm
47 and there in Psalm 47 we have the triumphant Christ. Oh clap
your hands all ye people, shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
For the Lord, most high, is terrible. He is the great King over all
the earth. He shall subdue the people under us and the nations
under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance
for us. The excellence of Jacob, whom
he loved. Selah. Now Christ ascended into
heaven. God has gone up with a shout.
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises. Unto our King sing
praises, for God is the King of all the earth. Sing ye praises
with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen.
God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness. You see, my beloved
friends, the wonderful glory of Christ, the ascended Christ,
now in heaven. Heaven opened a new and living
way, made into the holy place. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden. This is Christ's words. And I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
for your souls. There's an eternal rest, an everlasting
rest. There is a rest that remaineth
for the people of God, and that the rest of the Lord's people
here upon earth is in Christ. It's the rest of faith. It's the rest of faith. and they
will live in Him eternally in heaven above. Who is this King
of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of glory. Selah. May the Lord add His blessing. Let us now sing together in number
257, the tune is Revolts, 396. Ye humble souls complain no more,
let faith survey your future store. How happy, how divinely
blessed the sacred words of truth attest. Hymn 257, the tune is
Revolts, 396. You have to be strong. Oh. He made the sons of wealth and
pride, Despite your love, your holy right. ♪ In vain I know not the name of
stars ♪ ♪ Joyful, solemn, and clear to see ♪ ♪ Give them all, give them still
life ♪ ♪ Where health and peace and joy unite ♪ ♪ Heaven, we come ♪ ♪ In pleasure's
delight ♪ ♪ And every rage ♪ ♪ Has the host of pride ♪ A kingdom which can ne'er decay,
Of types we tell thee how to die. The state which I can trust and
say I'll live forever, I'll not fear of you, the glorious red flag
flying for you. And I, too, am so proud to wear to friends of joy and souls of praise. Jesus, to Thee I pray my prayer, We will confer my interest there,
Whatever I want or not. Now may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each. Amen.