Good evening. If you have your
Bibles, please turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 32. Isaiah chapter 32, and our text is going
to be verses 1 and 2. I've titled this message, Precious
is our righteous King. He is the Lord of Lords and the
King of Kings. And He is with us. He is with
His children all the time. He watches over us. He protects
us. And if it's the Lord's will, may His Spirit come and be with
us tonight. And may He open up these words to our hearts. And
we are gathered together in His name. He says in Matthew, Where
two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there amidst
among them. And in Psalms 115, we must always
remember that it's not about us, it's always about our Lord
and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Psalms 115 says, not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name we give glory, for thy
mercy and thy truth's sake. And over the purpose of God's
chosen people to be here tonight, is to worship the Lord Jesus
Christ. And may He give us the eyes to
see Him. Our King says in Psalms 2, Yet have I set my King upon
my holy hill of Zion. And then in the center margin
of my Bible it says, upon Zion, the hill of my holiness. You
know in verse 1 here in Isaiah 32, He says, Behold, that word
means to rejoice. And God's people, and I have
a tendency to forget this so much because of the world that
I live in, the things that I face each and every day, but he says,
behold, that means to rejoice, to be happy, to be glad. Think
about who we are in Christ, who we are in Christ. You know all
the blessings and promises that God has in his holy scriptures,
they are for those that are in Christ. And when he speaks of
wrath and darkness and sin, so is outside of Christ. And I thank
God that it is our good hope that we are in Christ. And that
good hope is not being presumptuous, but it's our assurance of what
this book right here says. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he come
into this world to save sinners. And as I look in the mirror,
that's all I see. And this book is absolute truth.
But anyway, it says here the Holy Scriptures. And there it
says our King is God. And there's a lot of people that
would dispute that. But in other words, as our pastor
said to you every day, Jesus Christ is eternal. There never
was a time when he was not. And there never will be a time
when he will not be. And he has always watched over
his sheep. from eternity's past, and he
always will, through eternity's future. There'll never be a time,
as I said, that the Lord will not be here for us. Our beloved
King, the Lord Jesus Christ, he had no beginning and he'll
have no end. Our Lord Jesus is sovereign in
all things. That word means that he is not
diminished in any way. He's total and complete. And
when I think about that, what blesses my heart so much, I know
that he is absolute sovereign in salvation. I don't have to
worry about going out here and doing something, and then I'm
gonna lose my salvation, and then I'm gonna have to go up
and rededicate my life and go be baptized again. I've been
through all that because I was in religion for quite a few years,
you know. And he's absolute sovereign in
creation. And then what blesses my heart
too, and the hearts of his children, and they believe this word with
all their heart because they know this is a mind and a heart
and a soul of God. This is how God speaks to us.
We speak to him through prayer, but he speaks to us through his
word. You know, and we know that he is absolute sovereign in Providence.
And that really blesses my heart, because I know that everything
in this world is under his control. It's not under man's control.
It's under his control. And it always has been, and it
always will be. And he's also absolute sovereign
in the physical world. And then he's absolute sovereign
in the spiritual world. You know, a lot of people don't
realize this, but life is two-dimensional. You know, there's a physical
world that we see, things that we see, but there's a spiritual
life going on all around us. And he's watching over his children.
And he's protecting us. And what's good about that is
to know that he has given us the faith of Christ. Truly know
and to believe that with all of our hearts. And we do. And
that gives us strength to face whatever we face, the hard times
that we may face in this world. Regardless of what may come my
way, I truly believe it's by the providence of God. And if
it's his will, So be it. I'm nothing. He is God. And he has that right. But there's nothing that happens,
as I said, without his permissive or directive will. In Matthew,
our Lord Jesus said this. He said, all power, all power
is given to me in heaven and in earth. That pretty well covers
it all, doesn't it? All power. You know, the scripture
says, Behold, our King. As I said before, that word means
to rejoice, to think about, to think about our King. You know,
there's a lot of times in this life whenever we're not, we don't
have the scriptures, but we may be out morning guard or working
or something. But you know, whenever we have
the Word of God in our heart, it blesses us to meditate, think
about it. You know, to think about it,
to meditate upon His Word and His promises to us. Because His
promises, He'll never fail us. He will never fail us. He will
never, ever fail us. And He will never break a promise.
It's not good that I ever, as the preachers say this morning,
it's not good that I ever make a promise. Because a verse of
them can never keep them. Man, sooner or later, I don't
know if you know what eat crow means, but I've done that a few
times. But, you know, we ask ourselves, you know, do we deeply
believe in our hearts what the scriptures say about our King?
You know, there's times in this flesh that we get weak. There's
times that God seems very close to us and we feel Him in our
hearts. And then there are times that we get so caught up with
things in this world and we tend to forget. who our King is, and
He is precious, and He is always there, and He is always with
us. He's always with us. He's always with us. You know,
something that I've done during my life, I've had quite a few
surgeries. But every time they put that
little cup over my nose, they say, start at count 20 and go
back. I don't count 20 and go back.
I say, the Lord is my shepherd. I don't want, because he's the
one I'm trusting in. He's the one. It's not the doctors,
but it's him. It's our Lord Jesus Christ. And
we love him, and we thank him. You know, one of the scriptures
that blesses my heart so much when we think about our Lord
Jesus Christ, and there's so many people that don't believe
this, but you know, a lot of people believe in God, but they
don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe in a Jesus,
but they don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is the
Lord Jesus Christ? He's got a lot of names, but
one of my favorite places is Isaiah 9-6. Speaking of our king,
the Lord Jesus, he says unto us, a child is born. God's people
know who that is. That's the Lord Jesus. For unto
us a son is given. The Lord Jesus Christ, he laid
his life down for us. No one took his life. He laid
it down for his people. A son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders. And listen to this, his name
shall be called Wonderful. And it is, it is so wonderful.
Counselor. the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, and the Prince of Peace. And it says of the government
in peace, of His government in peace, there shall be no end. That blesses my heart when I
think about that. In the book of Revelations, Jesus
Christ, He is called the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the King of God's elect. But he is also king of every
seed of Adam. There's so many people in this
world that rejects him and don't want nothing to do with him.
But that doesn't make him no less, Lord of lords and king
of kings. But for his people, he's their
savior. And it is by his precious blood
that he shed on the cross at Calvary that he saved his people
from their sins. He says, you know, we belong
to Him, it says in 1 Corinthians. Think about this, you know. A
lot of times we don't, you know, a lot of people wouldn't like
this right here, but it blesses my heart to know. He says, know
ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in
you, which you have of God, and you are not your own. Why are
we not our own? It says, for you were bought
with a price, and we all know what that price was. It was the
precious blood of the Lamb of God. Not only that, He is in
us, but we are in Him. For it says here, in Him, in
Him, in Him, we live and move and have our being in Him. And it's been in 1 Corinthians
1.30. You know, we have nothing to
offer God except cries of mercy. But it says here in 1 Corinthians
1.30, it says, But of Him, that's the Father, are ye in Christ
Jesus. We are in Christ Jesus. So it
says it again. Who of God has made unto us what? wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. It goes on to say, therefore,
he that glory, let him glory in the Lord. We have no right
to glory in anything else. He is our king. And not only
do we belong to Him, but He belongs to us, as I said, and He reigns
in absolute holiness. He reigns in absolute righteousness,
and He reigns in absolute justice. He can do no wrong. He reigns
over the universe, over the world, and over the church. And He is
the Lord and the King because He made all things. Everything
that we have in this life comes from Him. Everything that we
have in this life belongs to Him. And if you will, if I hold
you place here in turn, it's a very familiar piece of scripture
over the Colossians chapter one. This is my heart to read certain scriptures over
and over and over. Look at verse, I think it's verse
12. Chapter 1, verse 12. It says,
giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption. How? Through His blood, what,
even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image, speaking of
Christ here, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature? I've been talking about Him being
absolute sovereign in creation. It says in the physical world
and also in the spiritual world, it says, for by Him were all
things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible
and invisible. Whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and listen to this, and by Him all things consist. And He is
ahead of the body. What is the body? The body is
the church. That's the brethren. who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
that he might have the pre-emptness. Verse 19, for it pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness, should all fullness
dwell. And if you will turn to Hebrews
chapter one, Hebrews chapter one. You know, it says in him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead body. And he says that we are
complete. When? We are complete in Christ. And I thank him for that. I look
here at the first chapter of the book of Hebrews. It says,
God, who at some great times and in divers manners, spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. But here in
the half, in these last days, he has spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, of whom also he
made the world. Listen to verse three. Who, being
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and the upholding of all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, He sat down,
the work was finished. He said on the cross, it is finished,
the work of redemption. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high. You know, in verse 8 of that
same chapter, if you look at verse 8, speaking of Jesus Christ our
Lord, our righteous King, he says, but unto the Son he said,
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is a scepter of thy kingdom." And I thank him so much for that. Our King, our God, come into
this world of a virgin woman by the power of the Holy Spirit
to save his people from their sins. You know, the angels told
Mary, they said, you'll have a son. You shall call his name
Jesus, and he shall save his people. He didn't say he'd save
the whole world. He said he shall save his people
from their sins. It is through the Lord Jesus
Christ, our God, that God's law was honored and that his justice
was satisfied. God's word says in Galatians
4, verse 4 and 5, But when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were made under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. That's precious. We'll go back to our text here
in Isaiah 32, verse 1. It says, Behold, a king shall
reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. Are these
his faithful prophets, his apostles, his evangelists, his pastors?
It's teachers. I know in Ephesians 4, 11 and
12 it says, and he gave some apostles, some prophets, and
some evangelists, and some pastors, some teachers. And then a king
must have princes under him as officers. by whom he may act. In our text again, it says in
chapter 32, verse 1 and 2, Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,
and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding
place in the wind, and a cover from the tempest, and as rivers
of water, and a ground place as a shadow of a great rock,
in a weary land. It says here that a man should
be as a hiding place from the wind. Who's this man that we're
talking about? We're talking here about the
God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we're speaking in 1
Timothy 3.16. It's hard to imagine that the Lord of glory walked
on this earth. But it says in 1 Timothy 3.16,
and without controversy great, Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. He was justified in the spirit.
He was seen of angels. He preached unto the Gentiles.
And he believed on in the world. And he was received up into glory. And the man shall be a hiding
place. This man was promised and he was prophesied. This man,
the God-man Jesus Christ, our Lord, was prophesied from the
beginning when Adam sinned in the garden. God said in Genesis
3, 15, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed. And it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel. Here is the first promise in
the scriptures of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed
of a woman. You know, all that are born into
this world comes from the seed of man, except for Jesus Christ,
our Savior, who was born of a Virgin Mary in the power of the Spirit
of God. In Isaiah 7.14, Our Lord said,
therefore, the Lord himself should give you a sign. Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel. And that was in Isaiah. And hundreds
of years later in Matthew, God's word says they shall call his
name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. And only in Christ
are we sheltered. from God's wrath. There's no
other way. Only in Christ are we sheltered
from His wrath. It says here in John 3.36, He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And when it
says, believeth on the Son, it's talking about Jesus Christ, the
Son of God that's spoken of in the Scriptures here. But he that
believeth on the Son hath life, and he that believeth not the
Son of God hath not life. You don't get no plainer than
that right there. But it says, thereafter God abideth
on him. You know, this is a hard saying
here, but it's the truth. There is no love of God outside
of his Son, Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians, it says,
for all the promises of God in him, speaking of Christ, are
yet, and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he is our refuge in time of trouble. He is our
good shepherd. He's our great shepherd. He's
our chief shepherd. And what blesses my heart and
the heart of his people is to know that his word is absolute
truth. And we look to Him always to
take care of us, and He always will. And He always has. You know, even before, even when
I was young and raised up, and even when I was a rebellious
teenager and didn't want nothing to do with Him, didn't want to
go to church, I still is sheep. I always have been. You know,
there was something that I was watching a documentary on TV
the other night, and it reminded me of this right here. But it
was a whole bunch of sheep, and I don't know what country it
was in. It was just big old fields. And there was like 30 or 40 sheep
to gather. And there was five or six or
seven dogs on the outside of them just laying there. And they
was just looking around, watching. And it showed, a camera showed
it way off in the distance, come a little spot, and it kept getting
closer and closer. And when it got so close, three
of them dogs, they took off like lightning. It was a wolf, and
he was wanting one of them sheep. And when they got so close to
him, that wolf turned tail and he ran like crazy. And them dogs,
they come right back to the flock. You know, that's the way it is
in the spiritual world. We have guardian angels. We have people
watching over us. You know, God watches over us
each and every day of our lives, you know, and I thought about
that right there, you know, but that's the way it works, you
know. Christ the Lord, He's not only our King, as I said, He's
our Shepherd, He's our Representative, He's our Substitute, He's our
Surety, and He is our Savior, our only Savior. The Bible plainly
says, neither is there salvation in any other name under heaven.
given among men, whereby we must be saved. And in Him, we have
all spiritual gifts. Jesus Christ is with us in all
of our troubles, our trials, the sickness, the sorrows, things
that we face in this life. And God's children look to Christ,
and they trust in Christ, and Christ alone. For He is the rock
that we stand on, and that rock is unmovable. God's people have
been cleansed from all of our sins, But because of that, it
doesn't mean that we're free from the crevices and the heartaches
that we suffer in this world. But regardless of what we go
through, our God is on the throne. And He is absolute sovereign
in all things and bring all things to pass in our lives. What for? If it's not for a physical good,
it's definitely for our eternal good. All things happen to believers
by eternal purpose of our Lord and our King, Christ Jesus. And we need to remember what
He says here in Isaiah. For the Lord is our judge, the
Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. And he will save
us. You know, no one else can. Blessed is the king who is altogether
lovely. And we always ask God to give
us a heart to love him and to trust him. And to always remember
that regardless of what we go through in this life, that Christ
is our all. He's always there, as I said
before, and he always will be. For he's alive. He made peace. He with us. To God, you know,
I've heard, I've had a niece that say, I made my peace with
God. I can't make peace with God. Christ is the one that made
peace with God when he hung on that cross. Christ made peace
for his people. I thank the Lord for it. It says
in 1 Timothy, for there is one God and one mediator between
God and man, a man. Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus
Christ our Lord, he is our hiding place from the winds of what?
The winds of sin, and we all have it. We all have it. With
sins of trouble, we all have that. Sorrow. You know, a joke
said, man born of a woman, his days are few and full of trouble.
And if you've been around any time at all, you know that's
the truth. Well, you know it's the truth
anyway, it's in the Lord God's word. But he is the only shelter
from a storm of God's wrath. Only one mediator between God
and man, and that's by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the only
thing that satisfies the wrath of God. He is the water of life
in a dry and thirsty land. A lot of times you know Christ,
Christ is the water of life. And sometimes this can be a dry
and thirsty land. Sometimes, you know, we get so
close to the Lord. Or I know I do. Sometimes I feel
so close to Him, and I talk to Him all the time. And then there's
times that I just feel so far away from Him. But I know He's
there. He always is. You know, Christ
Jesus, our Lord, is that great rock that we stand on. It's a
cried stone. And we know for sure that our
Lord, He certainly was cried, wasn't He? but he is our only
foundation. God's word says in Isaiah, therefore
thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation,
one that cannot fail. It said one that cannot fail. I want you to turn just to one
more place and I'll be finished, John six. Very familiar scripture,
but it just shows me that I'm in His hands and regardless of
myself. Verse 37. I thank God, if I had to depend
on myself, as I've said before, I'd fall a thousand times a day.
But in John 6, verse 37, this is our Lord Jesus Christ, our
precious King, speaking. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I come down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which hath sent me, but of all which he
hath given me, what does he say here? I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. And he goes
on to say in verse 40, and this is the will of him that sent
me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him,
may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. That's God's truth, and it's
a blessing.