All right, turn with me now,
if you would, to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1, verse 17 is our text this evening, and it
says, Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen. That's a beautiful summary
of a saved sinner's heart. That is the conclusion of the
matter for God's people, isn't it? That's how they feel about
the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the glorious declaration
of Christ. When we were just reading that
scripture reading, could you see all of heaven crying hallelujah
to this man? Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen. Paul just announced in
verse 15 that he was the chief of sinners. But he said in verse
16, I obtained mercy because that's who Christ came to save.
And all of God's sinful people who have obtained mercy the same
way that Paul did, all of them have this to say
in return. All who see the goodness, all
who have experienced the grace and the mercy, all of them have
this to say in return to their Lord. Now unto the King. That's all we have to say. That's
the only boast that we have. Now unto the King, not unto us,
oh Lord, not unto us, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen. Those final words, those heart
concluding words, they are sometimes referred to as a benediction. That's just the final word. Now
here's it. This is it. This is the final
say of my heart. Final say period. A lot of times
that's referred to as a benediction. There are benedictions all over
this book. This book is full of these wonderful
benedictions. I wrote a few of them down and
I just want us to read them together. All right, let's just read some
of these benedictions and enjoy them and say amen to them together. And then we're gonna come back
and look at this one in detail. Let's begin with the first great
benediction that comes to my mind. Our Lord gave this benediction. It's in numbers 6. If you turn
with me to numbers chapter 6. This is our Lord's benediction
to us to his people. Numbers chapter 6. Verse 22 says, And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, Whom
this wise you shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto
them. He said, This is what I want
you to say to them. All right, these are my final
heart concluding words to my people. Verse 24, he said, the
Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. You tell them that's my concluding
thoughts. That's my concluding feelings toward all of my people.
He said, I will bless you and I'll keep you. And I'll be gracious to you.
I'll make my face shine upon you. I'll lift up my countenance
upon you and I will give you peace. That is beautiful, that's
beautiful. That's my final word to you.
I'm gonna bless you, I'm gonna keep you. This one is a short benediction,
but I love how this one ends. Look with me at Psalm 89. Psalm 89, the last verse in the
Psalm, verse 52, it says, blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and amen. One amen on that is just not
enough. David said, I have two things to say about that. Amen
and amen. Blessed be the Lord forevermore. I mean, that's the final say,
isn't it? That's the benediction. This is the last word. Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and amen. I wrote down a bunch of these
and I had to cut them out for the sake of time, but go to Ephesians
3. Ephesians 3 verse 20, Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. That is a glorious benediction. That is a glorious benediction. Get a hold of this. Now unto
him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all that we
ask or think. Do you know that we don't ask
for as much as we think? We ask for a lot. But he is able
and he's willing to do exceeding, not even just above. and not
even just abundantly above, but exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think according to the power that is working
in us, unto Him be glory in the church. By Christ Jesus throughout
all ages, World without end, amen. That's a glorious, glorious,
that's a great final word. Look with me at Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 verse 20, it says,
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing
in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. The God of peace. What
made him to be the God of peace? He brought again from the dead,
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. The father chose the sheep, the
son died for the sheep, the spirit called the sheep, And because
of that, they're all made perfect in Him. Now let me show you one
more. Go with me to the book of Jude,
just before Revelation. There's one chapter in Jude. Verse 24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. These benedictions are
what we are going to cry throughout all eternity. These will never
go away. His Word is not going to fail.
His Word will stand forever. We will quote His Word throughout
all eternity. Revelation 1 says, 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 forever and ever, amen. We're gonna cry that
through all eternity. Revelation five says, thou art
worthy for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy
blood. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. We are gonna cry these heart
concluding words to Christ our Savior for all eternity. And that includes the one that
we have for a text tonight. So go with me back to 1 Timothy
1. Verse 17, it says, now unto the king, Eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen. Let's just break this verse
down and see what we're saying. This is what we are crying to
him. Number one, who are we speaking to? It says, now unto the king. Now unto the one who wears the
crown. Now unto the one who is in control,
in total control. Now unto the one who is worthy
to sit on the throne. There is one man worthy to sit
on the throne. And our cries to him. That word
king in our concordance, when you look up the word king, that
word means the sovereign. If a sinner ever sees the sovereign,
now unto the sovereign, that changes everything, everything. If a sinner ever sees Jesus Christ
as He is, not how man wrongfully thinks He is, not how man has very foolishly
and ignorantly imagined Him to be. Oh, the imagination of men's
hearts. That's what denominations are.
The imaginations of men's hearts. Not how men stand up and preach
Him to be. But if a sinner has ever had
his eyes open to see Jesus Christ as He is, he's going to see a
sovereign. He's going to see a ruler. He's
going to see a controller. He is going to see the Lord God
Almighty. Let me show you a couple of men
who saw him as he is. Turn with me to Job 42. Job chapter 42 verse 5, Job said,
I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor
myself. and repent in dust and ashes. He said, I heard about you and
heard about you, but now I've seen you. In the chapter before,
Job was spouting off to the Lord and the Lord revealed himself
and Job said, I think it's time I put my hand on my mouth. I've
seen you and I abhor myself. I hate what I see in myself.
Look with me at Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 says, In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings. With twain He covered His face,
and with twain He covered His feet. And with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, woe is me, for I
am undone. Because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,
for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. I've seen the King. I've seen
the King. It breaks men. They bow. When they see the King, they
bow. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
three. Chapter Ezekiel. Daniel chapter 3. Let me show you one verse here
so that we can see who Nebuchadnezzar is talking about. Daniel 3. I'm not going to tell it to you.
You know the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And Nebuchadnezzar
threw him in the fiery furnace. All right. Verse 25. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Now, who is the Son of God? Jesus
Christ. That's who Nebuchadnezzar is
dealing with. And then in chapter four, that's who dealt with Nebuchadnezzar. He brought him down. He brought
him down. Look at chapter four, verse 34. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, And I praised
and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or saying to him, what doest
thou? At the same time, my reason returned
unto me. He restored me. And for the glory
of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me,
and my counselors and my lords sought unto me, and I was established
in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now
I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven. All whose works are truth and
his ways judgment and those that walk in pride, he is able to
abase. He's so able to abase. Nebuchadnezzar
said, I thought I knew what a king was. He was a king. He said,
I thought I knew what a king was, but no, no, I had never
seen a king. until I saw the King." We're
dealing with the King of Kings. The King of Kings. Let me show
you one more. Alright, it's the very man who
penned our text tonight. Go to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9 verse 1, And Saul, that is the Apostle
Paul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest. What a foolish man. Breathing out threatenings, breathing
out slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high
priest. and desired of him letters to
Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound
unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven, and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying
unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art
thou, Lord? And the Lord said unto him, I
am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the bricks. And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, What wilt thou have me to do? Lord, King, Sovereign,
Ruler. Here he was, he thought he was
really something. I'm going to put an end to this. I'm going
to put an end to all his disciples. And the Lord, the king, the sovereign
revealed himself, cried out to him, and he said, what do you
want me to do? What will you have me to do? He saw immediately. It is not what I'm going to do
with you. It's not what I'm going to do
for you. It's not what I'm going to do with you. It's what are
you going to do with me? What are you going to do with
me? He saw who was in absolute control, the king. The king,
he cried, Oh, sovereign Lord and king, what would you have
me to do? I'm your servant. You're not mine. I'm yours. And that's what men and women
see when they see the king. I'm your servant. You're not
mine. You're not here to serve me.
I'm here to serve you. If the Spirit of God ever reveals
Jesus Christ as He is to us, then this is what we'll say.
Go back to our text, 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1, verse 17. Now unto the King eternal. Now unto the king eternal. Eternal
means forever. Forever. That brings so much
comfort to me. He is the king. He is the king. And he is going
to be the king forever. That brings so much comfort to
me. He is going to be the king forever. Now, I knew that we
were turning a lot in this message, and I wrote down, if you want
to listen, you can. And you can, but I strongly encourage
you to turn to this. Look with me at Luke chapter
one. This is such a blessing. He is the king forever. Luke 1 verse 26 it says, In the
sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city
of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose
name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name
was Mary. And the angel came in unto her
and said, Hail, Thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with
thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
this should be. And the angel said unto her,
fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God, and behold,
Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt
call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob, the sinner. forever. And of his kingdom,
there shall be no end. No end. Doesn't that bless your
heart? By God's grace, by his spirit, he's caused us to want
only one king. Who do you want to be your king?
while the world says, I'll take myself to be my king. Who do
you want to be your king? Who do you want to be your controller,
your owner, your sovereign, your God? By his grace, by his spirit,
he has caused us to want only one king. And thank God, the
only king that we want is gonna be our king forever. Forever,
Jesus Christ, our Lord forever. Back in first Timothy one. Verse 17, it says. Now unto the king eternal. Immortal. That word means uncorruptible,
cannot die. Cannot decay, cannot be destroyed. He said, whoever lives and believes
in me will never die. And the reason he said that is
because he cannot die. If you live in me, you'll never
die. I cannot die. He's immortal.
He is immortal. In him, whatever he is, that's
what we are. He's immortal. In him, we're immortal. First
Corinthians 15 says this mortal is going to put on immortality.
This corruptible is going to put on incorruption. Death is going to forever be
swallowed up in victory. Death is going to be put away
forever. It's going to be the only thing that dies. Only one
thing will die. Death. It's going to be swallowed
up in life, immortality. That makes God's people cry in
verse 17. Now unto the king eternal, immortal,
invisible. Invisible. That means his fullness
and his greatness and his majesty and his power and his glory.
It will never fully be seen. The glory of His person is past
finding out. Never will we exhaust the fullness
of Him, never. That brings comfort to me too.
Throughout all of eternity, never will we exhaust the fullness
of Him, the deep things, the unsearchable things. The other thing that that tells
us is that he is both visible and invisible. He can be seen
right now. He can be seen right now in person,
in the flesh, in glory, sitting on his throne. Souls are looking
at him right now. He is there right now. Where
is your God? He's in the heavens. He's seated
on his throne. He's doing whatever he pleases.
are looking at Him right now. He is seen, and even though He
cannot be seen, He is right now in this room. He is just as much
in this room as He is seated on that throne. Just as much
as the souls in glory are physically looking at Him, He is invisible. We are with God. He said, I'll
never leave you. He's right here with us. Verse 17, it says now unto the
king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, that means
it's his word and his word alone. For all eternity, that's what
we're going to be crying. It is His Word and His Word alone. Verse 17, it says, Now unto the
King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor. That means all value is bestowed
on Him. Verse 17 says, and glory. That means all magnificence,
all majesty, all praise, all worship is bestowed on him. And verse 17 says it's forever
and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. and ever, and ever, and ever,
and ever, and ever. Amen. That means all of God's people
are gonna say forever, and ever, and ever. That's the truth. That's
the truth about Him. And so be it. Along with every
sinner Christ saved, I wholeheartedly agree. I say amen. In the Bible dictionary, we have
this concordance, this Bible dictionary, it says that the
word amen is the direct translation of the Hebrew word believe. I believe. Amen, which is the same translation
as the word faithful, full of faith, I believe. In verse 15,
Paul said, this is an amen saying. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And every sinner that he came
into the world to save cries, now unto the King, eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and
ever. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.