Psalm 93. I wish I could preach this as
it ought to be preached. I titled this message tonight,
A Celebration of the Reign of Jesus Christ. When I read this, This is the
thought that came to me. This is a celebration of the
reign of our Lord. I don't know that anything gives
me more comfort than to know that the Lord Jesus Christ right
now is reigning You know, I try from time to time when I'm alone
and thinking upon the Scriptures, thinking upon the Lord, I try
to imagine Him seated on a throne, ruling and reigning over the
universe. I mean, those who believe and
those who don't believe. You know that everybody's doing
His will. We want to do His will, but even
those who don't want to are doing His will. He's the Sovereign. Jesus Christ is the Sovereign
and this is His world. All things were made by Him and
for Him. There's nothing made that He
didn't make it. There's nothing exists that Jesus
Christ right now is not ruling over. I mean, He lifts up leaders and
He brings them down. He may put a leader in position
as a judgment on a nation, or He'll take him down. It's in
His hands. And that gives me peace. I cannot
tell you the peace and the quietness that I have knowing that my Lord
is King. I know we've lost the sense of
what a king really is in this country since we elect presidents.
But my Lord is King. And what He says, goes. What He says, and when He commands
it, it happens. It happens. Now the church as a whole, as
well as every member of the church has great reason to celebrate. We have great reason here tonight
to rejoice in our King. We have a King. I love that.
We have a King. And it's the God of heaven and
earth is our King. Isn't that something? Israel
of old, they wanted a King like the other nations. I thank God
we have a king that's not like the other nations. We have one
that is righteous. His scepter is a scepter of righteousness. He rules with equity. That's our king. That's our king. We have the king of kings. He's not a king among kings.
Jesus Christ is not a king among kings. He is the King of kings
and He is the Lord of lords. Every king that has ever been
on this earth, every lord that's ever been on this earth will
answer to this one when it's over. They will answer to this
one. You know, it's written in the
Scriptures, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of
Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth
good tidings, of good that publishes salvation, that saith unto Zion,
Thy God reigneth, Thy Lord reigneth, Thy King reigneth. Thy Lord,
Thy King, and Thy God are one person, Jesus Christ. It's Jesus
Christ. And living in an evil world,
this world is evil. It is evil to the core. I didn't
see that when I was young. It was like a playground. I saw
the world as a playground when I was young. But now I see it
for what it is. And I thank God that He's given
me and He's given some of you eyes to see this world for what
it is. It's evil. It's against everything that
God is. It's against, when Jesus Christ,
the King of glory came into this world, the world, the religious
world and the Gentile world said, crucify him. We have no King,
but who? Caesar. I thank God that I have
a King that's not Caesar, but the King of glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And living in an evil world,
this is good news. Oh, he says here, "...how beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings."
That publishes peace. He brings good tidings of good.
Thy God, thy King reigneth. That's good news. Living in an
evil world. Can you imagine what it would
be like living in this world if Jesus Christ did not have
all power and all authority over everything? If He did not rule
and reign over all things. why the planets wouldn't even
stay in orbit. He has hung the world upon nothing but His Word.
This world, He says, is established. And you know what it's established
on? His Word. That's it. There's no strings
attached. It's just out there in space. But it's out there in space all
these thousands of years, it rotates the same, the seasons
come around the same, the four seasons, the sun comes up the
same, all the time. We set our clocks by it. And that's because there's One
who has the power and the authority to establish it just by His Word. The Scripture says where the
word of a king is, there's what? Power. Power. This Psalm is about the reign
and the rule of Jesus Christ. He is the supreme authority. It says in verse 1, The Lord
reigneth. That's absolute. That is an absolute
statement. The Lord reigneth. That means
right now. And when you and I are gone,
He'll still be reigning right now. He'll always be right now.
His reign never ceases. The Lord Jehovah and the Lord
Jesus Christ is the true Jehovah. He is truly God Jehovah. I want
you to turn over to Revelation chapter 19. It says in verse, I was trying
to decide which one to read. I'm going to just start at verse
1, I'm going to read down through verse 6. And after these things I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the
Lord our God, for true and righteous are His judgments, For he hath
judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her
fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at
her hand. And again they said, Alleluia, and her smoke rose
up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth." Who is that? Who is that? That's Jesus Christ. That is
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, this is the controversy
with lost men and devils. Who's going to reign? It's not
a controversy in heaven. God's not going to break a sweat
over the tumult of men, the hatred of men and devils. But there's
a controversy among men on who's going to reign. That's why they
hate the sovereignty of God in salvation, because it gives Him
the right, the power to rule and reign over who's going to
be saved. You know, He's going to save
whom He will. God's going to save whom He will.
And that makes men mad. I've had men mad. I mean, I've
had them fight mad. Telling them that the Lord saves
whom He will. And all I did was quote the Scriptures,
isn't it? I didn't make that up. Our God is sovereign. And He's going to save whom He
will. Because if He didn't, nobody would be saved. No one would
be saved if He didn't. Who's going to reign? I'll tell
you who's going to reign. This matter was settled a long
time ago. This matter of who's going to
reign was settled before creation. God settled this a long time
ago. He settled it that Jesus Christ is the reigning King,
and He's going to be the reigning King from everlasting to everlasting. There's never a time He didn't
reign. Never a time. In fact, when He
came into the world, the shepherds came, the wise men came, and
they said, where is He that is born King? He didn't wait for someone to
die and become a king, you know, like the princes do. They have
to wait for their father to die, the king to die, then they get
to step up. He did not have to wait for someone to die. He was
born king of the Jews because God made Him king before creation. And He reigns now. He's seated
on the throne right now. Boy, I'd like to shout that to
the world. He reigns right now. Right now
He's subduing. Right now. Whatever went on today,
went on by the authority and power of Jesus Christ and He
is day by day subduing all power and all authority. He's subduing
it. You can read that over in 1 Corinthians 15. Then comes
the end, and He's going to deliver up the kingdom after He's put
down all rule and all authority. He's subdued it all. It's all in His hands. It's all
turned over to Him. He's the reigning King right
now. And that being so, think how great our King, think how
great our King must be to rule all the universe. I mean, it's difficult to find
a man that can rule a community. He rules the universe. The stars
in their orbit, the trillions of stars that are in their orbit,
He rules them. He rules all men, all people,
all nations. He rules all angels, good and
bad. He rules them. Satan does what
he wills, what our king wills. Satan doesn't do what he will,
he does what our king wills. You'd think he'd be find that
out by now, wouldn't you? I mean, he knows the scriptures.
He knows who God is. God made him. He was a morning
star. And yet, all these thousands
of years later, this is how sin just takes away intelligence. It takes away any kind of intelligence.
All these years, he hasn't figured out that he's doing the will
of God. That's how dumb sin makes us. He rules. He rules over the universe. He rules over all men. He rules
over the angels, good and bad. He rules over everything and
everyone right now. How great must a king be? How
great must our king be that's able to do that? And not only
how great must he be, but how wise must he be to rule over
all this and make it work in such harmony to bring about His
eternal purpose. I thought about that today. How
wise. How wise. He's the wisdom of God. He's the wisdom of God. He knows
all things. Our King knows all things. He's
not trying to figure out what to do tomorrow and the things
that are going on in this world. He's not trying to figure out
how to juggle these things around. He's not figuring out anything. He's sitting on the throne directing, orchestrating. That's what He's
doing. That's what our King is doing.
And I would to God that you and I would live in the reality of
this. Day by day, live in the reality of this. It'll calm your
fears if you'll live in the reality of it. If God will enable us
to. And then His reign, the reign
of the Lord Jesus Christ is such a glorious reign, I can't even
begin to scratch the surface. I can't even begin to scratch
the surface of His person. of his reign. You know, he took
Peter, James, and John up on the Mount of Transfiguration,
and they saw him glistening right there before their eyes. He was
just changed in this brightness and this glistening and this
glory that they saw. And they just got a glimpse,
that's all they got. They just got a glimpse through
the lattice, so to speak. But His reign, listen, His reign
is glorious, and notice His apparel. You know, you see a king coming
in, especially back in that day. They wore the royal garb, man. I mean, they put on the purple
and the robes. And I mean, they just, I was
watching, Vicki and I was watching a movie the other night, and
the king got on the horse and his robe, they had to pick it up
so he can get on the horse, and then it covered the whole horse.
I mean, it covered that whole horse. That's what they, you know, when
they come riding into town, they have to announce by just their
appearance, I'm the king. They got a crown, they got the
robe, and they got all this paraphernalia that, you know, that a king wears.
But our king, our king is clothed with majesty. That's what you
say to a king, your majesty. A judge, your honor. And He's
the Judge. He's a King of honor and majesty. He's the Judge and He's the King. He's clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength. That's His clothing. Majesty
means this, supreme greatness or authority. It means sovereign. It means sovereign. Majesty means
sovereign. It means a title used when speaking
of or to a sovereign. When you're speaking to a sovereign,
you don't say, hey, how you doing? You don't say that, you say,
your majesty. Because you just might get your head cut off if
you just get... Wasn't it Esther? I believe it
was Esther. She had to wait till the king held the scepter. That
was his wife. I mean, she had to wait till
the king held the scepter toward her so she could come in. You
couldn't just walk in. Your majesty, His glory, the
kings of the earth, they clothe themselves in material made by
someone else. Not so our King. Not so our King. His apparel is not material,
nor is it made by another. It is His by right and it is
His by nature. I want you to listen to this.
His attributes, I forgot to write down who said this, but His attributes
are His royal robes. Isn't that something? That's
a beautiful statement. His majesty and His strength
is His character. And His attributes are His royal
robes. Was it Hannah said, there is
none holy as the Lord. That's His character. And His reign, listen, His reign
is powerful. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself,
wrapped Himself in strength and power. This has to do with power. I thought of this, when men go
to war, especially in that day, they gird on their sword. Nowadays, they put on the rifle
and their guns. I mean, you can see them. They
got all that stuff on them. You wonder how they can even walk.
They've got so much heavy stuff on them. They've got so much
armory on them. Our Lord just girded them with power. Isn't
that something? Power. When He says, Go, you
go. When He says, Come, you come.
See, He's girded with power and strength. He's girded with strength. I thought about this. Our Lord
only had the strength to withstand the temptation of Satan. Adam
couldn't do it. But He had the strength to do
it, the power to do it. The strength of character to
do it. He had the strength and power
to withstand wicked men. How many times they want to kill
Him? And they couldn't touch Him. They couldn't touch Him. When
they came out to get Him, He said, I am He, and they fell backwards.
He has the strength and the power to bear our sins away. Can you
imagine the load, the guilt of sin that He took for all His
elect was all laid on Him? Could anybody carry such a load? You know, if the Lord convicts
us of just one sin, we can hardly bear it, can we? If He really
convicts you of even just one sin, it's hard to bear. Your
conscience is just broken, your heart's broken, and He took all
our sins, and they were laid on Him. And He carried them to
the cross and put them away. He's the scapegoat. He's that fit man the Scripture
speaks of. I have laid help, God said, I
have laid help upon one that is mighty, and that's Him. That's
the King of Glory. He's clothed with strength, and
He's girded Himself, He's girded with it. It says in Psalm 62.11,
God has spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth
unto God. Pilate said, Don't you know I
have the power to release you? I have the power to crucify you. He said, You don't have any power.
You have no power at all, except it be given you from above. You
know, not one person on this earth, not one person on this
earth, not one angel, Not even the animals. Nothing has power
except He has given it to them. You and I don't, you don't have
the power to get up out of that chair unless He gives it to you. I wouldn't have gone, we'd recognize
that more than we do. The power to take the next breath
is His. He gives us power to breathe.
He gives our bodies power to do it. Adam was dead. He had no life in him until God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And then he became
a living soul. Until then, he did not have the
power of life. He didn't have it. He's dead. That body that was laying there
was dead. It had no life in it until God
breathed into it. Until he breathed into it. Our Lord girded with strength.
He is the one who's able to bind the strong man of the house.
Remember that one? The strong man of the house there
in the Gospels? When the stronger man comes in, he binds them.
The Lord Jesus Christ is able, two things, to bind Satan. To take his power away from you. Because you and I were under
his power. We were under the power of darkness. We were under
the power of God. He bound him. And then he binds
that old nature. He's the only one, and I've learned
this, and I believe every child of God in here has learned it
and learning it still. He's the only one who can bind
that old nature. We still can't do it. We still
can't do it. Something catches our eye and
it just keeps on going. We just keep on looking. He's
the only one who can turn your head back and say, stop looking. And give you the power not to
do it. He's the only one who can give you the power to quit
thinking of something and change your thought. Because if he doesn't,
that old nature is just going to keep on thinking in the wrong
direction every time. It'll do it. He gives us the
power to overcome. It says in Colossians 2.15, And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. He rides into glory
victorious, having overcome all principalities and powers. And
listen, The LORD is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded himself, The world also established, that
word means, I looked it up, it means stable. This world's not
unstable, it's talking about the earth, the earth that God
created, it's not unstable. We're not gonna destroy it. We're
not gonna destroy it. We would if we could. I'll tell
you that, we would if we could, but you can't. You know why?
Because He established it. Listen, that it cannot be removed. Here's what this means. It cannot
waver. It cannot shake as a whole, the earth. It cannot
be fallen into decay. Oh, we're going to defossil fuels
and I mean all this junk, crying about it. It can't do it. We can't destroy it because it's
His. He won't allow it. That's why
I'm saying He will not allow it to happen. He'll stop it. The stability of the world depends
on the stability of the One who made it. Listen to Hebrews 1.12, And as
a vesture shalt thou fold them up. When He's done with this
now, when He's done with all this, He'll fold it all up and
they'll be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall
not fail. It says in Hebrews 13a, Jesus
Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. You see, the
stability of this earth depends on the stability of the one who
made it. He said, I'm the Lord. I change
not. Aren't you glad of that? I mean,
he's like that compass, that north compass. We can go everywhere
else, but he's right there. He's right there. He never even
so much as cast a shadow by changing. No one can remove this world,
for no one can remove the one who made it. Can't do it. And I want you to listen to this. The stability of the world ensures
the fulfilling of His purpose. That's why it's established. That's why it's stable. Because
if it were not, how would God fulfill His purpose? I thought
about this. The great design of God is displayed
on this earth. The great design of God is to
glorify His Son, and it is displayed and fulfilled on this earth.
And you and I are a part of it. We are a part of it. All that's
made, all the universe, all the stars, there's this one thing
called earth. There's this one called earth.
And on this earth, on this globe, God has purposed to create a
people just like His Son. God has purposed to redeem a
people and to put away sin. Whatever this mystery called
the mystery of iniquity, whatever this great mystery is about sin
and where it came from, I don't know, I'm not going to get into
all that, but I know this. Here is where it's being dealt
with and put away forever by the King of glory. and it's been done right here
on this earth. And He has established this earth, that it cannot be
moved, because He's going to fulfill His purpose, His eternal
purpose, in glorifying His Son, and having a people, and putting
away sin, and it's going to happen right here on this earth. So
it's established. Man thinks it just, boom, it
came. All of a sudden it's into existence,
and we're living, and we came from the monkeys, You know, that's
a real slam on monkeys, I tell you that. We came from the... No. See how ignorant sin has
made us by nature? Sin has made us that ignorant. No, no, no, no. God's going to
fulfill His purpose. That's why He established the
earth. And listen, "...and thy throne is established," there
in verse 2, Am I only on verse 2? Oh my goodness. I'll get through this. We see
here that His reign is eternal. Thy throne is established or
firm. It's firm, it's solid, unmovable. Thrones on this earth come and
thrones go, but not His. Not His. It's firm, established
of old, thou art from everlasting, meaning prepared from eternity.
This has been prepared from eternity. Go all the way back to eternity.
You can't do it. There's no back to it. There's
no back to eternity and there's no forward to eternity. Eternity
is just eternity. It's timeless. There's no time
there. That's why with God everything
is present. The end and the beginning are
present with God. It tells us here, His throne
is no upstart throne. He didn't just go back to glory
2,000 years ago, now He's on the throne. He's been on the
throne forever. He said it's from everlasting. John Gill said this, "...as a
divine person, the Son of God, His eternal existence, as God,
is the reason for the establishment of His throne of old." Oh, Thy throne is established. Thy throne. Look over in Hebrews
chapter 1. In verse 7, And of the angels
he saith, Whom maketh his angel spirits, and his ministers a
flame of fire? But unto the Son he saith, Now
listen what he calls his Son, when he speaks to his Son. Thy
throne, O God. He's calling the Son God because
He is. Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
But thy throne, O God, is forever." It's forever. It always has been,
always is, and always will be. And then in verse 3, look here.
We see the reigning power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The floods
have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their
voice. The floods lift up their ways. This has to do with mostly
here with the tumult and rage of men of this world against
Him. As it says over there in Psalm
2, let me read that. I'm not going to try to quote
it. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointing, saying, let us break their bands asunder and
cast away their cords from us. Oh, the floods have lifted up.
They stood up against him. They stood up against him. And they stand up against His
church even now. They stand up. You know, if you
step back, you know, as believers, if you step back from the TV
and you turn the news off, if you step back from that for a
minute, you could see, you could see that the whole, the whole
of the human race, the whole of every nation is set up against
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Satan is the head
of them. It is all to bring about or to
bring down the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan is so
subtle, he disguises so much of it, but I'm telling you, it's
against the church. There's only a battle, the really
true battle is a spiritual battle of Satan trying to destroy the
people of God because he hates God. and he can bring down the
glory of God. He wants to be God. He offered
Christ the kingdom of the world, which were not his anyway. He's
lying. He couldn't open his mouth and
tell the truth. The kingdoms have always been
the Lord's. He's never turned them over to Satan. He's always
been the ruling, reigning king of heaven and earth. But the floods have lifted up,
O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice. They cried away
with Him, crucify Him. They lifted up their voice in
rebellion. We will not have this man reign
over us. Oh, yes, you will. Oh, you don't
realize, but he's already reigning over you. That's the reason why you're
going ahead and crucifying Him. If Pilate had his way, he would
have released Him. But the Lord didn't allow it to happen, did
He? The Lord Jesus Christ standing there didn't allow Pilate to
release Him. They didn't even realize He's
controlling the whole thing. It was not a mob out of control,
it was a mob under His control. And then we see this, we see
His control over nature. This is my Father's world. It's His. It says, the floods have lifted
up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift
up their waves. And one day, one day, he stood
up in a boat in Mark 439, and he arose. I
love that. I love that. The King of kings and Lord of
lords rose up. He stood up, walked up to the
front of the boat, walks up there, and he says, and he rebuked the
wind and said unto the sea as if he were speaking to one of
us. That's right. Peace. Be still. And you know
what? And the wind ceased, and there
was a great calm. And you know, He can speak that
same peace and calm to my heart and your heart. He can say, peace, be still. Whatever it is that's worrying
you and worrying me, whatever's troubling us, He can say, peace,
be still. And give us such quietness, such
contentment, In the midst of the greatest storms, He can quiet
us. We see in the flood of Noah's
day, He caused it to rain and then a year later it dried up.
It dried up. We see it in the parting of the
Red Sea. What ailed thee, O sea? It says in the Psalm, What ailed
thee? Why did you flee back? I'll tell
you why the sea fled back and split. He said to. The king spoke. And it did what he said. Just
as he said, peace be still, he parted the Red Sea with his word.
He sent a wind, he dried it up. They could walk, you know how
muddy that would have been. But he dried that ground up and
they walked through on dry ground. We see it in the parting of Jordan
so they can go over to Canaan. There is no obstacle that's in
our way that the Lord can't remove if it be His will. That the King
of glory can't speak and it be removed. If we could just learn that. And we see His power over Satan
and devils. He says, Come out. Come out of
him. That legion, 2,000 devils and
that one man, 2,000 devils. That's about what a legion was.
And he says, come out of him. And they came out. And there's no comparison There's
no comparison to the mighty power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
King of Glory. It says in verse 4, "...the Lord
on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than
the mighty waves of the sea." Stand down at the ocean when
the storm is about to come in and then the waves are crashing. Our Lord is the Most High God.
He is God over all, blessed forever. He is exalted high as the Mediator. He's seated at God's right hand,
and there's none mightier than Him. Are men making a great noise
right now? You know, you see the war over there with Russia
and Ukraine, and you see all the tumult that goes on in the
world, what's going on in this country. He's mightier than all
the noise that men can make and all the trouble they can make.
He's mightier. He is mightier than all the noise
that Satan and men together can make. He's mightier. And listen, our King can be taken
at His Word. You know, a man, a person is
only as good as their Word. In verse 5, we see in verse 5 that He reigns
in truth and holiness. This is how He reigns. Thy testimonies,
Thy Word. His testimonies throughout the
whole Word of God that we have are very sure. His Word is very stable. It's
very sure. It's true. Holiness becometh
thine house. God's Word is reliable. Don't
ever doubt God's Word. The trouble is never with God's
Word. Whatever trouble I may have, it's with me. It's never
with Him or His Word. God's Word is beyond all question. It's beyond all question. We
can take Him at His Word. Charles Spurgeon said, Truth
never changes. It never changes. Every promise
in Jesus Christ is yea and amen. God will fulfill it. And God's
Word of the Gospel, God's Word of grace never leads to sin. Well, if I believed that, I'd
live like I want to. Well, you hypocrite. What are
you living like? Henry said one time, he said,
I'm living like I want to. I want to live for Christ. I
want to live for his glory. I don't want to live like I used
to. Holiness, listen, holiness becometh
thine house, O Lord, forever. Where's the house of God? Right
there, right in front of me. You are the house of God. And
you, you in Christ, I know we don't feel this, but we're not
talking about feelings. We're talking about what's real.
In Christ, you're holy. You're holy. God is holy and
He demands the same in His house. He will not live in an unholy
house. And when God gives that new creation, that new spirit,
and that new creation, that new heart, it's holy. It's holy. It's a holy nature. It's created,
Scripture says, in righteousness and true holiness. Sin had no place in God's house.
Let me read to you 1 Peter 2. But ye are a chosen, generation, a royal priesthood,
your sons and daughters of the King, a holy nation. America is not a holy nation.
It never has been a holy nation. No country on this earth has
been a holy nation, but there is a holy nation on this earth.
It's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a holy nation. A peculiar people, that is a
purchased people, And listen, this is why you and I are here,
what time we have left. Now listen, we have a little
time left, some more than others, but we have so little time left
because we're here right now. And here's the reason why, that
you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light, which in time past were
not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. So the reason
you and I are here, is to show forth the praises of God till
we die. We're not here to get a good retirement going. We're
not here to have a bigger house or a better this or a better
that. We're here to praise God in whatever
situation He puts us in. If He lets me live in a shack,
so be it. I can show forth His praises
from the shack. Or if He puts me in a mansion,
I can show forth His praises from the mansion. But that's
why I'm here, and that's why you're still here. All right.