All right, if you'd like to follow
along, I will be in 1 Timothy chapter six. Now this should be a very familiar
passage of scripture. For some people it may not be,
but that's not your fault. 1 Timothy chapter six, verse 13
is where I'm gonna start. I give thee charge in the sight
of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who
before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou
keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. which in his times he shall show
who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of
lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to
whom be honor and power everlasting, amen. A man once said, the early Christians
did not say, in dismay, look what this world has come to.
But rather, in delight, the early Christians said this, look who
has come into the world. I wish I could more often. I
wish I could. Well, today I want to speak upon
the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. We say it a lot because we mean
it and because the Bible teaches it. God is sovereign and Jesus
Christ is God. Therefore, logically, Don't worry
about it, it's scripture. Jesus Christ is sovereign. And that's my title, Paul, Jesus
Christ, the Sovereign God. Now, some people are really nice,
and they will admit that God was sovereign in the Old Testament.
They'll admit that. They'll say, okay, yeah, that
was Old Testament God. You understand, they gotta put
a difference between the Old Testament God and the New Testament
Jesus. I'm sorry, folks, there is no
difference. There is not one piece of difference
between God and Christ. They are one. I've even been
told, and I've told you this before, I'll tell you again,
by a rabbi, no less, that all of the Old Testament stories
were just that, stories, to teach us how we ought to live in this
world. You understand, according to
this man that I talked to, it's serious, he was a rabbi at a
Jewish synagogue. He told me that no animals were
harmed in the Old Testament sacrifices. Those are just stories. No, without blood, there's no
remission of sin. That was pictured in the Old
Testament, but it was pictured by actual Old Testament sacrifices. Blood was shed, blood was shed. And of course, myself for being
young and brash as I was at that time, now I'm not young. I still got the brash part, but
I'm not young. I told him, that I told this
rabbi that it was really strange that all these stories in the
Old Testament that were teaching us how we ought to live were
just plumb full of God sticking his nose in our business. Because
the work of God is in the Old Testament. Oh my. How to win friends and influence
people, that's me, all over. But hear this, the Lord thy God
is one Lord, and that Lord is sovereign over all, and that's
Old Testament and new. I got a song here that I sent
to Walter, and I'm gonna read it, because it has to do with
a bit about what I'm gonna talk about. The Lord is Zion's king. Let Zion in him trust, midst
friends and foes his goodness sing, and of his mercy boast. He rules on Zion's hill with
laws of peace and grace, laws that bespeak his kindness still,
and human pride abase. Let saints his scepter own, His
righteous laws obey. Acknowledge Him, the Lord, alone,
and walk the heavenly way. I like that. Let me put this thing away so I won't
play with it while I'm up here. Let the people of God acknowledge his scepter. Now the scepter
was the sign of the king's authority. That's what it was. It's just
like a crown on his head. Some places didn't have crowns.
He had a scepter and no one else was allowed to hold that scepter
except the king and whatever that king said went. Whatever he said goes, and that's
Jesus Christ, our sovereign God, the sovereign God. Now in the
Old Testament, you'll find a lot, and I'm not gonna go into them
in any depth, but I'm gonna read a few here. Our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Why? He's sovereign, he's sovereign. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. He's sovereign, he is sovereign.
The word has gone out of my mouth and it shall not return unto
me void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
I sent it. The Lord is sovereign. Matter
of fact, it's gonna accomplish everything I want to, and it's
not gonna accomplish anything I don't want to. It's not coming
back void. And Nebuchadnezzar learned a
lesson, and none can stay his hand or even say to him, what
are you doing? What are you doing? You understand? The fool has said in his heart
there is no God. Well, the fool also in his heart is saying,
what are you doing, God? If he wants you to know, he'll
show you. He's sovereign. He's sovereign. I read it last
week. Know none to God. This is New
Testament. Know none to God are all his
works from the beginning. From the beginning. But how do
we reference this into the New Testament? I got three verses
here, I'm just gonna read different chapters in Isaiah. Because this
is the thing, there's a whole slew of them in Isaiah and I'm
not gonna read them all. Here, Isaiah 48 verse two says
this. For they call themselves of the
holy city and stay themselves upon the God of Israel. The Lord
of hosts is his name. We'll say that's God, that's
God, Old Testament God, yes it is. Isaiah 51 and verse 15 says
this, but I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves
roared, referencing the parting of the Red Sea. And the people
of Israel going over, what's it say then? The Lord of hosts
is his name. Then in Isaiah 54 and verse five
you find this, And I love this verse. For thy maker is thine
husband. What? The one who made you is
the one who's marrying you. The one who's made you is the
one who has joined you to him. It's not you joined yourself
to him. No, he's the Lord. The Lord of Hosts is his name.
He's joined you to himself. But he didn't stop there. For
thy maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name, and
thy Redeemer, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of
the whole earth shall he be called. The Redeemer is the Lord of hosts
in this book. The Redeemer is Jesus Christ
the righteous. What, from the New Testament,
yes. The sovereign in the Old Testament
is the Redeemer. The sovereign in the Old Testament
who parted the Red Sea. What? To let Israel go by and
to drown Pharaoh's army. That's the Redeemer. That's the
Redeemer. And the Old Testament says it,
and the New. Jesus Christ is the sovereign
God. Now, let's start with a fact in verse
15. which in his times he shall show,
who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord
of lords. The first fact is Jesus Christ
shall show. He's gonna show, he's gonna show.
And here's the thing, when Christ shows you, you will see. And I'm gonna put this in at
the end, and not before. And not before. Because if our
gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. What? Whom the
God of this world has blinded their minds that they, what,
can't see. Can't see. I told you this before,
you know, the old saying, there's none so blind as he who will
not see. Well, that's true in a way and
it's not true in a way because there's even blinder people who
can't see. And if our gospel be hid, then
what are we talking about our gospel here? Well, our gospel
is a person. Our gospel is a person. If the gospel is Jesus Christ,
then the lost don't see him. But one day, Jesus Christ shall
show, shall show. Oh, I like that. And here, I
want to say the question, what's he going to show? No, it's not
what, it's who. It's who's he going to show.
Which in his times, he shall show who. Our Lord Jesus Christ is what
we need to see. It's who we need to see. I can't
even say it right. It's who we need to see. Who's gonna show? He is. Who's he gonna show? Himself. You understand, salvation's not
in a doctrine. Salvation is not in a denomination
Salvation is not in a religion Salvation is in Jesus Christ
and Christ alone Our salvation is in a person he shall show
himself one day So who is this he's going to show the blessed
and only potentate Now potentate means ruler. Sovereign, that's
what it means. He's gonna show who is the blessed
and only ruler. And what's the description of
this ruler? Blessed and only, only, only. Blessed and only. And I like
what, Was Bruce Crabtree taught when he did that thing about
blessed? One of the definitions of that
word used in the Greek is happy. You understand? The Lord Jesus
Christ is a happy ruler. He's blessed. He's been blessed
by God. He's blessed himself because
he is God. He is blessed forever in holiness
and righteousness. But he's happy. to be the sovereign. I like that. I do. There is only
one blessed and only. There's only one who is the blessed
one. Potentate. Potentate. Ruler. Sovereign. Supreme. And what has he done? Well, he's the happy and the
holy redeemer. Redemption is done. Redemption
is done. He came and shed his blood and
purchased his chosen people, the ones the Father gave to him
before the foundation of the world, the ones that were chosen
from before the foundation of the world, and now he is bringing
them in. What's it say? Bringing many
sons. to glory, to glory. Oh, I like
that. Jesus Christ is the holy and
only ruler and sovereign of this world. There is only one Lord. One Lord. What more can be said
about the blessed and only potentate? Paul writes it here. The king
of kings. and the Lord of Lords. The King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I've talked about this before.
So I'm gonna do it again, just in case you was wondering. This
phrase, King of Kings and Lord of Lords is used three times
in the New Testament. Once here in First Timothy, and
twice in the Book of Revelation. I'm not gonna go into the Book
of Revelation, but I do have them written down here. Revelation
17 and verse 14 these shall make war with the lamb and The lamb
shall overcome them for he is Lord of lords and king of kings
and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful
and faithful Revelations 19 and verse 16 says this and he hath
on his vesture, that's his upper garment, and on his thigh a name
written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So who is this? I do want to
look back at one part of Revelations 19, because it tells you, first
it tells you in Revelation 17, the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords is the Lamb, the Lamb of God. All right, and Revelations 19 and verse
13. And he was clothed with a vesture,
dipped in blood. One of the places where his name
is. And his name is called the word
of God, the word of God. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And
he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath a name on that vesture
dipped in blood. And on his thigh, a name written,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So who is this King of Kings
and Lord of Lords? He's the Lamb and he's the Word
of God. Folks, that's Jesus Christ. Just
in case you had any questions about it. Now, I do wanna point out here, and I want you to consider this.
Because this verse is not only saying who Jesus Christ is, it's
telling us exactly what Jesus Christ is doing. Because Revelation
17 and Revelation 19, where it says king of kings and lord of
lords. Well those words, the second
word, well actually king of kings is basically it's the same word.
It's king and plural king. And it's Lord and plural, Lord,
in both cases in Revelations. But when you read this in 1 Timothy
6, and I know it's not readily apparent, but you can look it
up in the Greek, it's not a big deal, I do it online, it's not
like I'm a Greek scholar, but here's the thing. This is king
noun of king's verb. This is a verb, this is an action.
and Lord, noun of lords, a verb. It's a plural verb in both cases. But you understand, it's denoting
Christ's actions. What are his actions? Right now,
seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, ever living
to make intercession for us, what are his actions? It says
here that he is the king of ruling I Like that I like that he is the
Lord of reigning He is Seated in the heavens and guess what
he's doing folks. He's doing exactly what he's
pleased and Same as it says in the Old Testament. See, I know
nowadays and these days, okay, we don't have a lot of kings
in this world. There used to be a lot of them. There were places where, you
know, it was one city and the fella called himself the king
of the city. There were kings everywhere, but I'm gonna tell
you this. Our Lord, is the king of ruling. Now, you can be a king, you can
be a president, you can be a prime minister, this is your lord. Whether you know it or not, he's
lord. Whether you know it or not, he
is ruling. You can be a prime minister,
you can be a dictator, you can name yourself king. It doesn't
matter. This is the Lord who is reigning
right now. And he reigns over what they
do, what it say in the Old Testament, what? The king's heart is in
the Lord's hand. And like the river that flows,
he turns it, whithersoever he will. People don't like that. You're
trying to make God the author of sin. No, I'm not. We can do
that all by ourselves. We don't need any help with sin
whatsoever. But I'll tell you this, all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them that are
the called according to his purpose. Now I heard, and you know him, a primitive Baptist preacher
on the radio trying to explain that verse and he basically said,
all good things work together for good to them that love God. And I thought to myself, well
that's pretty darn obvious. I may have used some more colorful
metaphors, I don't know. Everything works together for
good to them that love God. You don't like it, you don't
like it. That's your problem, not the scriptures. The scriptures
say what the scriptures say. And not only that, the scriptures
mean what the scriptures say. And when Paul wrote, all things
work together for good to them that love God, you know what
it means? Jesus Christ is sovereign and
in control and running this show whether we like it or not. I
personally have come to love it. Because I've been way too
disappointed by the people who think they're in control, including
myself. I don't want to be in control. No, I don't want to be in control.
I've messed it up too much already. And you don't want to be in control
because I don't trust you either. It's just the way it is. But the Lord Jesus Christ I trust. And I trust that everything that
happens is for my good, and more importantly, it's for his glory.
Oh my, the king's heart is in his hand. He turns it whithersoever
he will. And I was gonna read the next
verse after that. That's in Proverbs 21 verse one. You don't have
to turn there if you don't want to. It says the king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth
it whithersoever he will. And look at the next verse in
Proverbs, he says this. Every way of a man is right in
his own eyes. You think those two things are
related? You better bet your bottom dollar they are. But the
Lord pondereth the heart, the hearts. See that king thinks he's doing
what's right. Or at least he thinks he's doing
what he wants. But I can tell you this, that king's heart's
in God's hands. That king's heart's in God's
hands. The president's heart is in God's hands. The prime
minister's heart is in God's hands. The dictator's heart is
in God's hands. Pharaoh's heart was in God's
hands. Why? To turn it whithersoever. My word has gone out of my mouth
and it shall not return unto me void. It shall accomplish
what, not what you want, not what I want, it's gonna accomplish
that which I sent it forth for. I sent it. Now, what's the rest
of it? I said it, I'll do it. That's what God says. I've purposed it, it's gonna
come to pass. Oh my. Who is this King of kings
and Lord of lords? He's the Lamb of God, which came
to take away the sin of the world. He's the Word of God. Where'd
the Word of God come from? Well, in the beginning was the
Word. And the Word was with God, but
not only that. The word was God. Oh, I like
that. And guess what? The word of God
still is God and still is sovereign. Now, I do understand that this
verse is directly referring to the return of Christ. He's gonna
come and he's gonna show. There's gonna come a time, and
I'm not gonna say when exactly because I don't know. And neither
does anybody else. If they say they know, guess
what? That's not the day it's gonna happen. I can tell you
that right now. Because no man knows the day or the time of
anything like that. Scripture says that. And guess
what? You know the scripture has been 100% right about that.
There have been prophecies and predictions of people saying
Jesus Christ is coming. Back in the 1800s he was coming. He ain't come yet. But he is
coming. He is coming. And that's the
direct reference of this. The return of our Lord. You understand,
believers are to know right now that he's the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. But he's gonna show everybody else one day.
You read some of that stuff in Revelations. They're gonna rise
up after him. Immediately, they're gonna take
up after him. And he is going to slay them. They don't like to hear about
that either. You understand? Oh my. Death is in everyone's
future. Physical death. And what happens
after, that's the important part. Everybody's gonna die. Only question
is, are you gonna live when you die?
He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Now that doesn't mean you're
not gonna die physically, no. That means you will never die
because you're gonna be with me. That's what Christ was saying. If you believe him, he will save
you to the uttermost. I like that, the uttermost. But
I do want to point this out. When believers are being saved
in time, when he's calling out his children, when he's bringing
in his sheep into his flock, Jesus Christ shows them who he
is. And that's what it takes. It
takes an act of God to see God. Jesus Christ is God. It takes
an act of God. Walter was talking about that
this morning. a bit on the TV. When these people heard John
6, he was preaching from John 6 this morning on the television.
It was a good job, Walter. I like that. I love John 6 anyway,
because it whipped me like a dog one day. It did, it got my attention
and made me wonder what in the world I was getting myself into.
But the scripture will out. He said, from this From this,
I won't say not from this time, but from this, say, many went
back and no more walked with him. What was it he said? Well, it was John 6, verse 65,
I'll just read it, because I don't trust myself to pull it right. And he said, therefore, this
is Christ speaking, therefore said I unto you, that no man
can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father. Now from that, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. What was that? That was a declaration of the
sovereignty of God. No man's coming to Christ unless
it be given to you. What? A gift. A gracious, free
gift of God. And if he gives that gift, you
will come. You shall come and Christ will
raise you up in the last day. This day, he's talking about
here. But you understand what I'm saying? When Christ comes
to every believer, he's gonna show them who Christ is. Oh my, because understand this. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. It doesn't say who shall call
upon the name of the Savior, although he is the Savior. It
doesn't say who shall call upon the name of my friend Jesus. He loves everybody, he loves
me, he loves everyone. No, it doesn't say that. It says,
who shall call upon the name of the Lord? Oh my. And I'm gonna tell you something,
when Jesus Christ shows you that, you'll see. You will see. And I'm gonna say it again. And not before. Not before. Our gospel is hid
to the lost. Our gospel is hid to the lost,
but Jesus Christ reveals himself to every one of his elect. Right now, he is showing someone
who he is. What? The King of kings and the
Lord of lords. You may not know that at first,
but I guarantee you, you'll run into it if you read this book.
You already did, because, I mean, seriously? The sovereign God
is on every page, or you're not looking at the page right. It's
not the fault of the Bible, it's your fault. It's my fault if
I don't see it. Oh, Christ reveals himself, he's
now showing who he is. He is capital L, capital O, capital
R, and capital D. He is Yahweh, he is Jehovah God. See, now the question is, To
whom are you coming? Whom, for whom are you waiting? Because we're told to wait. Wait. And for whom are you looking
to come? You understand? This book says
that there's things coming. The book of Revelation's got
it, we've mentioned a little bit of it here, the armies and
all this stuff. You understand, the one who's coming back is
not coming back as the gentle savior, no, he's coming back
as Lord of Lord, King of Kings, he's gonna have blood on his
vesture. Oh my, there's some trouble coming. There's people
that's gonna cry for the rocks in the mountains to cover him
over from what? From the face of the Lamb. You know, a lamb doesn't sound
like a scary thing. But God is scary. The lamb of
God is scary. What's the beginning of wisdom
and the beginning of knowledge? The fear of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it, that's it. He is King
of kings and Lord of lords, whether we know it or not. who only hath immortality dwelling
in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man has
seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. And what in the world can you
say to that? Amen, amen. He's the power, he's the way,
he's the truth, he's the life. He's the light. And he dwells
in the light. But blind people can't see the
light. Blind people can't see the light.
Not until he shows them. Not until he shows them. And
he is coming. Oh, he's coming. You know the great thing about
this? This King of Kings, this Lord of Lords is, not was, is,
the friend of sinners. Now isn't that an amazing thought?
This one coming with his vesture dipped in blood, this one that
a sharp sword's gonna come out of his mouth. You know what I
see that as that I can't swear to it? He's gonna say die and
somebody's gonna die. Whatever he says happens, you
understand? His word is power, his thoughts
are power. If he thinks it, it's happened. But that one, that same one,
who's coming to show, he's gonna trod the wine, what, the winepress
of God's wrath alone. You know why? He don't need our
help. He's the sovereign. He doesn't
want our help. He's the sovereign. He's doing
this for us. That one. is the friend of sinners. I was listening to Henry Mahan
on the way up here. He was the friend of sinners. He ate with
publicans and sinners. And you know what they did? They
mocked him for it. They ridiculed him for it. And
you know what Jesus Christ said? I don't want to hang around you
religious people anyway. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. Those that are full of their
own self-righteousness, their own self-worth, they're not hungry
for righteousness. If you're hungry and thirst for
righteousness, you'll be filled. You'll be filled. He will fill
you. This is the one with whom we
have to do. But wow. We were yet sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. Oh, I like that, I do. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Nobody will. Why? Christ has died. I said it last week. And not
only that, he has risen again and ever liveth to make intercession
for us. He's the king of Ruling he's the Lord of reigning
and he's doing it right now even as we speak Our Heavenly Father
we are thankful again for this time in this place Lord. Please
be with those who couldn't be with us Bless them where they
are See to our needs Because we don't even know what we need
Thank you Lord for your son whom you sent to die for rotten, worthless
sinners that we are and adopted us into your family and bringing
us in to know that right now we are the sons of God. Thank
you. Be with Paul as he comes to preach
your word and help us to hear. In Christ's name we pray, amen.