If you would, to Zachariah chapter
9. Zachariah chapter 9. If you love
the truth in that song, the Lord seeks us. We never seek Him.
He seeks His sheep. Zachariah chapter 9. The name
of the message is, Behold, thy King cometh. Behold. Take note. Thy King cometh. Thy King cometh. Zechariah chapter
9, verses 9 to 11. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. He is just, in heaven's salvation, lowly, and riding
upon an ass, and upon a colt, the fowl of an ass. And I will
cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace
unto the heathen. Oh, he's done that to we Gentiles,
hasn't he? In Christ. And his dominion shall
be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends
of the earth. And it is. As for thee also,
by the blood of thy covenant I have set forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein is no water. And we have been set free
from the pit of sin that we were in. There was no escape for us,
but we've been set free by the precious blood of Christ. by
the precious blood of Christ. So our great God, he gave to
his prophet Zachariah the very exact description of our Lord
Jesus Christ as he entered into Jerusalem to accomplish, and
that's the key, to accomplish. He wasn't trying. He came to
accomplish salvation for his people. when he entered into
Jerusalem to accomplish our salvation, to complete our salvation. And
this was 550 years before it actually happened. Turn, if you
would, to Matthew chapter 21, and we'll read verses 1 to 11.
This is one of the most striking predictions delivered concerning
the Messiah. The One who is to come. The One who is to save His people
from their sins. To accomplish salvation for us. And He did it, beloved. He did
it. And the fulfillment of the scripture
is stated in the following passage of the Gospel of Matthew 21 verses
1 to 11. And when they drew nigh unto
Jerusalem and were come to Bethage unto the Mount of Olives, then
sent Jesus to disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village
over against you, and straightway you shall find an ass tied in
a colt with her. Loose them, and bring them unto
me. And if any man say, Ought unto you, you shall say, The
Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will send them. All this was
done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh
unto thee. That's what we just read. Meek
and sitting upon an ass in the colt, the fall of an ass, and
his disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and bought
the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they
set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread
their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from
the trees and strawed them in the way. And multitudes that
went before and followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of
David. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he was coming to Jerusalem,
all the city was moved saying, who is this? And the multitude
said, this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. And
this was confirmed in the gospel of John. Turn, if you would,
to John chapter 12, and we'll look at verses 12 to 16. If you
want to mark that down for further reference, you can. John chapter
12, verses 12 to 16. On the next day, much people
were come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to
Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet
him and cried, Hosanna, verse 13, blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had
found the young ass sat thereon, as it is written, Fear not, daughter
of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh, sitting
on an ass's coal. These things understood not his
disciples at the first. But when Jesus was glorified,
then remembered they that these things were written of him. And
they had done these things unto him. Behold, thy king cometh. Thy king. Thy King. Now the kingly office of the
Lord Jesus Christ is frequently stated in the Holy Scriptures.
He was typified by Melchizedek, David, and Solomon. And Christ
is called the King of glory, the King of Israel, and the King
of kings. So it's a vein through scripture
that we see often, often. God says of him by David, I set
my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Brother Tim read that today
in the psalm. I set my king upon thy holy hill
of Zion. Jeremiah says a king shall reign
and prosper. A king shall reign and prosper.
Daniel says this, and a mighty king shall stand up that shall
rule with great dominion and do, I like this, and do according
to his will. Daniel 11.3. You're due according to His will. That's the opposite that you
hear with these folks popping off about their free will, isn't
it? We have a will, don't we? Yeah,
we do. We don't deny that. But our will is bound to our
nature. And if you have a dead nature, all you're gonna do is
what that dead nature dictates. And scripture says that dead
nature, when you're in that state, when you're dead, and that's
graveyard dead, we were talking about that this week, that's graveyard
dead. A corpse has no ability to do anything. When a person's graveyard dead,
which Ephesians 2 makes very, very clear, dead in trespasses
and sins, you don't have the ability to come to God. And you won't seek God because
you're dead. But when you're made alive, when
you're regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, you will run to
Christ. And that's what we do. That's
what we do, beloved. And He shall do, the King shall
do according to His will. This message was laid on my heart
because we see things going on today, right? We see some turmoil
going on. We do, in the world. And we think,
my goodness, look what's going on. But our God is King. Let us always remember that.
Everything we see is happening according to, as Daniel said,
His will. We don't always understand it,
do we? And we're not called to always understand it. But we're
called to trust in our king. To rest in his sovereignty. To
rest in the fact of who he is and where he is right now. That
he rules and reigns supreme. Supreme. Now the definition,
now you don't hear, you don't hear, and I don't listen to the
modern preaching, but I remember when I was in religion. I listen
to grace preachers now, but when I was in religion, I don't think,
I'll be honest with you, even when I was in Calvinistic circles,
now maybe a little bit more when I was in Calvinistic circles,
but when I was a full-on screaming Armenian, I never heard a sermon
on God's sovereignty. I didn't. I heard sermons on what I could
do and what I had to do and how much of a failure I was all the
time, constantly, because I'm a sinner. But I never heard any
messages on God's sovereignty. It's not until the Lord showed
me grace that I started to understand just a little bit about His sovereignty. And I still just only know a
little bit, but I'm learning. I'm learning. But listen to this. The definition of a king in the
English dictionary is this. A male sovereign. A male sovereign. One that is
supreme. One that is supreme. Preeminent. That's why we keep saying, look
to Christ. Don't look to the preacher. Look to Christ. He's
the preeminent one. Preeminent in a particular group,
category, or sphere. So He's preeminent in a group,
category, or sphere. The definition for sovereign
in the same dictionary, I decided to look that up too. The definition
for the word sovereign in the same dictionary is this. Okay,
and think of this. The scripture declares to us,
behold, thy king cometh, right? And we saw in Matthew that Christ
is our king, the one who came, the one who came. We see things
going on all around the world, right? But scripture tells us
Christ is king, okay? The definition for sovereign
is this, one that exercises supreme, permanent authority. Our king exercises supreme, permanent
authority. The one who we trust our eternal
souls to. The one who is the shepherd of
my soul, and yours if you're one of his people, the one who
I trust my soul to, is absolutely supreme and permanent in authority. Not only in my life, but in this
world and in this universe. Goes on to say, especially in
a nation or other governmental unit, having supreme rank, now
any of you who were soldiers, supreme rank means what? You
can't get any higher. He is the highest you can get,
the captain of the Lord's host. Remember when he appeared to
Joshua, the sword, I'm the captain of the Lord's host, he's the
commander. Brother John preached a message,
I remember listening to it when I was back in Oregon, about Christ
our banner. When the old battles used to
happen with knights and stuff, and they would get scattered,
the king or the general would be there with his banner. And
they'd rally around him. And they'd go right back into
battle. He's our ensign. He's our general. He's supreme. He's supreme in rank or power,
and this speaks of someone reigning in power. He's a king, sovereign,
almighty. Everything is under him. Everything
is under him turn if you would Isaiah look at this. We're gonna
glimpse. We're gonna glimpse of him in
his majesty Look at this before he comes to earth. We're gonna
glimpse of him in his majesty Remember he was king in eternity
right he's king when he was born here, and he's king right now
He's never ever not been king he's never ever not been supreme
in power and authority and He submitted Himself to the Father's
will, didn't He? And He willingly went to the
cross for my sins. And if you're one of His people,
for your sins. He condescended. Where did He condescend from?
Isaiah 6. Look at this. And think of this. This is our Lord in glory before
He comes to this earth. Look at this. Isaiah 6, verse
1. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon the throne. A king sits
upon his throne, doesn't he? Sitting upon the throne. He's
ruling in supreme majesty and authority, beloved. Sitting upon
the throne. And he's still there. Look at
this. sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple." Now, the bigger a king's train was, they
said, the more dominion that he had, the more power that he
had. This scripture declares that his train filled the temple,
which means he's almighty. He has a kingdom of vast domain. vast domain. Above it stood the
seraphims, each with one, each one had six wings, and twain
he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and
with twain he did fly, and cried one unto another, and said, Holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts." These are, these are holy angels covering
themselves in his presence. And they cry, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His
glory. The whole earth manifests His
glory. in the posts of the door, moved
that the voice of him that cried in the house was filled with
smoke. And Isaiah's response at getting
a glimpse of God and His glorious, woe is me. He ain't saying anything
about anyone else, is he? He was earlier in the book. He's
saying, woe is them and woe is... Now he's saying, woe is me. He's
got a glimpse of the king upon his throne. The one who rules
in absolute authority and majesty. And he says, woe is me for I
am undone because I'm a man of unclean lips and dwell in the
midst of the people of unclean lips. And mine eyes have seen
the king. The king. The absolute supreme
one. The king, the Lord of hosts,
then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live cold in
his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from out the altar,
and he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched
thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
That's a picture of the blood of Christ, beloved. But oh, that's
our king before he came to this earth. That's Christ reigning in majesty
and power. before he became a man. Oh, the condescension. He's meek
and lowly. That gives us an idea of what
he did to redeem us from our sins. Oh, the condescension of
Christ. And he was still king even while
he was upon this earth. Now think on this, when we say
our God and King is sovereign, we are saying that He exercises
supreme, permanent authority over all things. We believe He's absolutely sovereign. Absolutely sovereign. He's a
King. He's a King. He's absolutely sovereign. He
rules and exercises permanent authority over all things. He
has no rivals. He has no rivals. He's the King
of Kings. And He's the Lord of Lords. And
this is the one, if you're saved, who redeemed you. Who keeps you. Christ the King. Christ the King. When we talk of the sovereignty
of God, we mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God,
the Godhead of God. To say that God is sovereign
is to declare that God is God. To say that God is sovereign
is to declare that God is God. Now think of this, in religion,
they have a God, and this was my God at one time, it is no
longer my God, thank the Lord that he revealed himself to me,
but they have a God who wants to save you. But he can't, unless you let
him. Okay, now think of this. I've
been reading A.W. Pink's Sovereignty of God this
week. And he brought out this fact, that in that scenario,
right? In that scenario, the creature
is sovereign over the creator. But in what we believe, the creator is sovereign over
the creation and the creature. He's in absolute full control.
And then we marvel. that He saved us, that He redeemed
us, the one who reigns supreme. And this is why we say, this
is why we say, He'll save all who come to Him. And we know
who comes to Him are His sheep, but He saved all who, it doesn't
matter how black your sin is, flee to Christ. And we pray that
God will make you willing to flee to Him. That's our hope. This is the
one who people will stand in front of. They may mock God now,
but this is the one who they will stand in front of. No wonder
it says in scripture that the cry for the mountains to fall
upon them. This is the God of the Bible.
He is a king. To say that God is sovereign
is to declare that he is the most high, doing according to
his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his sin. No one can say to him,
what are you doing, God? No one. No one. No one can stop his will, and
no one can say to him, what are you doing? To say that God is
sovereign is to declare that he is almighty. He is the almighty,
the possessor of all power in heaven and earth. None can defeat
his counsels, none can thwart his purpose, and none can resist
his will. If he calls you, it's with an
irresistible call. And then you spend the rest of
your days going, oh my Lord, you had mercy on me. And then
we just, we're being glory, praise in him and thanking him for his
goodness and mercy to us. To say that God is sovereign
is to declare that he is the governor among nations. He sets
up kingdoms, he overthrows empires, and he determines the courses
of dynasties and governments however it pleases him, however
it pleases him. Where's Rome? Where's the Babylonian empire?
Where's the Medes and the Persians? They were raised up and now they're
gone. But our God still continues,
still rules, still reigns, and is forever King, forever. And on Him, on His vesture and
on His thigh, a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. To say that God is sovereign
is to declare that He is the only potentate, the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. This is the God of the Bible.
This is the God of the Bible, not the God that someone's cooked
up in their imagination, who wants to do things but can't.
No. He's supreme. Supreme. Majesty and authority and power. Now Christ, who is our King,
our Sovereign God, He is God incarnate in the flesh. God incarnate
in the flesh, who came to save His people. according to the
will, according to His will, according to His will. He willingly
came here. He willingly left what we saw
in Isaiah. He willingly left the glories
of heaven to die for you and I. And now, beloved, He's raised
for our justification, and He's seated at the right hand of the
Father right now, and He's reigning as King. He's not waiting to
be King. He's king right now. Behold, your king coming. And
he's been here and he's gone back to glory, isn't he? And
he will come again. He will come again. As sure as
he came the first time, he's coming again. He is. We don't
know. We don't know the hour of the
day. It's not for us to speculate, but he is coming. He is coming. Zechariah, again, let's look
at our text in Zechariah 9, 9. Let's take a look, a few things
here. Look at a few things here in Zechariah 9, 9. Rejoice greatly. Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just in heaven's
salvation. So let's look at a few points
here. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. We've looked at already,
Christ is King. He's King, but he's also King
of our salvation, isn't he? He's King of our salvation. Where
is he that is born King of the Jews? We have seen a star in
the East. And are come to worship him. We don't make him King. Look
at, behold, thy King cometh unto thee. We don't make him King,
he's born King. He's already king. The wise man
asked, where is he that is born king? They come to worship him. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God
is king of kings. He was king before he came. He
is born king and he's king forever. And God's people give glory to
his name. Brother Tim read, yet have I set my king upon my holy
hill of Zion. Psalm two, six, my king. He's
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation says He's King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation 19, 16. Behold your
King. Behold your King. The King of
Salvation. He alone is the King of our salvation.
And He alone is the King over everything. These titles belong
to no one but the Lord Jesus Christ in Himself. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
the same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now a king
is considered as the head of a nation. When kings ruled, they
ruled supreme. Anyone who questioned their authority
was destroyed. They didn't mess around. They
didn't mess around. The scripture of Revelation 19,
verse 16 says, and hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name
written, King of kings and Lord of lords. This means he's sovereign
over sovereigns. He's sovereign over sovereigns.
This means that our president is in his hand. This means that
all the leaders in the world are in his hands. All of them. to do whatever he wants. Sovereign over sovereigns. Nothing
catches God by surprise. Nothing. Things catch us by surprise. Nothing catches God by surprise. Nothing that has occurred and
nothing that is to occur will ever catch our great sovereign
by surprise. That gives us great peace. Great
peace. And our Lord is sovereign over
his spiritual kingdom too. Through the years, men have been
greatly exalted in the church, Elijah, Solomon, and many others,
David, Moses. But Jesus is the Lord of that
house in which Moses was a servant. He is Elijah's Lord. He is David's
King. He's above all. He's fairer than
the sons of men and greater than the angels. He's absolutely sovereign
over all things and he's sovereign over our salvation. As thou has
given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou has given him. He gives eternal life to
whomever he's pleased. Turn if you would to Romans chapter
nine, Romans chapter nine, Romans chapter nine. If you're saved, if you're saved,
if you're here today and you're saved by the grace of God in
Christ, God is showing mercy to you. He's showing mercy to
you. And Christ is king over our salvation. And in religion, man is king.
And it's false. They're going to go to hell.
It's going to doom them. If they stay in that, if God
doesn't rescue them from that, they will go right to hell. Because
they're trusting in the moment self, in their own works. We trust in Christ, who is our
King, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Look at
this in Romans chapter 9, verses 12 to 16. It was said unto her,
the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, I remember hearing a story
about that. A preacher, an older preacher preached one time and
it was either his son or his grandson came up to him and said,
said, you talked about today how God hates Esau. And the old
preacher said, if you ever understand, come to the understanding of
how God could love Jacob, then you'll know why God hated Esau. It's mercy. It's mercy. We receive
mercy. The only difference between Jacob
and Esau was the distinguishing grace of God in Christ. That's
all. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he sayeth to
Moses, look at this, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth. It's not your will. That's really clear right there.
Nor of him that runneth. It's not your works. So right there, it's not your
will, and it's not your works. It's not our will, because there's
none that seeketh after God. There's none that understands.
It's not our works, because our works are like filthy rags in
the eyes of the Lord. It's nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. If you're saved, God is showing
you mercy. Rejoice. Rejoice. God is showing
you mercy. And if you're here and you don't
know Christ, we pray God will show you mercy. We pray he will. We pray that he grant you faith
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if he does, you're
run to Christ. You're run to him. You're willingly
going to Christ. You'll be made willing. Oh. The next point is, Jesus Christ
is a just God. Look at this, in Zechariah 9,
9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just. He is
just. This means he's righteous in
all his ways, holy in his character. Stephen and Peter called him
the just one. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
3. Acts chapter 3, and I'll read what Stephen said over in Acts
chapter 7, verse 52. Stephen proclaimed, which of
the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain
them which showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom
you have been now the betrayers and murderers. The just one,
scripture declares. And look at Acts chapter 3 verses 12 to
15. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness
we have made this man to walk? And this is the man at the gate
called Beautiful, who was healed. The God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son
Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence
of Pilate. when he was determined to let him go, and remember our
text said he's just, look at this, but she denied the Holy
One and the just. He's the just one. And desired
a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of
life whom God hath raised from the dead, where have we our witnesses?
The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. Perfect beloved. He's the just
one. He's the only one who is the just one. We're all sinners
before God. He's just. The Holy One. Remember the demons? They knew
who He was. The Holy One of God. They knew who He was. God incarnate in the flesh. Sinless,
spotless, perfect. The complete opposite of us. Remember? Remember Him on this
throne? And here he is, the just one, the holy one. Even his enemies attested to
this. Judas said this in Matthew 27, four, I have sinned and I
have betrayed the innocent blood. The wife of Pilate said this
when he was sat down in judgment seat, his wife sent unto him
saying, have thou nothing to do with that just man. For I have suffered many things
this day in a dream because of him. Pilate said, I am innocent
of the blood of this just man. He found no fault in him. Now the death of Christ was a
display of God's justice as Christ died to justify the elect in
his life. He lived the perfect life that
we could never live before the law of God fulfilling it in our
place. And then he died the perfect,
sinless, spotless Lamb of God before the justice of God on
Calvary's cross for his people. He died to satisfy the law and
the justice of God in our place. The just one dying for the unjust. Mean. Sin. And we can all identify with
that, we who are God's people, can't we? Turn if you would to Romans chapter
three. Romans chapter three. His kingdom is based on justice.
His spiritual laws are all based on justice. His kingdom, his
righteousness, his peace and joy, and he makes all his subjects
just. How does he make me just? How
am I just before God? By the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. No other way. No other way. And if you're saved, it's the
same for you. We're not justified by our works. We're not justified
by anything we do, anything we say. We are justified by the
Lord Jesus Christ in him alone, the just one dying for the unjust. Romans chapter 3, verses 25 to
27, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood, In propitiation, he turns away the wrath of God
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. He's the just one,
and he's the justifier. He's the perfect, spotless Lamb
of God, and he's the one who justifies us before God. Where
is boasting then? Can we boast in anything? Only
in Christ. Only in Christ. Only in what
He's done. See, it takes everything away from us. Everything away
from us. And we give Him all the glory
and all the honor and all the praise. Because He alone accomplished
salvation for us. He alone is our Savior. He alone
is our Redeemer. And we are clothed. We'll look
at that tonight. We're clothed in His righteousness. It's all
about Him, beloved. This is why Paul said, I'll preach
Christ and Him crucified. Nothing else. Nothing else. Oh, my. Where is Moses? It is excluded. By what law?
Of works? Nay, by the law of faith. We
look to Christ. The next point I'd like to look
at is Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Look in our text again
in Zechariah 9, 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout. O daughter of Jerusalem, behold,
thy King cometh unto thee. He is just. So we've established
that he's just in heaven's salvation. He's not only a just God, but
he's also our Savior. The definition I found for Savior
is this, rescuer. Somebody who rescues somebody
or something from harm or danger. He's our rescuer, isn't he? He
rescued us. We were drowning in the sea of
sinfulness. with no hope. And he rescued
us. He reached down and rescued us. We had no hope at all. Our hope is in Christ. We had
no ability. We were drowning with no ability
to save ourselves. And he reaches down and saves
us. Saves us. That which is impossible
with man is possible with God. We cannot save ourselves. Christ
Jesus our Lord, the King of glory, comes and redeems his people
from their sins. He accomplished salvation. He's
a successful saint. Paul, the servant of God and
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and
the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness, and
the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised
before the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word
through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment
of God our Savior. And who do we preach? Christ.
Christ in him alone. There's salvation in no other.
If you try to work your way to heaven, you'll go right to hell.
There's only salvation in Christ and Him alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Many, many people
are going to their eternal doom because they're trusting in their
own works. We who believe trust in Christ. Neither is there salvation
in any other. Now that, think of that. Neither
is there salvation in any other. That means we can't save ourselves.
That means no one else can save us. Neither is there salvation
in any other. For there is none other name
given among heaven whereby we must be saved. Salvation is in
Christ in him alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. He came to save his people from
their sins. Why? Because we could not save
ourselves. You ever think of that? He came,
scripture declares, in Matthew 121. And she shall bring forth
a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. He shall save a people who could
not save themselves. And he did it. It is finished. God, who we saw in Isaiah, became
a man and died upon Calvary's cross for his people and cried,
it is finished. And we know that God is satisfied
with that sacrifice because he was raised for our justification.
And he's seated at the right hand of the Father right now.
Behold, behold our King. Behold our King. He willingly
gave his life He willingly gave his life. Oh, and he is our peace,
beloved. He is our peace. We have only
peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in Zechariah
9, 10. And I shall cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and a horse
from Jerusalem, and the battle bull shall be cut off, for he
shall speak peace unto the heathen, and his dominion shall be from
sea even to sea. and from the river to the ends
of the earth, he shall speak peace to the heathen. That's
us. That's we who believe. That's
the elect of God. We're Gentiles, right? We who
are here are Gentiles. We're the heathen, according
to the Jews. And no one else, think of this.
No one else but the king. has the authority to speak peace. He is the King. Behold. And we
can only find peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
How could we who are enemies with God when we come into this
world make peace? By our supposed good works? No. All our works are like filthy
rags in the eyes of the Lord. By us seeking God? No. Scripture declares there's none
that seeketh after God. By our own righteousness? No. Scripture declares there's none
righteous, no, not one. There's no way for us to gain
merit and favor with God by our works. So man is in a hopeless,
helpless state. He's bankrupt. Bankrupt. But the believer finds hope and
he finds all that he needs. He or she finds all that we need
spiritually in Christ. He's all my acceptance before
God. He's all my redemption. My sins are forgiven by his precious
blood, by what he's done. God's satisfied with his sacrifice.
He raised him from the dead. in my place. I'm crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. All our acceptance, all our acceptance
is in Christ. Turn if you would to Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. He has made peace with God
through the shedding of his precious blood. Through the shedding of
his precious blood. Look at Colossians 1, 19 to 22. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. And heaven made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself. Peace through the blood of his cross, peace through his
shed blood unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled. in the body of the flesh through
death to present you holy. Oh my, sinners presented holy
and unblameable and unrepentable in his sight. All because of
what Christ has done. All because of what he's done.
The believer now has peace with God. Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith unto this grace, wherein
we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The last
point I'd like us to look at is this. Jesus Christ is our
deliverer. Look at Zechariah 9, 11. He's
our deliverer. He's our deliverer, beloved. We had no way to deliver ourselves.
No way. But he is our deliverer. He seeks,
as Sister Kathy said, he seeks the lost sheep. He seeks the
lost sheep. We don't seek him. In religion,
they say you seek God, and then you're born again. No, no, no,
no, no, no. We're regenerated, and then we
fly to Christ. We flee to Christ. But all because
he saw us. Remember Mephibosheth? David
said, go and fetch. That's fetching grace, the old
preachers used to say. Oh my. That's the Holy Spirit
comes and reveals Christ to us. Oh my. Look at this, the last
point. Zechariah 9, 11. As for thee
also, by the blood of thy covenant I have set forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein is no water. We were in a prison house
of sin. We had no way to get out, beloved.
No way. We were bound up and chained
up. No way to get out at all. No way. And our blessed Lord
came to set his people free. Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 3, and I'll read Luke chapter 14, verse 18, which says
this. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives. That's what we were. We were captive by sin. In recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
And in Galatians chapter 3, verses 10 to 13, Our blessed Lord came to set
His people free. Look at this, from the curse
of the law, Galatians 3, verses 10 to 13. For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written.
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident the just shall
live by faith. And the law is not a faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed
us, purchased us from the curse of the law. He's purchased us,
beloved, from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.
That which had a demand upon us, the law, Christ fulfills
it in our place. Oh, my. For sin shall not have
dominion over you. It once did, didn't it? We still
struggle with sin, but it doesn't have the dominion over us. It
once did. For ye are not under the law,
but under grace. And we are free from the terror
of death. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am
alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. That's our scene. And turn, if
you would, to Hebrews chapter 2. We are free from the grip
of the devil. Look at this, Hebrews chapter
2. Our God is King Supreme. Look at this, Hebrews chapter
2, verses 14 and 15. And then we'll have you turn
to Romans 11, if you could. And we're closed with that. Hebrews
2, verses 14 and 15. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. And through death, he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. He's delivered us. He's delivered
us from death. Now we're gonna die physically,
but not spiritually. We won't experience the second
death. We who are born again are saved. And look at this in Romans chapter
11 verse 26, and we're closed with this scripture, and then
I'll just say a few words. Look at this, Romans chapter
11. He's our deliverer. Our king, our savior, is our
deliverer, our beloved. And remember, he has supreme
authority and power. So those he delivers, he keeps.
What great comfort for God's people. Look at Romans 11 verse
26. And so all Israel shall be saved.
All the elect shall be saved. All his people shall be saved.
There will not be one of them left behind, beloved. Not one. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. He's our deliverer, beloved.
He's our deliverer. So we have seen how our Savior,
we looked at him. Picture of him in glory in Isaiah
chapter 6. We saw in Zachariah, behold your
king cometh. We saw in Matthew, our king right
there before us. And we know that our king is
in glory and he will come back again. He's the king of kings
and the Lord of lords. So we've seen how our savior,
may this bring us peace and comfort. Our savior is king. He's sovereign
ruler of the universe. He has absolute authority and
power, beloved. And let we who are redeemed,
let we who are redeemed rejoice, rejoice that our Savior, our
King, is the one who keeps our souls. And the one who keeps
our souls is a sovereign God and is a sovereign King. And
may this bring us great comfort as we think upon this this week.
Gracious Heavenly Father, oh, we come before thy throne. And
we see it's a throne of glory and majesty and power and scripture. And we say, like Isaiah, woe
is me. I'm a man undone, but we know
that we who believe are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
And we come to your throne boldly, but not in our own confidence,
but being clothed in Christ, knowing that we will find grace
to help in time of need. May we think upon your sovereignty
this week. that you have absolute authority
and that you rule and reign in absolute power. And may it comfort
our souls to your glory and honor and praise. In Jesus' name, amen.