The name of the message is the Risen King. Or it could be our Risen King. Our King is alive. He conquered death. And because He lives, we'll live forever with Him in glory. It's amazing. Matthew chapter 28 is where we're going to start. My, this is after the death of Christ on the cross. He's been buried. He's been in the grave for three days. And we see Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the tomb. Let's read verses one to four of Matthew chapter 28. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary, Madeline, and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.

And behold, there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning. and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men.

Now remember who these keepers are. These are Roman legionaries. They are trained professional soldiers. Brother Tom said one time, they are actually one of the first professional soldiers. And they volunteered. they volunteered to be in the legions, just like our forces do today. And we see that the angel of the Lord came down and rolled back the stone that would have taken many men to roll, just rolled it back. And these hardened soldiers who had Probably been in battles, many battles. They're like dead men. They're terrified. They're terrified.

Notice he didn't shake his sword, because angels we know have swords. He didn't shake his sword at them. He didn't strike them with his sword. His mere presence caused them to be as dead men. You know, People who reject Christ, and they face God at the day of judgment, that's what they're going to be like. They're not going to be shaking their fist. They're going to be like dead men. Oh, my. My, oh my. See, the presence of perfect purity, the presence of heavenly things is a terror to ungodly men and women. My.

Let's read verse five. And the angel answered and said unto the women, fear not, fear not ye, for I know that you seek Jesus, which was crucified. And notice that the angel The angel, whom they did fear, tells them to fear not. Do you know that neither man nor angel can speak silence, can silence the fears of God's people except the Lord Jesus Christ? He can silence our fears, can't he? An angel can tell us, don't fear. A man can tell us, don't fear. but the only one who can silence our fears is Christ, our King.

That's why I hold him up to you and say, look to him, right? And I'm looking with you. I'm looking with you, beloved. Oh my. And then look at verse six. He is not here. He's not here for he's risen. As he said, come and see the place where the Lord lay. He's risen. The tomb is empty. There was a body there for three days, but it's gone. It's gone. Look at this. The angel tells God's people. He is risen. He's not here. He's risen. He said, come and see the place where the Lord laid.

Do you know, praise God, he's risen because he's risen for our justification. Do you know what him rising from the grave shows us, beloved, that God is absolutely fully satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ in our room and place? And we are now fully justified through Christ. Isn't it amazing? That the love of God's being manifest towards us, the everlasting love of God and him sending his son to die for us. And they come to the tomb where he was laid. And an angel meets them. An angel meets them. and says, fear not. Well, they're still fearful, aren't they? We're gonna see. They're gonna leave here with fear and great joy. So they're still fearful. But he's not there. He's gone.

He's risen from the grave. You know, again, I said this in Sunday school, Every religion in the world can be traced back, that had a founder, can be traced back to a man in a grave or a woman in a grave. Christianity is the only one where the tomb is empty. Because he rose. God in the flesh rose from the grave. Our hope is not in a dead Savior, is it? Our hope is in a risen Savior. He's alive. And He's reigning right now. You see all the chaos in this world? You know what, beloved? He's reigning. He's ruling over it all.

That's why we can pillow our head at night, right? Pillow in our head on the providence of God. Brian, we've talked about that. So lay our head down on the providence of God and go to sleep. If I die tonight, That's His will. Right? Oh my, praise the name of Jesus. So, His rising from the grave proved that God is satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ, again, because he's risen for our justification. See, everything he does, he does as a substitute, including rising from the grave. My. God incarnate in the flesh died. Died. and then rose from the grave, that we might be with God forever.

That's absolutely incredible. Then look at verse seven here. And note what the angel says here, his disciples, okay? Keep that in mind. The angel calls them his disciples. Look at this. And go quickly and tell his disciples, verse seven, Matthew 28, that he has risen from the dead. It tells us again. He's risen from the dead. And behold, he goes before you into Galilee. Note Galilee. And ye shall see him, lo, I have told you. What wonderful good news about the risen Savior. The Savior of sinners. He tells them, go quickly. And tell his disciples that he's risen. And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him. Lo, I have told you.

This is good news. Oh, and you know, this is good news for today, too. Marvel. at the wondrous display of the power of God, in that Christ is risen from the dead. We don't have a dead Christ. We serve a living Christ. He's alive. He rose from the dead. The angel told us that twice, didn't he? Told Mary and Matt, the two Marys, twice. He's risen. My. And he's still saving his sheep, isn't he? He's still moving today. The gospel goes out first here and then to the internet. And not just from here, but from all the places where the gospel is being preached. And it goes forth with power. according to the will and purpose of God, right?

And God saves sinners by regenerating them and giving them faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who they find out died for them 2,000 years ago. Oh, that's good news, isn't it, for sinners? That's wonderful news for sinners. And I'm a sinner. That's wonderful news for this man. Is it for you? Yeah, it's wonderful, isn't it? Oh my. Now notice this. Behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. Now, there's a lot spoken of Galilee in the book of Matthew. It's the gospel of the kingdom. The book of Matthew is called the gospel of the kingdom. It often talks about Galilee. Do you know this? I found this out last night. And I went in Vicki's room, beside my room there, my study, and into her little, she's got a little art place. And I went in there and I said, honey, I just got a nugget and I wanna share it with you.

Do you know that Galilee bordered the Gentile nations? and Israel? It bordered both Jews and Gentiles right in the middle. Who's Christ the Savior of? Jews and Gentiles, who are now one in Christ. That's the first place he said he'd meet them. Isn't that glorious? He'd meet him in the border between Jews and Gentiles. He came to save Jews and Gentiles, right?

The elect ones. Elect Jews and elect Gentiles, who are now one in Christ. Because remember, there's neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ. We're one in Christ now. Oh, man, I gotta hold that nugget. I said to Vicki, I'm ready to preach right now. That was like, what, 10 o'clock last night? I was bouncing off the walls. My. So it touches both where the Gentiles live as well as the chosen seat of Abraham. This is the place where Christ will meet his people. Right? in the borderland between Jew and Gentile. There the risen Christ will hold his first general assembly. Now let's read verses eight and nine of Matthew chapter 28.

And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy. Notice the mixture there. Fear, but great joy. And did run to bring his disciples word And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, all hail. And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. Notice here the amazing mixture, fear and joy. But let us take note that the joy was greater than the fear. Fear and great joy. He's risen. They've been told he's risen from the grave. Oh my.

And remember, remember when Mary Madeline went to touch Christ and he said, not yet. I haven't risen to my, to my father. Remember that in scriptures? He said, touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my father. It is more needful for you to go now and tell my disciples that I've risen from the dead.

And look at what verse nine says, and they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. That's where we, that's the best spot for us to be, right? At the feet of Jesus, isn't it? Right at the feet of Jesus. My and notice how now now he permits them to touch him and They hold him by his feet What an act of humility Worshiping holding not his hands, but his feet You know what they must have saw They must have saw the nail prints, beloved, through his feet. They saw him before Thomas saw him. Remember the Lord said to Thomas, go ahead, put your finger in my hands and my feet. He saw the nail prints and they worshipped him. They held him by the feet, worshipped him. And note, at the beginning of this chapter, they didn't run to meet the angel, did they? No. Oh, they shrank back from him, as a matter of fact, didn't they?

But oh, when the believer sees Christ. Note, they come. They come to Jesus. They run to Jesus. In an act of humility, they throw themselves at his feet. They held him by their feet and worshipped him, by his feet and worshipped him. Oh, what an act of humility. What an act of worship. Holding his feet, listening to the sweet words from his mouth. My Saviour, My Redeemer. Oh my. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He'd risen from the grave and they came and worshiped Him. Again, in an act of humility. Let's read verse 10.

Now here's the words of Jesus, right? Remember they had fear and great joy? Remember I said only the words of Christ can calm the fear of believers? He says this to them, be not afraid. You know, we don't have to be afraid of the justice of God anymore, or the wrath of God, or the law of God. We don't have to be afraid of death anymore, because it's a doorway into glory for us. We can be aware of the things going on in this world, but we don't have to fear them, beloved, because we know who's in full control. Mine. The Savior. And remember, the Savior is God. He can see their hearts. He can see their pulsating hearts, beloved. He knows what they're thinking, what they're feeling. Just as he knows what we're thinking and feeling.

And they're all on the flurry, aren't they? They're all excited. They're excited. And notice the angel had not dispelled their fears, but Christ has. They're sitting at his feet now, worshiping him, holding on to him. Their fear's gone. Their fear's gone. And our Lord, the God in the flesh tells them, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Look at this. Verse 10, be not afraid. Don't be afraid.

Go and tell, what? Somebody read that, say that word for me. Go and tell my brethren, Remember the angel said, disciples, look what the Lord calls us. Go and tell my brethren. Oh, my. And one of those brethren is Peter, who forsook him three times. Go tell my brethren. Go tell my brethren. that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me. Go tell the ones who I love with an everlasting love. Go tell the ones that I bled for and died for. Go tell them. You know, we're going to meet the Savior one day, aren't we?

In glory. Our faith will become a sight. See, faith is something that you hope for something that you haven't seen. But in glory, we'll see Christ face to face. Our hope will be manifested. Oh my, can you imagine that? Isn't that gonna be glorious? and we're gonna worship Him forever. You know, we're gonna be so enamored with Him. We're gonna be just like these ladies. Oh, Lord. We're just gonna worship Him forever. People say, well, when they get born, worshiping Christ forever in heaven? Not at all. You know how we feel when we sing songs of praise and we come and hear the gospel? Be like that forever. Forever, beloved. It's glorious.

Go tell my brethren. Oh, what sweet and wondrous words. They all took off on them. Go tell my brethren. My brethren. Oh, my. All their sins are forgiven. They're all washed in the blood. Go tell my brother. See, we're a bunch of the Lord's brethren, aren't we, gathered together here? I'm telling you about our brother, our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's glorious. He's the only savior of sinners.

Turn now, if you would, to Philippians chapter two. We're gonna go to what might be one of the most clearest sections in the scriptures that speaks of our risen king. One of the clearest sections of how God became a man. God himself became a man. Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter 2. We're going to read verses 5 to 11. Paul's writing to the Philippians, beautiful letter.

And he's just constantly focusing them on Christ. And now he's going to talk You know, I mentioned this when we were doing the Philippian study. Humility leads to unity. It really does. Humility leads to unity. Non-humility leads to disunity. People being proud and self-righteous, that leads to disunity. But humility leads to unity. And that's what we have, I believe, here. We just come here and humble ourselves before God, don't we? Say, Lord, feed us. We want to know more about you. Look at this. Paul says this, very instructive.

Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. who being in the form of God, this is speaking of his internality, his being God before he came to this world, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. So he's telling us here that the Lord Jesus Christ, before he came to this world, is the word of God, and he's equal with God. He's equal with God the Father, and he's equal with God the Holy Spirit. He didn't think of robbery because he was God. He was God.

Look at this. Look at this. This is amazing. Here's the incarnation. This is amazing. But made himself of no reputation. Okay. Angels are bowing down, worshiping this. Word of God, the second person of the Trinity. We see that. If you want to see that, look in Isaiah chapter 6. They can't even, they have to cover their eyes to look upon him. Say, holy, holy, holy. That's Christ on the throne.

Who made himself of no reputation. I was talking to someone this week and they said, it was Exodus. He had mentioned, he said, you said before that Christ just looked like a normal man. And I said, yeah, the scripture tells in Isaiah that there's no form or commonness in him. And commonness is beauty in the Hebrew. He didn't stand out. He looked like an ordinary fellow.

And yet inside, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Just like, now think of this, think of the temple in the wilderness. When they struck camp, and they built all their little places where they were gonna be, they put badger skins over all of them, including the temple. And the temple building looked just like any other building. So that if enemies came in, they would know where all the gold, because you know all the gold's in the temple. And so it was a temple that they, while they were going through the exodus, those 40 years, they would move it around.

But on the outside, you couldn't tell it from anything else. But inside, pure gold. There's our savior, walking on this earth, Sister, you couldn't tell he was God in the flesh. And he starts doing miracles and people start paying attention, don't they? But you could not tell him apart from anyone else. So that's what it means here when he says he made himself of no reputation.

He's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And he becomes a man in submission to the Father's will. Why? To save us from our sins. What humility! In wonder of wonders, this is the incarnation, but made himself of no reputation and took upon the form of servant. He's in false servitude to God the Father. He's humbled himself. And there's perfect unity between Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, isn't there?

That He would come to redeem His people. He's on a mission, isn't He? Brother, you were sent on missions when you were in the army. And you go and you complete that mission as best as you can do. Christ was on a mission. Came to save His people from their sins. And last week, like I said, that's why the ladies, when they were weeping, He said, don't weep for me, weep for yourselves. Why? He's going to the cross. He must redeem his people from their sins, and he cried, it is finished, and he did it, didn't he?

And it's finished. Finished means you can't add nothing to it. When you're finished a project, you're finished, right? Some people, when they say, I'm finished, and then they pick it up and start again, but they're not really finished. But when they're finished, they go, okay, I'm done. He finished the work by himself for the salvation of a people that no man can number, a remnant according to the election of grace.

And though we're small upon this earth, we're mighty in heaven. My. And being found, verse 8, and being found in fashion as a man. Look at that. He's fully man and he's fully God. Being found in the fashion of a man. We see God humbles himself, becomes a man. Brother Tommy, He had hands and feet like us, blood like us. But He's sinless. We're sinners from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet, even now after we're saved. But He was totally sinless. He's perfect. Perfect. He's the God-man. Look at this.

So made himself of no reputation, and then it says he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He humbled himself, becoming a man, becoming a servant, right? And became obedient unto death. Why? That we might be safe from our sins. The only way we could be saved is if Christ died. If we could save ourselves from our sins, He never would have had to come, right? There'd be no reason for Him to come if we could have saved ourselves, but we can't. We can't.

And look at this voluntary submission. Voluntarily, voluntary servitude. Look at the humility. mind and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The soul that sinneth, it must die. Christ becomes the substitute for sinners and dies in our room and place. Glory be to God. That's our Savior. Our Redeemer is God. Our Savior is God. God in the flesh, fully man, right? Fashioned himself, made himself in a fashion as a man. Sinless, though, but just like us. No sin nature, though. No sins in thoughts, no sins in deed, no sins in action, no sin at all. Perfect. Perfect. Oh my.

That's our Savior, the Lamb of God, who took our sins away, beloved, and nailed them to His cross. The handwriting of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary to us, He took them, nailing it to His cross, beloved. Spoiled princes and principalities, triumphing over them. He triumphed over our enemies, right? Death.

We were enemies with the law of God. It had a rightful claim on us. Scripture says He redeemed us out from under the law. The wrath of God should have fallen upon us, fell upon Him. God's justice is fully satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ in the room and place of His people. And what humility we see here. Now, look, here we go. Here we go. He's risen, hasn't He? He's risen, we read about that in Matthew 28. Look at this, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. Oh beloved, he's so high above us.

You know, Vicki was telling me that Pluto, she's learning this again as she's working with the kids in school, that Pluto is three billion miles away from us. Three billion miles. That's just our solar system, okay? Three billion miles. You know what the scripture says?

The heavens can't contain our king. The heavens, I mean the stuff we can't even see, can't contain him. What humility. He became a man and humbled himself. What humility, the heavens, everything we see and don't see cannot contain Him. And He becomes a man to save us from our sins. My, just let us think, three billion miles just to Pluto, that's just our solar system. That's not including the vastness of space which can't contain Him. And he became a man to save me from my sins.

Wonder of wonders. Isn't that amazing, Sister Carolyn? That's incredible. And it's truth. How do we know? Well, let's keep reading here. Look at this. He's risen from the grave. He died. He's risen. Now look at this. Wherefore, God also has highly exalted him. He's in heaven, far above everything. And giving Him a name which is above every name. Look at that.

We all got names, don't we? You ever think of that? We all got names. We all got names. But His name is a name above all names. His name is a name that has all the preeminence. Because He's the only Savior of sinners. Now, a few people in this world might know us by our name, right? You know, God's people know Him by a name, don't we? He's been revealed to us. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my Savior. He's my Redeemer. He's my Beloved. He's my Shield. He's my Protector. He's my God. He's my Salvation. He's my Everything. And God is highly exalted and Beloved. We don't serve a dead Savior. We don't serve, you know, ever seen them people got crosses all over the walls. We don't, we don't serve a savior on the cross. We serve a risen savior. Our savior is risen.

And how do we know that? Where, wherefore? God also hath highly exalted him, given him a name above every name. Oh yeah. Notice a name, the name, singular, the name that has all preeminence. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. My. And if God is well pleased with his son, then he's well pleased with all who are in his son, isn't he? And the believers are accepted and beloved, accepted in Christ. From when? From eternity, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1, 6.

Glorious. This is glorious. Look at this. That's the name of Jesus. Every knee should bow. You know, a lot of people, they shake their fists at God, and they say, ah, whatever. They will meet God one day. and he will either be judge or savior. Every person on this earth and every person who's ever lived on this earth and every person who ever will live on this earth will bow their knee.

Will bow their knee. World leaders, Alexander the Great will bow his knee. Caesar, bow his knee. Hitler, bow his knee. Every single person who ever lives and ever will live and who's ever lived will bow their knee. You say, I don't believe that. It's going to happen. Sure as the sun rises, it's going to happen. Oh, my.

And we who are the people of God, He's our Savior. And the only one who made us to differ from the ones to whom He shall be judged, and for us, Savior, is the grace of God in Christ. That's the only one who made us to differ. We are hell-deserving sinners saved by the grace of God in Christ. My, and we believers are the only ones that'll shake our head and say, yes, aren't we? Oh yeah, we know. We know what God saved us from. What we know with our limited understanding, but with our limited understanding, my oh my, it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible.

And then look at this. Every knee shall bow. Of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. That means everything. Everything is subject to King Jesus. Things in heaven, the saints already gone to heaven. Things in the earth, people on earth, and things under the earth. People in hell, people in heaven, people upon this earth when Christ returns. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Look at this in verse 11.

That Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, they're not making him Lord by doing that. They're confessing him as Lord. Can you imagine that? A lost person who hates Christ, they're going to have to confess. And this is not up for, well, I don't want to do that. they will be bound by the sovereign power of God and bow their knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

We'll willingly do it, won't we, as God's people. Again, who made the difference? The one on the throne. God. But mark my words, everyone who ever lives and ever will live and and lives there currently now, will bow their knee to King Jesus and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

You know, we are saved to the praise of the glory of His grace. Let's go back to Ephesians. We were there in Sunday school, but let's go over there, Ephesians. You know, we are saved to the praise of the glory of God's grace. And we will confess His wondrous grace, won't we, for all eternity. Oh, He's so wonderful.

Look at this. Ephesians chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. You know, all of us are saved by the will of God. Look at this. To the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Notice, notice the past tense. OK, now look at this.

Now, why are we blessed? Well, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. This is happening in eternity. Having predestinated us, and when we looked at that word predestination, it has to do with God's plan of saving his people from their sins. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. God's will.

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Do you know when we were accepted in the beloved? When he predestinated us and chose us in Christ. Religion says just accept Jesus. God beat us to it. We're accepted in the beloved.

That's why we run to Christ when we're born again and given faith to believe, because we're accepted in him before the foundation of the world. Now, I don't deserve that mercy, do you? But wonder of wonders, it's true. That's why we're in awe of our salvation, isn't it? Because we now know what we are, sinners, saved by the grace of God.

And look at this. I love verse six. To the praise and the glory of his grace. Oh, to the praise of God's glory. He's risen to the praise of God's glory. We're accepted in the beloved. We're accepted in Christ. It's glorious. Look at this. Here it is. Here's what had to happen in time and space.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Oh, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. That's the ransom price, beloved, that was paid that was paid for the salvation of our souls. He gave his life for us. And praise God, he rose from the grave for our justification. And then he grants us faith and repentance before God.

Right? Faith and repentance is like, I've told you many times, it's like a piece of paper. You have faith on one side and you have repentance on the other. They go hand in hand. Right? Oh yes, and they're both gifts from God. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted and abloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood. Look at this, the forgiveness of sins. How many? All the ones I know I committed, even the ones I don't know I committed. Sins of omission and sins of commission. Why? What do you mean we don't know when we sin? We sin so much we don't even know when we do it. Everything we do is tainted with sin.

Look at this, look at this, beloved, look at this. In whom we have redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Do you know, do you know, beloved, that we cannot exhaust, we cannot exhaust the grace of God? All our sinning, we can't exhaust the grace of God. Because where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Oh my! So we have lots to be thankful for, this day and all days, don't we? Christ is risen for our justification. We have redemption through His blood. And let us marvel that it's God who saved us. from all our sins. Amen and amen. Brother Neil, can you close us in prayer?