Let's begin our service at the
reading of Psalm 21. Psalm 21. Wednesday evening, Lord willing,
we'll be observing the Lord's table. So I hope you can come
and remember our Lord in that way. Last night, we had a meeting
with our teenagers and I just had the absolute best time with
them. You know, they have the every
Sunday they've got the best teacher that money cannot buy. I mean,
just the very, very best. But I enjoyed an opportunity
to teach them. And we went and got something
to eat. And the girls won a hotly, hotly contested competition. So we just had the best time.
I'm thankful for that. All right. Psalm 21. The king shall joy in thy strength,
O Lord, and in thy salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice.
Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden
the request of his lips. For thou preventest him with
the blessings of goodness. Thou settest a crown of pure
gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou
gavest it him, even length of days, for ever and ever. His
glory is great in thy salvation. Honor and majesty hast thou laid
upon him, For thou hast made him most blessed forever. Thou
hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the
king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most
High, he shall not be moved. Thine hand shall find out all
thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out
those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery
oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up
in his wrath, and the fire shall devour thee. Their fruit shalt
thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the
children of men. For they intended evil against thee. They imagined
a mischievous device which they were not able to perform. Therefore
shalt thou make them turn their back when thou shalt make ready
thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be
thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength. So will we sing. and praise thy power. Let's stand
together as Mike leads us in singing our call to worship. Jesus the Lord, my Savior is,
my Shepherd and my God. I hope my life, my joy, my bliss,
And I His praise record. And I His praise record. Mercy and truth and righteousness
and peace most richly be. In Jesus Christ, our King of
praise, In whom we stand complete. In whom we stand complete. Here, Lord, forbid that we should
boast, save in the cross of Christ. Here may we confidently trust,
and solemnly Rejoice, and solemnly rejoice, the wilderness I roam, His mercies
I'll proclaim. And when I safely reach my home,
I'll still adore His name. I'll still adore His name. Now let's turn to number 16.
Toward the front of the book, number 16. The Lord is King! Lift up, lift up thy voice! Sing His praise! Sing His praise! All heaven and earth before Him
now rejoice! Sing his praise, sing his praise. From world to world the joy shall
ring, For he alone is God and King. From sky to sky his banners
fling, Sing His praise, sing His praise. The Lord is King, let all His
worth declare. Great is He, great is He. Bow to His will, and trust His
tender care. Great is He! Nor murmur at His wise decrees,
Nor doubt His steadfast promises, In humble faith fall on Thy knees,
Great is He! Great is He! The Lord is King,
and bow to Him ye must God is great, God is good The judge
of all, to all is ever just God is great, God is good Holy and
true are all His ways, Let every creature shout His praise, The
Lord of Hosts, Ancient of Days. God is great, God is good, Our
Lord is King, throughout His vast domain. He is all, all in all. The Lord Jehovah evermore shall
reign. He is all, all in all. To earth and heaven one song
shall ring, From gate for hearts this anthem of spring. Arise, ye saints, salute thy
King, And all thy days sing his praise. Now let's turn a few pages over
to 62, number 62. Round Him many crowns, the Lamb
upon His throne, Our God, the heav'nly Lamb of God. All music, but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing Of Him
who died for thee. And hail Him as thy matchless
King through all eternity. Crown Him the Lord of all. Behold His hands and side, Rich
fount, yet miserable above, In beauty glorified. O angel in the sky, Can fully bear that sight. The dumb orphan's his wandering
eye At mysteries so bright. Crown him, the Lord, Who triumphed o'er the grave,
Who rose victorious to save, For those he came to save His
glories now we sing Eternal life to bring, and live
that death may die. Crown Him the Lord of Heav'n,
one with the Father Lord. One with the Spirit, through
Him given, from yonder glorious throne. To Thee be endless praise,
for Thou for us Let's turn now to Psalm 24. John, I was asked will you read
Psalm 24 this morning. As you're turning, Tell you what John told me after
the lesson this morning about fear not what men will do to
the flesh. He said, you have to fear what happens to this
flesh. God's going to replace it anyway. You can make it good. That was going to be perfect.
But soul, that's what he takes to be with him. I wish I thought
said that, but I thought you'd enjoy that. All right, Psalm
24. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. For
he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand
in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy
face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King
of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of glory. Thank God for His Word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our God and our Father, Lord, we bow in your courts this
morning. We bow in humility, bowing before
the God of heaven and earth. And Lord, we bow thankfully with
hearts that rejoice at being able for sinners like us, being
able to come into your very presence and be heard. Have our prayer,
our petitions, our thanksgiving, our praise heard because of the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we're accepted in the beloved.
Father, how we thank you. How we thank you for righteousness
that you freely give that could come no other way than through
the obedience of Christ our Savior. How we thank you for the forgiveness
of our sin that could come no other way and through the blood
of Christ our Savior. Father, I pray this morning that
you would enable us to lift up and praise and extol the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Enable us this morning to hear
your gospel preached and the power of your Spirit. Father,
enable us to hear and to worship. Enable us to hear and believe
the things of Christ our Savior we hear preached this morning.
Father, we're so thankful that you brought Brother John our
way and we pray that you bless him. Bless him this morning in
preaching. Uphold him, Father, with your
spirit. Don't leave him alone, but speak
to his heart. Put the message that you would
have us to hear in this hour in his heart and open his mouth
that he might clearly and simply proclaim it. Preach Christ and
him crucified. We pray your blessing on him
this morning and his blessing on him there in North Carolina.
Bless, bless that ministry, bless the preaching of your word for
your namesake and for the good of your people there. Father,
we dare not sin against thee and forgetting to pray for your
people. Pray that you would bless and
lead and guide and watch over your people. We pray a special
blessing, Father, for those that you brought in the time of trouble
and trial. Sick, they're heartbroken, they're
in difficult straits. Father, bless, we pray. We pray
you give them a fulfillment of your promise that you not leave
nor forsake your people, but that your grace is sufficient. Comfort their hearts with your
presence, Father, we pray, until you see fit in your wisdom and
providence to lead them out. Father, we thank you for our
children. Father, how I pray mercy for
their souls, how I pray that you protect their bodies, their
minds, their hearts from this wicked world in which they grow
up. It's a difficult, you know, their
difficulty. Father, we pray you'd protect
them. Above all, you'd have mercy on their souls. Cause us to be
faithful to them and to others who you bring our way to preach
Christ to them. Cause us to be faithful servants
of your word, we pray. Father, all these things we ask.
We ask for the glory and for the sake Christ our Savior. It's in His blessed name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. I'll sing a chorus this morning. I
haven't done it for a while, but we have done it. And it's
easy. All you've got to do is repeat
after me. I've made it as easy as I can. Repeat after me. It's entitled, I Love My Lord
who died for me, and he shed his blood on Calvary. I wrote the words, but the tune
is going to leave old Texas now. It's an old, old cowboy song. Some of you may have heard it,
probably the young ones haven't, but they need to learn it. All
right, let's try it. And he shed his blood on Calvary
He took away my sin And He gave to me His righteousness. He's King of Kings, His name I'll sing, worship and
adore. Got it now? Sing it out stronger. I can't hear you from here, from
my piano. And he shed his blood on Calvary
He took away my sin And He gave to me His righteousness,
His King of kings. Well, we're very, very delighted
to have Pastor John Chapman with us this morning. And of course,
Vicki, come with him, James and Rita. John's the, you know, the
pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Spring Lake, North Carolina.
James and John's parents celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary
this week, that weekend. It's such a blessing for them,
I know. I thought this morning, it's
just like old times. I'm going to teach the class and John's
going to preach and I've been looking forward to it. I know
you all have too. So John, you come preach the
message that God's given you for us. Good to see you again. Coming back this way was the
first time I had to put a winter jacket on. First time I broke
it out all year. I enjoyed that song. I listened
to Mike play it, I felt like I'd ride no paint off into the
sunset never to come back. I have an overactive imagination. Sometimes it's good and sometimes
it's not. Turn to Psalm 24. Vicki and I were talking yesterday,
we were driving around, how good it was to be in territory that
is familiar. You don't even have to think.
It's like your car's on autopilot. You don't have to think, which
do I turn left, do I turn right? There's just something about
this thing of just things being familiar. We lived here about
40 years. Things are very familiar. And
that feels good when we come back here, just the familiarity
of it. It feels good. Now this morning, I want to bring
the message on the crown rites of Jesus Christ. As I've gotten older, one of
the things about the Lord Jesus Christ that stays on my mind
probably as much, if not more than anything, is that He's my
King. I have a King. And that makes
me That just thrills my soul. You know, when you look at the
political landscape that we have going on today, it's disturbing
if you keep looking at it. You know, it's like, stop looking
at it. It gives great comfort to me
to know this is part of the eternal purpose of my king. There is
no nation, there is no leader, There is no rich person or poor
person that is not under the direct authority of Jesus Christ. That gives me great comfort.
As I've seen my grandchildren now growing up and all these
young children growing up, they're His. They're His. And His power is over all. He
said, Father, Thou hast given me power over all flesh. There's
no one that is not under the direct rule and reign of Jesus
Christ. Yes, we live in a democracy. Really, do we? We live under
the theocracy of Jesus Christ. And that thrills my soul because
our King is holy. Our King is righteous. Our King
is love. God is love. And God is our King. He's our King. In Psalm 22, we find the Lord
Jesus Christ to be our substitute. He's the one who took our place.
When I say our, I mean all those whom God's chosen throughout
this whole period of time. He's our substitute. Psalm 23,
he's our shepherd. He guides us. He feeds us. He makes us to lie down in green
pastures. I'm glad he has the power to make me lie down because
I wouldn't lie down if he wouldn't. We would not, we would not if,
if, if it were not for him, we would not take his word. The
green pastures, and lie down in it. Rest in it. If he were not our shepherd.
If he did not have the power to enable us to lie down. But
here in this psalm, Jesus Christ is presented as our King. I love to say King Jesus. King Jesus. He is our King. Now right from the outset, the
focus is set on the Lord. You notice that capital L-O-R-D,
Jehovah, our Savior. And we know who that is, Jesus
Christ. In the end of this psalm, the
focus is still on the Lord. It's still on Him. Now David
says the earth is the Lord's. Let's clear this up. You know,
if you go through the Old Testament and when you read the prophets,
the first time and the first way they identify God is always,
almost always as the creator. Because I tell you this, the
one that created all of this is God. The one who owns all
of this is God. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof and the world and they that dwell therein.
Verse 1 leaves no doubt as to who owns all this. Now some of you have bought homes,
houses, and land, and you've worked hard, and you've paid
it off, and you got the deed, and you say, it's ours. No, it
isn't. I'm telling you the truth. It's
not yours. Not in the sense that you actually
own it, and it's yours. If it really was, you'd take
it with you. But you're not. You'll leave it. You'll probably
leave it to your children. Then when you're gone, they'll
probably sell it to somebody else, and they'll own it. Someone
owns the place that I lived in over on Gusler Street for 30
years. I said, this is my home. I own this. No, you don't. God
owns it. We need to understand this. God
owns everything. You and I are here for a short
period of time. Even the youngest ones here,
life is short. Three, four years and ten, on
average of 70 years. Now that I'm 64 years old, that's
short. I'm looking back now, I used
to look forward. I used to look forward and say
this is what I want to do, this is what... No, now I'm looking
back on everything. I used to live there. I used
to be here, I used to be there. And then there'll come a time
when there'll be a tombstone and my name will be on it. And I won't take anything with
me, anything. And I tell you this, when I left
here, when I moved to North Carolina, we sold our home. We don't own
anything but two old cars now. And I've never been more content
and more satisfied. When something goes wrong, those
guys down there in North Carolina, they come over and fix it. They
take care of it. And I've learned this. I've learned
this. Because, you know, we feel like
if we don't own our home, when we get old, how are we going
to make it? The same way you're making it
now, by the grace of God. It is by God's grace, God's power. I'm learning. Paul said, I have
learned in whatsoever state I am therewith be content. It's something
you learn. I'm learning. that my father will take care
of me now and he'll take care of me tomorrow. And if I live
to be my parents' age, 89, 90 years of age, he'll take care
of me then. It's the Lord. The earth is the
Lord's. The crown rights over all belong to Jesus Christ. They
belong to Him. He has the right, listen, since
it all belongs to Him, He has the right over all of it. If
He wants to burn my house down, He can burn it down and not get
charged with larceny. It's His. If He wants to take
from me, He can take it. It's His. If He wants to give
to me, He can give. It's His prerogative. Spurgeon
said it's His royal prerogative to do as He will. Crown rights
of everything belong to Jesus Christ. He can rule all things
without asking my opinion on any of it. He didn't say to Job, Job, I'm
going to take your 10 children. Is that all right? And I'll tell
you this, when he spoke to Job over there in what, chapter 34
or 32 or somewhere, when he said, Job, stand up like a man, he
didn't apologize to Job. He didn't apologize to him for
taking. He said, I had something here, I had a point I had to
prove. No, he said, Joe, stand up like a man. I'll ask some
questions and you give me the answers if you know them. He
revealed his greatness. You and I cannot think on the
level God knows. We cannot think on that level.
So whatever the Lord is doing, it's right. It's right because
He's doing it. He can do no wrong. Our Lord
owns the title deed to everything. He says here, everything on this
earth is His, because He says the fullness of it. Never take granted that this
earth keeps producing. He made it full, He keeps it
full. The ocean keeps producing. Fish,
you know, you'd think you'd fish it out. You'd think that we would
just destroy the land. The Lord keeps it producing and
it will keep producing until time shall be no more. Because
it's His. It's His. Look over in Psalm 50. In Psalm 50, look in verse 8. He says, I will not reprove thee
for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings to have been continually
before me. I will take no bullock out of
thy house, nor he goats out of thy fold, for every beast of
the forest is mine. He talks about that little bird.
If you and I only knew how much care God has for that little
bird, he made it, he created it. He said, the beasts of the
field are mine, and the cattle, you know the cattle you say,
you know, you had this cattle baron. They said, all those cattle,
they're mine? No, they're not. He says, all
the cattle. And the cattle upon a thousand
hills, they are mine. They're mine. I know all the
fowls of the mountain. That's more than just knowing
that there are birds out there. He knows every one of them. He
knows exactly where they are at any given time. Every last
one of them. I know all the fowls of the mountains
and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee. To put it
in today's language, I wouldn't Facebook you. If I were hungry,
I wouldn't let you know about it because you couldn't do anything
about it. For the world is mine and the fullness, it's all His. Now there's a reason to take
care of it. Here's a reason to take care
of the place that God has given you to live at your life. It's His. It's His. Keep it plain. Take care of it. There's a good
reason not to litter. It's His. All fullness, all fullness comes
from the Lord Jesus Christ. All fullness in creation, all
fullness in grace, all fullness in salvation comes from Jesus
Christ. John 1.16, and of His fullness
have all we received in graceful grace. He never does anything
halfway. He never does anything and then
leaves something up left for me and you to do. When God put
Adam in the garden, what did Adam bring to the garden? Nothing. God put him, here's the garden.
God put him in it. God completed it, made everything
perfect and then put Adam in the garden. Adam didn't bring
anything to it or add anything to it. And they that dwell therein,
All are His. There's no loose cannon out here.
There is no loose cannon out here running around. Nobody has
their finger on the button. That's out of control. God said
everyone's mine. Listen, whether you like it or
not, you're His. Jesus Christ has never been in
my hands to do something with. We have all been in His hands
to do something with. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And they that dwell therein,
they all belong to Him. And this being so, all people
are to worship Him. The Jews thought they had a corner
on God. They thought that us Gentiles
out here left into our paganism and our false worship, that God
would never have anything to do with us. God created all. All men, all women are His. The
whole human race. Listen, let me tell you something.
There are nationalities. There are different nationalities.
There are different tongues, languages. There's only one race,
the human race, and the whole human race is fallen. The whole
human race is under condemnation. And by God's grace, he's chosen
to save some. God saved you. He chose to do
it. He chose not to leave you alone.
God chose you to be a son of God. Don't ever get over that. Don't
ever get over it. Reaffirmed it upon the seas and
established it upon the floods. In Genesis 1, 9, Christ, he said,
no, it says God. Christ is God. Jesus Christ is
the living God. Christ called forth the dry land
and he called the dry land earth and the waters he called sea
and by his power, I've never thought of this before until
I was studying this. Two-thirds of this world is water. You know,
whenever the flood came in Noah's day, it says the depths broke
up. It gushed up water out of the earth. And here's the point
I want to make. He hath founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the floods. Is there anything more unstable
than water? And yet our Lord demonstrates His power. by keeping
this whole world, earth, stable. It's as stable as can be. It
never moves off one degree this way. If it did, it would ground.
Two-thirds of it's water. You realize that this is where
I, if I was an engineer, this would really intrigue me. It
says he has made a way for the water course. How do you pour
water on a ball and keep the ball running off the bottom?
And yet he does that. By God's wisdom, he does that.
The creeks out there, they'll run all year long. That's the wisdom of God. And that's just in creation.
That's just in creation. He's given us a glimpse of his
wisdom and power and knowledge in creation. That's just a glimpse.
The greater sight of it is in Jesus Christ. God's saving his
sinner. making him whole and enabling
him to ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in his place or
stand before God. He's the one who sets the boundary
of the sea. He's the one who says, hither
shalt thou come, hither shalt thou proud ways come and no further. That ocean does not overflow
the land because of the word of God. That's why. Now, you think he can protect
our home? You think he can take care of us? If he can take the
Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic, and all the oceans on this earth
and make them stay at a point that they can't pass over? That's
power, brother, that's power. And he didn't build a wall to
do it. He just said by his word. By his word. The earth will continue
until time shall be no more." Now, verse 3, seeing that God
is great, this God is so great and powerful and He's holy, who
shall ascend? This is the question to me, this
is the question of question. Who can ascend before such a
God, such a person, and stand? Immediately we are told that
God is above all creation because He said, who shall ascend? And
this word ascend has to do with worship. Who can worship such
a God? Who can ascend? Who can think
on that level? Who can even have any kind of
comprehension of such a person? My soul. Who shall ascend the
hill of the Lord? Who shall ascend to His throne?
And who shall stand in his holy place? Who will worship? This word stand has to do with
stand his ground. Who can go before God and stand
his ground? The question is this, seeing
that he is so great and glorious and holy, who shall enter into
his presence and abide? I was thinking as I was just
sitting over there before coming up here, I thought, never lose
the Godness of God. Never lose that. Never lose the
greatness of God, the glory of God. Today's religion has God
down here beneath us, not on our level. They got him below
our level. Unless we can't do anything,
unless we let him. who built the Tower of Babel
thought they could ascend the hill of the Lord, but they found
out differently, didn't they? Many who think they can stand
in His presence by their works, they find out differently. Depart
from me, I never knew you. We preached in your name. We've
cast out devils in your name. We've done many mighty works
in your name. He says, depart from me. I never knew you. I never knew you. Man considers,
he considers heaven, but not the one who reigns there. Heaven
is my throne. Earth is my footstool. We live
on God's footstool. It's a holy place where God reigns.
Here's the question. How can I, a sinful man, stand
before God who is holy? How can we this morning worship
God? How can we do that? That's what
we're here for. If not, What are we here for? We are here
to worship God. We're here to give unto Him the
glory due to His name, and to praise Him, and to sing His praises,
and to preach, and to read His Word. We're here to worship God. How can a bunch of sinful, wretched
people like you and me do that? That's what David is asking here.
You know, David gets a glimpse of himself. What is man? It's
like he said, what is man that's not mindful of him? And the son
of man that you had visited him. How can a sinful man stand before
God and hold his ground? God who's holy. You know, we
all must die and stand somewhere. You know, we're not going to
just not exist no more. Everybody's going to live forever.
It's just with whom and where. Now there's something else here
I want to point out here. He says here in the answer that
he gives is this. Here's the answer. You want to
know? You interested? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. That's the one who may ascend
the hill of the Lord and stand in his holding place. One of
the things that stood out here, and I'd never seen it before
until I was looking at this, the description of the worshiper
is also a description of the God whom they worship. Turn over
to Psalm 115. Look in verse four. Their idols, he's talking here
about the idols of the heathens and those who do not worship
God, their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but
they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but
they walk not. Neither speak they through their
throat. They that make them are what? Like them. Now, how am I going to worship
God who's holy? Who's holy? He says here, those
who have clean hands, a pure heart, have not lifted up their
soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. A description of the worshiper
is really also a description of the God they're worshiping. You and I know we were born in
sin and shaped in inequity. We know that. But here's the
good news. Here's the good news. There is
one man. There is one man, billions and
billions have lived on this earth, but there's only one man whose
hands are clean, whose heart is pure, who has not lifted up
his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully to man Christ Jesus. A representative man. He's a
representative man. He represents a multitude of
sinners that were given to him by the Father before the world
was. He is the God-man mediator. It is said of him, he knew no
sin. Everyone know the good news?
As he is, so are we in this world. To really understand this answer
more fully as it relates to us, how does it relate to us? We
must understand something of the new birth. You have to understand
something of the new birth. When a sinner is born of God,
that sinner has clean hands and a pure heart. That new man, listen
now, that new man in Jesus Christ is created in righteousness and
true holiness and does not sin and cannot sin. It has clean
hands and a pure heart. He has not lifted up his soul
to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. Listen to 1 John 3.9. Whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in
him. He cannot sin because he is born of God. Jesus Christ
is that man. And we are that man in Christ.
We are that man in Christ. Now he says here, this man shall
receive the blessing of the Lord. in righteousness from the God
of his salvation. Jesus Christ is this blessed
man who shall receive the blessing of the Lord. And these blessings
here, it says blessing, but he's going to receive all the blessings
of the covenant of grace that were promised to him before the
world began. And you are part of that blessing. He shall see his seed. He shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Isaiah 53. He shall see the travail of his
soul. Our Lord has no stillborn children. Every one of them will
be in glory with him, alive and well. And then this new man in
Christ, he too shall receive the blessing of the Lord. Whatever belongs to Christ belongs
to me. All things are yours in Christ. We have all in Christ that we
need to ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in His presence. And this is the generation of
them that seek Him, and seek thy face, O Jacob. It says in
Psalm 2230, A seed shall serve him, it shall be accounted to
the Lord for a generation. You know all the children of
God are before Him right now. All of them. Every one of His
children are before Him right now. Now when you and I, when
we have children, we have to wait, don't we? And before modern
technology, we didn't know if it was going to be a boy or a
girl. You know, you just had to wait. All of God's children are before
Him. They are just one generation. They're all born of God. They're
all His. And they're all His now. And
He knows every one of them by name. Every one of them. They're the ones, listen,
how do you know them? They are the ones that seek his
face, his favor. They are the ones who seek the
Lord. You know what you're doing this morning? Some of you have
come here this morning seeking the Lord. Lord, speak to my heart. Let me see you in your word.
Bless your servant this morning that I may be able to worship,
that I might be able to see you. Now, lift up your heads, O ye
gates. Here's a person revealed. And
be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. When Adam fell, the way was shut. He was driven
out. Everything looked hopeless. Until God gave the promise of
the seed of the woman. And the seed of the woman is
none other than the Lord. Jehovah, the king of glory, the
second Adam, the Lord from heaven. He's the king of glory. Jesus
Christ is the king of glory. He came into this world, robed
himself in flesh, redeemed us from our sins, rose from the
grave, went back to heaven, and the shout went out, open the
gates. Open the gates. For the King
of glory is coming in. The King of glory, the God-man
mediator is coming in. Man has never produced such a
king. They said, we know you are the carpenter's son. No,
the carpenter's son could not produce such a king. But God
did. God produced one. God produced
a king with clean hands and a pure heart. God produced Himself. He's the King. Lift up your heads,
all ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and
the King of glory shall come in. This is the one I'm concerned
with. I'm concerned with this King,
this Monarch, and I'm concerned with His Kingdom. Thy Kingdom
come. Thy Kingdom It troubles me, it troubles me when I find
myself getting more upset with what's going on in the kingdom
of men than I do the kingdom of God. When I get more upset
over what a politician says than what a liar says standing here
pretending like he's calling on God to preach. When what men do upsets me more
than what those who claim to be of God do. They're lying on
God. No, I want to be concerned with
the kingdom of God and my king. Lord, what would you have me
to do? Move to North Carolina. But I've been living here for
40 years. I'm getting old. You don't call old people. You
know, I went down there, I was 60 years old. Joe Terrell said,
well, so what? You got 20 years on Moses. That's all he told
me. I love friends like that. It
just kind of puts things in perspective. Moses was what, 80? Yeah, he
was 80. I got 20 years just to get to where he was at. When
God called him out of the backside of a desert and used him. If God's going to call a man
and use a man, he may call him and use him for a day. He may
do that. He may give him one message to
preach, one time, and that's it. And that, could there be
anything greater than that? To be used of God one time. I would love to be able to preach
one time with great power and clarity. And to be able to preach Jesus
Christ as He ought to be preached. My preaching falls so far short
of what He deserves. Such a King deserves great preaching.
He deserves a great honor from his servant, from his people
who are listening, from you who worship. Think of the honor of
our King and what he deserves. He owns all this. He owns us. I'm sure glad I don't own myself.
I'm glad I don't own myself. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord of Hosts. He's the King of Glory. Jehovah
Jesus, that's who he is. There's a man seated at God's
right hand who is the king of glory and he's our king. And I guess there's no way to
describe him because you can say, you can describe a king of England. He's the king of England. But
now once he steps a foot outside of England, his power means nothing. His dominion is in England. Jesus Christ's dominion is an
everlasting dominion, and it's over all. Not just this ball
called Earth. Not just all the galaxies and
the billions of stars that are out there. It's over glory. He's a king of God's glory over
all of it. God is glorified in his son. He's a king of glory and he's
our king. He's our king. You know, if you
go back, and I'm just using England because we know more about them
than anybody as far as kings, but they had some bad kings.
I mean, they had some kings that were ruthless. You go back to
the Roman Empire and read of some of those emperors, Caesars,
ooh, man, they were bad. But our king is holy. And our
king has power over all those kings because he's the king of
kings and lord of lords. And he's our king. And last of all,
last of all, It says he's king of glory and
it means this, he has no small kingdom. I do believe that when
it's finally over, heaven will be far more populated than hell. Hell is spoken of as a place.
Heaven is spoken of as a country. It's spoken of as a great city.
All those infants and children, People who have mental handicaps,
they are there. And before modern medicine, there
was some places that didn't even name their children until they
got to be a certain age because they didn't live. They didn't
give them a name. Millions upon millions, billions
upon billions have died in youth, in infancy. Then there are those whom the
Lord brings to faith. All will be there. Don't think of God's kingdom
as a small kingdom. It's not. King of glory is a
king without boundaries. There's no nationalities in heaven.
No nationalities. If you really have trouble with
another what we call race, you don't want to go there. He's
going to save people out of every tongue, kindred, tribe, and nation
under heaven. If you have a prejudice problem,
you don't want to go there. You're going to be mad. You're
going to be mad. He is Lord over all the universe,
the sun, the moon. That sun comes up, goes across
the sky every day. That's His, and it's doing His
bidding. He's Lord over it. He's Lord over all the stars.
He's Lord over all people. He's Lord over all angels, good
and bad. He's Lord over all people, good and bad. They're saved and
lost. He has a great host following
Him through the gates to glory. He's no weak Savior. He's a mighty conqueror. And
I'm sure glad He is because He conquered this one. He conquered
this one. Let us worship Him and get our
minds set on things above where our King sits, in God's right
hand. I'm sure you're glad I was here this
morning, aren't you? I thought as John was preaching, My heart
worship of all the God's little G idols being preached today. That's the only one you heard.
The only God preached today worthy of being worshiped. We worthy
that we bow before him. All the saviors being preached
across this world today. You heard the Savior preached
the only one who could save sinners. God sent that message to us this
morning. You think of that. God, give us the faith to believe.
Let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
this day. We thank you for giving us this opportunity to one more
time hear your gospel preached, to hear of Christ our Savior. Father, we thank you that you're
God, that you're God alone. None can stay your hand or say
unto you what doest thou, that you always do your will. And
how thankful we are your will for your people is their redemption,
their righteousness, their glorification. Father, we're thankful that you're
God. We bow before you. We bow begging your mercy and
your grace. We bow begging you that you would
give us faith to believe the Christ that we heard preached
today. Let us leave here this morning believing in, resting
upon Christ our Savior. Father, we thank you for bringing
John our way. We pray to you to give him and
Vicki traveling mercies as they travel back to North Carolina.
And Father, let your richest blessing go with them, we pray. Thank you for the love and the
fellowship, friendship we've had all these many years. We're
thankful. Father, bless us. Bless us and we ask you to forgive
us of our many sins and failures and see us and hear us only. in our Lord Jesus Christ. In
his blessed name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Look, ye saints, the sight is
glorious See the man of sorrows now From the fight returned victorious
Every knee to him shall bow crown him, crowns become the
victor's crown. Crown the Savior, angels crown
him, rich the trophies Jesus brings. crowned him, crowned him, crowns
the Savior, King of kings. Sinners, in derision, crowned
him, mocking thus the Savior's claim. Saints and angels, proud
around him, own his title, praise his name. Steadfast love of Victor's faith. Hark, those bursts of acclamation! Hark, those loud triumphant choirs! Jesus takes the highest station,
Home of joy, the sight of poor. of kings and Lord of lords.