All right, John chapter 18. In verse 37, Pilate therefore said
unto our Lord, Art thou a king then? And our Savior answers,
Yes, I am. I'm the king. It is not hard
to prove from scripture that Christ is king. That's not even
a debatable subject. So as I said earlier, a better
question for us this morning would be, is Christ your king? Now we know this, Christ is king
over all flesh. The Father has given him power
over all flesh. He's your king, but is Christ
your spiritual king? When I ask you, is Christ your
king? What I'm asking is, is Christ your spiritual king? Do you bow to him as the sovereign? who has the right to do with
your soul as he will. Now that's an important question.
Because before Christ will be your savior, Christ will be your
king. You will bow to him as king before
he's your savior. You'll bow to him as the one
who has absolute control over your soul. He is the one who
has absolute control over whether your soul lives or whether it's
damned. This is in the hand of the king
to do as he will. And this has always been the
question with man. Who's king? Now, who's your king? Is it you or is it God? That
was the point of Adam's rebellion in the garden. Satan told Eve,
oh, you should not surely die. For God knows the day you eat
of this fruit, your eyes will be opened and you'll be as God's
knowing good and evil. What Satan was telling her is
you'll be able to decide for yourself what's good and what's
evil. God won't be able to tell you anymore. You'll be your own
God. That was Adam's point of rebellion. This was the point of rebellion
in the day of Samuel. Now who's going to be king? The
people of Israel said, Samuel, give us a king. We don't want
God to be our king anymore. We want a king like all the other
nations. We want someone we can control. Someone who's just like
us, we can see and touch and feel. And we may not be able
to vote him out of office, but eventually he'll die. You know,
we don't like him. Eventually he'll die and we'll be rid of
him. If God's our king, he's eternal. We'll never be rid of
him. It was the point of Israel's rebellion, give us a king. And
this is the point of rebellion at the cross. We'll not have
this man to reign over us. We have no king but Caesar. The
kingship of Christ is man's point of rebellion. And that's the
point of rebellion in all of our hearts that we're born with,
our natural hearts. This is our point of rebellion,
the kingship of Christ. So I ask us again, is Christ
your king? Is he your spiritual king? Now,
like I said a minute ago, Christ is king. The Lord Jesus Christ
was born king. Matter of fact, he was conceived
as king. The angel told Mary she's with child of the Holy
Ghost. And he told her that child in your womb is king. The Lord
God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he
shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. Now the only person
who could sit on a throne is the king. The only person who's
going to reign is king. Christ was even conceived as
king. And the Lord Jesus was born king.
Those wise men came seeking him, asking this question. Where is
he that is born king of the Jews? And they came to worship him
because he's king. He is born king. The Lord Jesus
Christ lived as king. As a man, he lived as king. He was in control everywhere
he went. He had control over demons. The
demons had to ask him, you know, can we go to the swine? They
knew if he said get out, they got to get out. He had control
over the demons. He had control over the weather.
He could tell the wind and the waves, be still. He had control
over disease. A person being diseased their
whole life, he said, be healed, and they're instantly healed.
Take up your bed and walk. He had control over life and
death. Say the word, someone be raised from the dead. He could
create matter. He could create fish and biscuits
because he's king. And many people came to him,
recognized this is the king. The first thing Nathanael learned
of the Lord in John 1 is, oh, Thou art the king of Israel.
You're king. The crowd in John 12, our Lord
rode into Jerusalem. What did they cry? Blessed is
the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. Every
time someone came to our Lord and called him the son of David.
You know what they're calling him? King. You're the Messiah. You're the king. He lived as
king. And Christ died as king. Look in John 19. This is the
point of man's rebellion now. In verse 2 of John 19, And the
soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. And they
put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews.
And they smote him with their hands. Look down in verse 5.
Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple
robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. This is the Savior
suffering and dying as King. and just the sight of our Lord,
even being mocked as king, made just crowds of bloodthirsty."
Look at verse 14. And it was the preparation of
the Passover, and about the sixth hour, and he saith unto the Jews,
Behold your king. But they cried out away with
him, away with him, crucifying him. Pilate saith unto them,
Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We
have no king but Caesar. Look down at verse 19. Now this
is our Lord. He's dying as King. And Pilate
wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus
of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many
of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was night
of the city. And it was written in Hebrew
and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priest of
the Jews to Pilate, write not the King of the Jews, but that
he said, I'm the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I've
written, I've written. That's interesting. This is the point, Pilate finally
chooses to be a man, you know, to be the governor, the one who's
supposed to be in control. He just vacillated and did everything
he could to please the Jews, but this is the point. He chose
not to do what they wanted him to do. You know why? The king
put it in his heart, not to change this writing. So everyone would
know Christ is King. This was written to everyone.
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. It was written in Hebrew, the
language of the religious people. It was written in Greek, the
language of the common man. And it was written in Latin,
the language of the educated man. This was written for everyone. For all flesh to know this is
the King. Christ is King. These men mocked
our Lord in His office as king and they crucified Him as king
because the kingship of Christ is the man's point of rebellion. It was the issue in Adam's day
and absolutely nothing has changed. No matter how far men have advanced
in technology and all medicine and science, nothing's changed
from Adam's day to today. The issue today is still the
same issue, who's king? Is Christ your king? And this
is why the death of Christ saves, because it was the death of the
king. As we look at this portion of scripture this morning, we
look at Christ before Pilate. I'll tell you how you can tell
who's king. Watch the conversation. Watch the goings on here. The
man who's in control is king. As we read this, it'll become
obvious to all of us. Who's in control? Well, it's
the Lord Jesus. Then he's king. Let's look at
verse 28. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas
into the hall of judgment, and it was early. They'd been at
this all night, as early as they could get going. They took our
Lord to Pilate. And they themselves went not
into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that
they might eat the Passover. Now this is what people do when
Christ is not their king. They're very religious. Now these
men are religious men. But they're so concerned about
being defiled by sin from something outside of themselves. They don't
know what sin is. They don't know who Christ is
and they don't know who the Savior is. That's why they don't know
what sin is. They think sin is something we do or something
we touch. They think sin is somebody else, not them. And what they don't know is We're
already defiled by sin because of our nature. Look at Mark chapter
7. I tell you the reason they don't know it's, you know, sin
is what we are, that we're already defiled is because Christ is
not their king, not their spiritual king. Mark 7 verse 14. And when he had called all the
people unto him, he said unto them, hearken unto me, every
one of you, and understand." Now listen to this and understand.
There's nothing from without a man that entering into him
can defile him. But the things which come out
of him, those are they that defile the man. We're already defiled
by sin. And it's not that we become defiled
by what we touch. We defile everything we touch.
Because we're already defiled by sin. Why aren't we thankful? that the Savior is willing to
touch sinners. Remember that leper? Lord, if
you will, you can make me whole. Our Lord reached out and touched
him and said, I will, be thou whole, be clean. Our Lord is
willing to touch people defiled by sin. And if you look back
at Matthew chapter 23, these men are doing exactly what the
Lord said they'd do. They're just, all they're doing
is fulfilling the will and purpose of the King. In Matthew 23 verse
24, Ye blind guides which strain
at a gnat and swallow a camel. Now I point this out not to point
out that there are blind guides straining at a gnat and swallowing
a camel. I point it out because we have to be careful not to
do this very same thing. Let's not be so concerned about
the form of religion and the outward show of religion that
we take our eyes off of Christ. We take our eyes off of worshiping
him. Now think about these fellas.
These men are ready to put an innocent man to death, but they
didn't think that defiled them. What would defile them is going
into a home that is owned by a Gentile, going into this judgment
hall where Gentiles worked and were all around. That would defile
them. But putting an innocent man to death, that wouldn't defile
them. That's not sin. That's the blindness and depravity
of our nature. And we'll never see our sin nature
until we see Christ in His glorious King. Now, look back at our text,
John 18, verse 29. Pilate then went out unto them
and he said, what accusation bring you against this man? They
answered and said unto him, if he were not a malfactor, we wouldn't
have delivered him up to thee. Now, you know the story here
that, you know, they'd already tried to find false witnesses.
These are the religiously, this didn't defile them. They went
out and sought false witnesses. They're looking for somebody
to lie. That didn't defile them. Going into the house owned by
a Gentile, that would defile them. They sought false witnesses. And they still couldn't find
any. They found many people willing to lie, but they couldn't find
anybody telling the same lie. You know, by the mouth of two
or three witnesses, let every word be established. Well, they
couldn't find anybody telling the same lie, so they didn't
have any accusations against the Lord. They could not prove
any accusations. So Pilate says, what's the charge?
I mean, before I'm gonna condemn somebody, I gotta know what the
charge is. And all they told Pilate is, look at him. He's
tied up, he must be a malfactor. And look at us. We're the religious
leaders. We're the chief priests and Pharisees.
We wouldn't have delivered him to you if he's not a malfactor.
That's the only charge they had against him. And that's the hypocrisy
of man's religion. And it's so sad, but how I pray
the Lord would deliver us from, I point this out for this reason,
that we all pray the Lord deliver us from him, but that we meet
together to worship, not the show of religion, but to worship
him, to be found in Christ. Now verse 31, then said Pilate
unto them, take ye him and judge him according to your law. The
Jews therefore said unto him, it's not lawful for us to put
any man to death. Now Pilate knew what was what.
He knew how jealous these men were of our Lord. He knew what
was going on. Matthew said he knew that for envy they delivered
him. And Pilate had heard of Jesus. I mean, it was not difficult,
you know, to live in this area. You're going to hear of this
man, Jesus. He heard about all the miracles. This thing was
not done in a corner. He heard about the large following
our Lord had. And Pilate is a crafty politician. He did not get into this appointment
with being dumb or not being crafty. He's a crafty politician. That's another thing that has
never changed. These men that get to these positions, they're
crafty politicians. Well, Pilate did not want any
part of this political game. He knew it was safer for him
to be out of it. See, if Pilate's out of it, he
can please both sides. But Pilate's got to make a decision.
He could offend one side or the other, so he wants to stay out
of it. He don't want either side getting mad at him. But the Pharisees
said, well, now we're not allowed to put anybody to death. See,
they're hiding behind Rome. They're claiming that Rome has
taken away our ability of capital punishment, put somebody to death.
See how everybody wants the Lord put to death, but nobody wants
to be the guy to pull the trigger. Nobody wants to be the one to
do it because everybody's wanting to shift the blame to somebody
else, but they do want our Lord put to death. And it wasn't true
that they couldn't put somebody to death. They tried to put the
Lord to death several times, hadn't they? I mean, how many
times did they try to pick up stones and stone him? They tried
to throw him off a cliff. They tried to kill him. That
wasn't the issue. It won't be very long. They're
going to stone Stephen to death. They wanted somebody else to
put the Lord to death. That way this large following
our Lord had wouldn't rise up against them. They just didn't
want their place taken away. The Pharisees didn't want their
place taken away. Pilate didn't want his place
taken away. Plus, this was also foremost on the minds of these
Pharisees. They wanted the Lord to die the
most embarrassing, humiliating, painful death they could think
of. Stony wasn't good enough. They wanted him crucified. Never
knowing, never realizing after all the scriptures that they'd
read. These men copied the scriptures. It never entered into their mind
about the curse of a man hanging on a tree. That never entered
their mind. They're doing all this to fulfill
the will of the king. All of this is happening because
Christ is king. Not because he doesn't have the
power to stop it. This is happening because Christ is king. None
of this would be happening against His will. It's happening because
it's His will. Isn't that what verse 32 says?
That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spake
signifying what death He should die. Now look back at John chapter
12. There's many scriptures we could
look at that our Lord spoke, you know, clearly what's going
to happen, what death He should die. This is happening because
this is His will. John 12 verse 31. Now is the kingdom of this, now
is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me. This he said, signifying
what death he should die. Look back at Matthew chapter
20. Verse 17. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem,
took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and a son of man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death. And they shall deliver him to
the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him. And the third
day he shall rise again. All this is happening because
this is the will of Christ the King. And everything that ever
happens in this creation happens because it's the will of King
Christ. He is in absolute control over
every minute detail. And men sin, they do what they
want to do, and He is in such control, even the wrath of man
praises Him. He even uses that to accomplish
His will. And thank God, He uses His sovereign
power to accomplish the salvation of His people. That's why all
this is happening. So that he can bear the curse
of his people. So he can put their sin away through his bloody
sacrifice. Now verse 33 in our text, John
18. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, aren't
thou the king of the Jews? Now here's the question. Are
you the king of the Jews? Well, yes, of course he is. Christ
is king of everyone, Jew and Gentile. But Christ is King of
the Jews. He's King of spiritual Israel
in a very special way. He's their King and He's their
Savior. So that's why I asked this question
to each of us this morning, is Christ your King? Because if
Christ is your King of spiritual Israel, He's both King and Savior. Now look at our Lord's answer,
verse 34. Jesus answered him, sayest thou this thing of thyself?
Or did others tell it thee of me? Are you asking this question
as a private person for your own information so you can believe?
Or are you asking this because this is an accusation you heard
and you're looking for an excuse to put me to death? But you know,
this is a good question. It's another good question for
us to ask ourselves this morning. And it'll help us answer the
question, is Christ your King? Why do you believe what you believe?
Do you believe what you believe because God's given you a heart
of faith to believe Christ? Or do we believe what we believe
because somebody else has told us that? Somebody we love and
respect has told us this, so we thought, yeah, I'll believe
that. Is that why we believe what we believe? Or do we believe
the word of God because it's the word of God? Or do we believe
what the scripture said because some man has some commentary
on it that convinced us of it? Is Christ your king? Because
God's given you faith to believe him and faith to believe the
word of God. Which is it? Good question, isn't it? Now
verse 35. Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? What
have you done? Now Pilate asked this, am I a
Jew as an insult. Am I a Jew? I'm a Roman, I'm
the top dog, I'm not a Jew. Am I supposed to know all about
this crazy religion y'all have? Your own people have brought
you to me. What have you done to make them so angry? If you're
supposed to be their king, now, Pius is not dumb, he knew this.
If you're supposed to be their king, they love you. Because
if you're their king, you're gonna set them free from Rome
and they want that more than anything else. Almost. Almost more than anything else.
They hate the kingship of Christ worse than they hate the rule
of Rome. They should love you if you're
their king. What have you done to make them turn on you like
this? I can tell you what he's done to make them turn on him
like that. Our Lord came unto his own and his own received
him not. The Jews hated the Lord Jesus and they would not receive
him because he was not setting up an earthly kingdom. That's
why they hated him. They expected the Messiah to
reset up the kingdom of David. If he was setting up an earthly
kingdom, they'd have been behind him 100%. If he was setting up
and reestablishing, you know, their religion as a religion
of the law, the sacrifice and the ceremonies, they'd have been
behind him a hundred percent. But now, if you're going to set
up a spiritual kingdom, you're going to set up a kingdom that
salvation based on you, on your obedience, on your righteousness,
not mine, on your sacrifice, not the sacrifices I bring, we
won't have that. Verse 36, this is what our Lord,
what he means when he answers, my kingdom's not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight
that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom
not from hence. Now Christ is king. He must be,
he's got a kingdom. But his kingdom's not of this
world. And that's why his servants are not fighting right now. That's
why they've scattered right now. Because his kingdom is a spiritual
kingdom. The kingdom of Christ is in the
world, but His kingdom is not of this world. Just like you
who believe you're in this world, but you're not of this world.
You've got a new citizenship. The kingdom of Christ is a spiritual
kingdom. So it's not born of the things
of this cursed world. It's born of the Spirit. The
kingdom of Christ is spiritual, so it's not sustained by earthly
things. It's sustained by spiritual things,
from the word of God. The kingdom of Christ is spiritual,
so it doesn't have a physical nature. It doesn't have castles
and walls. It's a spiritual nature, born
from above. We saw that when it's not salvation,
it is its own walls and bulwarks. And the kingdom of Christ is
spiritual, so its weapons aren't carnal. Its weapons are spiritual. It's the sword of the word of
God. It's the power of the gospel. Those are our weapons. We are
seeking to tear down strongholds, but not strongholds made of brick
and mortar. It's strongholds in the heart,
the strongholds of sin and depravity. The kingdom of Christ is a spiritual
kingdom. So it rules in hearts, not in
capitals set up on nations on the continents. And because of
that, The kingdom of Christ is of no threat to Rome. Look at
Matthew chapter 22. The kingdom of Christ is of no
threat to any earthly kingdom. Matthew 22 verse 15. See that the Pharisees had been
setting this trap for a long time. Then went the Pharisees
and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And
they sent out unto him their disciples with Herodians, saying,
Master, we know that thou art true, and teach us the way of
God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man,
for thou regardest not the person of men. You're not going to change
your doctrine based on who's listened to you. Now tell us,
therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness.
Of course he did. He's king. He knows what's going
on. And he said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the
tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.
And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto
God the things that are God's. When they heard these words,
they marveled, and they left him, and went their way." There's
nothing else for him to say. Now that puts an end to The kingdom
of Christ, the spiritual kingdom, being a threat to national kingdoms. It also puts an end to preachers
being political activists. The pulpit is a place for preaching
Christ, not for talking about social issues or political issues.
The issue is not political things, not social things. You can pick
out a billion things that are wrong socially, but here's the
issue. The issue's sin. The issue is
who's gonna put that sin away. Now, is it me straightening up
or is it Christ and his sacrifice? That's the issue. That's the
issue that affects our souls, the souls of men and women and
boys and girls, not social issues. Now, verse 37, our text, John
18. Pilate therefore said unto him,
art thou a king then? And Jesus answered, thou sayest,
yep, I am. Thou sayest that I am a king.
You said it, brother. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice."
Now Pilate says, are you a king? I mean, I understand you said
you're a king. You've got a kingdom. You must
be a king. But look at you. You're dirty. Here you are. You're
tied up, standing in front of my courts. You've been already
beaten. Bruises are already coming up
on your face. I mean, he's been up all night.
He's been a homeless man for all this time. Here you are,
standing before me. You look pretty helpless to me.
Are you a king, really? Now, when you look at that scene
in your mind's eye, what do you think? I mean, here's the governor
and his palace and all his finery and, you know, order all these
people around, do this, do that, do that. And there's the Lord
Jesus standing there, his hands tied behind his back, with all
these people hating him, wanting him put to death, standing there
meekly, never defending himself. Who's king? You see those two
men standing there, who's in control? Who's king? The same
question applies when you hear false preachers today. Who's
king now? They tell you, you've got to
decide for Jesus. You can decide whether to accept
him or reject him. They preach this pitiful, wimpy
man, and you've got to decide to accept him or reject him.
You know, they usually try to get you to accept him based on
feeling sorry for him, you know. Now, who's king? Based on that
message, you're king. Then that message is a lie because
Christ is king. The person making all the decisions
is king. Are you a king? Our Lord answers,
you said it. Yes, I'm the king. The reason I was born into this
world is to bear witness of the truth. Christ came to show men
the truth. He came to reveal to us the truth
of life. We don't have any life. We're
dead in Adam and the only way we'll ever live is to be in him,
for him to give us his life. Christ came to show us the truth
about the way to God. The way to God is not through
the religious motions. It's not through the activity
of the law. Christ is the way to God. The way to God is through
the obedience of Christ and through the sacrifice of Christ. That's
the only way we can be accepted. Christ came to show us the truth
of righteousness. He came to show us the truth
by comparison, by comparing us to Him. Now we know the truth
about ourselves. We're unrighteous. We're totally
sinful. And the only way we can be made
righteous, the only way we can be made like Him, is through
His righteousness imputed to us. The only way we can be made
righteous as He is, is by being put in Him. Christ must be our
righteousness or we'll never be righteous. That's the truth
Christ came to reveal. And particularly in this context,
Christ came to declare the truth that He's King. He is absolute
sovereign over all men. Salvation is in His hands to
give or withhold, to stop and give mercy or pass by as He will
because He's King. Now Christ is King. That's who
He is. So we can't preach the gospel
unless we tell man the truth about who Christ is, that He's
King. But we have to tell the truth
about the kingship of Christ, but then we also have to do this.
Tell me, what does that mean? What does that mean to you that
Christ is king? Well, I've got four points. It'd
be very brief. Number one, how did Christ become
king? Christ is king. Scripture makes
that so obvious. How did he become king? Well,
number one, Christ is king by divine right. He's the son of
God. So he's king. Number two, Christ
is king by creation. All things were created by him
and for him. Without him, there was not anything
made that was made. And he's the head of the church.
By him, all things consist that he's the head of the church.
He's king by creation. He made it, it's his. Third,
Christ is king by purchase. He's king because he bought his
kingdom with his precious blood. He bought the kingdom. And fourth,
Christ is king by the appointment of God the father. He said, I
have set my king on my holy hills. I am God. The father made him
king. And at this very moment, the
man, the Lord Jesus is sitting on the throne of glory because
Christ is king. Well, all right. What does that
mean to you and me? That means something to everybody
in this room. Christ is King. Well, it means
that all of us are under His authority. Christ has absolute
authority over every one of us. He alone decides whether we'll
be saved or whether we'll be damned. And we have no control
in the matter whatsoever. Now, we can beg for mercy. Scripture tells us to beg for
mercy. Bow at His feet and beg Him for
mercy, but we don't have any control over whether we get it
or not. That control is in the hand of
the king. All men are commanded to surrender to Christ. He's
king. Surrender to him. Submit yourself
to him and bow before him in worship. Ed Sparks told me one
time, he said, oh, he said, I was religious, but never any peace.
Until I surrendered. And when I surrendered to Christ,
Then I had peace. We're commanded to surrender,
submit ourselves to his righteousness. He can save us or he can damn
us. Now it's his right to do that. Look at John, well, just
back one page, John 17 verse two. Here's why he has the right
to do that with as he will. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, over every son of Adam, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him. This control is over both
his elect and it's over the unbelievers. The unbelievers have declared
a war on God and they're in a war they cannot win. And one day,
because Christ is king, because he has absolute sovereign control,
they will be cast into hell. And you know why they'll be cast
into hell? It's for refusing to surrender. For refusing to
submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ. Look at Romans chapter
10. This is what Paul tells us. They'll
be damned because of their rebellion and refusal to surrender. In Romans 10 verse 1. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, that He speak
in national Israel, that they might be saved. For I bear them
record, they have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end. He's the
goal of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
And as long as they insist and continue in this manner, not
submitting themselves to Christ, they'll be damned. and to the
elect, the believers. What does this mean? Christ is
King. I'll tell you what it means.
It means we're eternally secure because He's King. The will of
the King shall be done. You don't have to turn over there,
you know it well. I just didn't bother. In Daniel chapter 4,
I didn't bother typing it all out on my nose, but this is what
Nebuchadnezzar learned. In Daniel 4 verse 34, after he'd
been out there in the field living like an animal. He said, at the
end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? And then Nebuchadnezzar
said, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the
King of heaven, all whose works are truth and his judgments,
His ways judgments, and all those that walk in pride, He's able
to abase. Now He's going to do according
to His will in the army of heaven, among the habitants of the earth,
none can stay His hand. None can say to Him, what are
you doing? It is the will of Christ. His people be saved. Then they're going to be saved.
He saved them from their sin and they're secure in Him because
He's King. Number two, The king has a throne. The throne of Christ is an eternal
throne. It's a sovereign throne. Well,
all right, what does that mean to people? How does that apply
to you? Well, the throne of Christ is a throne of justice to unbelievers. All right, what does that mean?
It means that one day, as long as they insist in this manner
of not submitting, not surrendering, they will be judged at the throne
of righteousness. Their deeds are gonna be judged
and they're going to be found guilty and there'll be no appeal
because the king has handed down the sentence in absolute justice
and righteousness. But that same throne is a throne
of grace to believers. All right, what does that mean?
It means that we may come boldly to his throne of grace and obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The sovereign
grace that flows from the throne of Christ will meet our every
need. It'll satisfy you. It's a throne,
sovereign throne of grace. Number three, the king has a
scepter. Psalm 45 verse six says, the
scepter of Christ is a right scepter. And he means it's a
righteous scepter. All right, what does that mean?
To the unbeliever, it means this, that when Christ damns them,
His scepter, the seal or the symbol of his power, it'll be
done in righteousness. Everyone he damns, he'll dam
them in righteousness. He'll give them exactly what
they wanted. Remember, they wouldn't surrender.
They wouldn't submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ.
They wanted to be judged on their own deeds. And Christ said, all
right, I'll meet you right at your point of rebellion. And
they'll be damned by those very deeds. It's a righteous scepter.
Balaam was a false prophet, but he spoke the truth when he talked
about the scepter. And you look that up, it's a
capital S. He's speaking of a person, the scepter, who would come and
smite the nations. That's Christ coming in his judgment.
But that righteous scepter of Christ means something very different
to his people. It means that everyone he saves,
he saves in righteousness. He saves them because he made
them righteous by his royal power and decree. His scepter of righteousness
for his people. And then last, Christ the King
has some subjects. His spiritual kingdom is not
empty. He has subjects in his kingdom.
He says here, talks about everyone that is of the truth, heareth
my voice. That's his subjects in his spiritual kingdom. Now
these subjects are only God's elect. The only people in this
kingdom, the only people are the subjects of Christ are God's
elect. Well, what does that mean to
those of us who believe? Look back in John chapter three.
First of all, it means we've been born again. If you're a
subject in the spiritual kingdom of King Christ, you've been born
into that kingdom. John 3, verse 5. Jesus answered,
verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That can't enter into
the kingdom. And that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
That's the man that dwells in the kingdom. Marvel not that
I said unto thee, ye must be born again. You've got to be
born again or you cannot see, you cannot enter into this, his
kingdom. And this means if we're subjects
of the king living in his kingdom, we've been put there by the grace
and power of the sovereign. He has delivered us from the
power of darkness and he's translated us. He's transferred us into
the kingdom of his dear son. And these subjects, they live
in peace. They live in the kingdom of Christ
in peace because Christ is the king of peace. And he gives that
peace to his people. Peace in the heart. Now, everyone
is going to bow to King Christ. We're either going to do it now,
lovingly, willingly, and in faith, by his mercy and by his grace,
or we're going to bow in judgment when we're forced to bow as Christ
the king. But every tongue is gonna, every
knee's gonna bow, every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, he's King, to the glory of God the Father. Every knee
is gonna bow. I pray, I beg God, that each
of us this morning, by his grace, bow today. Surrender and bow
before his throne. He's king. All right, let's bow
in prayer. Our Father, our eternal King
of kings and Lord of lords, by your grace, we do bow. We bow
before your throne of grace. We bow and worship, worshiping
you who alone is worthy of all of our worship. We bow before
you in praise. praising your matchless name,
praising the name of the king, the eternal almighty king who
was born a babe of days, subject to his mother, subject to his
stepfather, subject to his own law, subject to the rules of
the land. that he might redeem those of
us who are made under the law, that he might redeem us from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for us, that he
might deliver his people from the power of sin by being made
sin for us. By putting the sin of his people
away, the king suffering and dying for the sin of his people
is beyond our comprehension. But father, we praise you and
thank you for it. That he might make his people the righteousness
of God in him. Father, we're thankful. We bow
and worship and pray that you would hear us and accept us only.
And that name, which is above every name, the name of King
Christ. And father, we pray that you
would continue to bless your gospels. It's preached here that
you'd in your mercy and your grace, that you call out your
people. There must still be some of your
elect who have not yet been called into your kingdom, not yet been
born again into this kingdom. Otherwise, you wouldn't keep
this world spinning in space. Father, we pray that you'd be
merciful, that you'd send your gospel forth and power to call
out your sheep in this place, in this town. Add to the church
such as should be added. All these things, Father, we
ask. Praise your matchless name. Pray that you hear us only in
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's for his name and for his
sake we pray. Amen.