of this message is Christ the King. Christ the King. This world, this universe, all principalities and powers are under the theocracy, the
rule and the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ right now. And when you and I leave this
world, it'll still be under His rule and His reign. He'll still
be running this thing. He is the King. We have seen
Him in the beginning of this chapter. as the final spokesman
from God, that He's the Creator of all
things, that He is the Heir of all things, and that He by Himself has purged
us from our sins. He has done that. And right now
He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And to think that we had the
privilege of gathering here tonight and talking about Him, bragging
about Him, getting to listen about the King of Glory. Who
is this King of Glory? Do you know who He is? So it
says in Psalm 24, who is this King of Glory? There is a King
of Glory who has all glory. It all belongs to Him. And we
know who He is, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know Him. We know
who He is. And He's declared to be the only
begotten Son of God. And the angels are commanded
to worship Him. In verse 7 and verse 14, the
Father speaks to the angels, and He tells us that the angels
are created spirits and that they are sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation. We looked at this
last week, and we know that they are greater in power and might
than we are. They are said to be holy. They
are said to be elect. They are at His command, under
His authority. But now we come to these, the
verses 8 and 9. The Father speaks to the Son. What we have here is God speaking
to God. You can't comprehend that. But what
we truly have is God speaking to God. That's what we have.
The Father speaks to the Son, and He identifies Him under three
names. First, He calls Him the Son.
He says, but unto the Son, He saith. See, it didn't say that
over in Psalm 45, but over here in Hebrews 8, more light is shed. And the writer of Hebrews says,
this is the Father speaking to the Son. He calls Him Son. He identifies Him as His Son. He identifies the One that the
psalmist spoke of in Psalm 45 as the Son of God. And then He's
identified as God. God. He identifies him as God. And
then he's identified as king. King. Unto the Son he saith,
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is a scepter of thy kingdom. If you want to have a kingdom,
you have to have a king. He's identified here as the king.
And this is one of the strongest statements in the Word of God
concerning the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ right here in Hebrews
chapter 1 and verse 8. He is God and He is God the King. God is the King. God is the Son. Look over in Psalm 47. Over here in Psalm 47. He is God and
He is the God King. In Psalm 47, He says, for God is the King. Well, who's the King? The Lord
Jesus Christ. And He's God, and God is the
King of all the earth. Now, sing ye praises with understanding. Understanding who you're singing
to, to whom you're singing. God is the King. And He is also
The man after God's own heart. You know, David is said to be
a man after God's own heart. Well, this is the man who truly,
in every sense of that word, was after God's own heart. My
meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. No other man could
say that, not even David. As much as David was a man after
God's own heart. But not like this man. This man
was after God's own heart perfectly. Holy, completely. Now, what we
have before us is the King of Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ,
enthroned. Enthroned. Now listen, we are
under a theocracy. We are under His kingship. Now, the kings of the earth have
little dominions. They have little plots of ground
and a few people that they are over. But this king, his dominion
is over all. As someone would say, from sea
to shining sea. The universe, the stars, the
angels, the principalities, the powers, the devil, the demons,
he's over them. He's the king and he's enthroned. And I want us to look at His
throne here for a little bit. First of all, His throne is one
of sovereignty. Now look that word up. It means
this. It means dignity. His throne
is one of dignity. That is a rare, rare thing. I dare say that there's not been
a king on a throne on this earth that has not messed up, that
has not put a blemish on his reign. Not this king. It's one of dignity. It is one
of royal power, royalty. But here's the definition I really
like. Supremacy in rule and in power to govern without external
control. That's his throne. He does not
rule by external control, or what's going on over here, or
what's going on over there, or how's this going to look politically.
He rules with what's in himself. Righteousness. We'll see that
here in a minute. Christ has absolute power to
rule all things in heaven and in earth. Listen to Daniel chapter
four. 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? That is the Lord Jesus Christ
right now. That's him. And that's how he
rules. He's not going to ask me, you,
or anyone else, what do you think? He doesn't have to call in counselors. He's infinite wisdom. He is infinite
wisdom. He doesn't need to call in counselors.
And then it's a throne of power. Power. Rome at one time was the
greatest power on earth. Where is it now? I was watching
this program they've got on, started last Sunday, America,
The Making of Us, or The Story of Us, is what it is, it's a
series going on. And it was saying that at that
time, Britain was the greatest power on earth. They came over
against us. Well, where are they now? They're
not the greatest power on earth now. But His throne, His power
has never diminished, and it never will diminish. He has all
power. And Jesus came in Matthew 28,
and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. He has it. He says to one, Go,
and he goes. He says to another, Come, and
he comes. He says over in Luke 22, 69,
Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the
power of God. All earthly thrones have limited
power. He has all power. All power. Listen here to Daniel chapter
7 verse 14. There was given him dominion
at His power and dominion and glory and a kingdom that all
people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion
is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His
kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed." Cannot be destroyed. Listen here to Zechariah. 9,
verse 10, And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and
the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace unto the heathen, and his dominion
shall be from sea to sea. That's what I was saying, from
sea to shining sea. And from the river even to the
ends of the earth. There is no place, no place that
is not under his power. In heaven, earth, or hell. No
place. And then it is a glorious throne. A glorious throne. The thrones
of men have some glory, but His has all glory. Jeremiah 17, 12. I took the time to go through
and write down all these verses. Because I know we don't have
time to turn to them all. But I like to establish these things
from the Word of God. Jeremiah 17, verse 12, a glorious
high throne from the beginning is the place, listen, of our
sanctuary. Let me read to you what one writer
said. Christ is our sanctuary from
the guilt and power of sin and the judgment of God. But that
sanctuary is a throne, glorious, high, and established from the
beginning. And it's our sanctuary. We've
had it from the beginning. Listen to Isaiah chapter 6. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and His train, His glory filled the temple. Above it stood
the seraphims, each one had six wings. With twain he covered
his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did
fly. And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." The whole earth
is full of His glory. Now who did Isaiah say? Who did he say? Turn over to
John chapter 12. John chapter 12, look in verse 39. Therefore they could not believe
Because Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened
their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor
understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw His glory and spake of Him." Who did he see? He saw
the Lord Jesus Christ upon His throne long before He came into
this world in the flesh. That's who he saw. He saw the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when Isaiah saw him, you
know what he said? Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips. I'm undone. I dwell amidst a
people of unclean lips. That's what happens. That's what
happens when a sinner meets Christ. That's what happens. And then
it's a throne of judgment. It's a throne of judgment. It
says in Psalm 9 verse 7, But the Lord shall endure Forever
he hath prepared his throne for judgment. Now turn over to Revelation
chapter 20. Judgment and what God is going
to do to the wicked is not pleasant to talk about, but we don't ignore
it either. Look in verse 11. John says, And I saw a great
white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth
and the heaven fled away. Who sat on it? The Lamb. The Lamb of God sat on it. And there was found no place
for them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another
book was opened, which is the book of life. Who was it that
was able to open these books? Who was it that was able to open
the seven seals? It was Christ. It was Christ. He's the one here opening the
books. And the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave
up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire." It's the throne of judgment. The throne
of judgment. And it's the throne of holiness.
It says here in Psalm 47, 8, God reigneth over the heathen.
God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness. Holiness. And it's an everlasting throne. It says in Psalm 89, 29, His
seed also will I make to endure forever in His throne as the
days of heaven. His throne. And as it says here
in Hebrews 1a, His throne is for ever and ever. Listen to Luke chapter 1. In verse 30 and 33, I've got
it written down. I'll read it to you. And the
angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor
with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever." It's forever. And of his kingdom
there shall be no end. There's an end to everything
we do in this life. There's an end to everything.
We get a job when we're late teens or early twenties, and
we know somewhere down the road we have to retire. And then we
know somewhere down the road from after that we have to die
if we don't do it before then. There's an end to these things.
But not in His kingdom. Not in His kingdom. His kingdom
is forever. And those in his kingdom shall
not die. We're just going to trade places. Literally, we're just trading
places. We're going from this temporal
world to that eternal. It's forever. And then his throne,
listen now. His throne is a glorious throne. It's a throne of power. It's
a throne of judgment. It's a throne of holiness. It's
a throne of grace. Look over in Hebrews
chapter 4. Oh, this one who is all glorious,
this one who has all power, this one who sits upon the throne,
this one who reigns and rules over all things, sits on a throne
of grace. Hebrews 4.16, let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. The throne of grace. You need grace. You need mercy. You need help. He says come. Grace reigns there. Grace is enthroned there. He says, come. But I want to
show you something else. I want you to turn over to Zechariah
chapter 6. Zechariah chapter 6. I want you to see this. We'll see here why he can have
mercy and why we can find grace to help in time of need. Zechariah
6, verse 13. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, this is the Lord Jesus
Christ, and shall sit and rule upon his throne. Now listen,
and he shall be a priest upon his throne. We not only have the king sitting
on the throne, we have the priest sitting on the throne who offers
up intercessions. We have the priest who offered
up the sacrifice and the blood. The priest is upon the throne
who represents us before God. Never seen that before. He said he shall sit and rule
upon his throne and he shall be a priest upon his throne and
the council of peace shall be between them He has the power
to rule and the power to save. I had to underline all that. He
has the power to rule and the power to save you. He has the
requirements, the blood, the righteousness that God requires.
This priest has it. He has the power to conquer our
enemies. He has the power to conquer us and the power to save
us. He's able to save them to the
uttermost, them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives
to make intercession for them. And He's seated upon the throne
making intercessions. And there's the throne of righteousness.
It says in Psalm 97, 2, clouds and darkness are round about
Him. Righteousness and judgment are the habitation. But unto the Son he saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is a scepter of thy kingdom." The word righteousness there
means this, rightness, rightness. His rule is one of rightness,
righteousness. It's right. What he does is right. His judgments are right. If you notice here, it says here,
scepter. That is a rod. A rod. Look over in Esther. Over
in the book of Esther. I forget where that's at. I was just looking at it today.
Over here in Esther, 687 in my book. 687, after Nehemiah. In Esther, let me see where I'm
at. Esther, chapter 5. In chapter 5. You pretty well
remember the story of Esther. Let me read verse 1 in chapter
5. Now it came to pass on the third
day that Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner
court of the king's house over against the king's house. And
the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house over against
the gate of the house. And it was so when the king saw
Esther the queen standing in the court that she obtained favor
in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter
that was in his hand. That scepter is a symbol of power. It's a symbol of authority. And
when he held it out to her, He held it out to her in acceptance. Come on, minister. Tell me what
you want. Tell me what you want. In history,
it has symbolized power and authority. I guess the two greatest men
who used it was Moses and Aaron. Use that staff? Find that in
Exodus 4.17. But his scepter is a scepter,
not an actual rod or stick or even a golden like the king there
had. It's righteousness. It's righteousness. It's a scepter, he says here,
of righteousness. This best describes our Lord's
kingdom. It's a scepter of righteousness.
And this ensures that his power will be exercised in a right
manner. Not arbitrarily, but righteously. Righteously. If he died for my
sins, if he put away my sins, then he's righteous in letting
me or bringing me into the kingdom. It's a scepter of righteousness. Scripture says the judge of the
earth will do right. Aren't you glad? I'm glad this judge of the earth
will do right. I may not understand what he's
doing, but I know this, it's right. It is right. The righteous Lord,
I read it to you this morning, The righteous Lord loves righteousness. Whatever He does is right. He
can do no wrong. He makes no mistakes. He's not
a respecter of persons, the Scripture teaches us. And this King, this King who sent through His
righteousness, now listen, He loves Righteousness, and he hates iniquity. The King of Glory is very passionate. I never really thought about
this until looking at this again. He is, I guess you could use the word,
extremely passionate about righteousness, about rightness, doing right. He loves it. He loves it. And he hates lawlessness. He hates it. Scripture says he
hateth the workers of iniquity. He hates it with a passion. The
unconverted see righteousness as something cold and unpleasant.
That's why they don't want anything to do with the church. That's
what I did when I was a teenager. I just thought it was something
cold and rigid. No fun. You know why? Because by nature we love sin.
We love sin. And I'll tell you another reason
why. You have people like Pharisees that make it cold and rigid. But if we love Christ, if we
have the mind of Christ, We too will love righteousness. We will
love rightness. We'll love that which is right.
And hate that which is lawless. Hate it with a passion. We'll
be passionate about it. Passionate about it. Not indifferent. Not lukewarm. Passionate about
it. Now, not as perfectly as he was,
We will love it. We'll love righteousness, His
righteousness, and we'll love rightness. We will actively rejoice in His
righteousness and in doing right. Not to be accepted, but because
it's right. Because it's right. When you're in a dilemma about
something, the best advice I can give you is this, just do the
right thing. Just do the right thing. Those who have been made the
righteousness of God in Christ are the most joyful people on
earth. I'm telling you, if it's real
to you, if it's real to you, if Christ is real to you, His
righteousness is real to you, if this is real, You're the most
joyful people on earth. He was anointed with the oil
of gladness. Are not His people also? And He hates with a passion lawlessness,
iniquity, sin. Now if He hates it with a passion,
I mean with a passion, think how He felt when He was made
to be sin. How must he have felt when he
was made to be sin, to be that which he hates with a passion? Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness of thy fellow Why
was he anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows?
Because he loved righteousness completely. Completely. We share it, we have it by imputation. We have it by impartation. But
he had it by his own perfection and he loved it. We're born of God. We love righteousness.
But we still have sin in us. Still have sin in us. Donnie
said one time, I still have one leg that wants to go dancing. We still have that with us. He
never had that. He never had that. He loved righteousness
from every waking moment. He loved righteousness, doing
right. He went about doing good because
it was right. Right. And that's why he was
in order with the oil of gladness above his fellows, because he
loved it completely. We may rest assured that the King of glory who sits
on the throne who rules over all will do right. He will do right. And that's our hope. That's our
joy. That's our comfort. My comfort
is not that the person in Washington, whoever it will be, whoever it
is and will be afterwards, it's not that they'll do right, but
the King of glory will do right. who rules over all. Now just
think, he who has all power and all
authority, if he did not do right, if he had the ability or capability
of doing wrong, like you and I, we'd be in trouble. We couldn't
have him rest. We couldn't have him rest. But he'll do right. He'll do
right. And that gives me comfort.