John chapter 18. And we're going to read from verse
33, but we'll come back to our reading in a few minutes. We just have a few thoughts just
before we begin on the reading. Our Saviour, when he came into
the world, fulfilled many rules. and assumed many offices. And I'm sure that you've heard
me speaking about the offices of Christ in the past. So just
for the sake of perhaps some of the younger people that are
here, let me explain what I mean by the offices of Christ. Most of you might know about
an office because your mum or your dad have an office in the
house. where they go to do some work or they go to work at their
office, at a factory or in an office block. And we kind of
think about an office today, we use the word office in the
sense of a place that you go to. But really the use of that
word like that is because the person is doing the job that
they are called to do in that place. So the office is rather
the job that is done than the place where they go to do it.
And that's why we talk about a police officer, because a police
officer does the job of policing. Maybe he has to police people
or police the traffic or do the job of a policeman. So he is
a police officer or a fire officer. And that fire officer might have
to go and fight fires. That's their job. And when we
speak about the offices of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're not
speaking about somewhere where he went. We're speaking about
the jobs. that he did. So when we speak
about the offices of Christ, we're speaking about the different
jobs that the Lord Jesus Christ did, the different roles that
were given to him by his father when he was sent into the world. And as I say, he fulfilled many
different roles, many different offices when he came into this
world as the God-man. For example, we speak of him
as the head of his body, the church. So that was a role, a
role of headship over the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a husband to his bride
and so he fulfills those roles and tasks that a husband would
do for his bride. He protects, he cares for her. He is a father to his children. He is a shepherd to his sheep. He is a precious cornerstone,
giving shape and structure to the building that he is fitting
together. He is a sure foundation upon
which the church is built. These are all roles and offices
that the Lord Jesus Christ took, and they explain something. They
cast a light onto some particular aspect of the church. accomplishments of our Saviour. But perhaps when we come to Scripture,
the principal offices that we find laid upon the shoulders
of our Saviour, the elder brother, if you like, the Lord Jesus Christ,
are those of prophet, priest, and king. And you will often
hear the preachers of the gospel speaking about Christ's offices
of prophet, priest, and king. So amongst all the many that
he had, these are the three principal ones that we refer to. Moses. He spoke very early in
the Scriptures about the Lord Jesus Christ's coming, the Messiah,
the anointed one who would come. And while we are getting ready
for the Christmas season now and thinking about the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's something that has been anticipated
from the very beginning of the world. And Moses knew that there
would be one who would come who would be like him. And let me tell you what I mean
by that. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse
15, Moses tells the children of Israel, the Lord thy God will
raise up unto thee a prophet. So here is this prophet being
anticipated. And Moses is describing the Messiah
who would come as a prophet. He would be raised up from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren. So he would be a man like they
were. He would be a human being like
they were. He says he will be like me. He'll
be a leader, he'll be one who speaks to God, and one who speaks
from God to you, and you will listen to him. So this is Moses
talking about the coming of a prophet, one of the roles or offices that
the Lord Jesus Christ took. The Lord thy God will raise up
unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. And that one who came,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is our prophet. He declares the truth
to us. He foretells the future to us. He warns sinners of the judgment
that is to come. And he reveals God's purpose
of salvation. So this role of a prophet was
one of the principal offices of the Lord Jesus Christ, one
of the jobs that he did. But the Lord was not just a prophet. We're also told in the Bible
that he was a priest. And in Psalm 110 we find David
speaking now and he tells us that the Lord hath sworn and
will not repent. So God has promised and he's
not going to go back on his promise. Thou art a priest or a high priest
forever. after the order of Melchizedek. Now Melchizedek was a character
from the Old Testament. There's a study in Melchizedek
all on its own, but here's the point that David is making. Just
as Melchizedek was a priest sent from God, the Lord Jesus Christ
would be a priest after that order. He would not be a priest
who was like Aaron and a priest of the Jews. He would be a priest
who had a priesthood that was separate from the Jewish priesthood. And he is our high priest. The
Lord Jesus Christ as the high priest, took that role of offering
blood upon an altar, but not in the way that the Old Testament
priests did, the priests of Aaron, the priests of the Jews. Rather,
the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself, he offered his blood. He was both the offering and
the offerer, the one who was the priest to offer and the lamb
that was offered. He offered and had accepted his
life's blood as the substitute for the redemption of his people. And then this other one, the
king. So the Lord is a prophet, and
the Lord is a priest or a high priest, and the Lord is a king. And in 1 Timothy 6, verse 15,
we have the apostle Paul describing the Lord Jesus Christ in this
way. He says, the blessed and only potentate Now a potentate
is an all-powerful one, one who has all things at his disposal. He is king of kings and he is
lord of lords. And that's how Paul describes
him to Timothy. He is revealing the Lord Jesus
Christ in this office as King of all the earth and ruler over
his kingdom. And we find that that is a frequent
theme also in the Psalms. So again, not only did the Old
Testament know about prophets and priests, it also knew about
kings. David was a king, for example.
And here we find David describing in the Psalms some of the things,
some of the characteristics that the Lord Jesus Christ would have
when he came in his kingly office. Moses described him as a prophet,
He is described as a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and
he is also described by David as a king. And this is how David
describes it in 47 verse 2, for example, Psalm 47, 2, He is a great king over all the
earth. Now, terrible there doesn't mean
that he's terribly bad. It means that he's terribly awesome.
He is beyond our understanding. He would cause us to shrink and
shrivel up in his presence. So glorious is he. He is a great
king over all the earth. And not only does it speak about
Christ as King, but it speaks about His Kingdom. And it says
in Psalm 48 verse 2, is the joy, I'm sorry, beautiful
for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on
the sides of the north, the city of the great king. So the king
is going to have a city or he is going to have a throne and
then we read Psalm 95 verse 3, for the Lord is a great God and
a great King above all gods. And I'm sure that that's where
Paul drew his inspiration from when he says that the Lord Jesus
Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And these great offices
of Christ's, prophet, priest and king, are important because
it explains the extent of the job, the work, the purpose that
the Lord Jesus Christ came to do. But today, what I want to
think about is the office of Christ the King over his kingdom. And I want to draw your attention
to this today, particularly because it draws on one of the great
themes of the incarnation, the fact that a king was born to
us. And the Lord Jesus Christ speaks
of his kingship and he speaks of his kingdom very frequently
in the New Testament. In fact, When we go through the
Gospels, we find that that kingdom of Christ is called the kingdom
of God. It is called the kingdom of heaven.
It is called the kingdom of Christ. It's even called the kingdom
of David. And repeatedly, the Lord Jesus
Christ uses this phrase kingdom to describe the work that he
is doing or the office which he possesses. And that kingdom
represents Christ's rule upon earth as the God-man. And it represents all the blessings
that derive from him in that office. and it speaks about the
kingdom over which he is in the sense of the subjects of that
kingdom. You and me, if you like, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the elect of God, his sheep,
his fold, his subjects, his kingdom. And when we think about the way
in which the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about his kingdom, we
discover that it is all pervading in his ministry. So that when
he performs a miracle, he is showing his glory, he is showing
his awesomeness, or to go back to the word that was used by
David, he is showing his terribleness. The miracles demonstrate the
power of Christ, His kingly authority over all things in this world. He could change the substance
of things. He could cure diseases. He could
make the blind to see, the deaf to hear. He could raise people
from the dead. Why? Because He was the Potentate. Because He was all-powerful.
He was King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His words, his parables describe
the nature of his kingdom, the makeup of his kingdom, the people
that compose it or populate his kingdom. That's why we often
find that the parables begin with the little phrase, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto. And then he goes on to show what
the kingdom of heaven or the church or his elect are like. in those parables. by which we
learn that it is a spiritual kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ
never came to the earth in order to establish an earthly kingdom. He wasn't going to overthrow
the Romans or reestablish the throne of David in Israel. It never was intended to be an
earthly kingdom, but it is a heavenly, a spiritual kingdom that the
Lord Jesus Christ is king over. And what we find is that even
the circumstances of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ reveals
the kingdom's spiritual character. And I want us to remember what
our Saviour said when he was brought into judgment. The Apostle
Paul calls the Lord Jesus Christ's interview or his judgment by
Pontius Pilate, he calls it a good confession. a good confession. Now, if you've got your fingers
and your Bible still at John chapter 18, let's read a few
verses from verse 33. John chapter 18 and verse 33. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again, and called Jesus and said unto him, Art
thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate
answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus
answered, My kingdom is 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
thence. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Every one that is of the truth
hearest my voice. Now these verses show us a couple
of things, and I just want to take three quick things that
they show us. in order to illuminate, perhaps,
and explain something about this kingly office that the Lord Jesus
Christ had. And the first thing I want us
to notice is that the Lord delighted in his kingly office. He relished
it. It motivated him. It endeared
itself to him. because it meant that he had
a kingdom and that he had a people. The Lord Jesus Christ was moved
in his heart and inspired and delighted with the office of
king that he had. How do I know that? Well, because
of the way that the Lord explains himself to Pontius Pilate. When Pilate asks Jesus, aren't
thou a king then? The Lord Jesus Christ answers
him in a very emphatic way. Let me just explain for a moment,
first of all, why this was so important. When the Lord Jesus
Christ says, or when Pilate says to the Lord, art thou a king?
The Lord's answer to him is, thou seest that I am a king.
Now what that phrase means there is, absolutely I'm a king. It means you are more right when
you say that I'm a king than you can possibly realise. Now I want to stress that because
there was a time when I thought that that was a rather non-committal
reply. But it isn't in any way a denial. Nor is the Lord Jesus Christ,
as it were, hedging his bets. He is being emphatic and he is
being clear. He is saying absolutely that
I'm a king. Let me tell you what that phrase
might be represented as today. where the Lord says to him, thou
sayest that I am a king. He is saying to him, you can
say that again. And that's what we would often
say if we were trying to be emphatic about something that we believe
to be true. If somebody came in and said
to us, oh, it's pouring out there, we would say, you can say that
again. because it's really heavy rain. It's emphatic. And that's
what Jesus was doing here. Are you a king? You can say that
again. Thou sayest that I am a king. And the Lord goes on to reinforce
the emphasis by saying, that's the very reason that I was born. I was born to be a king. So in
the, birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was born in the
womb of the Virgin, and no doubt if we're doing anything or thinking
anything about this season, we'll talk about the Virgin Mary and
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is saying here, I was born
to be king. For this cause came I into the
world. For this cause, a body was prepared
for me by my Father. For this cause, this task was
set before me, that I should be a king over my kingdom. When the Lord Jesus Christ said,
for this cause, what was the cause that he was talking about?
Well, the Bible describes the cause for which Christ came into
the world. It says, the cause of my people. It was the cause of the need
of his people, the people that were given to Christ to safeguard,
to redeem, and to deliver out of captivity. This cause of his
people was committed into Christ as their king. And he also speaks
about the cause of the poor and needy, that is, a people who
could not help themselves. So that the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he says, for this cause came I into the world, he says,
I'm coming into the world to help those who cannot help themselves. And he speaks about the cause
of the afflicted. And that's a lovely description
of the elect of God, the people for whom Christ came, the people
whom he came to help and whom he came to deliver. He interposed
himself and became afflicted for us. In Psalm 82, verse 3,
the call goes forth by God, defend the poor and the fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and
to the needy. And Isaiah tells us how the Lord
Jesus Christ fulfilled that role when he says, surely he hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
him, stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He came for the
cause of the afflicted, and he became afflicted for us as our
substitute. So that these poor and fatherless,
these afflicted people became the cause of Christ's reproach. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did. He came and he took this role
for us. And he also says in verse 37,
if you see it there, that not only did he come he says thou
sayest I am a king or you can say that again absolutely I am
a king to this end was I born for this reason I came into the
world for this cause came I into the world that I should bear
witness unto the truth Now, we might say that, in a sense, that
is the prophetic office of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he should
bear witness unto the truth, but it is also a picture of the
kingdom that he was establishing. He says, for the cause of God
and truth. He came preaching the gospel,
and the very first thing that we learn about the Lord Jesus
Christ's ministry, the very first thing that we learn of Jesus
Christ making himself public is in Mark 1, verse 14, where
we read, Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came
into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. And this
is how the gospel is going to conclude. In Matthew 24 verse
14 we read, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached
in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall
the end come. So the Lord Jesus Christ delighted
in this kingly role and office that he was given and he preached
it constantly and he was aware of its value before Pilate when
he stood to defend himself there in Pilate's court. The second
thing I want to point out is this, that the Lord Jesus Christ's
kingdom is spiritual. Now we've alluded to this already
so we'll be quick. Pilate wanted to know if Christ
was really a king. The accusation had been levelled
by the Jews because insurrection, and we've been seeing that with
respect to Paul and Felix and Festus. This idea that Paul was
preaching another king was the reason why the Jews thought they
would be able to convict him before a Roman judge. And that
was Pilate's problem as well. That was Pilate's concern. And
it was the accusations that the Jews made about Jesus to him. They said, if you let Jesus go,
you won't be Caesar's friend because you will be letting someone
who's talking about his own kingship and his own kingdom go free. So Pilate was anxious about this
claim that Jesus was a king. But Jesus says in verse 36, my
kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants find that I should not be delivered to
the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence, not from this world. And I want us to just pause and
think about that for a moment because it's important. Too many
people believe that they can establish a Christian kingdom
in this world with Christian values and Christian morals and
Christian laws and Christian politics. and they want to get
power in government and they want to put their people into
high places in government so that they can pass legislation
banning this or enforcing that and they can try and reconstruct
society maybe based on an Old Testament pattern and mosaic
principles or a biblical framework. But that's not what we're called
to do. That's not the job of the church
in this world. And those who do it are wrong
in their efforts. The Lord Jesus Christ rejected
all of that when he was speaking to Pilate. And all who have tried
it will fail. And many have tried it down through
the centuries. Many have tried to establish
Christian societies. And to a greater and lesser extent,
every one of them has failed. Christ's kingdom is spiritual
and we have to emphasise that and understand it. We are a spiritual
people. It's nothing to do with the politics.
It's nothing to do with laws. It's nothing to do with the economy.
It's nothing to do with the physical structures around about us. It
is of the heart. Christ's kingdom is not to be
found in the strength or the power of generals or in the wisdom
and the wit of judges and lawyers, but in the hearts and souls of
born-again sinners. It is to be discovered by grace
and through the goodness and mercy of God. It is to be found
in the conscience-cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. And so that's
why Paul repeatedly says that we do not fight with weapons
of this world to honour our Saviour. But we acknowledge that the battle
is already his. He won it on the cross. And now
we stand fast in the liberty wherewith we have been set free
from the devil's grip and from the world's clutches. Friends,
we are not building a new Jerusalem here on earth. We are pilgrims
who are looking for a city which has foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. That's what Paul says, if indeed
he is the author of Hebrews in chapter 11, verse 10. And the
third thing and final thing is this. Not only did the Lord Jesus
Christ delight in his kingship and in his kingdom, his people,
but he emphasised that his kingdom was spiritual. And then he told
Pilate something else. He said, my kingdom is assured. My kingdom is victorious. The kingdom of Christ is as certain
and sure as that Christ himself is on the throne. Now, if you
don't believe that Christ is on the throne, then you will
have no hope in his kingdom. and no certainty of its victory
and no certainty that the Gospel will be victorious in accomplishing
what it is sent to do. But that is contrary to the whole
of the message and the principle of Scripture and the kingship
of Jesus Christ. And I want you to see something
very beautiful in the Lord Jesus Christ's words here to Pilate. Look again at verse 37 with me. He says, Pilate says, art thou
a king? And Jesus said, you can say that
again. Thou sayest that I am a king.
To this end was I born, for this cause came I into the world. that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Listen, what does he say next?
Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Do you see that? The Lord Jesus
Christ did not say, everyone who hears my voice is mine. If that's what he had said, that
would have given us ground for the free will preacher to carry
his message to the ends of the earth. But that's not what he
said. If Christ had said, everyone
who hears my voice is mine, then we would say, well, who is it
that hears his voice? What he said was exactly opposite. He said, everyone that is mine,
that is, everyone who is of the truth, hears my voice. Everyone that is of the truth,
heareth my voice. And that is the victory of Christ's
sovereign rule and his kingly reign over his spiritual people. The offices of Christ are beautiful
to think about. As a prophet, Christ declares
all the purposes, all the promises of God in salvation. As a priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplishes everything that is needful for
that salvation by his intercessory work on the cross, his substitutionary
shedding of his blood. But as a King, the Lord Jesus
Christ gathers and assembles and reigns over all that are
his. And that's the great reason for
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. That is
the end of his coming. That is the cause for which he
came. The sure and certain salvation
of his people and their gathering into the spiritual kingdom of
his glory. It is grace for us now and glory
hereafter. When the angel of the Lord announced
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was said to the shepherds
there on the hillside on that occasion, glory to God in the
highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. The angel
came. He was a messenger. That's what
angel means. He was a messenger. He came from
God with a message and he came from heaven to proclaim what? The birth of a king. The birth
of a king. What did the wise men go to Herod
and ask for? Where is him that is born? King
of the Jews. What was it that Pilate wrote
over the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ, the King
of the Jews, this was the purpose for which he came, to establish
this kingdom, but it was a spiritual kingdom, comprised of a spiritual
people, and the angels announced it, and they announced the consequences
of his kingship, that he would establish a kingdom, and it wasn't
a proposal, it was a purpose. All the glory is God's because
he would accomplish that which Christ was sent to complete. Because all our salvation is
sourced in God's grace at God's will. And all our salvation is
secured by God's work and settled by God upon sinful men and women
as the receivers of his everlasting mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
our sins and reconciled us to God. And the Lord Jesus Christ
rose from the dead for our justification and for our righteousness as
the King over his kingdom. There was no better message could
be brought to sinners then than the angels brought to those shepherds. And there is no better message
now can be brought to sinners than this message that is committed
into our hands to preach to our world and to the society around
about us. I confess myself to be a sinner
and I hope you do likewise. May the Lord yet make us faithful
to speak as the angels spoke and to testify as they witnessed
to the glory of our God in the highest and to the accomplishment
of our salvation and redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.