The lesson this morning is in
Matthew chapter 27. I'm just going to read two verses
here. Matthew 27 verses 11 and 12. And Jesus stood before the governor. I've mentioned this in our last
two studies, that we ought to just stand in awe of this. This
governor, according to Romans chapter 13, has his station by
the one who stands before him. He has his governorship by the
providence and appointment of Jesus Christ. And yet, Jesus
Christ stands before the governor. And the governor asks him, saying,
Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou
sayest. And when he was accused of the
chief priest and elders, he answered nothing. Now it's obvious to
us and it was obvious to Pilate that this man Jesus was some
kind of a religious pawn. You can't read the account of
his death and not recognize that he is a pawn in some kind of
a religious plot to put him away. It's an utter impossibility.
Pilate was a wise man. He was a politician and he was
the appointed governor of that province. And Pilate knew this
from the get-go. He knew when they brought him
before them. And he'd heard of Jesus of Nazareth. He'd heard about this man. But
this man didn't do anything. All he did was go about healing
the sick and doing good. He didn't do anything criminal. He wasn't trying to make waves
in any way toward the Roman government. He didn't say anything about
it. And the one time that he was asked, Was it lawful to pay
tribute to Caesar? He said, well, whose inscription
is on the coin? And they said, Caesar. And he
said, well, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar. Give it
to him. He was in no way a threat to the government of Rome. Not
in any way. And when Pilate saw them bring
him before him, he knew that Jesus Christ was a religious
pawn. He was being used of these Jews,
and now they were about to use him to get rid of him. And it angered Pilate. And then
it says in verse 12, when he was accused of the chief priest,
they accused him. When he answered Pilate the way
he did, then they began to fire the accusations at Pilate of
his claim to be the king. So it's very obvious here. And
the Jews could and did bring a lot of accusations against
our Lord, but they had nothing to do with Roman law. He plainly
declared himself to be one with the Father. He said, I and the
Father are one. And that angered the Jews. That
angered them. That offended the Jews. But it
wasn't against Roman law. And then he transgressed their
ideas of the Sabbath. He picked corn on the Sabbath.
He ate on the Sabbath. He transgressed their ideas of
the Sabbath. And he was a friend to publicans
and sinners, which offended them greatly. That offended them. If he knew what man or woman
that was, he wouldn't let her anoint him and kiss him and do
the things that she's doing. And then the fact that he did
not have their approval or sanction. He grew up in their midst, but
he never had their sanction. He didn't go to their schools.
He didn't carry their degrees. He wasn't recommended by them.
He wasn't acknowledged by them in any way. And yet the people
followed him, and that made them angry. And he ate with unwashed
hands. Now, he didn't do that because
with disregard to cleanliness or anything like that. He did
this knowing what they were going to say. And he brought this thing
up. And he brought it up to tell
them that it's not that which goes into your mouth that defiles
you, but it's what comes out of your heart. It's not unwashing hands that
defiles you. It's that nature of sin in you.
That's what defiles you. Yet none of these things were
against Roman law. So they finally brought a charge.
They had an all-night business meeting. And the next day, after
having taken counsel with one another and examined all their
past accusations, and they finally come up with one that he could
not answer. If he said he was not a king,
he must deny all claims then to be the Messiah. And if he
claims to be king, then he's guilty before Roman law. It's obvious to me that the Jews
did not believe him to be the Christ, and they only used that
office that he claimed against him. So the real issue here is
this, is this man Jesus of Nazareth the promised Messiah? That's
the issue, not his kingship. And I'll tell you this, this
world will have a king. They'll have the king. They'll
have Jesus to be king. But not to the degree that God
gives him that kingship. Not to the degree. He's absolute
King. He's absolute Lord. He's Lord
over the dead and the living. He's Lord over creation. He's
Lord over providence. He's the King. Unlimited. He is the King. Now, the world
won't have that. They'll have a King only to that
percentage where they can hang on to a little bit of control.
They'll have that king only to that limit where they can still
maintain their decision and their free will, so-called. But they're
not going to have a king of which God spoke. God said the heart
of the king is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of
waters out here, they're in His hand too. And He turneth it withersoever
He will, just like He does those rivers. But He's absolute king. Now, without going into a long
theological discussion, let me just state that this promised
Messiah that was to come must occupy three offices which were
foretold by the prophets of old. First of all, when He appears,
when the Messiah, the promised Messiah of God, when He appears,
He will appear as a prophet. And not just a prophet, but THE
prophet. That one promised throughout
the Old Testament Scriptures. Moses wrote of Christ. Over in
Acts 7, verse 37, Moses said, A prophet shall the Lord your
God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Hear ye
him. Direct quote from the Old Testament
prophets. Now listen to this. And our Lord
faced these same men over here in John 5, verse 46. And He said,
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, and they are they which testify of Me. But you won't
come to Me that you might have life. You won't come to Me as
the prophet. You won't come to Me as the priest. And you won't come to Me as the
king. You won't come unto Me as I'm set forth in the Scriptures.
that you might have life. And then our Lord told him this
in John 5, 46. He said to these same men who
now stand accusing him, he said, for had you believed Moses concerning
my office as a prophet, you would have believed me. But you don't
believe Moses. Moses told you of this coming
Messiah. He told you that I would occupy
the office of a prophet. And a prophet receives his ministry
from the Lord, not from the Jews, and not from an earthly priest,
but from the Lord. He said, had you believed Moses,
you would have believed me, because Moses wrote of me. So he's our
prophet. Never a man spake like this man. You think about the voice of
Christ as the prophet of God, even the wind and the waves obeyed
his voice. He said, peace be still, and
those waters just laid down calm. Death acknowledged his voice. Lazarus, come out of there. Lazarus
came out of that temple. You think about that. The dead
heard his voice. And even the devils submitted
themselves to his voice. If he said, come out, they came
out. And actually, they came and asked Him permission to do
things. And then God Himself testifies,
this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him.
And then secondly, He is our High Priest. Hebrews 9, verse
11, it says this, But Christ, being come and High Priest of
good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us." One time, eternal redemption. So complete
and sufficient was his work that the earthly priesthood ceased
to be because he fulfilled every jot and tittle of it. There was
no reason for it to continue on. Those things which they pictured
he accomplished, those things which they foretold he fulfilled,
and all these things, all these things come to an end because
of this man's priesthood. And even so, it says now. We're
still sinners. God's still holy. But He ever
liveth to make intercession for us. We have a high priest. He's
seated at the right hand of God. And He ever liveth to make intercession
for us. Every sacrifice, every ceremony,
every dedicated person, the whole of the Levitical priesthood,
the tabernacle, the temple, and all its furnishings, every altar,
every memorial, all fulfilled in this man's priesthood. Listen
to this, "...in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made
the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away." That is in the last verse of
Hebrews chapter 8. And then thirdly, and this is
where I want to camp for the rest of our time, to be the promised
Messiah, Jesus must ascend to the throne of Israel. The Jews
knew that. And that's where they decided
they were going to get him on this issue right here. Turn with
me to Acts chapter 2. He must ascend to the throne
if he'd be the true Messiah. Acts chapter 2 verse 29. Listen to this. These men now
are preaching the gospel. This is right after Pentecost.
And Peter stands to proclaim to them the gospel, and here
is what he tells them. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David. Everybody knew who David
was. He is the king of Israel. He
is God's anointed king. God chose him above Saul and
anointed him to be king of Israel. David is the sweet psalmist.
He is the prophet of God. Now watch this. Let me freely
speak to you, the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried,
and his sepulcher is with us to this day. Therefore, being
a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne, every Jew knew that.
But they didn't realize what throne he was talking about.
They thought he was talking about David's throne over there in
the Middle East. They thought he was talking about
that little nation of folks gathered over there. He didn't realize
that he was talking about the Israel of God and the throne
of Zion. They didn't realize that. Now
watch this. Verse 31, He seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of Christ. that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus
hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear." Verse 36, "'Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you crucify, both Lord and Christ. He's the King. He's the King. And He's that One of whom David
said he saw ascend to the throne. This is Him. Now, He's not waiting
for you to make Him Lord. He's Lord. He's Lord. Or what about that old rebel
out there that goes out there and spits in the air and cries
out and shakes his fist at God? He's Lord. He's Lord. He's not waiting for you to make
him Lord. He's not in the position where
he might become Lord. He's not struggling in your life
to be Lord. God hath made him to be both
Lord and Christ. He's Lord no matter what you
do. And He's Lord of the dead and the living, and He's Lord
over those He saves, and He's Lord over those He damns. He's
Lord. He's Lord. This generation knows
nothing whatsoever about the kingship of Jesus Christ. He's
Lord. Right now, presently, seated
at the right hand of God. In Psalm chapter 2, it says,
Why does the heathen rage? What's everybody upset about?
What's everybody mad about? Look like a, you know, you ever
just out of meanness, I guess, kick a fire ant hill? Man, they
rumble up out of that thing. They mad. And you step back a
little bit and they can't touch you. But boy, they mad. They
just foaming up out of that thing, angry. He said, why does the
heathen rage? Why are they doing that? What
are they so upset about? The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel against the Lord and against His anointing,
saying, let's break their bands of slander and cast away. We
won't have this man reign over us. Well, he was reigning over
them while they said that. You can read about it on Acts
chapter 4. They did exactly what God's hand and God's counsel
determined before to be done. The very words that they spoke.
He was reigning over them when they said that. And He reigns
over men when they say that today. And they're saying, let's break
their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from them. He
that sitteth in the heavens will laugh. He'll laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath. and vex them in a sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion. I'll declare the decree, this
day have I begotten thee." He's king. Always was king. He was
king back in eternity when God set the decree. And he was king
when he become incarnate and dwelt in our flesh in this world. And he's king when he ascended
back into glory. He's the king. He's the king. And I'll tell you what David
said at the end of this psalm. He said, here's what you need
to do. Kiss the son. Kiss the son, because he's king.
He's king. This promised Messiah shall come
and manifest the glory of God in the salvation of his elect
as the sovereign king of Israel. Now let me ask you a question.
Why would God give sovereignty to a sovereign? Now, the Messiah is the Son of
God. If I'm reading John chapter 1
right, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. He comes
on down and He said, and the Word, this eternal Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. Now, this is God. He didn't cease
to be God when He took to Himself our flesh. And He's sovereign. He always was sovereign. He's
God. Why would God give sovereignty to a sovereign? You ever thought
about that? This is God come into the flesh.
And I read to you a few moments ago in Hebrews 1. No, I didn't. But anyway, it says in Hebrews
chapter 1 that in these last days I've spoken unto you by
my Son. By my Son. By whom I created
the world, whose heir of all things. This is God. This is
the sovereign. And then John said the same thing.
All things were made by Him. I read that to you. So how can
one who is sovereign be given sovereignty? Turn with me to
John chapter 17. John chapter 17. This is our
Lord's high priestly prayer, and listen to what He says here
in verse 1. These words thanked Jesus and
lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. Now watch this. As Thou hast
given Him power over all flesh. He's the Creator. He already
had power over all flesh, didn't He? But this is a little different. This is that mediator king. This
is that king who was given charge to save his elect, in whom all
the elect were chosen, in whom all the elect were blessed, according
to Ephesians chapter 1. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. This is what this kingship is
all about. This is what this power is all
about. To justly save all those given to Him by the
Father. This absolute sovereignty. And
apart from this absolute sovereignty, nobody's going to be saved. And
if you ever see that sovereignty in the light of salvation, you'll
quit kicking against God's sovereignty. And you'd be glad about it. I'm
glad he's sovereign. And really and truly so are you.
Even those who kick against, as soon as they get sick, who
do they cry to? Lord save me. Well, he couldn't
save you if he ain't sovereign. And you wouldn't cry to him if
you didn't really believe it in your heart. You wouldn't cry
to him. As the God-man mediator and representative
of all God's elect, and as the covenant head and surety of the
everlasting covenant of grace, God gave him sovereign authority
over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father
had given Him. And this authority is universal.
It's over all men. It's over devils. It's over elements. It's over all things. This sovereignty
is universal, but its objective is particular. It's for those
to whom the Father had given it. And you find that all the
way through the scriptures. You'll find it in Ephesians chapter
1. You'll find it in 1 Peter chapter
1. And you'll find it in 1 Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians, and go on and on and on. It's all through the
scriptures. This sovereignty extends to all
things, all principalities. Paul said, don't leave Christ.
Don't leave Him. Don't disbelieve a few doctrines
concerning Him and then run off to something else. He said, you
stay right here. As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk ye in Him. Why? Because in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
Him. Now listen, we always stop there,
but that verse don't stop there. We are complete in Him who is
the head of all principality and power. You see where that
sovereignty comes in? Preachers are not sent into the
world to establish the Kingdom of God. It's already established.
Its head sits at the right hand of God. I'm not up here trying
to establish God's Kingdom. His Kingdom, He already rules.
He already rules. We're sent to reconcile chosen
sinners to the King. If you read 2 Corinthians chapter
5, He said, we have the ministry of what? Reconciliation. That's what we're preaching.
I'm just trying to get folks. Old Scott brought a message one
time. He said, stack your shotguns in the corner. The war is over.
The war is over. And he won. He won. It's futile. to run around here
shaking your fist in his face who's already seated at the right
hand of God. And he sits up there expecting,
it says, the Scripture says, until his enemies be made his
footstool. Now over in Jude chapter 1, I'll
try to show you, I'm going to hurry, what this sovereignty
means to the believer. I know what it means to the unbeliever.
He sees all of his rights threatened. He sees all these things threatened. But to the believer, listen to
what he says over here in Jude 1. He tells us here that we are
preserved in Jesus Christ. Preserved by His irresistible
and sovereign power. Now listen to me and take comfort
in this. He said, I give unto them eternal
life. But he didn't stop there, did
he? I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. You know why? Because he's absolute sovereign,
and you're not going to be able to pluck them out of his hand.
He controls all things. Actually, no promise of the Scripture
is of any kind of lasting comfort if it is not secured in the sovereignty
of Christ. If He is not sovereign, then
His promises mean nothing. Listen to this one, Philippians
1, verse 6. Paul said he was confident. His
confidence in those Philippians was right here. He said, I am
confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Not
that you are going to keep on hanging on, but that He is going
to preserve you. He which begun the work is going
to finish it. Paul told them, he said, let
every man work out his own salvation, and that in fear and trembling.
You know why He said that? He tells you right after that.
For He said, it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do
of His good pleasure. You can read about that over
in Philippians chapter 2. And then secondly, we are preserved
through His intercession. Paul said, who is He that condemneth?
It is Christ that died. Yea, rather that it is risen
again who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. This one who pleads for us gets
what he asks. We don't because we ask amiss. Half the time we don't even know
what we're praying for or how to pray. Tells us that in Romans
8, don't it? That the Spirit of God makes
intercession for us because we're too ignorant to pray. We don't
even know what to pray for. We can't even discern the will
of God. But this man gets what he asks for, and he intercedes
for us. And that's what Paul said. He's
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. I bought a little Yorkie puppy.
I ought to be shot. I've already got two. And I bought
this little Yorkie puppy. I bought him for Kathy, and I
put him in a crate to spend the night on the back porch. And
he cried and yelped. It was dark out there. Had noises. And she's always teasing the
little dog. When I come in, I guess I look
like a... This puppy, you can hold him in one hand. Called
him Murphy. That's her maiden name. And he's
down here on the ground, and I come walking in the room, and
she said, oh no, here comes the big guy. And he'll run from my
shadow, just run and hide. And then he'll peek out from
behind that corner. Well, he was out there in this
cage, and we thought we had the door shut, but we didn't. It
was just closed. And he got out. And she went
out the next day and started downstairs and noticed he wasn't
in there. And she looked over there, and he was in one of my
big fluffy slippers I put out by the back door. And she come
and told me, she said, I found him in the big guy's shoes. And
he was just happy as a little clam down there. There's some
truth to be learned here. If you find any lasting comfort,
it's going to be in the big guy's shoes. It's going to be in his
shoes. He who is sovereign. overall thing. He who gets his
way, you're going to find some peace there. And there's some
other things, but I'm out of time. So we'll just let that
be the lesson for the day.