To turn back to Acts chapter
17, we're going to observe the Lord's
table tonight, and we're going to look at Genesis 12, 1 through
4. It's a very significant passage
of scripture. In Galatians chapter 3, verse
8, when Paul refers to it, he says, the scripture foreseeing
that the heathen would be justified by faith preached before the
gospel unto Abraham saying in thee shall all nations of the
earth be blessed. God the Holy Spirit calls that
statement the gospel. And that's what we're going to
consider tonight. Now look once again at verse seven of Acts
chapter 17. whom Jason hath received, speaking
of Paul and Silas, their preaching in Thessalonica, and these all
do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is
another king, one Jesus. And they trouble the people and
the rulers of the city when they heard these things. Now, this is the conclusion of
a mixture of Jewish and Gentile unbelievers after they heard
Paul preach. This is what they concluded from
hearing this message Caesar is a king, but he's not the king. There is one who's Caesar's king. There's one who is Caesar's Lord. He who is Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. This is what they concluded from
hearing this message. I wonder if someone would conclude
the same thing after they heard our preaching, that Jesus is
Lord of lords and King of kings. There's another king, one who's
Caesar's king. The same one of whom it is said,
the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of
water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. The one who said by
me, kings reign. And princes decree justice. Nebuchadnezzar found this out
the hard way. the human king, when God turned him into a beast
that he might know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of
men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And like I said, I hope
people will conclude this from our preaching, why they're saying
that Jesus of Nazareth is an absolute, the absolute, not an
absolute, the absolute, the only absolute sovereign. The one who's
in control of everybody and everything. He's completely in control over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. Do you know he's in control
of the thoughts that are going through my mind and your mind
right now? Either by way of grace and mercy
or by way of justice. He is in absolute control of
the very thoughts going through your heart and mind. Somebody
says, I don't like that. Well, it doesn't matter. It's
true. It's true. Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord of all, and he is
Caesar's Lord. He is my Lord. He is your Lord. He is Lord of all. He's Lord of the dead, and he's
Lord of the living. Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the blessed and only potentate,
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who only hath immortality,
dwelling in the light that no man can approach to, nor can
see to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Now, this is the conclusion they
drew from hearing Paul's preaching. There's another King, the King
of Kings. And the people were troubled.
They were troubled then, they're troubled now at such proclamation
concerning Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of
Lords. Now, this is where Paul went
into Thessalonica in Greece. The city is still in existence.
But he went there at this time preaching the gospel. Now, we
looked at these verses last week. I'm gonna briefly read them.
Verse one, chapter 17. Now, when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was
a synagogue of the Jews, and Paul, as his manner was, went
in unto them, And three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of
the Scriptures. This was where he came from,
the Scriptures. What saith the Scriptures? Is
that not the only issue? What saith the Scriptures? There's so much religion. There's so many denominations. There's so many voices. There's
so many confessions. There's so many creeds. What
saith the scriptures? He reasoned with them from the
only authoritative word, the scriptures. And here's what he
reasoned with them concerning, verse three, opening and alleging
that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead. Now he's talking about the Old
Testament Christ. Everybody was looking for the
Christ to come back. Everybody knew that Messiah would come. And he lets them know this Old
Testament Messiah must need suffer. And he must needs rise from the
dead. Now here's the question, why must he suffer? Let me give
you some, the reason, because God purposed it. He's the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Because the sins of
God's elect actually became his sins, and he was guilty of the
commission of those sins when they became his. Now, I don't
understand how that is, but I know it is. The sins of God's elect
became his sins, and the justice of God demanded his death. That's why he must suffer. He's
guilty before God. You look scary saying that. It
is, but it's so. I'm not even speaking right unless
I say that. God's just, God's holy. He must
suffer and he must rise from the dead because he completely
satisfied the justice of God. That's why he must rise from
the dead. All the sins he died for were put away. They're gone. And God says, I'm satisfied with
what he did. And God is satisfied with everybody
he did it for. If you're in Christ, if I'm in
Christ, God is completely satisfied with me. What a glorious thought. Oh, the power of the blood of
Christ. And then he went on to say that
this Jesus, whom I preached to you, Jesus of Nazareth, the one
born in Bethlehem, the one raised up in Nazareth, the one who went
about doing good, the one who died on Calvary's tree, the one
who was raised from the dead, this Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth,
is the Christ. He is God's prophet. He is God's
priest. He is God's king. Some of them, verse four, believe. You know that actually, reeds
were persuaded. You know when you'll believe?
When God persuades you to believe. And you know, God never is in
vain in his, if he persuades you, you're persuaded. And if
you're not persuaded, he never persuaded you. He's never done
anything for you. But if you believe, it's because
he persuaded you. That's a humbling thought, isn't
it? That the God of glory would persuade me to believe the gospel. What a glorious thought. And
these people that were persuaded to believe, they consorted with
Paul and Silas. Birds of a feather flock together,
don't they? You know, if you believe, you wanna be identified
with all who believe the gospel. They consorted with Paul and
Silas, and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the
chief women, not a few. There are a lot of people who
believe, but the Jews, verse five, which believed not. Now, this will describe you if
you are not persuaded. You believe not. And your unbelief is willful. Now, if you believe, it's because
you're persuaded. If you don't believe, it's because you don't
want to believe. They believed not. They heard this message
and they rejected it. They did not want to believe. You will
not, our Lord said, come to me that you might have life. If
you do not believe, it's all your fault. And it's because
you have willfully rejected the truth of the gospel. Now, these
Jews that did not believe, look what it says of them. But the
Jews which believed not moved with envy. You know, they saw
the response of the people to Paul and Silas's preaching and
it upset them. They were envious. They thought
they wanted to have this, what they considered power and control
over men. Now, Paul and Silas knew they
didn't have ANY power or control over men. They knew salvations
of the Lord, but these people didn't. think like that. They saw crowds moved by what
these men were doing and they wanted this power and this influence
and so on, this envy. Envy is such an evil sin. Whenever
you see it rise up in your heart, it's a reminder to you of how
bad you really are, that you still are. Envy, being displeased
with the success of others, or whatever it might be, envy. They
were moved with envy, and they took unto them, I love the way
Luke says this, certain lewd fellows of the baser sort. Unprincipled, evil fellows of
the baser sort. They took them up, and they gathered
a company, and that means they had a riot. They had a riot. in objection to what was being
said. They took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort
and gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar. A
riot was going on. And they assaulted the house
of Jason. That's where Paul and Silas had been staying in their
home. They assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring
them out. And when they found them not,
Paul and Silas, they drew Jason, the man who had let them into
their home, and certain brethren under the rulers of the city
saying, these that have turned the world upside down have come
hither also. I love that. These fellows have
turned the world upside down. Everything that we stand for,
they say is wrong. Everything we say is right, they
say it's wrong. Everything we believe, they say
there's nothing to it. These that have turned the world
upside down. Now, I want you to think about
this for a moment. Everything about the gospel is
upside down to the natural man. Everything. If you took the Pharisee
and the Publican and looked them over, who would you say God was
pleased with, naturally? With a proud, moralistic Pharisee,
the Publican was a dirtbag. Who would you say Christ came
to save? Good people or sinners? Who would
you say, naturally, in your natural thinking? What would you say about being
saved by your own righteousness or somebody else's? Well, that
doesn't make sense. That's turning things upside
down. You mean to tell me that I don't have a free will and
that God's will is completely sovereign over my will? Well,
that's upside down. That's not the way I naturally
believe. You mean to tell me that I'm called upon to Turn
my other cheek if somebody smites me on one cheek? You mean to
tell me that I'm called upon to love my enemies? Well, that
doesn't make sense. You tell me I'm called upon to
bless them that curse me? Well, that doesn't make any sense
at all. I'm called upon to do good to
them that hate me and to pray for them which despisefully use
me? Well, that just goes against the grain. That's turning everything
upside down. I think blessed are the rich,
and you say blessed are the poor. I say blessed are the happy,
and you say blessed are they that mourn. I say blessed are
the aggressive and the go-getters, and you say blessed are the meek.
I say, blessed are the full. And you say, blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Everything you're
saying is completely upside down. These fellas have turned the
world upside down. They're taking all of our philosophies,
all of our beliefs, and turning them over. These that have turned
the world upside down have come hither also, and they do contrary
to the decrees of Caesar. Julius Caesar was the first one
of the Caesars who said that the office of Caesar was divinely
sanctioned. And from that point, you had
to say, Caesar is Lord. You could believe anything you
wanted. You could keep up whatever religious practice you wanted.
As long as you would say, Caesar is Lord. And here's what they heard. Caesar
is a king, but Jesus is the king and Caesar is under the Lordship
of Jesus Christ. Caesar is the pawn of Christ,
performing his will, doing whatever he commands. Jesus is Lord. He's Lord of Lords, and he's
King of Kings. That's who he is. And that is what troubled the
people. You see, men are okay with a
Christ who heals, who provides people's needs, even who performs
miracles. Where people have a problem is
with one who is King of kings and Lord of lords. Now let me ask you a question.
Does this make you mad? Or does this make you glad? Which? Does this make you angry? Or
does this make you happy? That Jesus Christ is, this is
not an empty title. He is Lord of Lords. He's your Lord. Your eternal
destiny is up to Him. It's not in your hands, it's
in His hands. We will not have this man reign
over us or Lord reign over me. Those are one of the two. There's
only two options to that. Turn with me for a moment to
Revelation chapter 17. Verse 13. These have one mind. and shall
give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make
war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is
Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Look at Revelation 19, verse
11. And I saw heaven opened, and
behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire.
On his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name was called the Word of God. And
the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth
goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations,
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God, and
he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King
of kings and Lord of lords. of Lords. The King is the one
who reigns absolutely sovereign, controlling the free and uncoerced
actions of men. Somebody says, explain that to
me. I wouldn't even dare try, but I know it's so. He's in absolute
control. Now, We're responsible for our
sin. Our sin is free. Our sin is uncoerced. We do what we want to do. But
he's in absolute sovereign control over all of that. He's the cause. He's the cause of the secondary
cause. He's the cause of the Tushiri, that's the third area
cause. But the fact of the matter is he's the cause of all things.
That's who he is. He's the cause. Whatever it is,
King Jesus is the cause. You see, he's described in scripture
in this way. By him, all things consist. He upholds all things by the
word of His power, simply with a nod. Whatever happens, He is
in complete control of. The King is sovereign in creation.
The King is sovereign in providence. The King is sovereign in salvation. Sorry, Caesar, you're not Lord.
You're like saying, Kareb, God said, I'm gonna put my hook in
your nose and I'm gonna lead you every which way I want. Like
Pilate, don't you know that I have power to release you? I have
power to crucify you. You don't have any power at all
over me. None at all, except it be given thee from above. Now, Christ was born King of
the Jews. That's the way he was born. He
was born king. That's what upset Herod. Herod
wanted to make sure all the two-year-olds were wiped out, lest this one
who's born king grow up to be king. He didn't realize he already
was king. He's the eternal king. You can't
do anything about his kingship. I remember one time there in
John chapter six, he had fed 5,000. They wanted to make him
king. He left him. Why? He already was king. His
kingship's not up for vote. It's not like you can put him
into office. He is king. He's Lord of lords. He's king
of kings. Early in his public ministry,
his disciples saw, thou art the son of God, thou art the king
of Israel. When he rode into Jerusalem on
a donkey, Matthew tells us all this was done that it might be
fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet saying, tell ye the
daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy king cometh. To thee, meek and sitting on
an ass, sitting on the coal of an ass. Now, like I said, men
are fine with Jesus as a healer. Even Jesus is a miracle worker. Why did they crucify him? What
was the accusation against him? The accusation written over his
head, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. That's why
he was crucified. Turn with me to John chapter
19. John chapter 19, beginning in
verse five. Verse five, then came Jesus forth
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith
unto them, behold the man. When the chief priest, therefore
an officer saw him, they cried out saying, crucify him, crucify
him. Pilate saith unto them, take
him and crucify him, for I did not find no fault in him. The
Jews answered him, we have a law and by our law he ought to die
because he made himself the son of God. When Pilate therefore
heard that saying, he was the more afraid and he went again
into the judgment hall and saith unto Jesus, whence art thou?
But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, speakest
thou not to me? Knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Jesus
answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me
unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought
to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let
this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself
a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment
seat, in a place that's called the pavement, but in the Hebrew,
Gabbatha, and it was the preparation of the Passover. And about the
sixth hour, he saith unto the Jews, behold, your king. And they cried out, away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall
I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We
have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him unto them
to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led him away. And he
bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place
of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they
crucified him and two other with him on either side one and Jesus
in the midst 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 not in
the city and 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. And
Pilate answered, what I've written stays written. Now, I wish I could say this
as I should. He was born king. He lived as a king. Oh, the kingly authority of his
voice. Having complete control of himself. You think of what lack of self-control
you and I have. He had complete control of his
self, and he has complete control of everybody else. He lived as
a king. He died as a king. Do you know
death couldn't take him until he gave it permission. You can
take me now, I'm gonna let you. He was raised as a king by his
own authority. When he ascended back to glory,
he ascended back as the king of glory. And he is returning
as a mighty reigning king. And then on judgment day, We
read, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats. Then shall the king say to them
on his right hand, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. You see, he's king.
He's right now in heaven, the king of saints. He's the king
of all. He's the king of kings, but he's
most especially in heaven called the king of saints. Great and marvelous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou
King of saints. Who shall not fear thee and glorify
thy name? For thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and
worship before thee for thy judgments which are manifest. Now we have
a peek of his kingship in heaven. But you know everybody here on
earth that knows him, knows him as King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. And if you don't know him in
that light, you don't know him, period. Jesus is Lord. That poor thief on the cross,
he knew it. He said, don't you fear God?
He knew exactly who he was. Seeing you're in the same condemnation,
we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds,
but this man hath done nothing amiss. And then he looked at
that one who seemed so helpless and said, Lord. He knew he was
Lord even while he was hanging there on the cross. He knew he
was Lord. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. You're gonna come back as a mighty
reigning king. Remember me. Would you turn with me in closing
to Daniel chapter 3? Daniel chapter 3. Daniel is right after Ezekiel.
Daniel chapter 3. Now the story here is about a
human king. The human king by the name of Nebuchadnezzar. Now
he was gonna come to know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom
of men. You know what's going on right
now? The most high ruling. Everything
is of the most high. He's ruling in the kingdom of
men and he giveth it to whithersoever he will. Now in this story, you
can go back and read it. In Daniel chapter three, Nebuchadnezzar
had a good idea. He decided to make him a god.
He was a big God, 90 feet tall, seven feet wide, solid gold.
Can you imagine what that image must have looked like? And he
said, now here's what is going to happen. Every time you hear
the musical instruments play, you're to bow down and worship
this God that I've set up, that I've made. And everybody's scared
of Nebuchadnezzar. And they did what he said to
do. Whenever the music sounded, everybody'd fall down and worship.
But there were some men who would. Their names were Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. people from there, because these
were Jewish people brought in from the Babylonian captivity. They wouldn't worship this God,
so the people ratted on them. They said, there's three fellas,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They won't bow down. They won't
worship this God. They refuse. Twelve, there are certain Jews
whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded
thee. They serve not thy God, nor worship thy golden image,
which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage
and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Then they brought these men before the king, and he asked about
why they weren't bowing. He said, now, if you bow, You're
off the hook. All you gotta do is bow when
you hear the music. And if you don't, look at the
last part of verse 15. You shall be cast the same hour
in the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. And who is that God
that shall deliver you out of my hand? Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego answered and said unto the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, We're
not careful to answer you in this matter. We're not struggling.
We're not trying to figure out what to do. We're not a bit careful
about this. This is not something we're even
concerned about. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able
to deliver us from the fiery furnace, and he will deliver
us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, if he decides to
not deliver us, and we're thrown into the fiery furnace, be it
known unto you, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar
full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded
that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it
was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty
men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and to cast them into the burning, fiery furnace. Then these men
were bound in their coats, their hoes, and their hats, their other
garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning, fiery
furnace. Therefore, because the king's
commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame
of the fire slew those men that took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and killed them. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego fell down bound into the midst of the burning,
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was startled, and he rose up in haste. And he spake and said
unto his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into
the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto King,
true, O King. He answered and said, lo, I see
four men, not bound, but loose, free, walking in the midst of
the fire, and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near
into the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High
God, the one who's infinitely higher than me, come forth and come hither. Then
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the
fire, and the princes, the governors, the captains, the kings, counselors
being gathered together saw these men. Now we see the gospel here
so clearly. Upon whose body the fire had
no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their
coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. You
couldn't even smell the smoke. They were totally unaffected.
They were completely saved. That's how Christ saves. He's
gonna make it. with regard to every believer,
there won't even be the smell of sin. Perfect, absolute righteousness. Verse 28, then Nebuchadnezzar
spake and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that
trusted in him and have changed the king's word and yielded their
bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their
own God. Therefore I make a decree, here's
a new decree, that every people, nation, and language which speak
anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill,
because there's no other God that can deliver after this sort. Oh, the deliverance of Jesus
Christ, the King of kings. Now this human king found out
that he is nothing but a pawn in the king of king's hand. Jesus is Lord. Let's pray. Our merciful heavenly father,
we're so thankful for the utter lordship of thy son and enable
every one of us to bow in heart and confess that Jesus Christ,
thy son is Lord to the glory of God, the father. In his blessed
and holy name, we pray, amen.