Lord willing, tonight I'm going
to be speaking on the bones of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bones
of Christ. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The King of the Jews. The King of the Jews. Now Matthew's account tells us
that this was his accusation. This is what they accused him
of. This is why he was being tried
as a criminal and crucified because of his claim of being king. The king of the Jews. Pilate said, are you a king? And he replied, to this end was
I born. Matthew 2 says he was born king
of the Jews, and they tried him as a king. We have no king but
Caesar. He's claiming himself to be above
Caesar in claiming to be king. Men were okay with him being
a prophet or even a teacher, Men were okay with him performing
miracles to heal them and to feed them. Men were okay with
his good works. He said, many good works have
I shown you of my father, which is in heaven, for which of these
works do you stone me? Men will even allow him to be
a savior as long as they have the final say. You can be savior
as long as I'm the one who's ultimately in control of it.
and it's my will that makes it work. And it'll even have him
as a savior, as long as they have the last say. But the one
who is king of kings, in whose hand they are, the one who is
king of kings, they will not have. The one who really is sovereign,
And I don't want to use that word and fail to tell what that
means. Sovereign. The fact that he's
sovereign means that everything you're even thinking right now
freely, he's in control of. He's completely sovereign in
control of everything and everybody and every event. He's the cause
of causes. He's the king. He's the one whose
will really is done. Now, the fact that He's the cause
means that your will will not determine your eternal destiny. His will will determine your
eternal destiny. That's what we're speaking of
when we speak of the Lord Jesus Christ being sovereign, King
of kings and Lord of lords. Leper understood this. He said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. The Roman centurion
understood this when he said, speak the word only. All you
got to do is speak it and it takes place. Speak the word only
and my servant shall be healed. Now, growing up in a democracy
where our leaders are voted into office by us, And the three branches
of our government, the legislative, the judicial, and the executive
branches are checks and balances so nobody gets too much power.
We don't want any one group to have too much power. And as far
as that goes, we can impeach our elected officials if we don't
like what they're doing. And we've grown up in a society
where we can't grasp or understand the thought of a king. A king
rules and you would be in his hands, whether you prosper or
brought to poverty would be up to him. Whether you're exalted
or thrown into prison, whether you live or whether you die is
in the hands of the king. Absolute power. We have a hard
time grasping that, don't we? Because of the way we've grown
up. one man having complete power to determine everything about
you. Such is the King of Kings. Now, Christ is, as Paul said,
now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Now, after he fed
The 5,000 miraculously, and that's in every gospel account. When
these people experienced getting this free meal and getting everything
taken care of them, they made this statement in John 6, verse
15, when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take
him by force to make him king. We're going to make you our king.
You know what he did? He departed. Nobody's going to
make him king. He is king. And no one makes him king. Now
remember, the king is the one whose will is always done. This
was the accusation written over his head in Latin and Hebrew
and Greek. Jesus of Nazareth, the king of
the Jews. The king is the one whose will
is always done. Christ, I love to announce this,
his king. Excuse me. He's king of the devil. He's king of the demons. He's
king of unbelievers. He's king of believers. He's
king of events. He's your king whether you acknowledge
it or not. You know, if you're born in a kingdom, the king's
the king whether you agree with him or not. He's the king. He's
the king. Most especially, he's the king
of salvation. You know, he's the king of election. He's the one doing the choosing,
and you're chosen in him. He's the king of justification.
If you're justified, it's because he justified you. and you're
justified by His righteousness. He's the King of redemption.
He's the one that does the redeeming, and He actually redeemed. He
put away the sins of everybody He died for. He's the King of
you being preserved. He's the King of you being born
again. I mean, in every aspect of salvation,
He is the King. Immortal, invisible, The only
wise God, born King of the Jews. He's before all things. I love
that scripture. He's before all things. Whatever
it is, he's before it. And he's the cause of it. And
by him, all things consist. He was born King of the Jews.
And I love to think of his kingship. He was born King. He lived as
a King. Well, he had a peasant's garb.
I know, but he still lived as a king. He had complete control
of his body. He never sinned. Complete control. He lived as a king. He died as
a king. You know, death couldn't even
come and take him until he gave it permission. He died as a king. He was raised from the dead as
a mighty king. Lift up your heads, ye gates,
and lift them up, ye everlasting doors. The king of glory shall
come in. He was raised from the dead,
he's ascended as a king, and right now he is king in heaven,
sitting on the throne, ruling and reigning completely. He is Now would you turn with
me to John 19 for a moment? Verse 19, and Pilate wrote a title and
put it on the cross. Now, we know from the writings
of Josephus, the Jewish historian, that Pilate hated the Jews. He was the ruler there and he
despised the people he was ruling. And he was having this written
in order to kind of dig it into them. Here's your king, this
nobody, this weak person, this man we're crucifying, this is
your king, the king of the Jews. 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,
the language of the religious. In Greek, the common language. And in Latin, the language of
the educated, the Roman language. Then said the chief priest of
the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that
he said, I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I
have written stays written. This is the king of the Jews. He's God's king. God said in
Psalm 2, yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion. Thy
throne, this is God speaking to the son, thy throne, oh God,
is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. He's king, he's your king. I like saying that. He's your
king, whether you know it or not, he's your king, he's your
Lord. He is the Lord, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords with the scepter of sovereignty, the robe
of righteousness and a crown of glory. But here's the thought that I
want to think about most this morning. He's the King of the
Jews. That's his special title. He's
the King of the Jews. All the world, every man, every
woman, is in one of these two groups. You're either a Jew or
you're a Gentile. Someone says, I'm not a Jew.
Well, if you're a believer, you are. If you're a believer, you
are. Remember the Lord actually said
in John chapter 4 to that woman at the well, salvation is of
the Jews. If you're a believer, you're
a Jew, and you are so happy that he's king because he is king
of the Jews. Now they're saved and lost, they're
believers and unbelievers, they're sheep or goat, they're Jews and
Gentiles, and he is most especially the king of the Jews. Turn with me to Romans chapter
two. I want to see if I'm a Jew, don't you? He's the king of the
Jews. Now look what Paul says in verse
28. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. Now, if you could trace your
pedigree all the way back to Abraham himself, that wouldn't
mean you're a Jew. If you grew up in Israel and
participated in all the things Jewish people participate in,
as far as the sacrifices and the feast days, and you went
right by the Bible, and you grew up that way, and you believe
that way, and you were born that way, do you know that wouldn't
make you a Jew? That doesn't mean anything. He is not a Jew. which is one outwardly, neither
is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh." Now what
was the distinguishing mark of a Jew? Circumcision. You ever thought about how, I
won't say this reverently, but have you ever thought about how
weird that is? as far as a Jewish, I'm saying this reverently, I'm
not saying this disrespectfully, but it is kind of unusual, to
say the least, that the mark of being a Jew, you were to be
circumcised, the male was to have his foreskin removed. What
a painful, what is that? Well, notice what Paul says,
neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.
If you've been physically circumcised, that doesn't mean you've had
true circumcision. What's he say? Verse 29. But he is a Jew,
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men, but of God. Now, Paul tells us that a Jew
is a Jew on the inside. He's had his heart circumcised. He's not in the letter, but in
the spirit. The letter is physical circumcision.
The spirit is spiritual circumcision of the heart. Not letter. Letter is law. Not letter, but
spirit. So all this outward Jewish stuff,
all this ritual, Doesn't even count. That doesn't make somebody
a Jew. The Jew is the one who is the
Jew on the inside, and his circumcision has been that of the heart. Now,
notice he speaks the spirit and not in the letter. What is the
letter? The letter is physical circumcision. The letter is law. Here's the
letter of the law, do. That's the letter of the law.
Do this in order to please God. Do this in order to be accepted
by God. Do, do, do. That's the letter of the law. Well, what's the spirit of the
law? The spirit of the law says you can't be saved by your doing.
You look to Christ only. That's the spirit of the law.
That's the purpose of the law. Not to give you a way to be saved,
but to show you that you can't save yourself, and you're to
look to Christ only. That is the spirit of the law. This is a good summary when you
think of this letter and spirit. Letter is law. Spirit is grace. He is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly, born in Israel, can trace his pedigree all the way
back to Abraham. He's a Jew who is a Jew inwardly
and has had his heart circumcised, which causes him to look to Christ
only. And notice what it says in verse
29, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Do you know if you're
a Jew, men may hate you. They will, as a matter of fact.
But you've got the praise of God. Now, God can only praise
what he's done. Isn't that so? You're the work
of God, and you actually have the praise of God. Something
must be glorious for God to praise it. But every Jew has the praise
of God. He's most especially the king
of the Jews. Oh, the Jews love his kingship.
Every single one of them. They love him being king. They
love him ruling and reigning and being in control of everything.
The king of the Jews. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter 7. Verse one, know you not brethren,
for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath
dominion over a man as long as he liveth. But the woman which
hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as
he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she's
loose from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband
liveth, she'd be married to another man, she should be called an
adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she's free from that
law, so that she's no adulteress, though she be married to another
man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another. even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when
we were in the flesh, the motions, the passions of sins, which were
by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein
we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and
not in the oldness of the letter. Being delivered from the law,
I am now serving with newness of spirit. Now what does that
mean? I've got a spirit that I didn't have before. I wasn't
born with this spirit. It's called the new man. It's
called the new creation. It's called the new creature
in Christ Jesus. It's a new history. It's a new
man. We serve a newness of spirit
and not in the oldness of the letter. Paul said in 2 Corinthians
3, verse 6, the letter killeth and the spirit giveth life. Now
turn with me to Philippians 3. If you want to know what a Jew
is, here we go. In verse 1, Philippians chapter 3, finally
my brethren rejoice in the Lord. You know in the Lord, I can rejoice. I can't rejoice in myself, but
I'm simply in Him. and all God sees is Jesus Christ. That makes me really happy. I
can rejoice in the Lord. Then he says in verse one, to
write the same things to you. To me, indeed is not grievous,
it's not irksome, but for you, it's safe. I hope and I pray that every
time you hear me preach, you're going to be hearing the same
things. Nothing new, nothing different,
nothing novel, the same things. I would love to have that charge
leveled against me. He never preached anything but
the same things. That's where I want to be. And
Paul said to write the same things to you, the gospel. It's not
grievous or irksome, but for you, it's safe. Verse two, beware of dogs. And you know, he's not talking
about beagles and collies and He's calling false prophets dogs. Isaiah called them greedy dogs
and dumb dogs. He's warning us, beware of false
prophets. And then he says, beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. Now this is a play on words.
What's a concision? It's a mutilator. It's a mutilator. They want you to be circumcised
and all they are are mutilators. There's nothing more to it. They
say, except a man be circumcised, he can't be saved. And if you
put any, hold your finger there and turn to Galatians chapter
five for a moment. Stand fast, verse 1. Stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Galatians
chapter 5, verse 1. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty, the freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free. And be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you Nothing. Now understand the issue of circumcision
is something other than Christ. That's the issue. Paul was circumcised. He said, I was circumcised the
eighth day of the stalk of Israel, a Hebrew of the Hebrews is touching
the law, a Pharisee concerning the righteousness which is in
the law, I was blameless. He's not so much talking about
physical circumcision, but he's talking about somebody coming,
hold your finger there again and turn to Acts 15. I think I could explain it better
by just reading it. Verse 1, Acts chapter 15. And
certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren,
and said, Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you
cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas
had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that
Paul and Barnabas and certain others should go to Jerusalem
unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being
brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenicia
and Samaria and declared the conversion of the Gentiles, and
they caused great joy to all the brethren. And when they were
come to Jerusalem, they were received at the church and the
apostles and the elders, and they declared all the things
that God had done with them, but Here's the problem. There
rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed.
You see that? These people claim to believe
the gospel. We believe Jesus Christ is the only way to the
Father. We believe in salvation by grace. They believed, says
they believed, saying that it was needful, it was necessary
to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came
together for to consider this matter, and when there had been
much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren,
you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us
that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts, bared them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no
difference between us and them. purifying their hearts by faith.
Now, therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck
of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able
to bear? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they."
Those Gentiles won't be saved like us Jews. Us Jews will be
saved the same way the Gentiles were, sheerly by grace. Now back to Galatians 5, and
we'll get back to Philippians 3 in a moment. Verse 2. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, if you think there's anything to
add to Christ, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again
to every man that circumcised that he's a debtor. To do the
whole law, Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever
of you are justified by the law. You've fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit Wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ,
neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith,
which worketh by love. You did run well. Who did hinder
you that you should not obey the truth? Now back to Philippians
chapter three. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. That's
a play on words for the circumcision. And then Paul makes this statement,
for we are the circumcision. Now you want to know who the
true Jew is? You want to know if you're a
Jew? Now remember, he's the king of the Jews. They're the only
ones who willingly receive and bow to his kingship. They love
his kingship. Only the Jews. Who are the Jews? We are the circumcision. And he gives three marks. You
can determine this morning whether or not you're a Jew by listening
to these three marks. We are the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus. and have no confidence in the
flesh. Now here is the Jew. First of all, he worships God. Now let me remind you, you can
only worship an absolute sovereign. You can only worship a God that
you can't manipulate, that you can't get Him to respond to you.
He is who He is, and you worship Him for who He is. You worship
Him as He's revealed in His Word, and you worship Him. This is
God, this is who He is. You worship, and you know this,
the only way you worship is by the Spirit of God. When we worship
God in the Spirit, this flesh can't worship God. This flesh
is sinful and corrupted, it doesn't worship God. You can only worship
God in God the Holy Spirit. There is no worship without God
the Holy Spirit, and you know that. If you ever worship God,
you know that you can't know Him, you can't see Him, you can't
feel Him, you can't touch Him, you can't, His Spirit, God is
Spirit. And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. By God the Holy Spirit
according to the truth of the gospel. That's what the Lord
said. The Lord said, the father seeketh such to worship him.
So the first mark of a Jew is he worships God for who he is.
And let me give you an example of what I'm talking about when
I say worship God for who he is. Syro-Phoenician woman. was asking the Lord, have mercy
upon me, Jesus, our son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil, have mercy on me. And he didn't even answer.
He didn't respond to her at all. She kept going, have mercy on
me. And he said, I'm not sent, but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. I did not come to save everybody. That's what the Lord's saying
when he says that. I did not come to save everybody. You know
what the scripture says she did then? Then she came and worshipped
Him. She was in His hands. He hadn't
done anything for her as far as she knew just yet. But then
came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me. If you don't help me, I won't
be helped. Then came she and worshipped
Him. Have you ever worshipped Christ
for who He is? Not because of what He will do
or won't do for you, but He's the object of worship. You know,
if He sent me to hell, which He could justly do, He's still
worthy of worship. You believe that? We are the
circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. Now here's the
second mark of a true Jew. We rejoice Now that word rejoice is a different
word than the word in verse one, rejoice in the Lord. That word
means more like be happy, be joyous, be glad. Here the word means we have confidence
in, we boast in the Lord. And what that means is there's
only one thing I have confidence in, Christ. All my confidence is that everything
that God requires of me, He looks to Christ for. And my only hope
is being found in Him. We have confidence in Christ
Jesus. Paul put it this way in Philippians
chapter 3 verses 8 and 9, he said, Oh that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. And if you're found in Him, here's
what that means, not having my own righteousness. I don't want
to have anything to do with standing before God in my own righteousness,
in anything that has anything to do with me, I don't want that.
I simply want to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith. I rejoice
only in Christ Jesus. Paul put it this way in Galatians
6, verse 14, God forbid that I should glory, that I should
have confidence in, that I should rest in, that I should rejoice
in anything save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's
all I glory in. I don't glory in the fact that I'm an apostle
or that I've written scriptures or that I'm the wise master builder. And you think how Paul was used
in such a mighty, miraculous way. He said, I don't glory in
any of that. All I glory in is who Jesus Christ
is and what he accomplished on Calvary Street. That is all my
salvation. You rejoice only in Christ. What does that mean? That means
Christ is all I have. That means Christ is all I want.
And that means Christ is all I need. I don't have anything
but Christ. But I've got everything in having
him. We rejoice only in Christ Jesus. So the Jew, the real Jew,
worships God in the spirit, rejoices, glories, boasts in Christ Jesus
alone. And look at the third mark of
the Jew. I have, or the Jew has, no confidence in the flesh. Now what's he mean by the flesh?
Does it mean skin? Derm? What do you call it? Derm?
I can't remember, but you know he's not talking just about the
physical body. He's talking about what we are
by nature, the flesh. The carnal mind, the fleshly
mind is that, is enmity against God. It's not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then, they that are
in the flesh, that's what I am by nature. That's if God hadn't
done something for me. My natural man, they that are
in the flesh, cannot please God. And you know how much confidence
I have in my flesh? None. You know how much confidence
I have in your flesh? None. All the true Jew has confidence
in is Christ. He has absolutely no confidence
in the works, the merits, the efforts of the flesh, the natural
man. The natural man brings nothing
to the table. I'm not saved because of anything I've done. I'm not
saved because of some act of my will. I'm saved because God
saved me. That's why I'm saved. Because
He saved me and I have no confidence in the flesh. Now, here's the
true Jew. Not one outwardly. Here's the
true Jew. Not one who's physically circumcised. The true Jew is the one who's
a Jew inwardly. And his circumcision is that
of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise
is not of men, but of God. And here's the mark of this Jew.
He worships God for who he is, in the spirit. He rejoices only
in Christ Jesus. He has absolutely no confidence
in the flesh. He really does believe in total
depravity. You know, there are a lot of people who believe in
the doctrine. I hate saying this, but it's
true. There's a lot of people who believe in the doctrine of
total depravity. They'll give assent to it. They say, yeah,
that's what the Bible teaches. But they don't really believe they're
totally depraved. Think about that. There are people
who argue. They'll fight you for total depravity.
Sure, the Bible teaches that. But they don't believe they're
totally depraved. If you're a true Jew, you believe
that you're totally depraved by nature. And the only hope
you have is what God does for you in Christ Jesus. That is
the true Jew. And Christ Jesus, the Lord, talking
about his kingship, I wish I could talk about his kingship the way
I ought to. He's king! And you know who loves his kingship?
The Jews. Every believer is a Jew. And Christ is most especially. He's everybody's king. You know
that. You know, when you go to work tomorrow and you see those
people walking around, remember, he's their king. They don't know
it, but he's their king. He controls everybody and everything. And you know, Most of the people
he's king over don't like the fact, or do not like the fact
that he's king. When they hear of his kingship, they don't like
it. You're making men robots. No, well, think what you want. He's king, though. But do you
know who loves his kingship? The Jews. Ever since, he is king
of the Jews. Do you willingly rejoice in and
acknowledge his kingship. I do. If you do, you're a Jew and he
is king of the Jews. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you that your
king King of kings and Lord of lords. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that you would make each one of us a true Jew. Willingly loving and embracing
and bowing before the king of kings and find all our hope of
salvation is in his kingship. Lord, how we thank you for the
placard that was written over his head, that all might see
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. In his blessed name
we pray. Amen.