Would you turn to Luke 19? While you're turning there, I
want to read. My text for this evening out
of the book of Haggai, I want to bring a message on first things
first. And the text is in Haggai one
verse six, he says, you so much and bring in little. You eat,
but you have not enough. You drink. But you're not filled
with drink. You clothe you, but there's none
more. And he that earneth wages, earneth
wages to put it into a bag with holes. This is what's happening
to you. First things first. Why is that? And we're going to look at that
tonight. And Luke chapter 19. I'm going to begin reading in
verse 11. And as they heard these things,
he added, and spake a parable, because he was knight of Jerusalem,
and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately
appear. He said, therefore, a certain
nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return. And he called his ten servants,
and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy, literally
gain by trading, till I come. But his citizens hated him, and
sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to
reign over us. I have entitled this message,
His Reign and Our Will. His reign and our will. Now I'll preach on this parable
at another time, Lord willing, but this parable is prophetic. He's talking about what will
take place. Look in verse 12 once again. And he said, therefore,
a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for
himself a kingdom and to return. Now the Lord's talking about
himself here. He's talking about his ascension back to glory and
he will return. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord
is coming again. And then this is the message
to the church, the professing church, verse 13, and he called
his 10 servants and delivered them 10 pounds and said unto
them, Occupy till I come. That's what we're to do. Waiting
for his return. Verse 14, but his citizens hated
him and sent a message after him saying, we will not. It's not our desire. This is
not something we want and we won't have it. We will not have
this man to reign over us. Now, this is the will of the
people. We will not have this man to reign over us. The word reign is the verb form
of the word king. We will not have this man to
be king, to exercise kingly authority over us. We don't want him to
rule. Now, if you reign, that means
you're king. If you reign, that means your
will is done. His reign is his sovereignty. We will not have this man reign
over us. Now, the Lord does have a will. He does have a purpose. He does
have intentions or an intention. He's got a plan. I say that cautiously,
but he's got a purpose. He's got a will. But not only
does he have a will, He has the power to make sure his will comes
to pass. Now, I've got a will, but I don't
have any power to make my will come to pass. He's got a will
and he's got the power, the authority, the ability to make sure his
will comes to pass. And he always makes his will
come to pass. That's his sovereignty. His reign, His will cannot be
thwarted. Listen to this scripture. He
doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or
say unto Him, What doest thou? Daniel 4, 34 and 35. Does someone
say, I don't believe that. Well, that's part of his will,
too. That's part of his will, too.
You're serving his purpose. Proverbs 16, one says the preparations
of the heart of man at the inclinations of the heart of man and the answer
of the tongue is of the Lord. The Lord had made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked. for the day of evil. The Lord reigns. Now, here's the natural man's
response. We will not have this man to
reign over us. This is not our wish. This is
not our desire. We don't want this man to reign
over us. We have no king but Caesar. We don't want him as king. Here's
my question to myself. Here's my question to you. What
is your will regarding this? What is your desire regarding
this when the Lord looks into your heart? What is your personal
response? To his reign. To his kingship. Where do you fall? Do you say
we will not have this man to reign over us or is this what
you want? Is this what you desire in your
heart? Do you desire him to reign without
a rival over you? What's in your heart regarding
this matter? We will not have this man to
reign over us, to be king over us. But the fact is he's the
king. And your will doesn't alter that
fact. He's the king, whether you want
him to be or whether you don't want him to be. I've heard preachers
say, make him the Lord of your life. You can't do that. God has made this same Jesus
whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. You can't make him
the Lord. God made him Lord and King. He said, yet have I set my King
on my holy hill of Zion. Now, his kingship doesn't have
anything to do with you putting him into office. You didn't vote
him in as king. Turn with me to John chapter
6 for a moment. I love this passage of scripture. John chapter 6, verse 14. Then those men, when
they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, he fed 5,000. They
said, this is who we need in office. You know, if we could
get somebody in office who would just take care of us physically,
get the economy straightened out, make sure everybody has
it. That's the king we need. So They said, this is the truth,
that prophet that should come into the world, verse 15, when
Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him
by force to make him a king. He departed again to mount himself
alone, he left that mess. You see, there's a reason he
refused their coronation because he already was king. Nobody's
going to make him king. He is the king. He was born king of the Jews. Why did they crucify him? Remember
the accusation written over his head? Jesus of Nazareth, the
king of the Jews. Men were okay with him feeding
people. They were okay with him healing
people. But why did they crucify him? Because he claimed to be
king, the absolute sovereign of the universe. And how kingly
he was in his death. You know, the scripture says
he yielded up the ghost. He's the only one to ever do
that. He said to death, you can take me now, not before I give
you permission, but when I give you permission, you can do it.
How keenly he was in his death, how keenly he was in his resurrection. what power He displayed in raising
Himself from the dead, how kingly He was in His ascension as the
King of Glory. The psalmist said, Lift up your
heads, ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and
the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of Glory. Now, He sits on a throne ruling
and reigning as a King right now. You know, this is glorious. You're in His hands. I'm in His
hands. And He can do with you whatever He's pleased to do. He's King. He can save you or
He can damn you. And whatever He does is just
right and holy because He did it. He is the King. Your destiny, my destiny, is
in His hand. He is King. Now what do you think about that? What do we think of His reign?
What is our will regarding His reign? What is our wish? What is our heart's desire? Are
we in the will or the will not camp? We will not have this man
reign over us. Well, whatever our will is, it
does not alter the fact the Lord reigneth. Psalm 93, 1, the Lord
reigneth. And you know something the Bible
never says? It never says He reigned. Not once does it ever
say He reigned. That would imply that His reign
is over. No, He reigneth. Moses said the Lord shall reign
forever and ever. His reign is an eternal reign. Hebrews 13, 8 says Jesus Christ
the same. Yesterday, today and forever. Yesterday, he reigneth. Today,
he reigneth. Eternally, he reigns. Now, there is in the believer's
heart some understanding of this. Before Nebuchadnezzar was changed
to a beast, he was told why God was doing this. It reads like
this, to the intent that the living, the living know this. Those who are dead in sins don't,
but the living know this. To the intent that the living
may know, the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth
it to whomsoever he places. Now, when you turn to Psalm 97,
I want to look at some scriptures where it speaks of the Lord's
reign and some things we can draw from this. And I want to
see what's in my heart regarding his reign. Now, remember, his reign is his
absolute control. Absolute control. Psalm 97, verse one, the Lord
reigneth. And what to say next? Let the
earth rejoice. Let the multitudes of Isles be
glad thereof. Now, the Lord reigneth. Think
of the alternative to this. If he doesn't reign, who does? Somebody does. Somebody thinks,
well, it's blind faith. Chance happens at six. Good luck,
bad luck. Well, that means blind faith
reigning. That's no good. That scares me to death. Or men
reign. That's no good. Or the devil
reigns. That scares me to death. The alternatives to the Lord
not reigning are more than I can handle. I can't even seem to
think of that. But thank God the Lord reigneth. He has absolute control. The one who reigns cannot be
controlled or manipulated. He's God. And that's good. Because he is good. The Lord reigneth, let the earth
rejoice. Now, here's a reason to rejoice.
Does it make you happy? Does this make you happy? that
God reigns, that He has absolute, supreme control. Now there are
some, no doubt in this room, who hate this. It doesn't make
them happy. They'd rather them be reigning,
or somebody else, not God, because they don't trust God. But to
the believer, this makes them happy. The Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice. Turn to
1 Chronicles 29. First Chronicles twenty nine. Verse eleven. I know Lord. First Chronicles twenty
nine verse eleven. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness,
and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty.
For all that is in the heaven and the earth is Thine. Thine
is the kingdom, O Lord. Thou art exalted as head above
all. Both riches and honor come to
Thee, and Thou reignest over all. And in Thy hand is power
and might, and in Thy hand it is to make great and to give
strength unto all. Now, because he reigns, because
he has the power to do whatever he's pleased to do, he can take
somebody as sinful and weak and frail and useless as mere youth
and make us great. It's in his hand because he reigns. He has the power to make His
people great. And I'm not talking about great
in the worldly sense. That's worthless. I'm talking
about great in the true sense. He justifies me. I'm sinful in
and of myself, and yet He makes me to be without sin. That's
how great He is. That's what happens in His reign.
He sanctifies me. He makes me holy. He makes me
perfect. He causes everything to work
together for my good. He reigns, and because He reigns,
it's in His power to make me great. Every believer, this describes
Him, they're made great. They're given strength. It's
in His power. You, the Lord, can give you the
strength to do what you cannot do. He can give you the strength
to believe. You can't believe. You can't
work up to faith. I tried. It doesn't work that way. When
you try to believe, you don't believe. But He's got the strength
to give you faith. To give you repentance. To give you a new heart that
was not there before. He has power and strength to
make you great. And to give you that which you
can't come up with. Because He reigns. Thank God for His reign. If it
wasn't for His reign, you and I couldn't be saved. But He has
power to make truly great. Look in Psalm 99. Verse one, the Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. You will only worship a sovereign. A God you can control. A God you can manipulate by what
you do, you won't worship Him. It's impossible to worship a
God like that because that's a weak God. That's a pathetic
God. That's a God, your will's more
powerful than His. He may will something, but if
you don't will it, His will can't overcome yours. You won't worship
that God. You know, if you believe in worse
in any way, you've never worshiped. You'll only worship an absolute
sovereign, one in whose hands you are. And he can do with you
whatever he is pleased to do. Now, the God that can be manipulated,
the God that responds to you, that God is a small God, a weak
God, a non-existent God. It's not the God of the Bible. The only God a man will worship,
and I mean falls down before him, is the God who reigns. Turn to Psalm 96. This is the message that the
unbeliever needs to hear. Look in verse 10. Say among the
heathen, the unbeliever, the Lord reigneth. That's exactly
what the unbeliever needs to hear. What does the unbeliever
need to hear in Lexington, Kentucky? The Lord reigneth. He is absolutely sovereign. Absolutely in control. Sovereign. You know, people say,
well, let's let's get people in and let's teach them and let's
bring in the truth gradually and kind of the drip, drip method.
Maybe they'll be able to receive because this is hard doctrine.
You know, let's let's bring it in slowly. No, the Lord reigneth. Men are dead in sins. The Lord reigneth. He chose who? would be saved before time began,
the Lord reigneth. The Lord Jesus Christ reigned
in His death when He actually saved everybody the Father gave
Him. God the Holy Spirit reigns in
invincible and irresistible grace when He causes eternal life to
all those the Father chose and all those the Son died for. And
they person the Lord reigneth. That's precisely what people
need to hear. And you know what? The reason
we're in the mess we're in is because we've had a false god
preach for so long. That's why we're in the mess
we're in. You know, people think, well,
let's bring it in slowly and gradually. No, look where it's
got our society. Say ye among the heathen, God
reigneth. Maybe somebody will call on his
name. Turn to Isaiah 52. Not only is this the message
the unbeliever needs to hear, this is the message the church
needs to hear, the believer. Look in verse 7. Isaiah 52, and
this is actually what inspired this message when I was reading
this passage of scripture. Verse 7. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, thy God. And that's what hit me. Not just
God reigns, but thy God reigns. I'll be to them a God, and they'll
be to me a people. Thy God. The God who's for me. If God be for us who can be against
us. Thy God, the God of grace, the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of creation,
thy God reigneth. Now, this is good. This is glad
tidings. Look what he calls the message
of thy God reigning. How beautiful. This is a beautiful
message upon the mountains or the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings That publishes peace. It's the only peace there is.
That God reigns. There's no peace without this.
This is peace. That bringeth good tidings of
good. That publishes salvation. This
is the message of salvation. God reigneth. That saith unto
Zion, thy God reigneth. Thy God, the Lord Jesus Christ. As Thomas said, my Lord and my
God. Thy God reigneth. Now, this is
the message of salvation. You see, there's no South. I
can't be saved apart from this God who reigns. It's the God
who reigns and saves me. I find all my hope here. I find
my salvation here. This is the message that church
needs to hear. Say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. You know, this is actually the
song of heaven. Turn to Revelation chapter 19. Verse 6. Well, let's begin reading verse
4. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
a throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia, And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. Can you say Alleluia to that? That's the message of heaven. Now I ask again, where do you
and I fall in here? What is your attitude about His
reign? What does that do for you? Now there are some who say, we
will not have this man to reign over us. You may not desire it, but he
reigns, whether you like it or not. You really don't have any
choice in this matter. You don't vote him into office.
It has nothing to do with whether you like it or not. He reigns. I say that with such confidence.
He reigns and you're in his hands and he can do with you whatever
he's pleased to do. If he's pleased, He can save
you. He can make you great. He can
put away all your sins and make them to whither not. He can give
you the very righteousness of His Son. He can give you a new
heart. If He's pleased, He can save
you. And if He's pleased, He can pass
you by. as a monument of His justice. And whatever He does is right.
And if you believe what I'm saying, you know what you're going to
do? You're going to say, Lord, have mercy on me. That's the
one thing you're going to be asking for is mercy. You'll do
it right. Lord, have mercy on me. I know
I'm in Your hands. I know I can't manipulate You.
I know I can't earn Your salvation. Have mercy on me. Do something
for me. Save me by Your grace. Ask what
you're going to say if you believe this. You'll sue for mercy. Now, if you continue to reject
it, at the end of this parable, the nobleman says, but those
mine enemies that would not, that I should reign over them,
bring them hither and slay them before me. That's his message
to those who do not love his reign. But there are some, if
you could look into their heart, I believe I'm one of them, who
love and need His reign. I love His reign. I need His
reign. I need Him to reign over me. I need Him to do something for
me that I cannot do for myself. My heart, and my heart is my
understanding. My heart is my will. My heart is my affections. That's the whole thing. My heart
desires His reign. I understand that the only way
that I can be saved is if He decides to save me. I understand
that. I understand that I need reigning
grace. I understand that I need Him
to choose me. I understand that I need Christ
to die for me. I understand that I need the
Holy Spirit to irresistibly and invincibly call me and reign
in me. I understand that. Ain't no salvation for me without
His reign. And not only do I understand that, that's my will. Take my will and make it Thine. That's the cry of my heart. Not
my will, but thine be done. This is my will. There was a lady dying. And somebody
came to visit her and said, well, are you OK with death? Are you
OK with this? And she said, well, whatever
the Lord's will is, is what I want. And he said, well, if you had
your will, what would you want? Would you want to live or die?
And she'd say, well, I'd say whatever the Lord's will is,
that's my will. Whatever his will is, that's wonderful. This is the will of every believer. We will, we want, we desire this
man to be king and rule over us. We want his will. And regarding our affection,
This is what we love. His reign. His rule. His control. I love His will
to reign over me. This is what I desire. And I want to close by looking
at Psalm 110. Psalm 110. His kingdom, His reign, and our
will. You can read about it here in
Psalm 110, verse 1. The Lord, God the Father, said
unto my Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, sit thou at my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength, that of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Thy people shall be willing."
Willing. Willing for Him to rule. Willing
for Him to reign. Loving it. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. Now, I don't know of anything
that demonstrates the rule or reign or power of the Lord any
more than right here. I can't make you willing to do
anything. You can't make me willing to do anything. I mean, if you
make somebody willing, that doesn't seem like it's make that that's
that's forcing. That's not making them. That's
forcing. But the Lord's got such power that he can force you to
be willing. And you don't feel like it's
force at all. It's what you want. Do you want
to be saved by Christ? Do you want him to reign? Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Here's the desire of every believer. The Lord reigneth. We don't say,
we'll not have this man to reign over us. Oh, here's the desire
of our hearts. We will have this man to reign
over us. Let's pray together.