John 18 is our text this morning,
and I'm taking the title for the message from verse 33. The Lord Jesus Christ being arraigned
before Pilate, the Roman governor. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art
thou the king of the Jews? And the Lord said, yep. I am. I am. So the title of the message
in the form of the question, Art Thou King? Is the Lord Jesus
Christ our King, our God? Every believer can answer that
question with utmost confidence and absolute assurance, yes. The Lord Jesus Christ is my King
indeed. The Lord Jesus Christ is King
over all. Always has been, always will
be. Because He is God. As God, He
is King. And by His grace, I can say,
He's my King. He's my Lord. He's my God. And He's my Savior. In Revelation
19, we read about the description of our blessed Savior, King of
Kings. Lord of Lords. And I like this psalm where it
says in Psalm 47, God is King of all the earth. He's King here
in Pike County. He's King here in all the state
of Kentucky. He's King in all 50 states of
the United States. And He's King in all the world,
heaven and earth. He's King everywhere. As I pointed
out, notice how many times in this chapter and the next we
read about the Lord Jesus Christ being king. They mocked him as
king. Look at chapter 19. The soldiers planted a crown
of thorns and put it upon his head and they put a robe, purple
robe at the color of royalty and said, hail king. And they
smoked the king. They mocked him in his king. At issue that day was who is
the Lord Jesus Christ. The issue of that day is still
the issue of our day. Same thing. Who is the Lord Jesus
Christ? Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
We read in John chapter 10 where the Lord said, I and Father are
one. He said to Philip, when you've
seen me, you've seen the Father, I and the Father are one. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God. He's God and our King. Why did
he come among us? In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them. Why did He come among us? Did
He come for no purpose, for no reason? Did He know why He came? Absolutely. He said, I came to
save my people from their sin. He came to seek and to save the
lost. What did He accomplish when He
did come? He accomplished all of our salvation. Where is He right now? Well,
where should a king be? A king should be upon the throne,
right? When he by himself purged our
sin, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high,
upon the throne of God, because he is king. Always has been,
always will be. The Scripture is not silent upon
these very issues of the Gospel, for it is the heart of the Gospel.
Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's God. And what did He accomplish? We read that so clearly in John
chapter 17. Turn over there, look at verse
4. I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work
that You gave Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou
me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. He finished salvation for us. And we're going to read in John
chapter 19, when the Lord drew His last breath and committed
His Spirit unto God, yielded up the ghost. Before He did,
He said, It is finished. It's done. It's complete. Salvation is accomplished. Now, let's go back to verse 28,
John 18, verse 28. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the priest, the
high priest, under the hall of judgment. and to Pilate's house,
and it was early, early in the morning, just at sunrise, and
they themselves went not into the judgment hall, that is, these
self-righteous, self-centered Pharisees, lest they should be
defiled. They thought maybe if they entered
into Pilate's house that they would be contaminated. That their
conscience would be defiled. And they didn't want to have
a defiled conscience because they were to observe the Passover
very shortly. After these religious hypocrites
abused the Lord so violently, having falsely accused Him, having
spit in the face of God, hit Him with rods, mocked Him as
God's prophet, then they led Him to Pilate's house or to the
judgment hall where Pilate lived. But notice very carefully They
would not go into the house of this Gentile, lest they should
be considered sinful, dirty sinners and defiled. What hypocrisy! What hypocrisy! Our Lord said
of this same crowd in Luke 16, You are they which justify yourselves
before men, but God knows your heart. That was as highly esteemed
among men is an abomination. Such is the way of the religious
flesh. Such is the way of the religion
of man, trying to ease the conscience by outward deeds. Isn't that the way of the flesh?
Touch not, taste not, handle not. It's what I call the religion
of not. We don't go to the picture show
while our conscience might be defiled. We don't go here, we
don't go to the beach, and certainly we don't wear certain clothing
at the beach because, my goodness, my conscience might be defiled.
You see what hypocrisy? They spit in the face of God,
hit Him, abused Him, and they were worried about into whose
house they were going to enter. What hypocrisy! Look what the
Lord says back here in Matthew 23. Matthew 23. He said in Matthew 23 verse 25,
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you may clean
the outside of the cup and the platter, but within you're full
of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which was in the heart, the cup, the platter, that the
outside may be clean. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
for you're like whited sepulchres. which indeed appear beautiful
outward, but within you're full of dead men, rotten, smelly bones. Even so outwardly you appear
righteous unto men, but within you're full of hypocrisy." You
see the hypocrisy of these religious men? The Lord knew. The Lord
knew them, didn't He? You see, the believer's conscience
and his heart and his life, all of his sins have been purged
by the blood of Christ and our conscience is clean. We stand
justified before our great God and King by the blood of Christ. Go into whose house you will.
I tell you, we stand justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at verse 29 now. Then Pilate went out. I know
he had to be annoyed. They woke him up early in the
morning and said to him, what accusation do you bring against
this man? And they answered and said to
him, if he were not a criminal, we would not have delivered him
up to thee. Pilate is interested in about
their accusations they bring. And here it is, find Luke 23.
Luke 23, verse 1 and 2. Luke 23, and the whole multitude
of them arose and led him unto Pilate. They began to accuse
him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, forbidding
to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a king. And Pilate asked him, saying,
Art thou the king? And he answered, That is, the
Lord answered and saith, Thou sayest it, it is so, I am king. They accused the Lord of being
a common criminal, committing some violent crime against Rome,
but they would not reveal their true motive, their true hatred
against him. Look at verse 31, Then said Pilate
unto them, You take him, and you judge him according to the
law." Pilate sees right through their wickedness. He says, this
is a religious matter. If he's the king of the Jews,
this is a religious matter. It has nothing to do with Rome,
nothing to do with Caesar, nothing to do with the government of
Rome. You take him and you judge him according to the law of the
Jews. But they said, the Jews, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin
said, they said in the Pilate, well, it's not lawful for us
to put any man to death. Now, what hypocrisy. How many
times had they tried to stone the Lord Jesus Christ? How many
times did they try to trap Him and entangle Him? There in Luke
chapter 4, they took Him to the brow of the hill and would cast
Him off. Not to help him, but to destroy
him. What hypocrisy these men hide
behind. Oh, it's not lawful for us to
put any man to death. And yet, repeatedly, they try
to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of the old commentators
said that the Romans took away the right of the Jews to stone
anybody to death. Now, it could be, but it says
in the next verse Verse 32, and here's the reason they could
not touch him. Here is the reason they could
not stone him to death, because the scripture has signified that
he must be lifted up. That he must die a certain death,
not by stoning, but by crucifixion. That the saying of the Lord Jesus
might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death
he should die. Now, hold your place here and
find Matthew 20. Matthew 20. Now again, I would
encourage you to go back and read all the accounts here, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. Because if we put them all together,
we get the complete picture of all that was said and all that
was done. But in Matthew chapter 20, verse 17, the Lord says concerning
his death, Matthew 20, 17, And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem,
took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. the Son of Man should be betrayed
unto the chief priests, and it is described, and they shall
condemn him to death, and they shall deliver him to the Gentiles
to mock and discourage and to..." What's that word? Crucify him. You see, he must be lifted up
to fulfill all scripture. And the third day he shall rise
again. Our Lord told his disciples what
was going to happen And it comes to pass just as it's decreed. Now the Lord here, as King in
God, is in total control of everything that's going on. By His sovereign
power and His sovereign providence, He arranges all these events
to accomplish His purpose. Let me show you this again and
turn to the book of Acts. The book of Acts chapter 4. The
Lord is no helpless victim. He's holy God and King before
these defiled men and He's bringing all this to pass. By his purpose, all things are
according to his counsel and his will. Look at Acts chapter
4 verse 25, Who by the mouth of the servant David said, Why
did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The
kings of the earth stood up, the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord, against his Christ, for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, Pontius
Pilate, the Gentile, the people of Israel, were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand, thy counsel, determined before
to be done." All things that happened that day happened on
purpose. The Lord Jesus Christ was in
total control. He must be crucified. He must
die. The Scriptures declare that He
would fulfill all things spoken of Him. Turn back to John chapter
3. John chapter 3. You remember
the story of the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness?
Those who were bitten and looked to that brazen serpent were healed.
And it says here in John chapter 3, as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. He must be lifted up. Why? Turn to John chapter 12. John
chapter 12 verse 31, now is the judgment of this world, now shall
the prince of this world be cast out and I, if I be lifted up
from the earth will draw all, and the word M-E-N has been supplied,
I will draw all unto me, this he said signifying what death
he should die, drawing all the elect of God unto him, being
lifted up. Our sacrifice for sin you see
all this that the scripture might be fulfilled now back to John
18 33 then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and they
called for the Lord Jesus and Pilate said in him art thou the
king of the Jews birth 34 and the Lord answered him saith thou
this thing of thyself Is this what you really think? Is this
what you really believe? Or are you just saying that because
others said that I am the king? Art thou king? The Lord answers
the question, I am the king. I am the king. Now, be sure of
this. The Lord Jesus Christ knows our
heart. He knows whether we regard Him
as our God, our Savior, and as our King. He knows. I don't know. He does. He knows. He knows our thoughts
are far off. He knew what was in Pilate's
heart. He knew that Pilate did not honor him as God and King. But he knows our heart. He knows
our thoughts. Remember in Hebrews 13, all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Be sure of this, the Lord knows
whether we're trusting Him for all of salvation or whether we
believe Him or not and trusting Him as God and as our Savior
and as our King. You know the Lord Jesus Christ,
if He's not your Lord, God, and King, He's not your Savior. Now listen to me. If He's not
your God and Lord and Absolute King, He's not your Savior. When old brother Rob Barnard
came to Ashland in 1950, preaching the gospel of the Lordship of
Christ. When he came to Ashland in 1950,
the young preacher, 24 years old, named Henry Mahan, came
to Ashland and hit the city in April 1950, when Barnard came
to town, Brother Henry came to town on the same day. And Barnard
would say, he said in that meeting, don't tell me who your Savior
is, tell me who your Lord is. Tell me who your King is. If
He's not your King, He's not your Savior. That's the issue. That's the issue that day and
the issue this day. Look at verse 35. And Pilate
answered and said, I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew. Am I a Jew, rather, question.
Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. What have you done? What
is your crime? I'm not interested in Pilate
saying the Roman governor. I'm not interested in your religion.
I'm not even interested in your ministry or your law. Your own
people have rejected you. It does say in John chapter 1,
he came into his own and his own received him not. Remember? What have you done, Pilate is
saying, to stir up such turmoil and hatred against yourself from
your own people? What did the Lord Jesus Christ
do? He healed the sick, cleansed
the lepers, raised the dead, fed the hungry, and they didn't
mind that. But what got him in trouble,
he said that I am God. I am your king. I am your God. You must answer to me. The Lord
Jesus Christ told them the truth. It says down here in verse 37,
to this cause, to this end was I born. I came into the world
that I should bear witness unto the truth. Unto the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ told them
the truth. He is the Christ. He is God.
He is the King. The natural man's response to
that is still the same. We will not have this man to
reign over us. You remember, look in John 19
verse 13. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, He brought forth Jesus and sat down in the judgment
seat in a place that is called Pavement, but in the Hebrew,
Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover, and it was the sixth hour, and he said to the
Jews, Behold your king! Now here's the natural man's
response. The carnal mind is still enmity
against the king, God our king. They cried out, Away with him!
Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate said unto
them, Shall I crucify your king? Then the chief priest answered
and said, We have no king but Caesar. What an indictment against
them. What an indictment. Now look
at verse 36 in our text, John 18. The Lord answered and said, verse
36, and here's the key, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom
were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should
not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from
here. The Lord does not deny that He
is the King, that He has a kingdom, but He says clearly it's not
a earthly kingdom, it is a spiritual kingdom. My kingdom is not of
this world. You remember our Lord said in
Matthew 16, I will build my church, I will build my kingdom, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The Lord's kingdom
is in this world, but it's not of this world. Therefore, the
means and method to establish this kingdom are not carnal and
fleshly, but rather spiritual. We read in the scripture, for
the weapons of our warfare, that is the ministry of the gospel,
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. You see, the Lord's kingdom is
a spiritual kingdom, ruling over the hearts and minds of his people.
And his people, his church, they love. Don't you love his kingship,
his lordship? You see, we're born into this
spiritual kingdom. by the will of God, of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth. We're born into this
spiritual kingdom by the power of God. God is God who saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
work, but according to his own purpose and grace. And we're
born into this spiritual kingdom, not only by the will of God,
the power of God, but by the spirit of God regenerating us
and making us new creatures in Christ. No wonder the Lord said
to Nicodemus to enter into this spiritual kingdom, you must be
born into this kingdom. You remember what he said? Except
a man be born again, he can't see, he can't understand anything
of this kingdom. And except a man be born again,
he can't enter into the kingdom of God. You must be born again. You see, this is a spiritual
kingdom. And we don't enter into this
spiritual kingdom by fleshly, carnal means. It's a spiritual
kingdom. And the Lord is king in this
kingdom. Now look at verse 37. Pilate
therefore said unto Ammar, Thou a king then. And the Lord answered, Thou sayest
that I am a king, and you're right, to this end was I born. For this cause came I, I love
those two words, to this end, this purpose, and this cause,
to the glory of God, came I into this world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth, everyone that is of the truth, heareth
my voice." And Pilate, with sarcastic sarcasm in his heart, vileness
in his heart, he says to the Lord, what is truth? He was looking truth dead in
the face. And so dead and so blind, he did not realize that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. Pilate's conclusion If
you have a kingdom, you must be a king. You're right. He is King. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is King in His Kingdom. In this spiritual kingdom, the
Lord Jesus Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King in His Kingdom. To this end was I born, for this
cause came I into this world. To this end, to this purpose,
Christ both died and rose and revived, that He might be Lord
of the living and the dead in this spiritual kingdom of the
Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is prophet,
priest, and king. He's a prophet of God, promised
by God that would come to declare all the truth and reveal the
way of salvation to represent God to us. You remember the Lord said to
Moses, I will raise him up a prophet from among the brethren like
unto thee, and I'll put my word in his mouth, and he shall speak
unto them all that I shall command him. The Lord Jesus Christ is
God's prophet with the word of truth, with the word of life. Turn back here to John 12 verse
49. To bear the Lord Jesus as a prophet
came to bear witness unto the truth. Everything he said was
absolute truth. John 12, 49. For I have not spoken
of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me commandment,
what I should say and what I should speak. He is the prophet of God
to reveal unto us the way of God. And Christ is the way. He's not only the prophet, but
the priest. The great high priest. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
priest of God to represent us to the Father. To give His life
for the sheep with the only true sacrifice for sin. Turn back
to John chapter 10, just a moment. John chapter 10. The Lord Jesus
is that Lamb of God. He is that true sacrifice, the
only sacrifice for sin. In John chapter 10 verse 15,
Had the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father. I lay down
my life for the sheep. other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring, they shall hear my voice,
there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father
love me, because I lay down my life." Talking about dying for
our sin. He's not only the priest, but
he's the sacrifice. No man take it from me, no man
takes my life, I lay it down on myself, I have power to lay
it down, I have power to take it again. This commandment. have
I received in my Father." He dies by the decree of God. No
one could touch him. Remember Pilate said to him at
one time, Pilate, he said, don't you know that I have power to
crucify you or I have power to let you go? Remember what the
Lord said? You don't have any power over
me. except that which my Father hath given to you." You see,
the Lord laid down His life for us as the great high priest,
as the sacrifice for God. We've seen that all through our
study in the book of Hebrews, where He obtained eternal redemption
for us with His own blood. And certainly, He's not only
prophet, priest, but He's our King. He's our King. King of
kings and Lord of lords. As king he rules in absolute
truth and absolute dominion. Shall not the king of all the
earth do right? Whatsoever he does is right.
Remember from Psalm 2 where God said, I've set my king. On my
holy hill Zion, and you know what he says of his king? Every
knee will bow, every tongue will confess that he's Lord to the
glory of God the Father. They will all confess that he
is king. To this end the Lord said, was
I born for this cause, for this purpose, came I into the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ, now listen to this, came as king, didn't
he? The wise men, they came that
day to Bethlehem and they said, where is he that is born king? He was king when he got here.
He didn't become king at a certain age. He was born king. He came as king, was born as
king. The Lord Jesus Christ lived as
king. You remember when the disciples
were out on that stormy sea? And the boat started taking on
water. The boat started sinking. The
Lord Jesus Christ over there taking a nap. And Peter and John
and James, they run over there and they wake the Lord Jesus
Christ up. And he said, why are you so fearful?
I'm the king. I have all power and all authority.
Why are you so fearful? And they said, Lord, don't you
care? The boat is going down. We're going to perish. Oh, ye
of little faith. And he rebuked the wind and the
sea, and there was a great calm. And they said, what manner of
man is this, that even the wind and the seas, they obey him? He's king. You see, he was born
as king. He lived as king. And not only
that, he died as king, didn't he? Pilate wrote a title and
put it on the cross and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth the King
of the Jew. I like the way that's written.
Did you notice how that's written in the scripture there? All capital
case. Uppercase. King. I guess if it was written, Pilate
didn't want to make any mistake about it. You write it all in
capital letters. He is King. King. As king in his spiritual kingdom,
he has a throne of absolute dominion. You remember what Isaiah said
when he saw the Lord high and lifted up sitting upon a throne? He does according to His will
in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of this earth
none can stay His hand or say unto Him, Lord God, what doest
Thou? He has an absolute throne. A
king has an absolute throne. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
an absolute throne of dominion and power, but thank God it's
also a throne of absolute mercy and grace. In Hebrews 4 he says,
Come unto me, come boldly to the throne of grace, a throne
of grace, that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need." When He purged, put away our sin, He sat down
on the throne of mercy, that He might be merciful unto His
people. Secondly, as King in His kingdom,
He has a people. A king has to have some subject. Doesn't he have a kingdom? As
king in his kingdom, the Lord has a people given unto him, given of God. You remember in
John 6, all that the Father had given to me, they'll come to
me, and those that come to me, I will and know, wise, cast out.
He has a people given unto him to love them, to bless them,
to provide over them, and to save them by his grace. As king
in his kingdom, every enemy will bow unto him. Every enemy, let's
turn and read this one more time. Psalm 110, Psalm 110. As king
in his kingdom, every enemy will bow unto him. made to bow and confess that
He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. In Psalm 110, the
Lord, that is Jehovah, said unto my Lord, that is the Lord Jesus
Christ, sit thou at my right hand, that's the throne of grace,
the throne of glory, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou, as king he rules in
the midst of thine enemies. And thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power, in the beauty of holiness, from the
womb of the morning thou hast to do of thy youth. He is king
in his kingdom. You know what? His people in
his kingdom who've been born in that kingdom his people will
hear him he said my sheep hear my voice I know them and they
follow me lastly the Lord Jesus Christ bought this kingdom with
his own blood You see, we had sold ourselves into sin. We were
in bondage to sin, under the judgment of the law. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, as our King, out of love to us, bought us
with His own blood, redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us. Look what it says in the last
part of verse 37. John 18, 37. Thou sayest that I am king, to
this end was I born, for this cause came I into the world,
that I should bear witness unto the truth. Now watch this. Everyone
that is of the truth, they hear my voice. Let's close by looking
at one scripture here. I've got written down here, John
8, 47. Let's turn back and take a look
at that. I said a moment ago, the Lord said, My sheep hear
My voice, I know them and they follow Me. In John 8, 47, is the Lord Jesus Christ your
King, your God and Savior? Look at John 8, 47. He that is
of God heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because
you're not of God. To the believer, the Lord Jesus
Christ is everything. He is my God. He is my King. He is my Lord. He is my wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And the sheep
of Christ, they love to have it so, don't they?