Jesus, Our King

Well, before we look into the Word of God, let's pray. Let's ask God to open our hearts to the truth of His Word. I hope that when we come to this part of our worship, that you are eager to hear what God has to say. So let's pray that He would minister to us now. Father, we do pray that You would minister to us. We pray that we'd hear Your voice in the text of Scripture. that all of this would not mean, Lord, just a mere story to us, but would reveal to us who Jesus really is.

Father, as we look into your word, help us to see the glory of the rule of Christ. Help us to see that he is our king, a king like no other. Lord, do that, we pray, for your glory and our good. In Jesus' name, amen. on that first Palm Sunday, we all know this is Palm Sunday, we know where it comes from, but on that first Palm Sunday, so many centuries ago, the thousands of pilgrims coming into Jerusalem were mad, mad with excitement, because the King had arrived.

As they moved through the streets with Jesus in their midst, they shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David. Now that meant something. Son of David, what is that? That means the promised king, Hosanna, to the promised king that God promised to us so many years ago. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Even the children joined in the praise as they cried out in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David. But within a week, Jesus was dead. and three days later they said he was raised from the dead and then a little under two months later he disappeared and the disciples said well he went to heaven he ascended were the were the people in Jerusalem wrong that day had the king arrived that's a good question so we need to to figure out don we well before we answer that question let review quickly some of the things that that we looked at so far in this month We seen so far that Jesus alone is the mediator between God and man And as part of that office of mediator, he has three positions, prophet, priest, and king. As a prophet, he reveals God's will to us, his people. as a priest he reconciles God to us by his sacrifice and his intercession on our behalf but then scripture also makes it abundantly clear that as our mediator Jesus is our king that the people on that day weren't wrong Jesus is indeed our king and that's what this Sunday is all about and as king he has been invested with power for the benefit of God's people he has been invested with power from God the Father and he exercises that power for us.

Our forefathers in the faith saw that scriptural truth and in as we've noted before in that second London confession of faith of 1689 wrote these words because we have turned away from God and are utterly unable to return to him and also because we need to be rescued and rendered secure from our spiritual adversaries we need his kingly office to convince subdue draw sustain deliver and preserve us until we finally enter his heavenly kingdom well if that's an accurate statement then jesus is a great king and those people were right on that day jesus is king but they didn't quite understand how he was king and that's what we want to look at today because if our if our baptist forefathers are right then he is in the business right now of rescuing us and securing us from our adversaries our spiritual adversaries if they're right then he is a king who convinces subdues draws sustains delivers and preserves us until we do reach the heavenly kingdom how does he do that if this is the king that we have how does he do that well the first thing that we have to see is that Jesus is invested with royal power and for that turn to Acts chapter 2 see Jesus invested with royal power Acts chapter 2 here the background Jesus has ascended He gone to heaven according to the disciples And now here they are gathered together when suddenly the Holy Spirit rushes in on them And they go out into the streets and they start preaching, they start speaking in the languages of the people that are all around them. These pilgrims have come from all over the world. And so they're speaking to them in their native languages as they have arrived at Jerusalem.

And then Peter stands up and he preaches. The first sermon in this new age, this age in which God has formed this new kind of people. And he talks to them about Jesus. And as you go through the sermon, we come to chapter 2, verse 22. And here he says to them, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence, as he quotes from Psalm 16. And then he says to them, brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day, being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh see corruption This Jesus God raised up and of that we all are witnesses being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Peter makes an incredible announcement here. They all are familiar with this Jesus.

They're the ones who put him on a cross. They're the ones who said he's a blasphemer. They're the ones who had said that he deserves to die a criminal death. and Peter makes this incredible announcement that contradicts it all this Jesus has been resurrected and exalted to the place of authority that place of authority is God's right hand and by that action God has fulfilled the promise that he had made to David that he would put one of his descendants on the throne if you look back at in the old testament in second chronicles chapter seven you see the story of how David wants to build God a temple a house and Nathan comes to him and says God doesn't want you to build this house but God has said he will build your house that is your dynasty and on the throne will sit one of your sons forever he will sit on the throne that rules the people of God and so Peter says God's fulfilled that promise right now he's fulfilled that promise by raising Jesus from the dead and exalting him to the place of the highest authority at the right hand of God and he thus can and this is what he concludes in verse 36 let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you crucified he says basically that God has declared him Lord that is God and Christ that is King Messiah, anointed one, the promised one.

By this action he has declared him to be both God and the ruler that was promised to David. Jesus is now invested with power and is ruling as king. Someone might object, but it wasn't Jesus ruling before he came as the second person of the Trinity before he became man. Was he not ruling? Was he not already ruling? Psalm 103 verse 19 says, the Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all.

Yeah, Jesus had already been reigning over all of the created order, but now his kingship is invested with a new form and administered for a new end. It's got a new form. What is that form? It's not just God, it's now man. The God-man. He has an authority recognized by all.

It's visible now. Here he is. He's a man. It's visible as he has taken on human form. And it is the power to rule for the glory of God and to bring God's elect to salvation. It is not just this ruler that came to make everything so nice for everyone.

It's a ruler who came to change the very quality of his kingdom, to change his subjects. He isn't just coming to rule, he's coming to change his subjects so that they willingly submit to his rule. And Jesus has been given this visible authority because of his redemptive work, because of what he did at the cross. This is why he has the throne. This is what they had not understood, even though the Old Testament and certain parts talks about that.

They did not understand that before the crown had to come the cross, before the reigning had to come the suffering. By the way, have you ever wondered why Jesus says in John chapter 5, this always fascinated me. In John chapter 5, Jesus says to the Pharisees, look, if you'd read the Bible, you'd know it was me. and and and i remember as a young person looking at that and saying okay jesus i hear what you're saying but i i don't see it either how is it you can read the old testament and see you here's one way here's one way when you look at david's true king right the people were looking for a mighty powerful king who conquered their enemies right who was that that was saul man he was a he was a massive guy he was a great strategist he could beat up the Philistines up and down the place, right?

They thought, this is the guy. And he turned out not to be the guy. Who did turn out to be the king? This runt named David He wasn very tall evidently from what you can put together I mean when Samuel went to look for this king he looking at all the sons of Jesse and he says do you have any more sons? Because God doesn't say any of these. And Jesse's like, like, what, like, David?

Yeah, I got another boy, but, you know, he's out in the pasture. You want David? Right? Who would ever think of David? But here's the point I'm trying to make. what happened to David before he ever gained the crown he suffered for years chased by Saul all over the place what does that say God's king ascends the throne but not before he suffers right they should have seen that they should have seen things like that and so it is that the true king of of god the christ of god suffered and as a result of the suffering he is given the place above all names isn't that what philippians 2 says i'm going to turn there with me philippians chapter 2 he has he has this place of authority he has this rule he has been invested with power from god because of what he's done on the cross.

Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 5. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. You do not think this equality that he possessed with God, he is God, it is not something, this glory was something to be held on to at all costs, But he made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Note, important word, therefore. Because of that, because of his redemptive work, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father because of his redemptive work therefore because he came from glory and died a shameful death because of that God has exalted him because of that he now has been invested with power to reign and to rule Because of that he is now the king You see he invested with power because he died for his people This king is not just after a kingdom that's just going to follow him reluctantly.

He's come to change the very character of his kingdom. And by the way, someday, everyone, according to this, will recognize that he has been given power and authority from God. How then does Jesus exercise the power vested in him? Well, I want you to turn to Luke chapter 6. I'm sorry, Luke chapter 1. And what you must see here is Jesus exercises his power to save his people.

All right, now Luke chapter 1, a little bit of background. Luke chapter 1 is Luke writing about all the things that happened with Jesus. You remember, Luke writes a two-volume history. In this book, he says to Theophilus, the man to whom he's writing, look, I investigated, I talked to eyewitnesses of all these things. I'm going to give you a record of what really happened, because I've interviewed the people who witnessed all these things.

And then Acts chapter 1, he says, hey, Theophilus, I wrote to you what Jesus began to do. now I'm going to the former writing Gospel of Luke was what Jesus began to do the implication being Acts is the second volume of the history of what Jesus continues to do but here he's talking about what Jesus has done he's talked to these eyewitnesses and he's talked to someone who knows the story of John the Baptist's parents Elizabeth and Zachariah you remember that Zachariah was serving in the temple when an angel appeared to him and promised that his son was going to be the forerunner of the king that was to come. He didn't believe it. He was struck dumb through the whole course of the nine months of his wife's pregnancy.

And then we find that after his son was born, he burst forth with praise in Luke chapter 1, beginning in verse 67. Let's read this and see what he says. he first talks about the one who's promised to come and then at the end he talks about his own son john the baptist we want to look at what he says about the king that's coming and his father zachariah was filled with the holy spirit and prophesied saying blessed be the lord god of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us A horn means power, okay? It means power.

When you read that, it means he's raised up this powerful instrument of salvation. Like the horn on a bull. I was up in South Dakota this weekend and was able to visit with two of my nieces who live in Iowa right nearby. And they had this bull out in the Penn Corral. And he has his horns. He has his horns coming out, right?

And we walked up there. And as we got close to him, he started putting those things through the fence, right? He wanted at us. And I stood there and looked at that and thought, that really hurt. Man, if he came at me and stuck those horns in, that would really hurt. And I could just see him lifting his head and throwing one of us, right?

That's the idea. This is powerful stuff. This horn, this powerful instrument of salvation. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Synod of David. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And then he goes on to talk about John the Baptist and his whole part in this. But let's look at what he says about this coming king. we have turned away from God and we are utterly unable to return to him that's the theme of the Bible we see it all over the place in Romans chapter 3 there is no one who seeks God no not one Isaiah says we are like sheep and we're straying the Psalms say there is no fear of God before our eyes Ephesians says that we're dead in our trespasses and sins serving the spirit of the are serving Satan and prisoners of our own desires.

There is no one who seeks God. There is no one who wants to. And this king must exert his power to conquer rebels. He has to exert his power to conquer rebels. He has to convince us of our sin and our slavery and our rebellion. Are you convinced that you were a...

Are you convinced, before you were saved, were you convinced that you were a sinner? Were you convinced that you were a slave? Were you convinced that you were rebellious? No, you didn't think you were rebellious. You thought you were the freest of all, when you're actually a slave of your desires and of sin and of Satan. But so this king has to convince us of our sin, slavery and rebellion.

He subdues our wicked hearts. He draws us to Christ. And as Zacharias says, he enables us what? That being, verse 74, that being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Verse 71, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. To show the mercy promised to our fathers.

To show us mercy. This king has to come. and he will show us mercy. He will enable us to do those things which we find impossible. He will indeed conquer hearts. He will deliver us. He will make us so that we will serve him.

He's invested with this power in order to save his people. Let me ask you this. Has this king brought you into his kingdom? Has he convinced, subdued, and drawn you? Have you found that true in your life? Have you found that this rebellious heart of yours has been convinced of its rebellion and you have now been drawn irresistibly to Jesus?

Not irresistibly in the sense of he forces you, but irresistibly in the sense of I must have him. Is that true of you? Is he drawn you so that you say I must have Christ? All that I've done before, it's all nothing. I just don't, I just want him. Has that happened? you see you cannot enter his kingdom on your terms no external profession no external profession secures admission into his kingdom remember what jesus says in matthew 7 not not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven not any exacting performance of religious ceremony some of you i don't know i don't know your hearts some of you may think you come to church and it counts with god for some reason that maybe if you just keep coming that that he'll look on you with favor I don know Maybe you think that if you do some marvelous things in the name of Jesus that you do great or some performance of something will make you right with God But Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5, For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

He raises the bar so high, no one's going to make that. no membership in any external community will gain you entrance and do not think jesus says and do not think you can say to yourselves we have abraham as our father putting their confidence in the progenitor of their race in the because they're part of god's covenant community we're covenant with god through abraham so we're okay with god you only enter that kingdom if you've been convinced of your sins subdued in your rebellion and drawn to christ so that you entrust yourself completely to him that is how this king works and you will not be in his kingdom unless those things happen he must convince you he must subdue you he must draw you and without that you have no part of him has that happened to you and if it has well then what is true of you then what is true of you you will yield entire subjection to him your reason your conscience your heart belong to this king they're no longer yours they belong to this king he becomes the object of reverence and worship the governing purpose of your life is one thing I am to serve Jesus now look I look at you say I look around here I can look at all of you and see some of you are retired I can see teachers I can see Honda employees I can see you've worked for the dentist you teach whatever it is your purpose now is to serve Jesus as your king wherever you are that you don't go to work any longer to serve you you go to work to serve Christ you moms you give yourselves to your family to serve Christ you teachers you give yourself and teachers age you give yourself in your jobs to serve Christ those of you who who are nurses who work at Honda whatever the case may be you go there with one governing purpose that you are there in the service of the King Jesus, and He is the one who sets the agenda for you. Everything you do is given and offered to this King in service to Him. No matter what it is, that's what you do. and by the way you do it willingly and joyfully that's what it means to have this this that's what it means to be a subject of this king but he doesn't just exercise his power to save us he exercises his power to protect and to sanctify his people do you see what what Zacharias says about this king you see we need to be rescued and rendered secure from our spiritual adversaries is what the confession says is that true did they get it right yeah they got it right was he says that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show mercy promise to our fathers to remember his holy covenant the oath that he swore to our father abraham to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies with might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days he has come in order to rescue and render us secure from our spiritual adversaries.

Is Zachariah talking about the people around us who hate us? Yes. But he's also talking about those powers that are behind that hatred. Satan and all that is involved with his rule. And so our king sustains us in all our conflicts with them. Do you ever feel like you're fighting a battle and it's really hard against your adversaries.

He's going to sustain you in that conflict. He's going to deliver you from those adversaries. He's going to preserve you in fear and faith. He's going to enable you to serve him, as Zacharias says, without fear, in holiness and righteousness all our days. That's what this king will do. You know what's interesting is John chapter 10.

Would you turn there? John chapter 10. This is the Good Shepherd chapter, where Jesus claims to be the Good Shepherd. And something happens that really interesting in this chapter It fascinating I think to see this It beginning in verse 22 this little section in verses 22 through 30 Here what we read At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem.

It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, now look, here's the question. how long will you keep us in suspense if you are the christ tell us plainly okay the christ the christ okay christ is not jesus last name so his mail gets to him okay christ is a title jesus the christ jesus the messiah jesus the king so they say are you going to tell us plainly if you are the king or not now notice what his response is jesus answered them verse 25 i told you and you do not believe the works that i do in my father's name bear witness about me but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me i give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand my father who has been given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand i and the father are one this is an answer to the question about his kingship and he responds by saying what i am the king and all who belong to me i will never lose we we read this oftentimes in isolation when i say when you're saved are you secure and we want to say yes we are secure we are secure because jesus and the father have us in their hands. He's drawn a picture like this.

So he'll never lose any of them. But notice this is in response to a question about whether he's the king. And his response is, yes, I am the king. And those who belong to me, I will never lose. I think our Baptist forefathers got it right. Right?

He's saying this king will not, will render us secure from our adversaries. no one will be able to snatch snatch us out of his out of his hand so as king he says i have them i'll never lose them anybody in my kingdom won't lose any of them won't lose a one of them if that's not enough the apostle paul some years later writes these words in ephesians chapter one so turn there ephesians chapter As he talks about Jesus, as he's talking about all these things that Jesus has accomplished, we're all familiar with it. He talks about our election, our adoption, our sanctification, our redemption, our forgiveness, all these things that he talks about. Our election, all those things are in chapter 1.

How we have an inheritance, we've got the Holy Spirit, and then he breaks out in thanksgiving and prayer beginning in verse 15. And when we get near the end of the chapter, boy, this is such a long sentence, right? I don't know if you realize this, but just about the whole chapter is one sentence. In English translations, they break it up a little bit, but they didn't much in the ESV.

I just can't imagine a sentence being that long. It's amazing. But anyway, let's pick it up. Verse 18, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, this is Ephesians 1 verse 18, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion above every name that is named not only in this age but in the also in the one to come so he's talked him talking about our adversaries here all these spiritual workers of darkness that's what he's talking about when he talks about rule authority power and dominion he's talking about the satanic forces and then he says this and he put, that is God, put all things under Jesus' feet and gave him his head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

That is he has given Jesus the place of rulership and is putting things under his feet Why For our benefit To the church For the church For our benefit Here is the goal of his rule. All things in the world, including evil powers, are ruled for the well-being of his subjects. He limits them. He restrains them. He even uses them for our benefit. When you look at what's happening in the world and it looks dark, know this.

All that is under the feet of Jesus and he is ruling in such a way that this will all turn out for the benefit of the church. You say, but the church is suffering all over the world. That's exactly right. And in some way, Jesus is ruling so that the church is benefited by it until that day when he is revealed in glory. in a world seemingly controlled by sin jesus overrules all for the sake of the church he is indeed one who renders us secure in the face of our adversaries what should be true of you then as his subject what should be true listen you know what should be true god's people should always be people of faith confidence and hope even when things look dark and let's face it things look dark and they're getting darker how does that affect you there's a place for mourning about that right but it should never shake your confidence because according to the scriptures god's put things under jesus feet and gave him as head over all things for our benefit to the church, for our benefit.

You see? We should be a people of faith, hope, and confidence. Does the world see that? If we are subjects of this king, the world should see a difference in us. And I think sometimes it does not because we forget that he's king. And we don know him very well as king We see Jesus oftentimes simply as the one who rescued us from hell and now we got to slug it out until we finally get there As opposed to Jesus is the king who has conquered and is ruling for our benefit. last thing see Jesus power fully manifested turn to Revelation chapter 11 Revelation chapter 11 beginning in verse 15 then the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ there's that title and of his king and of his anointed one and he shall reign forever and ever you say wait a minute wait a minute I thought you just got done making the point that Jesus rules already he does but now the rule goes up another notch in my in my um margin here um i've written something that that helps me understand this okay what about the kingdom or the reign of god there's the universal kingdom god's reigning over the world over all of creation that is god controlling the opposition and then there's God's salvific kingdom kingdom of salvation this is where Jesus redeems some of the opposition and brings them under the reign of God that's what Jesus is doing now right he secured us from our adversaries he's ruling now he's brought he's redeeming he's redeemed some of the opposition and he brings them under the reign of God One last thing Final kingdom God eliminates the opposition All right He eliminates the opposition That hasn happened yet He rendered us secure from all our adversaries but someday he will eliminate them You see, Jesus is coming with great power.

And he will finally, finally eliminate all that stands against him. This is indeed our King. The people on that first Palm Sunday were not wrong. They were not wrong. Jesus truly is the King. Jesus truly is the ruler, but is a ruler in a much greater way than they ever expected.

Because he ruled in the way he does, they thought he wasn't the King. But because of what Jesus has told us, we know he's the King. and he's ruling in a way that no one ever imagined this is our king he is the ruler and we ought to live as subjects of this great king let's pray father we are so thankful for your word we are thankful for how it opens up whole new horizons to our understanding and so that we don't just know more, but it opens up those horizons of understanding so that we have more confidence. Lord, I pray that this people in this congregation, subjects of your kingdom, would show that kind of confidence, would manifest that confidence and hope that no matter how dark things are, we, Father, will have hope and confidence in a king who rules all things and who one day will eliminate all opposition and bring to glorious fruition the kingdom that he has established.

Help us to look to Jesus with confidence, we pray. In his name, amen.