The Authority of King Jesus - The Davidic Covenant Part 2

[0:00] I'm going to read in Matthew 28, starting at verse 9. And after verse 9 and 10, we're going to skip to verse 16.

[0:11] This is God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, and sufficient word. It's God's very own word for you, his people. After I'm done reading, I'll say this is the word of the Lord.

[0:23] If you receive it that way, you can say thanks be to God. Matthew 28, verse 9. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, Rejoice.

[0:37] So they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. This is the risen Lord appearing to his followers. And then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid.

[0:50] Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. Now please look at verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went away to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.

[1:05] When they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted. Verse 18. And when Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

[1:20] Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

[1:34] And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

[1:50] This green grass that you have your feet on will soon fade in a couple months. These beautiful flowers all around us, they will fade as well. But this is the word of the Lord that will endure forever.

[2:03] Let's pray. Lord, will you please speak to your people.

[2:15] And to those that you will call. And to those that need to hear truth today. Please speak in a powerful way, Lord. Illuminate the word that you've revealed by your Holy Spirit.

[2:27] Amen. Amen. I want to talk to you today about the King of Kings. Jesus is the King.

[2:42] All authority has already been given to Him. Amen. And it may be harder for us to receive this glorious truth that Jesus is the King.

[2:53] Because we live in a democracy. In a democracy after a few centuries, the virtues that have been commonly held, very quickly those virtues go mad. And get pushed to extremes.

[3:05] And end up turning the moral law of God upside down in the minds of fallen people. But Jesus is King. And His kingdom is already in effect.

[3:18] If you visit a more ancient country than ours, and you go to visit a palace, you'll be able to see in the architecture, the way that that city developed. Wherever the palace of the King is, around that palace, you'll see mansions.

[3:32] All the noblemen wanting to be as close as they could to the King. And those who can afford to be that close in the capital where the King would go to hunt, more in the countryside.

[3:43] There's the retreat palace. The wealthy of that region will try to build their homes and their estates as close as they can to the King. If you're close to the King, you share in the status.

[3:55] You share in that citizenship of the kingdom. It's hard for us to understand this in our modern society. Even before us, during World War II, C.S. Lewis observed, where men are forbidden to honor a king, they honor millionaires, athletes, and film stars instead.

[4:18] For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served. Deny it food, and it will gobble up poison. Do you understand what C.S. Lewis was writing?

[4:31] Your spiritual nature needs to worship a king. And if you deny that to your soul, your soul will gobble up poison instead. If you don't worship the King of Kings, you will worship an idol.

[4:50] Unless you worship King Jesus, you will be giving your soul poison. Listen, He alone is the King of Kings. And He has declared in verse 18 of our sermon text, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

[5:10] So for today's sermon text, your expectation, it's really that phrase, verse 18, that I want to open up for us today. The authority of King Jesus.

[5:20] First, let's understand what type of authority. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

[5:33] It's all of the authority that was promised to David. And through further revelation, long after David was dead and buried. And it's all bound up in what we've described last week as the Davidic covenant.

[5:48] The name of David shows up in the New Testament in many places, but nowhere more than in the book of Matthew. 16 times is David mentioned in the book of Matthew. More than anywhere else in the New Testament.

[5:59] I know we're just jumping into this book as part of our theme and series. But what you need to know about the book of Matthew, it's one of the four gospels.

[6:09] Every gospel has a different audience and a different purpose. During the Middle Ages, when the church was illiterate, they would use art to depict the themes of books of the Bible and of Bible stories.

[6:22] John was depicted, as we saw, as an eagle. It soars. The divine theology in the book of John is so high and elevated. Luke was depicted as an ox, which is the head among the bovines.

[6:36] And it was the sacrificial system that was focused in Luke. So in Luke, we get detailed accounts of how perfect Christ is as the final sacrifice to do away with the blood of animals.

[6:49] In the Gospel of Mark, it's the shortest. It's very fast-paced. And the word immediately is always used to show the fast pace. It's like a galloping lion.

[7:00] And that's the image associated with the Gospel of Mark, is a lion. Well, what about Matthew? And the image for Matthew is a man from heaven, or a messenger that's divine.

[7:16] It's been depicted like an angel, showing the heavenliness of this messenger, but the face is the face of a man. Do you see the point? Jesus Christ, God Himself, became a man.

[7:29] Not just any man. He became the man that was promised in the covenant, associated with the name of David. All authority has been given to me, Jesus says.

[7:42] Earlier in the book of Matthew, Matthew 8, 9, a centurion from the Roman Empire had used that exact same word. And he told Jesus, I am a man under authority.

[7:53] In other words, the power that I have, the might of my army, it's only as far as it's been given to me by Caesar himself. I'm a man under authority. But with that authority, the centurion said, the soldiers under me will do whatever I command.

[8:08] If I say go, they go. That's the same word Jesus uses to say, all authority has been given to Him. Authority.

[8:19] It's the might, the strength, the force, the jurisdiction, the magistrate of Jesus. It's the rule that He has over His government. It's the right and power of Him whose will and commands must be submitted to and obeyed by others.

[8:37] Just like the centurion in the Roman army. That's the type of authority Jesus is claiming. I want to walk through four ways that this authority is given to Jesus.

[8:49] First, He is the King. And He has all the authority promised to this royal Davidic line from within national Israel. He is now the risen, glorified man.

[9:02] And as He ascends into heaven, in the same passage, He's raising up, blessing His disciples, promising the Holy Spirit. He is now lifted up to show that He's the one fulfilling all of those forever promises of a throne that will last and never end and will endure for every generation to come.

[9:21] Would you turn in your book of Matthew? I want to walk through several ways that David is associated with what Christ fulfills. Turn back to Matthew chapter 1. In the introduction to each of the four Gospels, there's a different focus.

[9:35] What is the focus in the book of Matthew? Matthew chapter 1, verse 1. Well, He tells us very clearly. He says, this is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

[9:48] So He's interested in the exact bloodline of Jesus. And notice how Jesus is described. Jesus Christ, the son of David. So He comes from this royal line of David.

[10:02] King Jesus also has authority as God's conquering warrior. He is coming on His mission on earth to drive back Satan and to undo the curse of sin.

[10:14] Turn next to Matthew 9. Just a few pages forward. Matthew 9, verse 27. We read of two blind men that start to follow Jesus as He's on this mission pushing back the power of Satan and of darkness.

[10:32] And these men, like many others, they cry out to Jesus and look at what they say. Son of David, have mercy on us. Let me give you just one more example.

[10:42] Turn to Matthew 15, verse 22. Matthew 15, 22. In Matthew 15, 22, a woman from Canaan came from that region and cried out to Jesus saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

[11:04] My daughter is severely demon-possessed. She's calling on the authority that Jesus has, as the royal king from the line of David who's conquering and advancing the kingdom of heaven and pushing back the powers of darkness.

[11:20] Number three, King Jesus has all the authority of the long-expected Messiah. Messiah means anointed one. David was anointed by Samuel and the king was to always be anointed, receiving this power from God to rule over God's people.

[11:37] Now look at Matthew 21, verse 9. The long-expected Messiah, the anointed one. Matthew 21, verse 9. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David.

[12:08] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. This is what the crowds cry out, recognizing this is the anointed Messiah, the promised one, the Son of David.

[12:21] But look at the reaction of those ruling in power in verse 15. When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that Jesus did and the children crying out in the temple, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant.

[12:36] Jesus came and his own recognized him as the promised Messiah, the long-expected anointed one. And fourth, King Jesus has all authority as God.

[12:52] He has the authority of God himself in the flesh, fully God, now fully man, to rule as king over all. See, David and the promised kings of Israel were man, and God was to be the king of Israel.

[13:06] But in this Davidic covenant, we're told that it will be a man from this line of David. And this would be God himself in the flesh fulfilling his own covenant. Look at Matthew 22, verse 41.

[13:22] Matthew 22, verse 41. Matthew 22, verse 41. Matthew 22, verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What do you think about the Christ?

[13:40] Whose son is he? And they said to him, The son of David. And he said to them, How does then David... I'm sorry.

[13:51] Jesus said to them, How then does David in the Spirit, he's referring to Psalm 2, call him Lord? If David calls him Lord, how is he his son?

[14:02] Jesus brings before them this mystery that unless the Holy Spirit illuminated and God accomplished it, they could never make sense of this. This promised Messiah, this anointed one, David himself would call Lord.

[14:18] The anointed Messiah would be God himself coming into the line of David. So Jesus fulfilling this is claiming the authority of God himself, who David would call Lord.

[14:30] Lord. In the Gospel of Matthew, we see Jesus time and again driving out demons, pushing back the powers of darkness.

[14:42] See, the spiritual battle has existed as long as sin entered God's creation. What changed at the Incarnation is that this spiritual battle that's taking place in the heavenly realm was brought to earth.

[14:55] Christ, who had been at war with sin and Satan in the spiritual realm. He took on flesh. He was incarnate. And the forces of Satan in the demonic realm are fighting him now in the flesh.

[15:10] In Matthew 9, 6, Jesus heals a man and he says, so that you can know that the Son of Man has power. It's the same word as authority on earth to forgive sins.

[15:24] And for this reason, I say, get up and walk. King Jesus has the authority of the Davidic covenant. The King of Kings now in the flesh.

[15:36] The man, the divine man coming to fulfill the promise. So that's the type of authority Jesus claims. Now, what does he have authority over?

[15:48] Authority over what? He says in our sermon text, it's Matthew 28, verse 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

[16:00] Authority over what? Over heaven and earth. Well, in Genesis 1, 1, that same phrase is used, that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

[16:13] God created the ground and the sky. He created the land and the water. And so as God the Son, Jesus Christ already held all that authority as creator.

[16:26] We read in John 1, 3 that through Christ all things were made. But the heavens also refer to the spiritual realm. The heavens refer to that invisible realm in which our souls and our spirits exist.

[16:42] In Psalm 123, we read that God dwells in the heavens. In Ephesians 2, verse 2, we're told that the prince of the power of the air, Satan, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, he's in the power of the air, so to speak.

[17:01] So this is referring to heaven as the spiritual realm. In Philippians 2, 9, we read that God has now exalted Christ and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

[17:15] Listen. Of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[17:28] In the finished work of Jesus Christ, He has all power in the spiritual realm. He has all power in the heavenlies, in the air, in the realm of the spirits.

[17:40] but He also has all power on earth right now. Jesus is king over all the earth. He's Lord of all. He says that all the authority over heaven and earth belongs to King Jesus and He's fulfilling what was prophesied in Daniel 4, verse 34, that His dominion is an everlasting dominion and He does according to His will in the army of heaven, listen, and among the inhabitants of the earth.

[18:12] King Jesus rules heaven absolutely. King Jesus rules over earth right now by grace. but there's a day that's coming where His absolute reign in the spiritual realm will be just so absolute on earth as it is in heaven.

[18:29] Now is the day for King Jesus to call sinners like us, poor and wretched, to come to Him by grace. Now is Jesus portrayed for us with His arms open wide, welcoming any sinner.

[18:44] Come to Jesus now while His rule is gracious. There will be a day when every knee will bow, not in humble contrition beholding His loveliness, but in a conquering way when His absolute rule over the spiritual realm will be realized on earth.

[19:03] And that day it will be too late to cry for mercy. Now is the time of mercy. Some of you need this reminder. If God is so merciful to a sinner who doesn't want to hear His word, who doesn't want to pray and sing to Him, how much more merciful is He still to you who believe in Him, who love Him?

[19:28] Remember, He rules over you now by grace. Be encouraged, be comforted by that truth. Well, we've seen what type of authority, we've seen authority over what.

[19:42] Next, authority to whom and by whom. Matthew 28, verse 18 says that all authority has been given to me.

[19:57] Who gave it? Who received it? Given means to be granted, to have something put into one's hands, have something delivered over to you, bestowed to you as a gift, can mean to be appointed as an office.

[20:17] It's been given. In Matthew 4 and 9, we read that all things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. And that was the words that Satan used to tempt Jesus in the wilderness.

[20:32] I, Satan, will give you all the things on the earth that you want. And our Lord Jesus, hearing this, trusted instead in God's word.

[20:44] Satan's head now is crushed. But Satan is still allowed to terrorize anyone outside of Christ on this earth. In Ephesians 6, we read of rulers in the darkness over this present evil age.

[20:58] These are principalities and powers. A spiritual host of wickedness that continues to cause damage in the spiritual realm. But, Jesus says to His church, to the apostles, through them we get the New Testament and we receive this, that all authority has already been given to Him by the Father.

[21:22] So this means God the Father representing the one holy triune Creator has given the authority to Christ. The perfect, righteous, risen, and glorified mediator.

[21:37] Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man. God the Son who took on a body forever. He has received all authority from God. When did this happen?

[21:48] Christ received this authority at His resurrection. In Matthew 28, Christ has not yet ascended to the right hand of the Father in His glorified body. He's still with His disciples on earth, but it's already been given to Him.

[22:02] So this authority over heaven and earth was given to Jesus when the Father rose Him from the dead, when the Spirit brought that breath back into His lungs, and when Christ took up His own life again just as He had laid it down.

[22:15] At His resurrection, Jesus rose victorious. Ever since His resurrection, Jesus now holds the keys of life and death. King Jesus has already crushed the ancient serpent's head.

[22:29] He has already broke the bonds of sin over His people. He's already killed death. The Son fulfilled that covenant of works that the Lord had given to Adam and Adam failed to keep.

[22:46] The triune God has already fulfilled the eternal covenant of redemption that God in His freedom counseled Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to redeem a people for Himself before the foundations of the world.

[23:00] and God the Father now has given our Lord Jesus Christ the reward of His obedience. He has blessed the suffering servant with everything that He promised.

[23:13] So the work of the Son is finished. That means that Jesus Christ can never lose the blessings that He merited for us. It means that His place as the King of kings cannot be shaken.

[23:28] all authority has already been given to Him never to be lost. Where does your assurance come from?

[23:40] All authority in heaven and on earth has already been given to Christ for His sake alone. Nothing can take you out of His hands.

[23:51] Praise the Lord. Well, that's who gave the authority and that's who received this authority. Now, how much authority? How much authority did the Father give the Son?

[24:05] Well, it's one little word that anyone here who can read first or second graders, you can see in Matthew 28 verse 18, how much authority did God give Jesus?

[24:17] All authority has been given to me. Just as King David had all authority over national Israel, over all the enemies that God would deliver to Him at the edge of every single border of the nation.

[24:33] In the same way, Jesus has all authority over His kingdom. The word all, every authority, any authority, the whole authority.

[24:44] There's no authority not given to Jesus. It's the same word, all, that's used in Matthew 3.15, that Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness.

[24:57] That same word is what Jesus now says, all authority has been given to me. There's not a single act of righteousness God did not fulfill in Jesus Christ.

[25:07] And all that allness, that fullness of His righteousness, He claims to say, the same amount of authority is what I have now. This is such good news. Ephesians 1.21, we read that God has placed our Lord Jesus Christ above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.

[25:34] And that God the Father put all things under the feet of Jesus and gave Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, as head over all things in the church.

[25:46] That's the gift we receive from the Father. It's Christ. with all authority given to you as your head, as your king. Just as David took all the land of Israel, he took it by conquest.

[26:02] The mighty men rose up, they charged with David. The whole nation pushed back these rebellious ones who hated God and preferred idols. He pushed them back by conquest.

[26:13] And so our Lord Jesus, He takes over your soul and mine by conquest. He owns your whole life as king. If you are united to Him, He has purchased you by His blood.

[26:29] There is no corner of your soul for the lusts of your flesh to hide their head. He owns all of you. King Jesus is Lord of all.

[26:42] That's how much authority the Father has given Him. The last question I want to bring to you before I invite you to respond is authority given for what purpose?

[26:58] For what purpose does Christ have this authority? All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth for what purpose?

[27:11] In Luke 22 verse 29, Jesus sets this pattern. He says that the Father promised to bestow the Son a kingdom. And now Jesus turns to the disciples and says, now disciples, I bestow to you a kingdom just as my Father bestowed a kingdom to me.

[27:32] That word bestow a kingdom. In the Greek it's to covenant. My Father covenanted to me a kingdom and in the same way I am covenanting a kingdom to you, my church.

[27:43] one observer pointed out that as the Father made this covenant of redemption with the Son, so now Jesus representing the covenant of grace to His people, He covenants in a binding way that He fulfills fully for you.

[28:00] And in John 20 verse 21 He says, as the Father sent me so I am sending you. Do you get the pattern? the mission of God is mediated through Christ.

[28:11] As the Father initiated this ministry of covenanting of people through the Son, the Son continues this ministry through His church. The kingdom of God's gracious covenant is extended to all through the church.

[28:27] Our Lord Jesus Christ shares His authority with His church. Authority for what? To make disciples as you go. Verse 19 Go and make disciples.

[28:38] Our Lord Jesus shares His authority with His church to call all disciples to Christ from all the nations. Verse 19 Our Lord Jesus shares His authority with His church to baptize disciples.

[28:53] Give those whom I have called the outward sign of their inward union to me. And our Lord Jesus Christ shares His authority with His church to give His name to His people.

[29:06] Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let them be assured that they are adopted into my family. They belong to me. The church has the authority to do that in the name of Jesus.

[29:22] Our family adopted one of our children and that's a day we'll never forget. It's a renaming ceremony. From this day on this precious little child's name will be this.

[29:35] And this represents our family. This child belongs to this household. This child is blood of our blood and flesh of our flesh. That's what happens in a baptism.

[29:48] The name of Jesus. The name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the King of Kings with the authority the Father gave Him and He extends to the church is put on a child of God.

[30:02] Your identity is secure in Him forever. In Christ we are blood of blood and flesh of flesh because we are united in Christ Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ shared His authority with His church to teach disciples spirit-empowered obedience.

[30:22] Amen. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. The logic flowing from the theme of authority is very clear. If you're a citizen of the kingdom you're near to the king.

[30:39] You're noble. You're welcome among His courts and His garden. Citizens love to obey their king. And when your king is so gracious like Jesus His law is a blessing.

[30:54] His rules over you are a joy to receive that. I just get to be in your kingdom. What a blessing. Philippians 3 20 and 21 Our citizenship is in heaven.

[31:07] You already have it. And from it we await a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.

[31:22] So that's the purpose of this authority is to extend His kingdom through His church. Jesus is already King of kings.

[31:34] Amen. He rules with all authority over heaven and over earth. So before you leave today respond.

[31:46] When you behold the risen Jesus Christ who holds all authority you too will do like His followers. We saw in verse 9 of our sermon text.

[31:58] When you behold Him you will run up to Him and you will hold Him by the feet and you will worship Him. King Jesus also says to you do not fear but rejoice.

[32:14] He is King so you can rejoice. He says observe all things that I your King command you by what strength by what power for how long by my strength says Jesus by my power until I return.

[32:35] And here's the promise in verse 20 for lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. and look at how He's been true to His promise through every century of the church.

[32:52] Your spirit will be served. If you deny your spirit food it will gobble up poison. Don't deny your soul the worship it was created to enjoy.

[33:07] King Jesus is worthy. He is worthy. worthy. We sing that He is worthy of all blessing and honor and glory.

[33:20] The good news is you're not just near His palace. You're not just on the suburbs trying to be close to the kingdom of God. You're inside.

[33:31] You're in it. You're already a citizen. You're behind the gates and the walls. You're secure with Jesus ruling over you. And He's gone to prepare a place for you in His Father's house.

[33:44] And He sealed this covenant promise of grace to you with His own blood. And He says I can't wait for that day when we're going to drink and celebrate at this feast together. His only is the name above all names.

[33:59] Jesus alone is worthy to be praised. Enjoy peace under His authority now. And praise Him. Praise how majestic He is.

[34:11] How mighty. And how great is our God in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray in response to who He is. Let's pray in response to who He is.