We're going to sing firstly tonight from Psalm 138. Psalm 138, that's on page 431,
and verses 1 to 5.
Thee will I praise with all my heart. I will sing praise to thee before the gods,
and worship will toward thy sanctuary. I'll praise thy name even for thy truth and kindness
of thy love, for thou thy word has magnified all thy great name above. Psalm 138, these verses 1 to 5.
Thee will I praise with all my heart.
Before the gods and worship will toward thy sanctuary.
I'll praise thy name even for thy truth and kindness of thy love, for thou thy word has magnified
all thy great name above. Thou didst me answer in the day when I to thee did cry.
And thou, my fainting soul, with strength didst strengthen inwardly.
All kings upon the earth that are shall give thee praise, O Lord.
When I say from thy mouth shall hear thy truth and faithful word.
Ye in the righteous ways of God, with gladness they shall sing.
For great's the glory of the Lord, who doth for ever be.
Now we're going to join together once again in prayer. Let's call upon the Lord in prayer.
Lord, our gracious God, we know that these words we have been singing concerning you are true,
that you have not brought us to any other conclusion, but that this is your truth
when you speak about yourself through the word.
We thank you tonight, Lord, that you have reminded us once again of the greatness that belongs to you.
The greatness that belongs to you as it belongs to no other.
The greatness by which we find ourselves in your presence, exclaiming that you alone are God and worthy of our worship.
And we thank you, Lord, for this occasion once again when we are able to come before you to worship you.
Help us at all times to count it our great privilege to come into your presence,
to be together as a people, a worshiping people, a people seeking the Lord while he is to be found
and calling upon him while he is near.
And we ask tonight, Lord, that you would meet with us.
Your promise is that you will draw near to those who draw near to you.
We pray that this may be our very experience this evening.
You know each one of us here. You know us collectively.
You know the very thoughts of our minds.
You know the anxieties of our hearts.
You know all the things that trouble us and the things that give us to be glad.
And we bless you, Lord, that in regard to all of these and every aspect of our experience,
that you minister to your people that grace which daily keeps them and daily guides them and daily feeds them.
And we ask that tonight your grace will indeed be evident to ourselves.
Lord, we thank you that as we are in your presence,
so you assure us that you take such an interest in your people as to provide for them through the gospel.
We give thanks for the fellowship of your people,
for the fellowship that your people are,
as they come together to be a people,
together brought by the Lord himself to be a people noticed in the world,
a people whose testimony it is that the Lord is their God
and that you are indeed the one to whom they are answerable
and also the one they seek to commend to the world around them.
We ask, Lord, your blessing even more than we can ask or think to do for us
and to do for us abundantly through your Holy Spirit.
We thank you that as we wait upon you,
your promise is that your Holy Spirit will take the things of Christ
and show them unto us.
And we thank you for all the times that this has happened previously in our experience.
But we pray that it will be our experience once again.
And to that end, O Lord, open up your word for us, we pray.
Open up our minds to receive it.
Take away from us all that might resist your own call upon us through the gospel.
And come once again, we pray, to melt our hearts
and to bring us into that proper, willing and loving subjection of our lives to you.
We pray for your blessing, O Lord, for all the gatherings of your people,
wherever they are in the world tonight.
We know that you have a people in such different circumstances to ours.
We pray for them as we pray for ourselves.
We pray for your church worldwide.
We pray for all, O Lord, who confess you
and seek to have that confession made known in the presence of the world,
even the presence of a hostile world from time to time.
And we pray that you would bless every effort made, Lord, by your people
to spread the gospel abroad,
to testify to you and to bring the message of Christ,
crucified and risen from the dead before a lost world.
We ask your blessing, Lord, to be with all tonight
who are engaged in different types of activities that support your cause.
We pray for those of our own number who are involved locally with such things.
We pray, Lord, for Road to Recovery, for David and his leadership of that group,
and for all who receive benefit from it.
We pray for street pastors.
We ask, Lord, for them as they go about from week to week
and meet with various people and seek to bring them help practically
and at times spiritually too.
We pray for them.
We pray for their safety.
We pray that you would keep them, Lord, from week to week.
And we ask that you would help them as they go about
such an important task in our community.
We pray that you would bless those who care for others in their illness.
We pray for our hospitals and for our care homes.
We thank you for that provision that is made for us there.
We pray for those tonight, Lord, who are ill,
those who belong to us as families or in the congregation here
and who are at this time confined through illness.
We pray for those receiving treatment,
those anticipating such in days to come.
We pray for those who have been through surgery
and those anticipating that too.
We pray, O Lord, for them and all the fears that might accompany
such times and experience in their own lives.
We ask, Lord, that even if the fears are still there,
that you would give to them the calmness of heart
that would come to trust in you and know you
and know your presence with them.
We ask, too, again for our children
and pray that you would bless them at this time
and bless all those who are parents, grandparents.
We think especially, Lord, of parents who belong to us
whose concern for their children is that they be protected
from the evil of various types that are in the world,
protected from a kind of suggested proposals that come to them,
O Lord, from different quarters that would seek to lead them away
from your truth and from walking in the ways of the Lord.
Remember them here in this congregation itself, O Lord,
and bless to them the teaching they receive in their homes,
in the church and Sunday school,
and other ways in which your own word is set before them.
We pray that you would bless all the efforts made
and all who make the effort to teach our children,
our young people, the things of the gospel.
We ask for our schools that you would bless them, too,
all whom we know of our own number,
our teachers there and head teachers.
We pray your blessing for them, O Lord, in difficult times.
We ask that you bless the Education Authority
and all others, Lord, who are involved in the well-being of our young people.
Lord, protect us, we pray, from the ways of the evil one
and grant that we may overcome him with your truth
and with the power of your truth.
Remember, too, we pray at this time our nation,
and, Lord, we ask that you would give us direction,
that you would give us to know your guidance at this time
and your blessing.
Restore to us, we pray, the years the locusts have eaten,
as your prophet said long ago.
So, we pray that all that has happened, Lord,
over many years in taking the power of the gospel
to be reduced so much in our midst,
that that would be pleasing to you, Lord, to restore.
Hear the prayers of your people in that regard.
Establish your kingdom, we pray, throughout the world,
that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Grant us now your blessing as we wait upon you here,
pardoning all our sin for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
Let's continue to praise God.
We're singing this time in Psalm 87.
Psalm number 87.
Again, it's in the Scottish Psalter, page 342.
This is a psalm, a short psalm,
that speaks of God's favor of his people, of his church.
His church is represented here by Zion and Zion's gates,
and the great and glorious future that belongs to God's people.
Upon the hills of holiness he his foundation sets.
God, more than Jacob's dwellings,
all delights in Zion's gates.
Things glorious are said of thee,
thou city of the Lord.
Rahab and Babel, I, to those that know me, will record.
And so on.
These verses of Psalm 87, to God's praise.
Amen.
Physiom 87, to all the hills of holiness.
On the hills of holiness he his foundation sets.
God, more than Jacob's dwellings, all delights in Zion's gates.
Things glorious are said of thee, thou city of the Lord.
Rehob and Abel, I to those that know me will record.
Behold him, Titus, and with it the Lamb of Palestine.
And likewise, Ethiopia, this man was born there.
And it of Zion shall be said, this man and that man there was born.
And he that is most high himself shall establish her.
When God the people writes, he'll count that this man born was there.
There be that sing and play and all my well springs in the air.
Now we have two readings of Scripture this evening.
First of all, in the book of the Revelation, chapter 19.
Read the passage there from verse 11 down to verse 21 to the end of the chapter.
And then we'll turn to 1 Corinthians 15, where we've had some studies for a time.
And reading verses 20 to 28.
So firstly, it's in Revelation, chapter 19, and from verse 11.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.
The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems.
And he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.
And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.
And he will rule them with a rod of iron.
He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead,
Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains,
the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders,
and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him
who was sitting on the horse and against his army.
And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet,
who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast
and who worshipped his image.
These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns will suffer,
and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse,
and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
And some verses now from 1 Corinthians 15.
I will read verses 20 to 28.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive,
but each in his own order.
Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father,
after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
For God has put all things in subjection under his feet.
But when it says all things are put in subjection,
it is plain that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him.
When all things are subjected to him,
then the Son himself will also be subjected to him
who put all things in subjection under him,
that God may be all in all.
Amen.
May God bless to us reading those two passages of his word.
Before we turn to 1 Corinthians 15, let's sing once again.
This time in Psalm 110.
And sing Psalms version, Psalm 110, verses 1 to 5.
This is one of the great messianic psalms.
Psalms to do with the Messiah, with the Savior, with the Lord.
Quoted in the New Testament.
Quoted even by the Lord himself.
The Lord said to my Lord, sit here at my right hand,
until I make your foes a stool on which your feet may stand.
The Lord will make your reign extend from Zion's hill.
With royal power you'll rule among those who oppose your will.
When you display your power, your people flock to you.
At dawn arrayed in holiness,
your youth will come like dew.
Unchangeably the Lord with solemn purpose swore,
just like Melchizedek,
you are a priest forevermore.
The Lord's at your right hand.
There he will ever stay.
He on his day of wrath will crush
the kings who bar his way.
These five verses,
in Psalm 110,
the Lord said to my Lord,
The Lord said to my Lord,
sit here at my right hand,
until I make your foes a stool on which your feet may stand.
The Lord will make your reign extend from Zion's hill.
With royal power you'll rule among those who oppose your will.
When you display your power,
your people flock to you.
At dawn and haine in holiness,
your youth will come like truth.
Unchangeably the Lord with solemn purpose swore,
just like Melchizedek,
you are a priest forevermore.
The Lord's at your right hand.
There he will ever stay.
He on his day of wrath will crush
the kings who bar his way.
Please turn with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
We'll begin reading at verse 22.
We're looking tonight at verses 24 to 28 especially.
We can begin reading at verse 22.
For as in Adam all die,
so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order,
Christ the firstfruits,
then at his coming,
those who belong to Christ.
Then comes the end,
when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father
after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
For he must reign
until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
And so on to the end of verse 28.
In recent days,
I've been noticing,
in social media especially,
when anticipating the coronation of King Charles III,
as he'll be,
a number of people keep putting up posts saying,
he's not my king.
Of course,
they have every freedom to do that.
I don't know if they're people of independence mind
or whatever it is
that brings them to say that.
But as we anticipate this coronation coming,
people have such a view of it
as says,
well,
he's not my king.
It's a personal opinion.
It's a personal decision.
It's something that they have chosen.
They're not going to acknowledge him as king
for themselves personally.
And they have freedom to do that.
Of course,
they're entitled in a personal freedom way
to think that and to say that.
But that doesn't mean that
what they're really saying
makes the kingship of Charles
no longer relevant
or inapplicable.
They may very well choose to say,
he's not my king,
but in a political sense,
he is the king of the nation.
He is the king over the nation.
And so,
while people have the freedom to say that of him,
that does not displace the fact
that politically he's going to be
crowned as the king
of the United Kingdom.
That is something
that still remains in place
despite people maybe saying,
well,
he's not my king.
And there's something like that
in the way that people think about Jesus.
The way they think about Jesus Christ
as the king,
as he's mentioned here
and spoken of in Scripture,
as we read,
for example,
in Revelation chapter 19,
as we read the Gospels
and find the inscription
that was placed over him
at the crucifixion.
This is Jesus of Nazareth,
the king of the Jews.
Jesus,
as a king,
brings that reaction
on the part of some people,
on many people,
sadly,
who will say,
well,
he's not my king.
People who don't want to have
Jesus rule over them.
People who want to
just be free
of anything to do
with Christ,
with God,
with this idea
that somehow or other
there is an authority
greater than themselves
or greater than in this
earthly life.
And so you'll find that
this is the same,
really essentially,
that they say of Jesus
and of his kingship.
Many are adamant saying,
well,
he's not my king
and he never will be my king.
And that's how things
are going to be
until the king returns.
That's how it's going to be
until the end of the age.
There will still be some people
that say,
well,
he's not my king
and he's not going to be my king.
But he is the king.
And as he will come
at that last day,
as we'll see here
briefly tonight,
every knee shall bow
and every tongue
will confess
that Jesus Christ
is Lord
to the glory
of God the Father.
We can say as often
as we like
in this world,
well,
he's not my king.
But every single person
saying that,
as well as those
who say he is my king,
are going to come
when the Lord appears
to bow in his presence
and acknowledge
that even if it is not
willingly on their part,
he is the king.
He is the Lord.
And that's the situation
that you find here
in these verses
in 1 Corinthians 15,
verses 23 to 28,
describes the situation
as it is now
and will be
until the Lord returns.
And then when the Lord returns,
certain things
then fall into place.
So let's look at these verses
in regard to Christ.
And this is a passage
that's dense.
It's a passage
that's got difficulties in it,
but we don't shirk
the difficulty
and there's nothing wrong
with saying,
even as preachers
of the gospel,
well, there are one
or two things
that I don't quite understand
and can't get
to the depths of.
We're dealing
with God's Word.
We're dealing with God.
We're dealing
with the Lordship of Christ.
We're dealing
with the reign of Christ.
We're dealing
with the greatness of Christ.
You can't fit that
into a mere human mind
like ours.
But we can still come
and fall in His presence
and say that He is
indeed our King.
So first of all,
how is this connected
with the resurrection?
We've been looking
through the passages
we've gone through
this chapter
at how Paul
is demonstrating
the reality
of such a thing
as resurrection,
beginning with the resurrection
of Jesus Himself
and arguing
that if Jesus
is not risen,
then there is no hope
for mankind.
There's no hope for us.
We're still in our sins.
But of course,
He's now saying
that He is,
of course,
in verse 20,
but in fact,
Christ has been raised
from the dead.
And following on
from that,
we've seen last time
how He spoke about Him
as the firstfruits
and the firstfruits
of those who have fallen asleep,
those who are Christians
who are no longer
in this world.
So resurrection
is spoken of here
as in a particular order.
You see what He's saying
in verse 23?
This shall also happen,
He says,
but each in his own order.
Christ the firstfruits,
then at His coming
those who belong to Christ.
Now He's talking here
about an ordered series
of events
to do with resurrection,
to do with the conquering
of death,
which is what resurrection is
on the part of God's people,
on the part of Christ Himself.
What He's saying here
is that each in his own turn,
Christ the firstfruits.
That's already taken place.
Jesus has been raised
from the dead.
Jesus is no longer,
in terms of His body,
it's no longer
in the grave,
in the sepulcher.
He rose triumphantly
on the third day,
and since then
been exalted to heaven.
His resurrection
is first in that order.
And He talks about it here again
as firstfruits,
similar to the same
as He's mentioned
in verse 20.
Remember,
we mentioned then
that firstfruits really means,
going back to Leviticus 21,
the firstfruits of the harvest.
Israel were ordered by God
to take the firstfruits
of the harvest,
to bring that into
the house of God,
to wave that before the Lord
because it was dedicated to Him.
In other words,
it was saying,
the whole harvest
actually belongs to You,
O Lord,
but You have given us
the privilege
of having that harvest
to ourselves.
Here are the firstfruits.
We're offering that to You.
Remember,
we said that
the firstfruits
are really a sample
of the harvest
that was to follow.
And indeed,
the firstfruits
indicated that the harvest
was certain to follow.
If there's a firstfruits,
obviously there's a harvest there,
and if the firstfruits
are evident
and brought into
the house of God,
it follows that
the harvest
is going to follow it.
And that's what He's saying
with the resurrection.
The firstfruits,
Jesus the firstfruits,
in His resurrection,
well,
that's taken place.
And because that's taken place,
the rest of the harvest,
the resurrection of God's people
to everlasting life,
that is made certain.
That is guaranteed
because they are connected
to Jesus.
They are actually,
this is actually a pledge.
The fact that He has risen
from the dead
is God's pledge
that God's people
will rise from the dead
and share together
in that eternal life.
If Jesus has been raised
from the dead
as He has been,
as Paul is saying,
then it follows that
there is a resurrection
for God's people
to eternal life.
You cannot think of
Jesus being raised
from the dead
without having connected
to that inseparably
the resurrection
of His saved people,
the resurrection
of His whole redeemed church.
And you notice here
the language that's used
is at His coming.
That's the first thing.
He says,
Christ the firstfruits.
Then at His coming,
those who belong to Christ.
In other words,
that's what's still
waiting to take place.
It is made certain
by the fact that
He is risen from the dead,
but it will take place
at His coming.
When He comes,
when He returns
to this world,
then this will take place.
Those who belong to Christ
will be raised from the dead.
And that word
coming,
that is coming,
it's an important word.
It's a word which
in the ordinary sense
of usage
was often used
of an emperor
or a king.
Think about the emperor
or the Roman emperor
at the time
of Paul himself.
Well,
if the emperor
or somebody
of that high rank
was coming to a place,
this is the kind of word
they would use.
It's a word that really means
here is an arrival
that's filled with splendor,
that's got some significance
about it more than most.
And the word that's used here
as Paul uses that word,
it's not just,
it's not used for an emperor
or for a king
in the normal sense,
it's used here of Jesus.
At His coming,
at His arrival,
at His glorious appearance,
those who belong to Him
will actually be raised
from the dead.
And we spoke about
the coronation
of King Charles.
We still don't know
exactly what that's going
to involve
in terms of ceremony,
but I'm sure
it'll have its own grandeur
even if it's scaled back
compared to previous times.
It'll still have its own
pomp and ceremony
and grandeur
and all the regalia
of kingly office
will be on display.
And it'll be a grand occasion
and people will actually admire,
and mostly will admire,
the magnificence of it.
But even if you multiply that
a thousand times,
it's still just a pale shadow
of glory compared
to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because when He arrives,
it just won't be a few people noticing
or a few hundred or thousand people
actually watching it.
It'll be the whole earth.
It'll be the whole universe.
It'll be the whole creation
involved in this dynamic event.
An event unlike any other
that went before,
apart from perhaps His death
and resurrection.
Because it's the creation
being brought to
its final conclusion,
and it's God's people
raised from the dead
at His arrival,
and it's Christ displayed
in all the magnificence
of His risen glory,
of His glorified splendor,
of what He is
as the King of kings
and the Lord of lords.
And there is to be a splendor
and a greatness
and a grandeur
of that arrival
that is just unparalleled.
You cannot really find
anything adequate
to picture it,
to give an illustration of it.
And you and I will be there.
Even if it's a thousand
and more years from now,
you and I will be there.
You and I will be witnesses of it.
You and I will be taken
into the event
because that event
will embrace all humankind.
The question, of course, is,
and we'll see it later on as well,
what will your relationship
be to the King?
Will you be invited
to the marriage supper,
to the reception of the Lamb?
Will you be among those
that are welcomed
into the banquet?
Will you be outside?
Will you not have
a personal relationship
with this grand,
wonderful, glorious King?
Well, this is
one of the great questions
that were posed
by the likes of Revelation
in the chapter that we read.
They're a very graphic description.
But this is the King
in His glory.
So, resurrection
in a particular order
comes to its climax,
if you like,
with the arrival of the King.
When He Himself will come,
then they will be,
those who belong to Him,
will rise at His coming.
And then He says,
then comes the end
when He delivers the kingdom
to God the Father
after destroying every rule
and every authority
and power,
for He must reign
until He has put
all His enemies
under His feet.
Now, what is He talking,
what is He talking about here
when He says,
then comes the end?
The end of what?
Or what is meant by
the word end
in that context?
Then comes the end.
It's obviously something
related to the arrival of Christ
or as soon as Christ has arrived
and the King has come,
then comes the end.
And the end here really means
the end of this present age.
The end of things as we know it
in the world as it is
and has been since the fall of man.
The end in the sense
in which a new age
will come at His coming,
at His arrival.
You remember how
2 Peter puts it,
the new heavens
and the new earth
for which God's people
are eagerly waiting
and anticipating
which will be following
the resurrection
or associated with
the resurrection.
Remember there in chapter 3
of Peter
how he's dealing with those
who are scoffing
at this idea
that Jesus is returning.
And all of this,
all these years have gone by,
they're saying,
and yet,
where is the promise
of His coming?
All things are continuing
as they were
from the beginning of creation.
We've stopped believing
in the coming of Jesus.
This passage is saying
that was in the Apostles' day.
Even more so is it the case now.
But he says,
do not overlook this one fact,
beloved,
that with the Lord
one day is as a thousand years
and a thousand years is one day.
God doesn't measure
His diary by years
in our way of calculation.
God has His own plan.
And however many years
it may be
in our calculation of things,
as far as God is concerned,
He knows the exact moment
in the history of this world
when the King will arrive,
when He will come.
But he goes on to say,
the day of the Lord
will come like a thief.
Then the heavens
will pass away with a roar
and the heavenly bodies
will be burned up
and dissolved
and the earth
and the works that are done on it
will be exposed.
Since all these things
are thus to be dissolved,
what sort of people
ought you to be
in lives of holiness
and godliness,
waiting for and hastening
the coming of the day of God,
because of which
the heavens will be set on fire
and dissolved
and the heavenly bodies
will melt as they burn.
But according to His promise,
we are waiting for
new heavens
and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
See, that's the culmination
of redemption.
That's the end point
of God's redemption
when God's people are raised
to share together with Christ
the glories of the kingdom,
the glories of Christ's reign
in heaven.
And this is what history
itself is developing towards.
We think of history
as we look out
over the history of mankind,
the history of the world,
as far as we're able to do that.
Where is history heading?
Where is history taking us?
Well, some people will say,
well, you can never be sure about that.
How can you actually know
what's going to happen next year?
Never mind in X number of years,
a hundred, a thousand years,
whatever it might be.
Well, the Lord is saying,
you should know where history,
as a Christian,
you should know where history is heading.
It's heading to the return of Christ.
It's heading towards
the coming of the King.
It's heading towards
the final establishment
and consummation
of the kingdom of God in Christ.
That's where it's heading.
That's where time is heading
to that definite point,
the end,
when the King
will arrive in His glory.
But that's also
not just the terminus
of history,
it's the terminus
of your Christian hope,
isn't it?
Because every single person
that has the Christian hope
is hoping towards
that final end of things
that the Bible describes.
Your hope
is not something uncertain.
You might complain
that it's not as strong
as you would like it to be,
but it's a positive hope
because it's looking towards
this final conclusion of things
at the return of Christ
when the dead will be raised,
when the Lord's people
will be raised,
at His coming.
Your hope
is towards His coming.
Romans chapter 8,
these great words
that Paul wrote there
to the Romans.
And verses 19 to 25 especially,
where he says,
For the creation
is waiting with eager longing
for the revealing
of the sons of God.
For the creation
was subjected to futility,
not willingly,
but because of Him
who subjected it
in hope
that the creation itself
will be set free
from its bondage to decay
and obtain the freedom
of the glory
of the children of God.
And so on.
It goes on,
speaking about ourselves,
groaning,
having the first fruit
of the Spirit,
having the Spirit of God
as the first fruits in us
that guarantees the harvest
of eternal life
in its fullness
at His coming
and subsequent to His coming.
And that's the terminus.
The terminus of your Christian hope
is the same terminus
as the terminus of history
tied inseparably
to the coming of Christ.
Do you have that hope?
Are you hoping for the best
in this sense?
Is your hope and trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ,
this King of kings
and Lord of lords?
Surely your hope
is not anchored
in something less than that,
something uncertain,
something belonging
to this world,
something belonging
to the philosophies
of this world,
something belonging
to your own imagination,
to your own reckoning,
something belonging
to those who will bring
you a sense of history
without God involved.
The Christian hope,
this hope that the apostle
speaks of,
is a positive thing,
a hope that looks forward
to the King's coming,
to the arrival of the great
King of kings
and Lord of lords.
And then he says,
then comes the end,
we've mentioned the end,
when he delivers the kingdom
to God the Father
after destroying every rule
and every authority
and power,
for he must reign
until he has put all
his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy
to be destroyed
is death.
What are we to make of this?
Well, he's speaking here
about the reign of Christ,
and that's a reign
that's presently underway.
And has been
ever since he rose
from the dead,
and especially since
he ascended to glory.
He's saying here that
he delivers the kingdom
to God the Father.
Think about Jesus
and the mission
the Father gave him
as he was sent into this world
and came willingly
as the servant of the Father.
As you find himself
speaking of it often,
especially in John's Gospel.
If you think about
all that Jesus came to do
was in terms of
establishing a kingdom,
a kingdom of God
where God reigns
and where his people
will be his willing subjects
forevermore.
It's to establish that kingdom
that Christ came.
And that involves
all that he did
while he was in this world.
It involves his death
on the cross,
his obedience to the Father,
his resurrection from the dead,
his ascension to glory,
and it will involve
also his return,
his coming,
as this passage puts it.
And all of that being involved,
that is how the kingdom
will be established,
will be finalized,
will be consummated.
And when it reaches that end,
when it reaches that point,
when everything about the kingdom
is finally ready and finished,
and there's nothing else to do,
when all his enemies,
as he puts it here,
he must reign
until he has put all his enemies
under his feet.
Every rule,
every authority,
every power,
including that of death.
When that is the case,
you can just,
if we can imagine it this way,
speaking with all reverence here,
you could say,
Jesus is saying to the Father,
the Son,
saying to the Father,
Father,
you sent me into this world
of human beings,
I took human nature to myself.
I died on the cross,
I rose from the dead,
I am ascended to glory,
I am sitting at the right hand of God,
and then I have come back to the world
to be the judge of the world.
Father,
here is the kingdom
that you sent me to accomplish.
I deliver it now to you.
I am giving it to you
because I have finished it.
It's accomplished.
It's done.
And because it's done,
I'm handing it to you
as the one
who sent me into the world
to accomplish it.
I've been your servant,
I've reigned in heaven
towards the accomplishment
of all things,
the conquering of all our enemies.
Every rule,
every authority,
every power.
But he says,
he must reign
until he has put all his enemies
under his feet.
You see what that is saying?
Jesus is reigning
from heaven tonight.
He's reigning despite the fact
that you look out in the world
and think that it's just chaos
and think that people
actually have it in themselves
to reign instead
of what we present
as God in the gospel.
That reign of Jesus
is presently taking place.
Every single person in here
that's been converted to Christ
and by Christ,
by the Spirit of God,
is itself another building block,
if you like,
in the kingdom of God.
There is another bit of evidence
really for us
that Christ is reigning.
That Christ's reign includes
the bringing in of His people.
Every single time someone
comes to know the Lord savingly,
there is the Lord's reign
in evidence.
It's taking place.
It's adding to the number
of the saved.
Here you are tonight
as a Christian
and you're happy to acknowledge,
surely, I know you are,
that you haven't converted yourself,
that you haven't made yourself
a new creation,
and you're happy to confess
that He has chosen you
and He has changed you
and He has brought you
and He has drawn you
and He has changed your life
and He has turned your life around
and that itself
is a demonstration
of His reign.
Because without the reign of Christ,
nothing of that would take place.
how can you possibly think of
those who are spiritually dead
like you and I are ourselves,
coming to have life,
coming to know of eternal life
being given to us?
It's Christ's reign, you see.
It's Christ from His throne above.
It's Christ the King
that's brought about that change
in your life.
And it reaches its finale
at the return of Christ.
He says here,
the last enemy
that shall be destroyed
will be destroyed
to be destroyed is death.
Here he is talking about
every rule,
every authority,
every power.
For Him must reign
until He has put all His enemies
under His feet.
You might think tonight
that in Eastern Europe
Putin is undisputedly in charge.
He's not.
He's under the reign of Christ.
Christ.
You might think
that all other things
that have happened
in the history of the world
have demonstrated
that somehow
God is not in control.
That's not the case.
He must reign
until He has put all His enemies
under His feet.
And that's what will take place
finally and demonstrably
at His coming.
It reaches its finale
at the resurrection
of God's people,
at the return of Christ.
You see how this chapter ends?
You might think it's
a long way away yet
before we reach the end,
but anyway,
this is how it finishes.
He says,
when this perishable,
verse 54,
puts on the imperishable
and the mortal
puts on the mortality,
then shall come to pass
the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up
in victory.
O death,
where is your victory?
O death or O grave,
where is your sting?
What is that saying to us?
It's saying to us
that this has not yet fully
been revealed.
The saying,
death is swallowed up
in victory,
it still awaits fulfillment
in its totality.
Why is that?
Because it's not fulfilled
in its totality
until the last believer
is raised from the dead.
then shall be brought
to pass the saying
that is written,
death is swallowed up
in victory.
The victory in principle
is already accomplished.
Jesus has done that.
But the final demonstration
of that victory,
when all of God's
redeemed people
will be raised from the dead
to be with Him,
well, that's still
in the future.
The D-Day of redemption
has taken place,
to use a World War II analogy.
But victory in Europe day
followed after that,
sometime after that.
D-Day wasn't the end,
although it was the final
or main principle of victory.
And so it is with the Lord.
He has died.
He's risen from the dead.
He's reigning from heaven.
He's bringing His people
to know Himself.
He's actually progressing
the work and the growth
of the kingdom.
And when He comes,
that'll be it.
Then comes the end.
And when that comes,
and He delivers up
the kingdom to the Father,
He'll be saying,
Lord, Father,
here is the result
of all that I accomplished,
of all that I came to do.
And then there's one other thing.
When all things are subjected to Him,
then the Son Himself
will also be subjected to Him
who put all things
in subjection under Him,
that God may be all in all.
All these are difficult words,
words that we can't have confidence
that any particular view,
and there are many views
of what these words mean,
that any view is superior
to the other.
But I think the best I've seen
in looking at how to try
and bring out the meaning
of these verses
is good old Matthew Henry.
Because this is what Matthew Henry
says about these final verses
in this passage
from verse 28 there.
Upon His ascension,
Jesus had power given Him
to govern and protect His church
against all its enemies,
and in the end destroy them
and complete the salvation
of all who believe in Him.
This is not a power
appertaining to Godhead as such,
but power given and limited
to this special purpose.
And although He who has it
is God,
yet inasmuch as He
in this whole dispensation
acts not as God
but as mediator,
He may properly be said
to have this power
given to Him.
Jesus as mediator.
He may reign as God
with power unlimited,
and yet may reign as mediator
with a power delegated
and limited to these
particular purposes.
That's to say,
bringing His people in
and completing the kingdom.
The Redeemer must reign,
He went on to say,
until His enemies be destroyed,
and the salvation of His church
and people accomplished.
And when this end is attained,
then He will deliver up
the power which He had
only for this purpose,
though He may continue
to reign over His glorified church
in heaven.
And in this sense,
it can be said that He shall reign
forever and ever.
Well, that's maybe something
you'd find difficult
just by just having it read out.
But what Henry was saying
was that Jesus,
as the mediator
between God and His people,
was given certain powers
to accomplish these things.
And once He has accomplished them,
which will be at His return
once it's finished at that point,
He will hand the kingdom
to the Father
and continue to reign over His people
to all eternity.
But that power
was given for a specific purpose
as the mediator
of His people.
Well, what are we going to make of this?
It's a passage full of rich theology
but difficult things.
I hope you've been able
to follow the main gist of it,
at least,
because it really is
all to do with Christ.
It's all to do with Jesus.
Yes, it's about the resurrection
of God's people.
Yes, it's about hope
for the future
connected to that resurrection
and the resurrection of Christ.
Yes, it's all that.
But it's really about Jesus.
And if you take nothing else
from that this evening
but this fact
that Jesus as the King
is the King that you need
and the King you must have
in your place,
then you have benefited
from this half hour.
What practical use
can we make of it all?
Well, two things.
Christ is reigning now.
As you look out over that world
and I look out over that world tonight,
with all its chaotic scenes,
with the war,
with the devastation,
with everything that you see
that puts people's lives
into turmoil,
with everything that's happened,
even the natural order of things,
you might with others
be tempted to reach that conclusion.
This is just disorganized chaos.
And if God exists,
then He has lost control.
Friends,
Jesus is reigning.
And He must reign
and will reign
till He has put all His enemies
under His feet.
I cannot explain to you tonight
how all of this
is fitted together
in the plan of God.
I can't explain to you tonight
why God leaves such things
as they are,
whether it be a time of war
or famine
or loss of life
or devastation
or earthquake.
I can't say to you tonight,
here is my reason
and I know it's sure
and true
as to why this is the case
and why God
has left it this way
for this particular time.
That's in the King's hand.
That's the King's prerogative.
Don't doubt Him
just because you don't understand
His ways in their totality.
Jesus is reigning.
This is what it's saying.
He must reign until,
yes,
but all His enemies
are under His feet.
And remember that too, friend.
When personally you are perplexed,
when you have troubles
individual to yourself,
when you have difficulties
and struggles
even in your faith,
when you may feel at times depressed,
when you're hurting inside,
when you think you can't share that
with anyone else,
when you are anxious
over your own life
or anxious over the lives
of loved ones connected with you,
or anxious even as you look out
over the world,
when you look into yourself
and have all of this
from time to time
that you detect
in your own thoughts
and in your processes
of your mind
and emotions,
never forget
that Jesus is reigning.
Never forget
that all the details
of your experience
come under His reign.
Everything that's been
in your life,
that is in your life,
that will be in your life,
none of that is outside
of the throne of heaven.
None of that is outside
of the prerogative of Christ.
None of that is outside
of the grasp
of the King of kings
and Lord of lords.
None of that is outside
the purpose of God
in placing these things
in His providence
in your life.
It's not as you would have
organized it
or I would have organized it.
It's not as we would have
purposed it.
It's not fitted together
as we might think best.
But He's the King.
He's the Lord.
He's the sovereign.
And He's the one
who is reigning.
And there are no defects
in His reign.
That's the first point.
Christ is reigning now.
And finally,
second point,
by way of practical application,
not only is Christ reigning now,
but Christ is available now.
This reigning Christ,
this Christ who is on the throne
of the universal,
ready,
this mediator,
this glorious person,
He is available now.
You're here tonight
and you haven't yet
given your life to Him.
You haven't yet surrendered
everything by way of
your heart's resistance
to Jesus
and the claims
of His kingship.
You're still holding back
from giving your life
to Him.
You're still saying,
well,
I'd love to do that,
but there's just one thing
or this thing or other
I'm not sure about yet.
Whatever
is in your resistance
to the kingship of Christ
over your life,
give it to Him.
because not only
is He reigning,
not only is He available,
but as the available
reigning King,
He's calling to you
through the Gospel.
And He's calling to you
through the Gospel
to take Him as He is,
to take Him at His word,
to take Him as your King,
to take Him as your Savior,
to take Him as the one
who will always look after you
on into eternity.
We began by saying
there's so many
that are presently saying,
well, He's not my King.
And I hope there's no one
here tonight
who will leave this building
and be saying that
about Jesus.
No one.
Why would there be?
But rather that you'll be
like the psalmist
in Psalm 105,
that's 145,
in the Scottish Psalter
version of it.
O Lord,
You are
my God
and King.
Thee will I magnify
and bless.
I will Thee bless
and gladly sing
unto Thy holy name
always.
Lord,
You are my God
and King.
May God bless
His word to us.
Lord our God,
we give thanks
that as Your word
reveals
Your kingship to us,
that we are constrained
by Your Spirit
to come to bow
in Your presence.
We thank You
for the beauty
of Your kingship.
We thank You,
Lord,
for the comprehensiveness
of Your kingship,
for the way
that You are reigning
over all things,
and for the way
that the prospect
of Your appearance
fills Your people
with awe
and yet with gladness,
that there will be
a point coming
in the history
of the world
when everything
will be put right
and when the King
himself will show
that He is the King.
O grant, O Lord,
that we yearn
towards that day
with faith,
with trust,
with confidence
in You
as our Savior King.
Be with us now,
we pray,
for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
Let's conclude
by singing now
to God's praise
in Psalm 22,
Psalm 22,
verses 27 to 31.
Significant
at this great psalm
which deals
so much in the first part
of it with sufferings
that are associated
with the Lord,
where the Lord
found Himself,
indeed,
in the words of the psalm
at the beginning,
in terms of His forsakenness.
Yet we come
at the end of this psalm
to see the triumph
of the King,
the triumph of the Lord
over all of creation.
From verse 27,
the whole earth
will remember Him
and turn towards
the Lord their God.
all peoples
will bow down to Him,
the nations
of the world abroad.
On page 27,
verses 27 to 31.
Amen.
The whole earth
will remember Him
and turn towards
the Lord their God.
All peoples will bow down
to Him,
the nations of the world abroad.
and over nations
He is King,
the rich of all
the earth will peace
and worship
with an offering.
All those whose destiny
will humbly kneel
before His throne.
They cannot keep
themselves alive
for they depend on Him
alone.
Posterity will serve the Lord.
a generation
still to come
will tell our people
yet on board
the righteous acts
that He has done.
I'll go to the main door
after the benediction.
Lord our God,
we pray that You would
bless us now
as we anticipate
a time of fellowship.
We pray that You would
bless what is prepared
for our bodily needs.
We thank You for
all who have provided
them for us.
We pray for Muriel
as she comes once again
to speak of her work
in Cambodia
and her anticipation
of returning.
Lord, we pray that all
of her preparations
will go smoothly for her.
We pray that You would
continue to watch over her
and protect her
and use her.
And we ask that as we hear
tonight of her work there
that as our prayers
go with her
so also may
our prayers continue
to remember her before You.
And now may the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ
the love of God the Father
and the communion
of the Holy Spirit
be with you now
and evermore.
Amen.