Well, I want to talk to you today about King Jesus and the nature of his kingdom.
You can say it this way, that this text, everything we just read is really all about that.
It's how the king gathers his army.
A king's actions reveal the nature of his kingdom.
If you're taking notes, kids, you've got the handout.
This is an important point.
A king's actions reveal the nature of his kingdom.
Think about it.
That's the reason why presidential candidates will platform with promises about what they will do in their first 100 days of taking office.
They know that their actions, those initial actions, are revealing what their kingdom or their rule is really all about.
Well, who was the king of Israel?
And what was he all about?
Well, the Bible says that it was Herod.
In Acts chapter 2, Herod is called the king of Israel.
We're told that King Herod laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.
And he killed James, the brother of John.
So the man who wrote this apostle, the apostle who wrote this letter here, this gospel of John, his brother, James, was killed by the king of Israel, King Herod.
Well, what else was this king known for?
King Herod the Great.
You could say he built a replica of Rome itself.
So you travel across the civilized world, the Roman Empire, and you come to Rome, and you were supposed to be stunned by the majesty of their architecture.
Their aqueducts, their arches, you know, the way that they tried to intimidate their enemy with everything that was imposed upon them from what they built.
And that was Rome.
But in Judea, Herod the Great built a little replica.
And it was in the city called Caesarea Philippi.
And that little fortress, he had at his palace and it faced the Mediterranean Ocean, which would be like saltwater, you know, the Mediterranean Sea.
They called it the Great Sea.
And right there in his palace, he built an indoor swimming pool, larger than a swimming pool.
And he had an aqueduct built just to bring fresh water to his palace.
So as you came to visit him or you arrived on a ship, he wanted to stun you with his greatness.
You might be thinking that would be a cool kingdom to belong to, the kingdom of Herod the Great.
But what else was the kingdom of Herod the Great known for?
Well, this was the same man, Herod, who left his one wife and his other wife started to poison his thoughts about her and her whole family.
To the point that Herod the Great had her slain, along with her father, her relatives, including two of his own sons, killed because he was so suspicious.
So you could say, by those actions, we know the nature of King Herod the Great's kingdom.
He was a man who loved Rome.
He was obsessed with Rome.
He was also a man who only knew how to rule using terror and fear, the force of manipulation and control.
The nature of the king's actions are revealing what their kingdom is about.
And I believe here that what we just read, these initial movements of King Jesus.
Remember, he's just been baptized into the water.
And we read in Acts, in John chapter 1, he was anointed with the Holy Spirit.
And the Spirit remained on him.
So when you hear this language of anointing, you know there's a special office being set up.
Jesus is being inaugurated as the king.
He's been anointed.
You'd be thinking now, just like Samuel poured the oil over the head of David, that sunburned shepherd boy.
And now he's going to be the king.
Covenant, the office of King of Israel is anointed on him.
Well, Jesus has been anointed.
What is his kingdom all about?
And every movement that he makes, I believe, is showing you what his kingdom is for.
I think, too, that people might have thought of other references to this rule of God over his people.
And the one that came to mind to me that was maybe unusual or striking was in Joshua chapter 5.
God is already fulfilling his promises.
He brings his people, the second generation, into the promised land.
And they now have to go fight the enemy that does not want them there, claiming their inheritance.
And we're told in Joshua chapter 5 that as Joshua was praying and preparing now to lead the army of God and to do what they had been called to do,
Joshua lifted his eyes up and looked.
And behold, a man was standing before him with his sword drawn in his hand.
And he said, Are you for us or for our enemies?
And this man said, Neither, but as commander of the Lord's army, I stand before you.
Now, Jesus had not yet taken a body, but that was the son of God, the second person before he was incarnate, revealing himself.
This is what he has been prepared to do all along.
He will come and he will rule his people first in Israel to all the nations.
So that's what will be in mind here, because look at verse 41 in our text today.
In verse 41, we read that this wonderful declaration.
We have found the Messiah.
Messiah means exactly that, anointed one.
We have found the one that God has anointed and prepared all along, which means the Christ.
So when we say our Lord, Jesus Christ, every word is meaningful.
He is our Lord.
He rules over his new covenant people as the commander.
And Christ means the anointed one, the same Savior that God has promised all along.
Well, before I walk you through this text and show you these seven insights we get to the kingdom of God, I want us to appreciate and not take for granted the problem that we have.
See, the promise, the promise of God is really attached to one covenant.
And it's it begins with Eve and it goes all the way through with Abraham to Moses.
But it gets super specific and clear with the covenant made with David and two pastors named Brown and Keel.
They summarize the covenant God made with David this way.
The Davidic king would make the people holy.
This is what scripture teaches.
The king would establish the true temple of God.
The king would keep the laws of God for the people as their representative.
And the king, a son of David, would subdue all Israel's enemies and would reign in God's name.
That's what he would do.
Psalm 134 says the king will usher God's people into Zion to worship God forever in glory.
And Zion represents the mountain on which the kingly and the priestly office are combined.
And the revelation of God is brought to the people.
So Zion is that promise of a restored people of God that will be in his presence as his priests and kings, his army on earth.
It's a promise for the church.
But the problem with that promise is that it's been over 500 years.
Ever since Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed the temple, the people have not had a man from the line of David on the throne of Jerusalem.
So this is a big problem.
You can understand why the people would be crying out in the words of Psalm 89.
Lord, where is your steadfast love, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
Where is it?
Well, the answer to this problem, it comes once again to Mary by the angel Gabriel.
He says this in Luke 1.
See, God sent an angel Gabriel himself to show all those promises, all that expectation for the Messiah, the one who would fulfill this covenant as the king of Israel.
So they are now fulfilled in God who took on flesh, Jesus Christ.
And the actions of the king reveal the nature of his kingdom.
So if that's true, if Jesus is God's warrior, the commander of the Lord's army, taken on the body of a man to be the representative of all God's people,
what do his early movements here in the rest of chapter one show us about the kingdom of God?
Now, I'm going to walk us through seven observations.
Ready?
Here's number one.
King Jesus cares about the heart of his people.
Look at verse 38.
Well, we saw last week how John the baptizer, once again on the new day, beheld the name of God.
And there were two disciples with him.
Do you remember that?
The two disciples.
And those two disciples begin to follow Jesus.
We're told that one of those disciples was who?
Look at your Bible.
Who was one of them that we're told?
You can say it out loud.
Who was it?
Andrew.
Yeah, one of them was Andrew.
Now, I'm going to tell you who I think the second one was.
Because we have some first person details given.
Like they followed him and it was about the 10th hour.
The 10th hour means you start counting when the sun comes up.
It would be about 4 p.m.
Well, who would know that?
Because Luke was the historian, right?
Luke had done this research as a historian, not as an eyewitness.
My guess is that John, the apostle that wrote this gospel, was that second disciple.
And you see how John the baptizer always wanted to make himself less.
The apostle John, I'm the one who Jesus loved.
You don't need to know more about me.
You need to know about Christ.
There's a second disciple there who had some first-hand details.
That's a good probability it was John himself.
Well, look at what he says in verse 38.
As they start to follow Jesus, in verse 38, what are Jesus' first words to them?
Jesus says, what are you seeking?
See how with just a few words, King Jesus shows his care for the heart of his people.
He didn't ask them a lot of other things.
He didn't say, how well have you kept the law of God?
He didn't ask them, how often have you been to church?
You've done all these external things.
Although true believers will want those things.
They'll want to be with their king.
He says in your heart, the part that no man can see, the part that you know, and God who knows all things, he sees it.
What are you seeking?
It reminds me of Matthew chapter 6.
Jesus said, don't be like those people who don't know the Lord.
They only care about food and clothes.
In other words, they only care about external things.
He said this, Matthew 6, 32 and 33.
You need to seek first, first and foremost, the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
You know why?
All these things will be added to you.
The Father in heaven loves you and he knows you need all these things.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
King Jesus wants to know that of his people today as well.
He wants to have you as part of his army.
Search your own heart.
What are you seeking?
And he asked this as your king and your commander.
Those who love anything more than Christ have no place in his kingdom.
If you don't know what you're seeking, I want you to observe what these men did.
See, what was their answer?
Verse 38 and 39.
They didn't have a great answer.
We are seeking, you know, they didn't have anything profound to say.
They just said, where are you staying?
In other words, can we be around you?
And maybe that's how you're today.
You don't know your heart really.
What am I seeking?
And Jesus' words to you are, follow me.
Come be with me.
Stick around me.
The King Jesus.
God himself.
Follow him in all those ordinary ways.
Where are you staying?
What are we doing when we get there?
We'll spend time with you.
If you're doing the dishes, we'll do the dishes with you.
If you're going to go, you know, help.
We'll do that with you.
We want to be around you.
We want to be your disciples.
And as simple as gathering as God's people on a Sunday morning feels,
doesn't it feel so ordinary?
We carry some tubs in and, you know, we sing some songs
and mess up some chords on the guitar.
But it's so simple.
But we want to be around King Jesus.
We're seeking first his kingdom.
Jesus cares about your heart today as well.
And he gathers his army.
So what else can we learn about the nature of his kingdom?
See, we read in our narrative that Andrew, one of those two,
brought along his brother.
And once again, how ordinary it is.
The way that King Jesus grows his army is so ordinary.
In verse 40, we see that.
Most likely, these men, the reason they're along the Jordan
is probably because they came for those three feasts that we talked about.
And now they're going back to Galilee where they're fishermen,
they're simple men traveling back along the Jordan.
And they had come trusting God to be their deliverer
and to show themselves, show himself to them,
show them his forgiveness.
He came to show them something much greater than that.
He came to show them what his kingdom is really about.
The second thing I want to point out is this,
that his kingdom only grows through direct encounter
with King Jesus himself.
See, Andrew was first a disciple of John the Baptizer.
But look at verse 40 in your Bible.
One of the two who heard John speak followed Jesus.
And then in verse 42, what did Andrew do?
Look at verse 42.
We're told Andrew brought Peter to Jesus.
He brought him to Jesus.
So the king only grows his army as people are brought directly to him.
As simple as this is,
I think the applications are very hard.
And I'm sure you have a loved one,
a friend, a family member.
You know what they need is for Christ to be the king of their life.
And it's so tempting, isn't it,
to try to bring that person to anything else,
even our own children.
But bring him to Christ alone.
That's how he grows his kingdom.
You need to know that you cannot save that loved one.
What that person needs is to encounter the king for themselves.
We're told in chapter 1, verse 17 of our chapter here,
that grace and truth, that's what we all need.
We need God's grace and the truth of the Bible.
Look at verse 17.
They come through who?
Through Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one.
No one else can bring God's grace and truth.
That's the only way his kingdom grows,
is through direct encounter with Christ himself.
What we can do is pray.
Because these men had been prepared.
They had been drawn by the Spirit,
by the Word of God, by the law,
knowing they need forgiveness.
And we can pray, we must pray,
that God will bring more soldiers,
more men and women, boys and girls,
into his kingdom.
His kingdom, listen to this,
his kingdom cannot be manipulated by gimmicks
or by the force of man.
That's what King Herod is all about.
That's not the way King Jesus grows his kingdom.
His kingdom is the kingdom of light
and it always overcomes the darkness.
The true church grows when Christ builds his church
and he promises, I will do that.
I will build my church.
Can we trust him to do that?
Let's let Christ be extraordinary
as we are obedient with the ordinary things
he's called us to do so that he gets all the glory.
The best we can ever do
is to bring someone else to Jesus Christ himself
because King Jesus is the one who gathers his army.
What else do the king's actions in these early verses
in chapter one reveal about the nature of his kingdom?
Number three,
we see that King Jesus knows his people.
Look at verse 42 again.
We're told in verse 42
that Jesus looked at Peter
and said,
notice the next two words,
you are,
this is who you are.
And what he calls him is,
is Cephas,
it means Petras,
it means the rock.
And we'll get insights much later
in the passion of Christ
that Peter was a rock,
not because he was a man of great faith.
In fact,
he is the one who denied Christ.
He failed God most publicly and miserably.
But it was his profession
that Jesus is the son of God,
the Messiah,
the anointed one.
He is the Christ.
That statement,
that confession,
which we've received
and now we profess,
that's the rock of the church.
It's Christ himself.
So that's what he calls Peter.
And the application for us
is that Jesus looked at Peter
and said,
you are.
The only way the king can do that
is if he knows who you are.
And the king knows his army.
He knows every single one
of his soldiers.
We need to never picture Jesus
like that general,
you know,
sitting behind an office desk,
looking at some figures
on a paper or computer.
King Jesus is like George Washington.
He's marching with his boots on muddy.
And he's in the midst of his people.
He is among his sheep.
He's the shepherd king.
That's who King Jesus is.
He knows you.
And maybe you feel invisible
at work or in your own family.
You feel like
no one really knows who you are.
Remember,
this is King Jesus
who knows your heart
and cares about you.
And he knows
how you will fail him in the future
and he loves you still.
He also knows
how he will use you
in your weakness
to glorify him.
How your kingdom will grow
with one of your loved ones
through you
if you profess him
and you confess
Christ is your king.
It reminds me of
1 Chronicles chapter 11
where David
is driven out of the kingdom,
the established kingdom in Judah.
Remember Saul?
He didn't want David around.
David was a threat.
So Saul was like King Herod.
David is like Jesus.
He's the one in the wilderness now.
And the rejects
from civilization
are gathering around him.
These simple men from Galilee
that would be mocked,
they would sound different,
they wouldn't be as pure
as how others would view them.
Fishermen,
uneducated.
That's like David
gathering his mighty men of valor.
We're told in 1 Chronicles 11,
David's mighty men
gave him strong support
in his kingdom
and made him king
according to the word of God.
What a type we have of Christ.
And if you have been drawn
into the army of King Jesus,
you are a mighty man
of valor in his army.
A mighty boy or girl or woman,
you're raised up now as his army
because King Jesus has gathered you.
He knows you.
And he has called you
to follow him
according to his word
to be a great support
for his kingdom on earth.
What else can we learn
of the kingdom of God
from these verses?
Number four,
King Jesus is the one
who finds his people.
Look at verse 43.
We're told that he found Philip.
Jesus found him.
In Luke 19,
Jesus said,
I came,
you know why?
I came was to seek
and save the lost.
That was his mission
from heaven,
leaving the Father's glory
and stripping himself
of the glory that he held
as ruler of all.
to take on the flesh,
to seek and to save
those who are lost.
Psalm 103 says,
The Lord has established
his throne in the heavens
and his kingdom rules over all.
So bless the Lord,
O you his angels,
you mighty ones
who do his word,
obeying the voice of the Lord.
And he has come now
with the angels of God behind him
and the Holy Spirit
preparing the way,
drawing one.
He will find you.
If you've walked away from him
or you're praying for someone
who has walked far away from him,
that little lamb
off the green pastures,
he will find them.
That's who he is.
I want you to turn to Ezekiel 37
to see the nature of his kingdom.
Ezekiel chapter 37.
This is one of our
messianic prophecies.
So it's a prophecy
about the covenant
God made with David.
And for context,
briefly,
you need to know
that Ezekiel was a prophet of God
during the time of exile.
He wasn't even writing
from Jerusalem.
He's writing from Babylon.
He's among those
who have been vanished
from the land.
Ezekiel chapter 37.
Let's look at verses 23 and 24.
So even as God's people
have received his punishment,
he gives them this gracious promise.
He says,
it's Ezekiel 37, 23 and 24.
The Lord says,
I will save them
from all the backslidings
in which they have sinned.
I will cleanse them
and they shall be my people
and I shall be their God.
Now look at verse 24.
Who will do this?
Who will go find those
who are lost
who have backslidden
and restore them
to being in the kingdom?
Verse 24 says,
My servant David
shall be king over them.
Now David is long dead.
And we're in that period
where the seed of David
is no longer
on the throne of Israel anymore.
But the promise remains.
You see how significant this is?
Verse 24.
They shall all have one shepherd.
They shall walk in my rules
and be careful
to obey my statutes.
My servant
shall be their prince
forever.
Jesus Christ
is the chief shepherd
of your soul.
He will not let
one of his lambs
that he knows
remain lost.
Now look at verse 43
back in John chapter 1.
Gospel of John chapter 1 again.
Look at verse 43.
The next day,
Jesus decided to go
to Galilee.
See, according to God's providence,
Christ is on the move.
Jesus decided to go to Galilee
and the next words
is that he found Philip.
And notice his command
when he finds
one of his lambs.
Follow me.
Now a disciple
would follow the rabbi.
Sometimes they would just
walk behind them
like a line
to show
we are seeking to
imitate the movements
of our rabbi.
And you remember
John the baptizer said,
I'm not even worthy
to untie his sandals.
Well, it was the job
of a disciple
to untie the sandals
of their rabbi.
And Jesus says
to Philip,
follow me.
Become my disciple.
Become one
who will follow me.
And let no task
that I ask of you
be too lowly.
In verse 43,
Jesus found Philip.
And then Philip,
following Jesus,
spreads the word.
He says to Nathanael,
come and see.
He learned
from John the baptizer.
If you behold
the Lamb of God,
it's going to bubble up
out of you.
Like John the baptizer said,
behold the Lamb of God.
Well, notice what
Philip now does next.
Same thing Andrew did.
You need to come
and see him for yourself.
You need to follow
this King.
My prayer today
is that you will believe
that by the life,
death,
and resurrection
of Jesus,
he finds his people.
The work of finding
sinners that are lost
is accomplished already.
Now the application
of that comes
through the Holy Spirit,
through his church,
and through his word.
And we get to be
part of that.
Jesus finds his people.
This should give us
so much confidence
for evangelism.
This should give us
so much hope
for someone who we know,
our own persuasion,
our own work,
we cannot convince anyone
or change any heart.
Karl Marx thought
the hope of the civilization
was in fixing the economy.
Freud thought it was
in fixing psychology.
I think many today
have made an idol
of education.
They think education
can fix the world's problems.
Jesus finds his people.
The only hope of the world
is in Christ,
the gospel of Jesus
through his church.
We get to be part of that.
Number five,
what else do we see now
from the movements
of King Jesus?
We see that the kingdom
of God
is recognized
by ordinary people
prepared by God.
God prepares
ordinary people
and when he reveals himself,
they recognize him.
They know this is true.
It's that simple.
He prepares people.
So here we have
fishermen,
Galileans,
uneducated men.
They've been flunked out
of traditional
rabbinical school.
But we told
in verse 45,
look there,
verse 45,
John 1, 45,
they knew enough.
They had been prepared
by the word of God.
In verse 45,
they recognized
this must be the one
whom Moses and the law
and also the prophets
wrote about.
The Lord
had revealed himself
to men
who had been prepared
as ordinary
as they were.
And that's what
the church is.
It's ordinary people.
Saved sinners.
That's all we are
and ever will be.
But we're pronounced
saints now.
We're priests
and kings
in his kingdom.
This reminds me again
of Gideon now
in Judges chapter 6.
Remember first,
they gathered an army
under Gideon.
22,000 warriors.
God wasn't looking
for the might of men.
He said,
I need 300
who are watchful.
They're watching
for my kingdom to come
and through whom
I will be glorified.
They're trusting in me.
What else do the king's actions
reveal about the nature
of his kingdom?
Number six,
King Jesus
sees you.
This brings us
to the last
of the men
who are called
to this passage.
Look at verse 48.
King Jesus
sees Nathanael.
In verse 48,
we're told,
before your friend
brought you
to me,
says Jesus,
I saw you.
Now,
who was this man,
Nathanael?
The other
gospels,
Matthew,
Mark,
and Luke,
they call him
Bartholomew.
I believe it's the same man.
He's always associated
with Philip.
Notice it was Philip
who brought him.
So they're close associates.
Most likely,
like,
Bar means son.
So Bartholomew,
it probably means
Nathanael was what
they commonly called him,
but he was the son
of Thalomew.
So Bartholomew
would be his more
formal name.
And John calls him.
I'm sorry,
John calls him Nathanael,
but Jesus was the one
who said,
I saw you.
You're under that tree,
but I saw who you are.
The encouragement
I have for you here
is this.
We're told that Jesus
is the son of God.
He is the light
of life.
And in him,
there is no darkness
at all.
This should both
convict us
and encourage us.
If you feel invisible,
and you feel
like you are surrounded
by so much darkness,
you have no way
of getting out
on your own.
Jesus,
the light of God,
sees you.
And if the beam
of light
from God himself
brings the light
of God
into your life,
and I pray
that he'll do that
in every corner
of your heart
and my heart,
there's no room
for darkness.
When the ray
of light comes in,
all the darkness
flees from Christ.
So when Christ
sees you,
he sees you
with the light
of God's holiness.
And how could you
not respond
as one who wants
to walk
in the light
of God?
Jesus sees
his soldiers.
He sees everyone
who he calls
into his army.
And he brings
them life
out of the shadows
in his kingdom
of light.
Well, number seven,
King Jesus
is the only one
who bridges
earth and heaven.
He brings heaven
to earth,
and he brings men
from earth
to the kingdom
of God
in heaven.
Look at verse 51.
Nathaniel was
impressed that
Jesus saw him
and knew this
inside.
Jesus says,
don't be impressed
by that.
In verse 51,
truly, truly,
I say to you,
you will see
heaven opened.
Let me explain
that phrase.
Truly, truly,
in all the other
gospels, it's usually
just given one time.
Truly, I say to you,
in the gospel of John,
remember, it's written
much later than
all the other gospels.
He brings it twice,
almost every time.
Truly, truly.
In other words,
you all have read
the gospels.
You've read Matthew,
Mark, and Luke.
This is what it felt
like to hear Christ
himself say that.
And the word truly,
it could mean amen.
In other words,
the weight of God's glory
before God himself,
I tell you this,
you will see
heaven opened.
And that phrase,
heaven opened,
is an expression
for a great revelation.
Heaven is the
spiritual realm.
It's where God
in his spirit
dwells and rules
and reigns.
So he says,
truly, truly,
I say to you,
and even though he
was dealing with
Nathanael,
he's got disciples
surrounding him,
and he switches
the tense.
He says,
I say to you,
that's in the plural,
and the application
for us is this,
Jesus is revealing
to you,
all of you,
who are his disciples,
with the truth
of heaven itself,
truly, truly.
Notice his next words.
What will it be
that they will see?
He's quoting
from Genesis 28.
And I'm going to read
that so you can see
how similar
the quotation
from Christ is.
Genesis 28.
He dreamed,
this is Jacob dreamed,
and behold,
there was a ladder
set up on earth
that's actually
resting on earth.
Resting is ruling.
To rest is to rule.
So a ladder
that rules on earth
is set up,
and the top of it
reaches to heaven,
and behold,
the angels of God
were ascending,
going up,
and descending,
going down on it.
So in Genesis,
they're going down
on this ladder,
and Jacob doesn't have
the full revelation.
Who is that ladder,
that stairway,
this bridge
between heaven and earth?
And what does Jesus say
the ladder is?
It is the Son of Man.
Well, in the same chapter,
He is the Son of God.
Now we see
He is God become man.
The second Adam,
the representative.
The King's actions
reveal that Christ Himself
would lay down His life.
What's the nature
of His kingdom?
His kingdom is one
where the King
lays down His life
for His soldiers.
He brings heaven
to them.
And the angels
that are ascending
and descending
will ascending
angels means messengers.
And yes,
angels flooded to earth
at the time of Christ
to reveal the truth
about Him,
to confirm
Jesus is the God,
the Messiah.
And the angels
are ministering
even now
among the church.
But I think the angels
could also be
what Jacob pictured
and what Christ
is explaining.
Angel means messenger
or delegate
or ambassador.
Who else is called
an ambassador?
Who else are the delegates
of the kingdom of Jesus?
It's His people.
And when Christ comes
to judge the living
and the dead,
we believe in the bodily
resurrection of the saints.
So all those
who are now in Christ,
they will be ascending with Him.
And when He comes
to set up His eternal kingdom
to rule over all earth
and heaven,
the new heavens,
the new earth,
the army of heaven
would descend with Him.
What a glorious vision.
There's no path
between sin
and the flesh
and death on earth
and the holiness
of God in heaven
except on Jesus Christ.
That's what we confess.
So in those seven observations,
we see how King Jesus
gathers His army.
my argument to you
is that He is not done
gathering His army.
He gathers His army
still today.
Are you one
who He has prepared
and who can declare
you are the Son of God?
You are the promised King
from all God's Word,
from all the Scripture.
And I want to take you
to Psalm 110
because I want you
to evaluate
how do you view Christ
in light of this.
So please turn
to Psalm 110.
Verse 1,
Psalm 10 says,
The Lord says to my Lord,
sit at my right hand
until I make
your enemies
a footstool.
So the Lord says
to my Lord,
that's a little confusing,
isn't it?
The Lord,
Father in heaven,
creator of earth,
says to the psalmists,
Lord,
but hold on,
we see at the top,
this is a Psalm of David.
There's no one
above the King.
Who is the Lord
of the King?
So we have to understand
in light of what
God has revealed,
David himself said,
I have a Lord
who is the covenant Lord.
He brings God's grace
to earth.
And who was it
that said to my Lord?
The Father says
to the Son,
Son,
sit at my right hand
until I have made
my enemies
your footstool.
That's where Christ
sits right now,
at the right hand
of the Father.
Who are the enemies
of Christ?
Well, today,
the enemies of Christ,
we're told,
we don't fight
against flesh and blood,
but against the powers
of darkness,
these principalities
of the spiritual realm.
And we know
even in our own heart,
we fight against sin,
indwelling sin,
like Romans 7.
We fight against Satan.
Although his head
is crushed,
he's still permitted
to prowl around
like a roaring lion,
seeking who he can devour,
because that's a mean
God is using
to draw us into his kingdom
and to prepare us
for heaven.
And so he fights
against sin,
Satan,
and the devil.
Now, death,
if you're in Christ,
death has been destroyed.
There's no longer
a sting of death.
But these are the enemies
of God
that are being brought
under his rule
until he returns
in glory.
Now, look at verse 2,
Psalm 110, verse 2.
The Lord sends forth
from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst
of your enemies.
The Father sent forth
Jesus Christ
as his sword
or his scepter,
as the one
who will go out
bringing the rule
of God on earth.
In verse 3,
what will be the nature
of his army
as he rules them?
Verse 3,
your people
will offer themselves
freely
on the day
of your power
in holy garments.
See,
the people of God
stand before God
having been declared
righteous.
They're dressed
in the righteousness
of Christ alone.
And how is it
that they offer
themselves back
to him as he rules
from heaven?
They offer themselves
freely.
The nature of his kingdom
is that everyone
in the army of King Jesus
is a volunteer.
Not because they are
more holy or anything,
it's because how could
you not want to follow
Jesus?
Just like the disciples.
They beheld him
and they followed him.
And I want to just
share with you two
willing warriors,
two volunteer soldiers
who freely gave
themselves to Christ.
Both of them
are from our text today.
The first one
is Andrew.
John Fox,
a Puritan historian
and pastor,
he put together
a book telling
the stories of martyrs.
And in this book,
he said that Andrew,
this apostle,
he went on
to be a missionary
in Asia.
And he was later
arrested and brought
to the city of Petrus,
which is an amazing
city in Greece,
carved into stone.
And we're told
that there,
Andrew was tied
to a cross
that was in the shape
of an X.
So his legs
and his arms
would have been
stretched out like that,
tied there.
And Andrew
was probably reflecting
on the glorious gospel,
what it was
to follow Christ,
to tell others
we found God's anointed
one, the king,
to join his army.
In Matthew 12,
Jesus said,
whoever is not with me
is against me,
and whoever does not
gather with me
scatters.
So Andrew was
full of joy
to go and take
the gospel
to a different continent.
And the tradition
of the church
in Fox's book
says that Andrew,
from that position,
was a very slow
and torturous death.
he preached
the gospel of Jesus,
gathering more
by proclaiming Christ
for three days.
That's a willing soldier.
That's someone
who belongs
to the army
of King Jesus
has prophesied
in Psalm 110.
And the second
willing warrior
I want to tell you about
is Nathaniel,
Bartholomew.
Fox says that
he went on
to proclaim Christ
to all who would
believe in India.
So the great
continent of India
that even today
has so many
dialects and
languages that
don't have the Bible
complete yet.
And he made it
his lifelong project
to translate
the gospel of Matthew
to the people
of India
where he was serving.
One of the passages
he would have translated
would have been
Matthew chapter 10.
It says this,
whoever denies me
before men,
this is Christ speaking,
I also will deny
before my Father
who is in heaven.
Do not think
that I have come
to bring peace
to earth.
I have not come
to bring peace
but a sword.
And according
to John Fox
in church history,
this apostle
Nathaniel
was flayed.
To be flayed,
little children
left the room,
it means that
they skinned you
alive.
They took a knife
and cut your skin
off while you're
still living.
And Nathaniel
would not deny
Christ.
Now I share this
with those not
so you think
these men
were special
or that they were
so much holier
or better.
I share this
with you because
this shows
that the work
of the Holy Spirit
to give them
a new heart,
to cause them
to believe Jesus
and then to follow
him in the way
of his kingdom
speaks a loud
gospel to the
whole world
whoever will have
ears to hear.
Zephaniah 3.15
says,
The King of Israel,
the Lord,
is in your midst.
And Jesus was
in their midst
even as they were
being martyred
for his kingdom.
They did not
leave them alone.
He was with them.
He says,
You shall never
again fear evil
on the day
of the Lord.
The Lord your God
is in your midst,
a mighty one
who will save.
He will rejoice
over you
with gladness
and he will
quiet you
by his love.
He will exult
over you
with loud singing.
I just need
to probably
share with you
what you might
be wrestling with.
So you're saying
Jesus rules
from heaven
and he's the
King of kings
and Lord of lords
ruling.
Yet you just
told us these
examples of how
men in his army
are being destroyed
and torturously
abused.
And we know
our brothers and
sisters around
the world
under persecution,
I think more
and more
among the church
in America
we will face
that same thing.
How can you say
Jesus is the King
when that's all
going on
in his kingdom?
John Calvin
citing Augustine
and his institutes
was so helpful
to me on this
question.
Here's the quote.
Should God
immediately
punish all evil
in the world?
He could do that.
But should he do that?
It would be thought
of him
that he has left
nothing for his
final day of judgment.
There is a day
coming.
There is a day.
The day of the Lord
is coming.
And he will bring
the final judgment.
Praise him for being
so patient with me
and with you
and with this world.
Now, here's the rest
of the quote.
On the other hand,
if God did not
restrain
and judge
some evil
in the world,
then it would be
thought of him
that he does not
hate any wickedness
or exert any
sovereignty
or providence
over his creation,
which is also
not true.
Our Lord rules
and he preserves
his broken world
until his final day.
We long for that day
when every knee
will bow
and every tongue
will confess
that Jesus Christ
is Lord
to the glory
of God
the Father.
Let's pray
from Psalm
chapter 2.
Father,
you promised
that you have
set your King
Jesus on Zion,
your holy hill.
He rules
from heaven.
We believe
and confess
that Christ reigns
today.
He has gathered
an army,
his church around him,
and he is still
on the move
gathering men
and women,
young and old,
still today.
Lord,
you have promised
to make the nations
his heritage
and the ends
of the earth
his possession.
Please do this,
Father.
Please do this
for your glory
through your church,
by your word,
so that you will be
exalted among the nations.
We ask
in your name.
Amen.