In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of treating God's name with reverence and honoring the Sabbath as a holy day. He also highlights God's commandments against sexual immorality, theft, and murder. The preacher warns that there will come a time when Jesus Christ will return to the earth, and those who have scoffed at him will mourn and fear his wrath. Ultimately, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, bringing glory to God the Father. The preacher shares his personal experience of once being a rebel against God's laws but acknowledges that God can still extend grace and forgiveness to rebels.

All right, thank you Dan and Wanda and Sylvia for leading us in this time of praise. Please find Luke chapter 1 and John chapter 18, Luke chapter 1 and John chapter 18, and we're going to read some verses tonight that pertain to the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to tell you that the Lord Jesus Christ is king this evening. He is ruling and reigning. Now it doesn't appear as you look around our country that the Lord Jesus is reigning today, and in fact if you were to have a conversation about this matter with a lot of people, they would be convinced that you are a total lunatic if you were to say Christ is reigning today, because there's so much going on in our world that seems to suggest otherwise. But ladies and gentlemen, we who know the Lord Jesus should rejoice in this that he is reigning, and I can affirm for you tonight that Christ is reigning regardless of what the latest opinion poll says. He is reigning. It doesn't matter how things appear. Appearances can be deceiving. I remember my mother telling me that back many years ago, and she was so right. She was fond of saying that, son, appearances can be deceiving. And we began this series, we're in a series on the great doctrines of the Christian faith, and we began this series back several weeks ago, and we began this series by establishing that the Bible is the word of God. And so let us not be deceived by appearances, because this Bible, the word of God, affirms that Jesus is reigning. And we're going tonight to just talk a little bit about the reign of Christ, and I'm going to try to show you the sense in which Christ is reigning this evening. And I want to tell you that there's coming a day when there's not going to be a debate about whether Jesus is reigning. Now, there's a debate going on tonight. A lot of people in our society would say, well, those Christians, what a bunch of idiots they are. They believe that Jesus is reigning, and there's no evidence of that whatsoever. And we respond to that, and we say, well, he is reigning. And they say, it's kind of like children, you know, who go back and forth with each other, and we say, he is reigning, and they say, no, he's not. And so there's a debate. There's a debate. You may have a debate going on in your own family. You may have some family members who are not Christians, and if you were to suggest to them Christ is reigning, they might be inclined to laugh at you. But I'm telling you that there's coming a day when there's not going to be any debate about the reign of the Lord Jesus. It's going to be apparent to all. And so let us affirm tonight that Christ is our King, that he is reigning, and let us look forward to that time when the debate will be over, and everyone will know what we already know. Now look, please, at Luke chapter 1, verses 31 through 33. Luke chapter 1, verses 31 through 33. And here we break into what Gabriel, the angel Gabriel, said to Mary about the forthcoming birth of the Lord Jesus. And he says there in verse 31, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. He will be great. And will be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God, look at this, the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end. Now we don't find the word king there in those verses, but that sounds very much like a king to me. How does it sound to you? There in verse 32, we find the throne. And we find in verse 33, the word reign. And also there in verse 33, the word kingdom. So Gabriel is affirming before the Lord Jesus was born, before the Lord Jesus ever took our humanity, Gabriel was affirming that he would be a king. Now let's go over to John chapter 18, and we're looking at verses 33 through 37. And whereas Gabriel spoke to Mary before the Lord Jesus ever appeared on the human stage, we have here a passage of scripture that deals with the end of Jesus time here on this earth. Jesus was about to be crucified. And of course, after he was crucified, he arose from the dead. And after he arose from the dead, he ascended to the father in heaven. So we're getting down here toward the end of the time of Jesus on this earth. And look, please now at words we find here in John chapter 18, verses 33 through 37. And here we have a conversation between Pilate and the Lord Jesus. Then Pilate entered the praetorium again, called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, are you speaking for yourself about this? Or did others tell you this concerning me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priest have delivered you to me. What have you done? And Jesus answered, and here now we have insight into the nature of the kingship of the Lord Jesus. Look at what he says in verse 36. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore said to him, are you a king then? And Jesus answered, you say rightly that I'm a king. For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And so the Lord Jesus affirms here in the plainest way possible that he was indeed a king. But he's not your ordinary run-of-the-mill king. And if you're looking around tonight saying, well, where on this earth do we see the kingdom of Jesus? Where do we see his throne? Where do we see all the trappings of kingship? Well, you're going to have a hard time. You're going to have difficulty. If you're looking for the kingship of the kingdom of Jesus in this world in terms of physical manifestations, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you tonight that the Lord Jesus Christ is an invisible king who is conducting an invisible reign. You can't see it with the naked eye, but that doesn't mean the Lord Jesus Christ is not king. It doesn't mean he's not reigning. He is king and he is reigning. I hope that I've been able to pique your interest a little bit and that you'll listen now as I try to unfold a little bit about this wonderful topic, the kingship of Jesus. And I don't want to weary you, but I do need to just review a little bit of what we have covered in recent messages. We have been in a blessed spot in this series. Here we stand. We have been at the core of the Christian faith. We have been talking about God's marvelous plan of salvation. And I have labored over this point. I have told you again and again that it was necessary in order for there to be a plan of salvation, for there to be a mediator between God and man. Is this beginning to come back to you now? Does this sound familiar? And some of you might say, sound familiar. You've been wearing us out with this. Well, I promise I'm not going to continue to talk about this business of there being a mediator, but I should think that old tired heart of yours tonight would just would kind of rejoice a little bit. I'd, I'd think that old sluggish heart of yours might just kind of leap within you this evening. Whenever we go over this ground of there being a mediator, listen, there would have been no salvation for you. There would have been no salvation for me if there had not been a mediator. And I define the mediator, you remember, as one who comes between holy God and sinful man. And he, there's, there's enmity there. There's, there's alienation there. There's conflict. And the mediator comes in between holy God and sinful man, and he brings them into peace. He reconciles them. He brings them together. That's the role of the mediator. Now, after having talked about the mediator, and by the way, the Bible says there's one mediator between man, between God and man, and that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the man, Christ Jesus, one mediator. If it weren't for Christ, you and I would not have any salvation. We would have no forgiveness for our sins. And so that's the role of the mediator. But I've been saying here in recent weeks that in order to perform the task, the role of mediator, in order to fill that office, the Lord Jesus Christ had to function in three capacities. And you remember, because all of you are so faithful to attend on Sunday evenings, and I appreciate it so much, you remember that we have talked about Jesus as our prophet and Jesus as our priest. And now tonight we're talking about Jesus as our king. So we might say this office of mediator had three sub-offices to it, prophet, priest, and king. And I just remind you that Jesus had to come and serve as our prophet. A prophet is one who declares the truth of God. And listen, there would never be peace between God and sinners if sinners were not to heed the truth of God. And so Jesus, in his prophetic role, declares to us the truth of God. You would not be saved if you had not heard the truth of God. We sing that old song, By God's word at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned, till my guilty soul, imploring, turned to calvary. How did you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ? How did you come to know your sin? How did you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, because you have here the word of God, and it was declared to you. Paul says in Romans 10, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And so there you have Christ in his prophetic role. And then last time we looked at Christ in his priestly role. And you remember, the priest has several different functions, but the main function was to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people. And here Christ is, ladies and gentlemen, and this ought to thrill our hearts. Christ was a different kind of priest, in that he was both priest and sacrifice, and he offered himself, he offered himself as the sacrifice for our sins. Listen, there can be no peace between God and sinners until sin is taken out of the way. And the only way that sin can be taken out of the way is for the penalty to be paid. And I tell you that the Lord Jesus went to the cross for the express purpose of sacrificing himself, offering himself as our sacrifice. When I tell you he went to the cross, I'm essentially telling you that he went there to pay the penalty for our sins, and that's the only way that he could take sin out of the way. He received the wrath of God in our stead, so that we never have to receive that wrath ourselves. But now we can gloriously sing, Jesus paid it all, all to him we owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. And now with that as our background, with that as our little review, I want to go one step further and tell you that there could be the role of the mediator now. Remember, the role of the mediator is to make peace between God and sinners. And listen, there can be no peace between God and sinners now until the stubborn, sinful will, the rebellious will of those sinners is broken, broken and subdued. And this now brings us to what I've already been talking about, the kingship of Christ. What does Christ do in his kingly role? He breaks that stubborn will. He breaks that rebellion. He causes us to throw down the weapons of our warfare. He causes us to submit to our rightful king. He subjugates us to himself, and all that's part of his mediation. There can be no peace between me and God as long as I'm hostile to God, as long as I'm rebellious against God, as long as I am thumbing my nose as it were in God's face, there can be no peace between me and God. But Jesus, Jesus, thank God for this, broke that stubbornness, that rebelliousness. He shattered that hostility. He caused me to throw down the weapons of my warfare, and he subjugated me to his rule. And now the Lord Jesus rules and reigns in my heart. And he not only rules and reigns in my heart, brothers and sisters in Christ, but he rules and reigns in the hearts of all of his people. Now, if you're looking for a physical throne, I say again, if you're looking for a physical throne, if you're out here saying, I don't believe this kingship of Jesus, where's his throne? I can't see a throne. Is it supposed to be in Jerusalem? Is it supposed to be in New York City? Is it supposed to be in Jackson, Tennessee? If you're looking for his physical throne, you're going to be disappointed because my friends, here's the kingship of Jesus. He's already said here in John 18, my kingdom is not of this world. Here's the kingship of Jesus. Jesus Christ is ruling and he's reigning in the hearts of his people. May I just remind you that the Lord created us for the purpose, for the purpose of living under his authority. And may I further say that he created us to bring glory to his name by living under his authority. God made us to live under his authority and by virtue of living under his authority to bring glory to his name. And God issued in order for us to live under his authority and to bring glory to his name. God issued certain kingly decrees. Every king has his decrees, doesn't he? Every king has his laws. Every king has his rules. And he puts these upon his subjects. And he says, now you live according to my laws. You live according to my rules. You live according to my decrees. And you find the kingly decrees of, of the Lord. I suggest back there in Exodus chapter 20. And there, some of you, you'll say, you're saying that chapter sure sounds familiar. Well, it should. You learned this from Sunday school or, or vacation Bible school back years ago. Exodus chapter 20, that's where you find the 10 commandments. And what are the 10 commandments? They are the kingly decrees of our God. They're God saying, you live in this way. By the way, folks, I want to just go on record as saying tonight that the 10 commandments have not been rescinded. God hasn't pulled them back. God hasn't said, well, I'm not going to bother with that stuff anymore. The 10 commandments are an expression of God's moral character. And if God were to rescind the 10 commandments, he would be denying his own moral character and God cannot do that. But these are God's kingly decrees. Now I want to tell you, some of you will say, well, how could those be God's kingly decrees when there were centuries before they were written on stone? How could God expect people to live according to those laws whenever centuries came and went before they were ever written down. I want to tell you that God wrote them on the hearts of his people long before he ever wrote them on stone and gave them to Moses. I want to tell you that Adam and Eve knew God wrote them on the hearts of Adam and Eve from the very beginning that these, these laws, these kingly decrees, and he wrote them on the hearts of people thereafter until finally Moses came along and they were written down on tablets of stone. And there you have God's kingly decrees. I say again, and here God tells us how he wants us as his subjects to live. Now, what have we done with God's commandments? What have we done with God's decrees? Why we've spat upon them, we've scorned them, we have spurned them, and we continue to do so today. Most people in America tonight are living in rebellion against their rightful king. God is their rightful king. And most people right here in our own community are living in rebellion, not only all across this nation, but right here in our own community. They're living in rebellion. They're saying, I'm not going to live the way God wants me to live. I'm going to live the way I want to live. Here is essentially what sin is. Sin is the creature saying to the creator, I will not have you ruling over me. I'll not have you ruling over me. That's sin. It's the creature rebelling against God, rebelling against God's kingly decrees. And you don't need me to document this for you. You don't need me to prove this to you, do you? Just look around. Do you see people today scorning the Ten Commandments? God says, you shall have no other gods before me. I tell you, Jackson, Tennessee is shot through and through with idolatry. There are lots of people, lots of people, most people are putting other things. Am I not telling you the truth? They're putting other things above God. They're other things ahead of God. They're exalting their own comfort and their own pleasure. They're exalting their own comfort and pleasure above God. That's idolatry, folks. That's idolatry. God says, you will treat my name as a sacred thing. You'll not take it in vain. This is one of his kingly decrees. The overwhelming sin in the United States of America tonight is people taking the name of God in vain. They treat it as a byword. They treat it as something that is casual. They use it to express shock or surprise. I tell you, my friends, we're to treat the name of God with reverence. You know this to be true, don't you? You cannot turn on your television set without hearing somebody just a few seconds into the show say, oh my God. My friends, it's wrong. God says this is one of my kingly decrees. Treat my name with reverence and Americans are spitting, spitting upon the name of God tonight. God says you'll treat my day as a holy day. How many of us use the day of God for our own comfort, our own convenience, our own pleasure, and we think if we give God an hour or two that we have exhausted the responsibility? God says that you will not engage in sexual immorality. He says that you will not engage in theft. God says you will not, you shall not kill. And remember, my friends, that lust is sexual immorality. And remember that coveting somebody's goods is theft. And remember that hatred is murder. Well, these are God's laws, and we have not lived according to God's laws. And there was a time in my life whenever I had no regard for the laws of God. I was a rebel. I had a king, but I wasn't acknowledging his kingship. I was a rebel. I had the weapons of my warfare. I was essentially shaking my fist in the face of God, and I was saying, I'm not going to live the way you want me to live. I want to tell you that God could, ladies and gentlemen, he could do this with his rebels. He could say, I'm going to just leave you in your rebellion. I'm going to let you proudly march through life rebelling and rebelling and ignoring my kingly decrees. And then after you have gone through life rebelling, I'm going to bring you into eternal woe. God could have done that. And we rebels would not have any room to complain if God had just left us in our rebellion and then had brought us into his judgment. But wonder of wonders, brothers and sisters in Christ, wonder of wonders, God said, I'm not going to leave those rebels in their rebellion. I'm talking now about the people of God. He said, if you're my brother in Christ tonight, if you're my sister in Christ, God has said of you, God has said of you, I'm not going to leave that man in his rebellion. I'm not going to leave that woman in her rebellion. I'm going to break that spirit of rebellion. I'm going to subjugate that man. I'm going to subjugate that woman to me. And my friends, this is the kingly rule of Jesus. Oh, there I was in my rebellion and Jesus came in and he set up his rule in my heart. His kingdom is not out of this world. His kingdom is in the hearts of his people. He has broken their rebellion. And now they live according to his laws, not perfectly, no, but they're in a far different state now than they were before. They were subjugated to King Jesus. Now they agree that his laws are good and right. Now they strive to keep his laws. Now they are sorrowful when they break his laws. King Jesus rules, rules in the hearts of his people. I've already said to you that right now the kingship of Jesus is primarily an invisible rule of an invisible king. But oh, may I go on to say that it's not always going to be that way. The Bible talks about a coming day. I've already said to you, the debate's going to end. There is a debate going on in Jackson, Tennessee tonight. I wouldn't have to walk out of my cove in order to get into a debate with people about Jesus. I could go right there in my tiny cove, Deer Creek Cove, and talk to just a handful of my neighbors. And some of them would say, yes, Jesus is king. But there are others who would say, no, you're mistaken. Jesus is not king. The debate's going on right there in Deer Creek Cove. But listen, the debate's going to end someday. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is going to come back to this earth. The Bible is going to say that, the Bible says that when he comes back, they will mourn because of him. People who are scoffing and laughing at King Jesus tonight will mourn when Jesus makes his appearance. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 6 that they will cry for the rocks in the mountains to cover them because they will say, who can stand before this God? Who can stand before the wrath of this King? And Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2 that this King Jesus will be universally acknowledged, that every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he is king to the glory of God the Father. May I simply close tonight by telling you, God will have his glory from you. He'll have his glory from you. He will have it. You won't get away without glorifying God. You can march through life denying the kingship of Jesus, but God's going to bring you to that point where you are going to have to bend the knee and where you're going to have to confess Jesus Christ was king. Now I want to tell you tonight, most of us here already agree with this, that Christ is our king. And if we agree with it tonight, we ought to hear the joy bells of heaven ringing in our hearts that the Lord Jesus has broken that spirit of rebellion in us and he has set up his rule and he has set up his reign. We should rejoice that we're subjects of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it should be our desire to glorify him. It should be our desire to serve him. It should be our desire to exalt him. While others are denying him, it should be our immense privilege and blessing to lift him high. How blessed we are to have King Jesus ruling over us. We all have somebody ruling over us. There's not one person in this world tonight who does not have a king. We've all got a king. The only question is whether it's King Jesus or whether it's the prince of the power of the air. And if you denied our part of Satan's kingdom, I just want to urge you, get out, get out and flee to King Jesus while you have time and opportunity. Let's bow together for prayer. Father, we thank you that we could, even tonight in a world that scoffs at the kingship of Jesus, that we, your people, could remind ourselves in this time of your good reign in our hearts. Father, thank you for breaking that spirit of rebellion that was so pronounced in our hearts. Thank you, Father, for setting up your throne, the throne of Jesus in our hearts. Thank you, Father, that we're now under his rule and under his reign and there he shall reign forever. Thank you, Father, that the day is coming when everybody's going to know the truth that we know now. Father, help us to leave here tonight rejoicing in King Jesus. We pray in his blessed name. Amen.