The King and the Kingdom

May 6, 1990 AM

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness...

Psalm 93:1-5; 97:1; 99:1

To think of God as King- to say that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings- may not have the impact that the words deserve.

[Did the children reflect our own thinking at all?] To say that God finally gets His will sounds foreign to our ears. But the Bible clearly teaches us that God is Sovereign.

The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is not particularly popular because it reveals God as God— not the servant of man's ambitions. The man or woman in the street has another deity that shouts like hell itself whenever the idea rises that there is one great, Almighty God Who has the right, by creation and by the purchase of redemption, to see that all this Universe finally does His will.

The idea of a Sovereign God does not lend itself to manipulating God for selfish reasons. And if all holiness and goodness and salvation come from Him the idea of a sovereign God removes all provision for earning salvation.

Perhaps we want to think of God as the perfect President of the perfect democracy. We have elected Him, and we can go along as we choose with His administration. If anything goes wrong, blame God!

But we didn't elect Him! From beginning to end, the Bible declares that God is sovereign, and that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Bible declares a God who IS. [The late Francis Schaeffer wrote a book called, The God Who IS THERE.] What I say will not change the fact of God. What you believe God to be will not alter the objective fact of God.

Three Psalms begin with (what we could call) an Old Testament statement of God's sovereignty: "The Lord Reigneth!"

(93, 97, & 99) I use these opening statements just now as a framework on which to focus the claims of Jesus Christ as Sovereign Lord from the New Testament (and no apology!). First the statement itself: The Lord reigneth!

I. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

"The LORD reigneth!" [Jesus said: "All authority is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18)]

  1. This is present-tense truth Not "shall one day reign" ... but even NOW He is in charge.

    Certainly that raises many questions. We hold God accountable for all the injustices of the world in our puny courts of logic. I do not defend God— that is as foolish as defending the sun when people throw mud at it. And I know it is a statement of faith, but I do declare: God IS and God is GOOD!

  2. The LORD himself is in charge. Not some intermediate power, and not some impersonal force. Jesus declares that the authority is given to Him! It makes a difference when we pray. God cares when we speak with Him. The cry of our hearts is heard at the center of all authority.
  3. To believe otherwise is to live in a pre-Copernican age, spiritually.
    1. We have a God-centered universe. The Universe is not centered around ME, or around YOU— or even around the human race!
    2. The universe is not here by mere chance, or chaos. "The heavens declare the glory of God," Psalm 19. The personality of man in its highest capabilities echoes the image of God ["Let us make man in our image" Genesis 1:26].

    Even though the finest minds in philosophy and science cannot finally provide adequate theories to allow us to understand unifying patterns of all we can observe of creation, the Bible gives us this word which we may choose to believe: The LORD is in charge of His universe!

II. THE MAJESTY OF GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY

"He is clothed with majesty!" (Psalm 93:1) [Jesus declared: "Before Abraham was, I AM! (John 8:58)]

  1. How can we speak of the transcendent majesty of God? I pity those who cannot see His hand in the heavens. We do not worship creation. But creation speaks to us of a Creator. (Springtime of all times of the year, speaks to us of God!)
  2. The Psalmist sees God as unperturbed by the noise of many waters. He is not a figurehead ruler; the disasters and appalling happenings that threaten our very sanity are not beyond His control. (93:5) We may depend on God's WORD!

III. THE MERCY OF GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY

"Let the earth rejoice!" (97:1) [Jesus said: "I am come that they might have life..." (John 10:10)

  1. [Majesty is not always synonymous with caring, but] THIS majestic (transcendent) One is also involved with a people which He calls His own. This great God "preserves the soul of His saints" (v10) Certainly there is MYSTERY here! But God will make Himself known to us all. If we SEEK, we shall FIND. IF we will listen, God will speak.
  2. This great God "preserves the soul of His saints." (v10) He takes care of His own!
    1. To say that God overcomes evil is not a simplistic statement. We may never understand all that is involved here. I sincerely believe that we do not need to become experts in evil— but true Christians are specialists in belonging to God.
    2. God's people are called to a clear clean separation from evil. (v 10) "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." [It is a mark of low spiritual attainment to continually ask 'What is wrong with this?' or 'Can I do that and be a Christian?' The person who loves the Lord lives in order to draw nearer to Him. What offends the Holy Spirit offends those who are His temple.]
    3. The LORD (Himself) is the touchstone of that righteousness. (v 12) "Rejoice in the LORD!" Not the certainty that we are "right."

I am interested in democratic process and in doing what I can in saving the United States of America. But God is NOT American, and He is not committed to preserving our way of life as WE see fit. God may well be more interested in you than he is in any institution! If I understand the teachings of Jesus, YOU will be alive and conscious long after the United States of America is ancient history! The church of Jesus Christ will be Christ's BODY eternally! Are you in tune with that fact?

IV. THE MIGHT OF GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY

"Let the people tremble!" (99:1) (From Revelation 1:17-18) John the Beloved says "I fell at His feet as a dead man." And Jesus, the glorified Savior King lays his hand on John and says: Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of hades."

  1. The Old Testament Psalm gives us just a glimpse of God seated between the cherubim. Majestic, YES! LOVING, certainly! But staggering the earth in His holiness. He is executing judgment in Jacob. (v 4) The God who is faithful in nature and in creation ...faithful in mercy and lovingkindness .. faithful and just to forgive when we confess our sins ... is also faithful in judgment.

    The first part of the New Testament is mostly about the earthly ministry of Jesus, the meek and lowly Nazarene. But that is not how the New Testament ends!

  2. All mankind shall be judged by our response to the Word Christ brought into this world, A word of love and of justice. Christ's love and Christ's justice are not decided democratically. We begin to define them and to understand them only as we come down off the throne of our own kingdoms, and acknowledge Him Lord.

Because He is King, we stand or fall in His Kingdom by our identification with Him (in FACT, and not just superficially by mental agreement). There are no part-time Christians, no compromises are accepted.

It is by our belonging to Him that He makes us His own! Anything less than a total belonging to God brings us into conflict with His great purpose. And this should cause us to tremble at this "Sovereign God."

To think of the holiness of God is reason to tremble. For there is NO holiness apart from God. ONLY God is holy! All holiness is HIS! But there is GRACE! God accepts sinners! In fact He ONLY accepts sinners!

CONCLUSION:

Why speak of this [God's Sovereignty] at all?

  1. Maybe I am doing some recruiting! It might be that to think of the greatness and goodness and holiness of God would prompt somebody here to seek repentance and a drawing near to Him.

    This great King never violates your right to choose! He makes that CHOICE your privilege! By certain that your relationship with Him is right, You can join in rejoicing that God, the LORD, is King!

  2. Certainly as an act of worship! I have tried in a pitifully small way to lift up the sovereignty of God so that we might desire to exercise our highest privilege, of (ongoing) worship.

    We do not have to wait until Sunday to tell God we love Him! We don't have to wait until we die to sing God's praises! Somehow I feel that when a humble boy or girl or man or woman really worships, there is an echo that sounds throughout eternity! GOD TAKES NOTICE!

Pray with me: