Our King of Kings

Christ the King Sunday

November 24, 1991

Romans 8:31-39 (34)

Introduction

The sheer victory of Romans 8 is breathtaking. It is the promise to every child of God of the fullness of life through our Lord Jesus Christ.

From a running start way back in the epistle, Paul traces the steps of salvation by faith in the believer's heart as (1) freedom guilts, and (2) freedom from sin's dominion and (3) freedom from legalism until, as this great chapter begins, he begins a victory march of the positive, (4) freedom IN and TO the Spirit; from "no condemnation" through assurance of our acceptance into God's family as His dear children, and on through empowerment in our human weakness to a sure and certain triumph in inseparable union with the love of God.

This triumph, and every victory in the Christian way of life, is entirely through the authority and power of Jesus Christ, our LORD!

I. THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS IS KEY TO ALL SPIRITUAL VICTORY

  1. We see in Jesus the humble servant, we extoll His great humility in kenosis to the extent that we sometimes forget that He is mighty God, everlasting Father.

    We see in Jesus the answer to every longing of our hearts, the healing of every real heartache. We see love extended to where we are— and rightly so. But do we also see that we must extend to this God-man a loyalty that is deserved by none other? Do we see that to follow Him is to relinquish our rights to ourselves? Can we trust such love, such wondrous love?

  2. We only really come to know Jesus as we make Him Lord. Our primary task is to follow Jesus, to come to know Him, as He really IS. Etymologists and deconstructionists and archaeologists sincerely go looking for the "real Christ of history." I can confidently say that they will never really know who He WAS, because He IS the eternal Contemporary.

    The task of the church at large is not to make Jesus over into something that fits and conforms to the needs of the world of today. The task of your Bible study and prayer is NOT to discover that about Jesus which will reinforce your lifestyle and help you achieve your goals. The task of this church is not to underscore the servant role of Jesus Christ.

    For Jesus IS. He is the I AM THAT I AM. Our task is to lift Him up, and introduce Him. We are the servants of the great King of Kings.

    When we are seeking to use Jesus to enforce our aspirations we may find principles that will help us succeed in some temporal areas. But ultimately we shall be diminished and we shall fail at the task of the Christian faith.

    But when we are seeking to be used of Jesus in the work of His kingdom; when our lives proclaim "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done!", then we shall find that all hell itself cannot keep us from living in God's love.

II. CELEBRATING THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS

(Romans 8:34)

  1. Incarnate Lord : the King as it were veiled
  2. Dying Lord : the King as it were exposed for all to see
  3. Risen Lord : the King vindicated
  4. Reigning Lord : the King n Session

III. OBEYING THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS

  1. A king is to be obeyed. The kings and queens we honor today are really symbols, not sovereigns. But God is absolute Monarch. To be His implies much, much more than hanging around for the benefits.
  2. What does the Sovereignty of Christ the King imply? "All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth!" I AM the Lord God Almighty! "Go ye therefore . . . "

    To make Jesus LORD means to get the focus off "receiving" and "rights" and on to "giving" and "obeying."

Conclusion

In a most practical application: The homage of obedience: "Here am I, send me!"

"Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace!" "Reporting for duty, Sir! Please, whatever else happens today, make me a channel of Your grace!"

To be a channel of God's love does NOT diminish us; there are human aspects of spending and being spent that tire us— but to sense the having been used of God is the greatest "high" in the world!