The Authority of King Jesus - The Davidic Covenant Part 2

I'm going to read in Matthew 28, starting at verse 9.

And after verse 9 and 10, we're going to skip to verse 16.

This is God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, and sufficient word.

It's God's very own word for you, his people.

After I'm done reading, I'll say this is the word of the Lord.

If you receive it that way, you can say thanks be to God.

Matthew 28, verse 9.

Matthew 28:9

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, Rejoice.

So they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him.

This is the risen Lord appearing to his followers.

And then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid.

Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.

Now please look at verse 16.

Then the eleven disciples went away to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.

When they saw him, they worshipped him.

But some doubted.

Verse 18.

And when Jesus came and spoke to them, saying,

All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Amen.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

You may be seated.

This green grass that you have your feet on will soon fade in a couple months.

These beautiful flowers all around us, they will fade as well.

But this is the word of the Lord that will endure forever.

Let's pray.

Lord, will you please speak to your people.

And to those that you will call.

And to those that need to hear truth today.

Please speak in a powerful way, Lord.

Illuminate the word that you've revealed by your Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

I want to talk to you today about the King of Kings.

Jesus is the King.

All authority has already been given to Him.

Amen.

And it may be harder for us to receive this glorious truth that Jesus is the King.

Because we live in a democracy.

In a democracy after a few centuries, the virtues that have been commonly held, very quickly those virtues go mad.

And get pushed to extremes.

And end up turning the moral law of God upside down in the minds of fallen people.

But Jesus is King.

And His kingdom is already in effect.

If you visit a more ancient country than ours, and you go to visit a palace, you'll be able to see in the architecture, the way that that city developed.

Wherever the palace of the King is, around that palace, you'll see mansions.

All the noblemen wanting to be as close as they could to the King.

And those who can afford to be that close in the capital where the King would go to hunt, more in the countryside.

There's the retreat palace.

The wealthy of that region will try to build their homes and their estates as close as they can to the King.

If you're close to the King, you share in the status.

You share in that citizenship of the kingdom.

It's hard for us to understand this in our modern society.

Even before us, during World War II, C.S. Lewis observed,

where men are forbidden to honor a king, they honor millionaires, athletes, and film stars instead.

For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served.

Deny it food, and it will gobble up poison.

Do you understand what C.S. Lewis was writing?

Your spiritual nature needs to worship a king.

And if you deny that to your soul, your soul will gobble up poison instead.

If you don't worship the King of Kings, you will worship an idol.

Unless you worship King Jesus, you will be giving your soul poison.

Listen, He alone is the King of Kings.

And He has declared in verse 18 of our sermon text,

All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

So for today's sermon text, your expectation, it's really that phrase, verse 18, that I want to open up for us today.

The authority of King Jesus.

First, let's understand what type of authority.

All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

It's all of the authority that was promised to David.

And through further revelation, long after David was dead and buried.

And it's all bound up in what we've described last week as the Davidic covenant.

The name of David shows up in the New Testament in many places, but nowhere more than in the book of Matthew.

16 times is David mentioned in the book of Matthew.

More than anywhere else in the New Testament.

I know we're just jumping into this book as part of our theme and series.

But what you need to know about the book of Matthew, it's one of the four gospels.

Every gospel has a different audience and a different purpose.

During the Middle Ages, when the church was illiterate,

they would use art to depict the themes of books of the Bible and of Bible stories.

John was depicted, as we saw, as an eagle.

It soars.

The divine theology in the book of John is so high and elevated.

Luke was depicted as an ox, which is the head among the bovines.

And it was the sacrificial system that was focused in Luke.

So in Luke, we get detailed accounts of how perfect Christ is

as the final sacrifice to do away with the blood of animals.

In the Gospel of Mark, it's the shortest.

It's very fast-paced.

And the word immediately is always used to show the fast pace.

It's like a galloping lion.

And that's the image associated with the Gospel of Mark, is a lion.

Well, what about Matthew?

And the image for Matthew is a man from heaven,

or a messenger that's divine.

It's been depicted like an angel,

showing the heavenliness of this messenger,

but the face is the face of a man.

Do you see the point?

Jesus Christ, God Himself, became a man.

Not just any man.

He became the man that was promised in the covenant,

associated with the name of David.

All authority has been given to me, Jesus says.

Earlier in the book of Matthew, Matthew 8, 9,

a centurion from the Roman Empire had used that exact same word.

And he told Jesus,

I am a man under authority.

In other words, the power that I have,

the might of my army,

it's only as far as it's been given to me by Caesar himself.

I'm a man under authority.

But with that authority, the centurion said,

the soldiers under me will do whatever I command.

If I say go, they go.

That's the same word Jesus uses to say,

all authority has been given to Him.

Authority.

It's the might, the strength, the force,

the jurisdiction, the magistrate of Jesus.

It's the rule that He has over His government.

It's the right and power of Him

whose will and commands must be submitted to

and obeyed by others.

Just like the centurion in the Roman army.

That's the type of authority Jesus is claiming.

I want to walk through four ways

that this authority is given to Jesus.

First, He is the King.

And He has all the authority

promised to this royal Davidic line

from within national Israel.

He is now the risen, glorified man.

And as He ascends into heaven,

in the same passage,

He's raising up, blessing His disciples,

promising the Holy Spirit.

He is now lifted up

to show that He's the one fulfilling

all of those forever promises

of a throne that will last and never end

and will endure for every generation to come.

Would you turn in your book of Matthew?

I want to walk through several ways

that David is associated with

what Christ fulfills.

Turn back to Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

In the introduction to each of the four Gospels,

there's a different focus.

What is the focus in the book of Matthew?

Matthew chapter 1, verse 1.

Matthew 1:1

Well, He tells us very clearly.

He says,

this is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

So He's interested in the exact bloodline of Jesus.

And notice how Jesus is described.

Jesus Christ, the son of David.

So He comes from this royal line of David.

King Jesus also has authority

as God's conquering warrior.

He is coming on His mission on earth

to drive back Satan

and to undo the curse of sin.

Turn next to Matthew 9.

Just a few pages forward.

Matthew 9, verse 27.

Matthew 9:27

We read of two blind men

that start to follow Jesus

as He's on this mission

pushing back the power of Satan

and of darkness.

And these men, like many others,

they cry out to Jesus

and look at what they say.

Son of David, have mercy on us.

Let me give you just one more example.

Turn to Matthew 15, verse 22.

Matthew 15:22

Matthew 15, 22.

In Matthew 15, 22,

a woman from Canaan came from that region

and cried out to Jesus saying,

Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

My daughter is severely demon-possessed.

She's calling on the authority

that Jesus has,

as the royal king from the line of David

who's conquering and advancing

the kingdom of heaven

and pushing back the powers of darkness.

Number three,

King Jesus has all the authority

of the long-expected Messiah.

Messiah means anointed one.

David was anointed by Samuel

and the king was to always be anointed,

receiving this power from God

to rule over God's people.

Now look at Matthew 21, verse 9.

Matthew 21:9

The long-expected Messiah,

the anointed one.

Matthew 21, verse 9.

Matthew 21:9

Then the multitudes who went before

and those who followed cried out,

saying, Hosanna to the Son of David.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

This is what the crowds cry out,

recognizing this is the anointed Messiah,

the promised one,

the Son of David.

But look at the reaction

of those ruling in power in verse 15.

When the chief priests and scribes

saw the wonderful things that Jesus did

and the children crying out in the temple,

saying, Hosanna to the Son of David,

they were indignant.

Jesus came and his own recognized him

as the promised Messiah,

the long-expected anointed one.

And fourth,

King Jesus has all authority as God.

He has the authority of God himself

in the flesh,

fully God,

now fully man,

to rule as king over all.

See, David and the promised kings of Israel

were man,

and God was to be the king of Israel.

But in this Davidic covenant,

we're told that it will be a man

from this line of David.

And this would be God himself in the flesh

fulfilling his own covenant.

Look at Matthew 22, verse 41.

Matthew 22:41

Matthew 22, verse 41.

Matthew 22:41

Matthew 22, verse 41.

Matthew 22:41

Matthew 22, verse 41.

Matthew 22:41

While the Pharisees were gathered together,

Jesus asked them, saying,

What do you think about the Christ?

Whose son is he?

And they said to him,

The son of David.

And he said to them,

How does then David...

I'm sorry.

Jesus said to them,

How then does David in the Spirit,

he's referring to Psalm 2,

call him Lord?

If David calls him Lord,

how is he his son?

Jesus brings before them this mystery

that unless the Holy Spirit illuminated

and God accomplished it,

they could never make sense of this.

This promised Messiah,

this anointed one,

David himself would call Lord.

The anointed Messiah would be God himself

coming into the line of David.

So Jesus fulfilling this

is claiming the authority of God himself,

who David would call Lord.

Lord.

In the Gospel of Matthew,

we see Jesus time and again

driving out demons,

pushing back the powers of darkness.

See, the spiritual battle has existed

as long as sin entered God's creation.

What changed at the Incarnation

is that this spiritual battle

that's taking place in the heavenly realm

was brought to earth.

Christ, who had been at war

with sin and Satan in the spiritual realm.

He took on flesh.

He was incarnate.

And the forces of Satan

in the demonic realm

are fighting him now in the flesh.

In Matthew 9, 6,

Jesus heals a man

and he says,

so that you can know

that the Son of Man has power.

It's the same word as authority

on earth

to forgive sins.

And for this reason,

I say,

get up and walk.

King Jesus

has the authority

of the Davidic covenant.

The King of Kings

now in the flesh.

The man,

the divine man

coming to fulfill

the promise.

So that's the type of authority

Jesus claims.

Now,

what does he have authority over?

Authority

over what?

He says in our sermon text,

it's Matthew 28,

Matthew 28:18

verse 18,

all authority

has been given to me

in heaven

and on earth.

Authority over what?

Over heaven

and earth.

Well,

in Genesis 1, 1,

that same phrase is used,

that in the beginning,

God created

the heavens

and the earth.

God created

the ground

and the sky.

He created the land

and the water.

And so as God the Son,

Jesus Christ

already held

all that authority

as creator.

We read in John 1, 3

that through Christ

all things were made.

But the heavens

also refer to

the spiritual realm.

The heavens refer

to that invisible realm

in which our souls

and our spirits exist.

In Psalm 123,

we read that God

dwells in the heavens.

In Ephesians 2,

Ephesians 2:2

verse 2,

we're told that

the prince of the power

of the air,

Satan,

the spirit who now works

in the sons of disobedience,

he's in the power

of the air,

so to speak.

So this is referring

to heaven

as the spiritual realm.

In Philippians 2, 9,

we read that God

has now exalted Christ

and given Him

the name

which is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bow.

Listen.

Of those in heaven

and those on earth

and those under the earth

and that every tongue

should confess

that Jesus Christ

is Lord

to the glory

of God the Father.

In the finished work

of Jesus Christ,

He has all power

in the spiritual realm.

He has all power

in the heavenlies,

in the air,

in the realm

of the spirits.

but He also

has all power

on earth

right now.

Jesus is king

over all the earth.

He's Lord of all.

He says that

all the authority

over heaven

and earth

belongs to King Jesus

and He's fulfilling

what was prophesied

in Daniel 4,

Daniel 4:34

verse 34,

that His dominion

is an everlasting dominion

and He does

according to His will

in the army of heaven,

listen,

and among

the inhabitants

of the earth.

King Jesus rules

heaven

absolutely.

King Jesus rules

over earth

right now

by grace.

but there's a day

that's coming

where His absolute reign

in the spiritual realm

will be just so absolute

on earth

as it is in heaven.

Now is the day

for King Jesus

to call sinners like us,

poor and wretched,

to come to Him

by grace.

Now is Jesus

portrayed for us

with His arms

open wide,

welcoming any sinner.

Come to Jesus

now

while His rule

is gracious.

There will be a day

when every knee

will bow,

not in humble contrition

beholding His loveliness,

but in a conquering way

when His absolute rule

over the spiritual realm

will be realized

on earth.

And that day

it will be too late

to cry for mercy.

Now is the time

of mercy.

Some of you

need this reminder.

If God is so merciful

to a sinner

who doesn't want

to hear His word,

who doesn't want

to pray and sing to Him,

how much more merciful

is He still to you

who believe in Him,

who love Him?

Remember,

He rules over you

now by grace.

Be encouraged,

be comforted

by that truth.

Well, we've seen

what type of authority,

we've seen authority

over what.

Next,

authority to whom

and by whom.

Matthew 28,

Matthew 28:18

verse 18 says

that all authority

has been given

to me.

Who gave it?

Who received it?

Given

means to be granted,

to have something

put into one's hands,

have something delivered

over to you,

bestowed to you

as a gift,

can mean to be

appointed as an office.

It's been given.

In Matthew 4 and 9,

we read that

all things

I will give you

if you fall down

and worship me.

And that was

the words that Satan

used to tempt Jesus

in the wilderness.

I, Satan,

will give you

all the things

on the earth

that you want.

And our Lord Jesus,

hearing this,

trusted instead

in God's word.

Satan's head now

is crushed.

But Satan

is still allowed

to terrorize

anyone outside

of Christ

on this earth.

In Ephesians 6,

we read of rulers

in the darkness

over this present

evil age.

These are principalities

and powers.

A spiritual host

of wickedness

that continues

to cause damage

in the spiritual realm.

But,

Jesus says

to His church,

to the apostles,

through them

we get the New Testament

and we receive this,

that all authority

has already been given

to Him

by the Father.

So this means

God the Father

representing

the one

holy triune

Creator

has given

the authority

to Christ.

The perfect,

righteous,

risen,

and glorified

mediator.

Jesus Christ,

fully God,

fully man.

God the Son

who took on

a body forever.

He has received

all authority

from God.

When did this happen?

Christ received

this authority

at His resurrection.

In Matthew 28,

Christ has not yet

ascended

to the right hand

of the Father

in His glorified body.

He's still with

His disciples on earth,

but it's already

been given to Him.

So this authority

over heaven and earth

was given to Jesus

when the Father

rose Him from the dead,

when the Spirit

brought that breath

back into His lungs,

and when Christ

took up His own life

again just as He

had laid it down.

At His resurrection,

Jesus rose victorious.

Ever since His resurrection,

Jesus now holds

the keys of life

and death.

King Jesus has already

crushed the ancient

serpent's head.

He has already

broke the bonds

of sin

over His people.

He's already

killed death.

The Son fulfilled

that covenant

of works

that the Lord

had given to Adam

and Adam failed

to keep.

The triune God

has already fulfilled

the eternal covenant

of redemption

that God

in His freedom

counseled

Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit

to redeem

a people for Himself

before the foundations

of the world.

and God the Father

now has given

our Lord Jesus Christ

the reward

of His obedience.

He has blessed

the suffering servant

with everything

that He promised.

So the work

of the Son

is finished.

That means that

Jesus Christ

can never lose

the blessings

that He merited

for us.

It means that

His place

as the King

of kings

cannot be shaken.

all authority

has already

been given

to Him

never to be lost.

Where does

your assurance

come from?

All authority

in heaven

and on earth

has already

been given

to Christ

for His sake alone.

Nothing can take

you out of His hands.

Praise the Lord.

Well, that's

who gave the authority

and that's who received

this authority.

Now, how much

authority?

How much authority

did the Father

give the Son?

Well, it's one

little word that

anyone here

who can read

first or second graders,

you can see

in Matthew 28

Matthew 28:18

verse 18,

how much authority

did God give

Jesus?

All authority

has been given

to me.

Just as King David

had all authority

over national Israel,

over all the enemies

that God would

deliver to Him

at the edge

of every single

border of the nation.

In the same way,

Jesus has all

authority

over His kingdom.

The word all,

every authority,

any authority,

the whole authority.

There's no authority

not given to Jesus.

It's the same word,

all,

that's used in

Matthew 3.15,

that Jesus came

to fulfill

all righteousness.

That same word

is what Jesus

now says,

all authority

has been given

to me.

There's not a single

act of righteousness

God did not fulfill

in Jesus Christ.

And all that allness,

that fullness

of His righteousness,

He claims to say,

the same amount

of authority

is what I have now.

This is such good news.

Ephesians 1.21,

we read that God

has placed

our Lord Jesus Christ

above all rule

and authority

and power

and dominion

and above every name

that is named,

not only in this age

but also in the age

to come.

And that God the Father

put all things

under the feet

of Jesus

and gave Him,

our Lord Jesus Christ,

as head

over all things

in the church.

That's the gift

we receive from

the Father.

It's Christ.

with all authority

given to you

as your head,

as your king.

Just as David

took all the land

of Israel,

he took it

by conquest.

The mighty men

rose up,

they charged

with David.

The whole nation

pushed back

these rebellious ones

who hated God

and preferred idols.

He pushed them

back by conquest.

And so our Lord Jesus,

He takes over

your soul

and mine

by conquest.

He owns

your whole life

as king.

If you are united

to Him,

He has purchased you

by His blood.

There is no

corner

of your soul

for the lusts

of your flesh

to hide their head.

He owns

all of you.

King Jesus

is Lord

of all.

That's how much

authority the Father

has given Him.

The last question

I want to bring

to you

before I invite

you to respond

is authority

given for what purpose?

For what purpose

does Christ

have this authority?

All authority

has been given

to me

in heaven

and on earth

for what purpose?

In Luke 22

Luke 22:29

verse 29,

Jesus sets

this pattern.

He says

that the Father

promised to bestow

the Son

a kingdom.

And now

Jesus turns

to the disciples

and says,

now disciples,

I bestow

to you

a kingdom

just as my Father

bestowed

a kingdom

to me.

That word

bestow a kingdom.

In the Greek

it's to covenant.

My Father

covenanted

to me a kingdom

and in the same way

I am covenanting

a kingdom

to you,

my church.

one observer

pointed out

that as the Father

made this covenant

of redemption

with the Son,

so now Jesus

representing the covenant

of grace

to His people,

He covenants

in a binding way

that He fulfills

fully for you.

And in John 20

John 20:21

verse 21

He says,

as the Father

sent me

so I am sending you.

Do you get the pattern?

the mission of God

is mediated

through Christ.

As the Father

initiated this

ministry

of covenanting

of people

through the Son,

the Son continues

this ministry

through His church.

The kingdom

of God's

gracious covenant

is extended

to all

through the church.

Our Lord Jesus Christ

shares His authority

with His church.

Authority for what?

To make disciples

as you go.

Verse 19

Go and make disciples.

Our Lord Jesus

shares His authority

with His church

to call all disciples

to Christ

from all the nations.

Verse 19

Our Lord Jesus

shares His authority

with His church

to baptize disciples.

Give those whom

I have called

the outward sign

of their inward union

to me.

And our Lord Jesus Christ

shares His authority

with His church

to give His name

to His people.

Baptize them

in the name

of the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Let them be assured

that they are adopted

into my family.

They belong to me.

The church has the authority

to do that

in the name of Jesus.

Our family adopted

one of our children

and that's a day

we'll never forget.

It's a renaming ceremony.

From this day on

this precious little child's name

will be this.

And this represents

our family.

This child belongs

to this household.

This child

is blood of our blood

and flesh of our flesh.

That's what happens

in a baptism.

The name of Jesus.

The name of God the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit

through the ministry

of the King of Kings

with the authority

the Father gave Him

and He extends

to the church

is put on

a child of God.

Your identity

is secure

in Him forever.

In Christ

we are blood of blood

and flesh of flesh

because we are united

in Christ Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus Christ

shared His authority

with His church

to teach disciples

spirit-empowered obedience.

Amen.

Teaching them

to observe

all things

that I have commanded you.

The logic flowing

from the theme

of authority

is very clear.

If you're a citizen

of the kingdom

you're near to the king.

You're noble.

You're welcome

among His courts

and His garden.

Citizens

love to obey

their king.

And when your king

is so gracious

like Jesus

His law

is a blessing.

His rules over you

are a joy

to receive that.

I just get to be

in your kingdom.

What a blessing.

Philippians 3

20 and 21

Our citizenship

is in heaven.

You already have it.

And from it

we await

a Savior

the Lord Jesus Christ

who will transform

our lowly body

to be like

His glorious body

by the power

that enables Him

even to subject

all things

to Himself.

So that's the purpose

of this authority

is to extend

His kingdom

through His church.

Jesus

is already

King of kings.

Amen.

He rules

with all authority

over heaven

and over earth.

So before you

leave today

respond.

When you behold

the risen

Jesus Christ

who holds

all authority

you too

will do

like His followers.

We saw in verse 9

of our sermon text.

When you behold Him

you will

run up to Him

and you will

hold Him

by the feet

and you will

worship Him.

King Jesus

also says to you

do not fear

but rejoice.

He is King

so you can rejoice.

He says

observe all things

that I

your King

command you

by what strength

by what power

for how long

by my strength

says Jesus

by my power

until I return.

And here's the promise

in verse 20

for lo

I am

with you

always

even

to the end

of the age.

and look

at how He's

been true

to His promise

through every

century

of the church.

Your spirit

will be served.

If you deny

your spirit

food

it will

gobble up

poison.

Don't deny

your soul

the worship

it was created

to enjoy.

King Jesus

is worthy.

He is worthy.

worthy.

We sing

that He is

worthy

of all

blessing

and honor

and glory.

The good news

is you're not

just near

His palace.

You're not

just on the

suburbs

trying to be

close to the

kingdom of God.

You're inside.

You're in it.

You're already

a citizen.

You're behind

the gates

and the walls.

You're secure

with Jesus

ruling over you.

And He's

gone to prepare

a place for you

in His Father's

house.

And He sealed

this covenant

promise of grace

to you with His

own blood.

And He says

I can't wait

for that day

when we're going

to drink

and celebrate

at this feast

together.

His only

is the name

above all names.

Jesus alone

is worthy

to be praised.

Enjoy peace

under His

authority now.

And praise Him.

Praise how

majestic He is.

How mighty.

And how great

is our God

in the finished

work of Jesus

Christ.

Amen.

Let's pray in

response

to who He is.

Let's pray in

response to who He is.