God's Chosen King

Okay, the reading this morning is from Psalm chapter 2.

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

You can follow along in your bulletins or on the screen behind me.

Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord

and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

He who sits in the heavens laughs.

The Lord holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying,

As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

I will tell of the decree.

The Lord said to me, You are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise.

Be warned, O rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way.

For his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

This is the word of God.

Great. Thanks, Ange.

Let's pray together as we come to this psalm.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, as we come to your word, this great psalm of David,

Lord, won't you help us to see you more clearly, to see who you are, God, to see your nature and your character.

Won't you help us to respond appropriately.

God, we pray whether we've been Christians for many, many years or whether we're here this morning and still seeking, still searching,

still trying to make sense of Christianity, won't you open the eyes of our hearts to see you and to understand you.

Won't you help us to follow you and submit to you and to surrender to you.

Won't you help us to see you as the king, our good and gracious king.

God, come and have your way in our lives, we pray.

God, I just pray for us as a church.

Come and have your way, Lord.

We do surrender and submit to you.

You, Lord, are the head of our church.

Come and have your way, God.

Lead us where you want us to go.

Teach us what you want us to know.

Christ, this morning we, as a church body, we surrender to you.

As a family, we say, come and have your way, King Jesus.

We pray this in your awesome name.

Amen.

I'm not sure how interested you were in this or whether you watched it,

whether you watched the coronation of King Charles III earlier this year.

For many of us in Hong Kong, it maybe wasn't such a big deal.

It kind of happened over the seas.

But for those in England, it was obviously a very big deal.

The first time in many, many, many decades, there was a new monarch on the throne,

a king for the first time in many years.

And, of course, there was lots of drama.

You know, who's invited?

Who's not invited?

Is Harry and his wife going to be allowed to come?

Lots of tabloid drama.

But also lots of tradition.

Lots of articles that only get brought out a few times every century,

like the royal scepter and the golden carriage, the horse-drawn carriage.

Lots of tradition going on.

And it was a big deal.

Well, everybody in England, I imagine, came to a standstill.

Everything stopped as the whole nation kind of paused and watched the coronation of the king.

Well, Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm.

It was written for the kings of Israel, maybe King David.

It was written for the time it was said and read and proclaimed at the coronation of Israel's kings.

And in the Old Testament, the king of Israel was described as God's son.

He was God's special representative who sat on the throne and ruled in God's place as God's representative.

And this is taken from earlier on in 2 Samuel.

God speaks to David, who is the kind of greatest king in Israel.

And he says this to him,

David, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, in other words, when your life comes to an end,

I'll raise up one of your children after you.

I will establish his kingdom, the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be to him like a father, and he shall be to me like a son.

And my steadfast love will not depart from him.

And so God speaks to David, the greatest king ever, and he says,

your children will, one of your descendants will always be on the throne.

There will never be a time in Israel when one of your descendants is not on the throne.

And he will be like my son.

My son.

He will rule in my place with my authority.

And so that's what happens.

God, Israel appoints these human kings who reign in the place of God as his appointed representative.

And so that's what we see here.

If you've got your bulletin, look at verse 7.

God says, I will tell of the decree.

The Lord said, you are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

That's not the day that, you know, the king was conceived or the day he was born.

It's the day of his coronation.

Today you are crowned king.

Up until now, you've been just a member of society, a member of the nation.

Now you are the king.

You are, you've become my son.

You rule my people on my behalf.

And so the human king rules on behalf of the sovereign king.

And so that's what Psalm 2 is all about.

It's the coronation of Israel's king.

Now in Israel's day, this psalm was both an encouragement and a great warning.

It was a warning to those who would rebel against the newly appointed king, right?

So think about this.

In the nation of Israel, you've got this.

Let's say you've got some people that want to rebel and overthrow the king.

Or maybe there's a province or a tribe and they want independence.

When is the best time to launch an independence campaign or mutiny?

It's when you've got a new king, right?

When there's a new king and his authority isn't very established and he's still trying to find his feet.

That's the time when rebels or military generals or the lords in the provinces would think,

Hey, now's the time where we can become, get our independence.

And so the psalm is meant to warn them, you do this at your peril.

Look at verse 10.

In other words, pay homage to the king.

Lest he be angry and you perish in the way.

This is God's anointed one, God's representative.

Don't think of rebelling against God's king.

But Psalm 2 is also meant to be a great encouragement.

Those who love the king or love the kingdom or love the nation of Israel.

Those who were frustrated at hearing the stories and the rumors of breakaway tribes and groups wanting their independence.

It was meant to encourage them that God's chosen one was on the throne.

That he was put there by God himself and that God would defeat their enemies.

Look at verse 9.

He says, you, that's the king, you shall break them with a rod of iron.

Dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Okay, pretty violent stuff.

I know.

Good thing the children are out this morning.

It's typical coronation hyperbole, right?

You know at the coronation, people always exaggerate things.

It's like when the queen is 97 and everyone says, long live the queen.

Well, she's not going to live too much longer.

Sorry to break it to you.

But that's how you speak about royalty, right?

You exaggerate these things.

And that's what's going on here, right?

This is meant to be encouragement.

It's a warning, but it's encouragement.

Your enemies will be shattered.

God will take care of them.

Verse 6.

I have set my king on Zion, my holy hills.

That means I have established his throne.

Ask of me.

I will give the nations as your inheritance.

That means nowhere will overpower you.

All the nations will come and bow before you, honor you.

This is a great encouragement to little old Israel.

I mean, Israel is a small nation.

They're not very powerful.

Up in the north, there's Babylon.

There's Assyria.

These major military powers.

Down the south, there's Egypt.

They're constantly being bombarded.

And God says, Dari, my king is on the throne.

The nations will be your inheritance.

Nobody will wipe you out.

It's a great encouragement.

The problem is, of course, that that's not really how things panned out.

If you know the story of Israel, God makes this amazing promise to David.

He says, you are the king, and you'll always have someone on the throne.

David was the king around 1000 BC.

But even David, the best king that Israel had, well, he wasn't perfect.

He sinned pretty terribly.

If you remember the story, one day he has an affair with another man's wife.

And she falls pregnant.

And then he tries to kill.

He actually does kill her husband so that he doesn't get blamed for the baby.

David messes up terribly.

And his sin unleashes this chaos and rebellion in the land of Israel.

And for the next couple of hundred years, the kings of Israel go from bad to worse.

One king after another walks further and further and further away from God.

And becomes less and less God's representative.

And so they are seduced by power and wealth.

They become just like the nations around them.

Some of the kings, they worship foreign gods.

And then they even offer up their children as sacrifices in the fire to these foreign gods.

And Israel just descends into chaos.

And so this kingdom in Israel that's meant to be a light to the nations and whole and righteous and just.

And the kings that are meant to bring righteousness and justice to the land as God's representatives, they're the very worst.

They're leading the rebellion.

And so eventually what happens in around 600 BC, the nation of Israel splits into two kingdoms.

There's a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom.

The northern kingdom gets completely wiped out by the Assyrians.

It doesn't even exist anymore.

And the king, there's no more line of the king.

These two kingdoms are a rival war.

They're civil war for hundreds of years.

And eventually 600 BC, the bottom kingdom is not doing much better.

It's on the brink of disaster.

And the final king, his name is Zedekiah.

He's the last of David's descendants.

He's a coward.

Babylon is coming to attack him.

He wants to run away.

So in the middle of the night, he tries to flee.

He leaves all his citizens behind.

They can get wiped out by Babylon.

He just tries to save himself.

But the Babylonians capture him.

And the last thing that they do is they kill his children in front of him.

And then they pluck out his eyes that the last thing he sees, his lasting memory, is his children dying before him.

And then they put a chain collar around his neck, chains on his hands.

And they march him off to Babylon.

And he lives the remainder of his lives in exile as a slave to the Babylonians.

And that's how the kingdom of Israel ends.

And so having started off so well, Israel's kingdom comes to a devastating end.

And people would have read Psalm 2 and thought, what an epic failure, right?

I mean, look at how it starts off.

Verse 2 says,

The kings of the earth will set themselves against Israel's king.

The rulers take counsel together against the Lord's anointed one.

But God, he's just going to laugh at them.

Well, it doesn't seem like a laughing matter now.

Look at verse 8.

Ask of me, I will make the nations your own heritage.

The ends of the earth will be your possession.

You, O king of Israel, you'll break them like a rod of iron.

Well, it seems the only ones that have been broken and dashed now is Israel.

And that the kingdom that started off so promising has come to a devastating end.

It no longer exists.

And so what should we make of Psalm 2?

And what do we make of the encouragement and the warning, right?

Maybe it's just biblical hyperbole, right?

Maybe it's like the coronation.

It says some encouraging things, but you can't really take it seriously.

Maybe Psalm 2 is like those other passages in the Bible,

where it feels like what God says, and in reality, there's such a big disconnect,

you almost don't even know how to bring them together.

I'm sure that's how many in Israel felt.

Well, just like the book of Job, this is not how the story ends.

Because what Psalm 2 is ultimately about is not David or Solomon or Hezekiah or any of the kings of Israel.

It's actually about the true greater king.

It's about Jesus.

And when we see Psalm 2 is actually the story of Jesus, it makes sense.

And so Psalm 2 is all about the great king that God came to bring, King Jesus.

Look at how the New Testament, the New Testament constantly quotes Psalm 2.

And look at how it does this.

In Matthew chapter 3, if you're reading the Watermark Bible reading plan, you would have read this, I think, on Friday.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

Matthew 2, Jesus is about to start His ministry.

And He goes to get baptized by John the baptizer in the Jordan River.

And as He comes out of the water, it says,

That's a quote from Psalm 2 verse 7, where God says, verse 7,

Psalms 2:7

What's happening?

As Jesus is about to start His ministry, God says,

The king has arrived.

The king that you've been waiting for for a thousand years, the king has arrived.

This is the reign of the king.

And the same thing happens in Matthew 17.

God says,

This is my beloved son.

Listen to him.

Listen to him.

Why should we listen to him?

Because he's the king.

And so this is what Psalm 2 is all about.

It's the storyline, the plotline,

of Jesus.

And Psalm 2 tells us that Jesus is the true king,

not just of Israel or Judah or the northern kingdom,

of the whole world.

Heaven and earth's true king.

And therefore, don't run from Him.

Run to Him.

That's the purpose of Psalm 2.

If there's one thing you may need to take from this morning, it's this.

Jesus is heaven and earth's true king.

Don't run from Him.

Run to Him.

Okay?

Let's see how this works out.

And there's three parts to the Psalm.

Verses 1 to 3, we see the rebellion.

Verses 4 to 7, we see the coronation.

And verses 8 to 12, we see the declaration.

I changed that word so many times, I forgot what I wrote.

Okay.

The rebellion, the coronation, the declaration.

So let's take a look at it.

Have your bulletin or your Bible open.

We're going to read this together.

Look at verse 1 to 3 with me.

The rebellion.

The people reject the king.

Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves apart and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against His anointed one.

That's the king.

Saying, let us burst their bonds apart.

Let us throw off their cords from us.

Okay?

So, they're kind of rebelling against the king.

Now, if you're familiar with the Gospels, and if you're new to church, maybe you're not that familiar.

But if you're familiar with the Gospels, you'll pick up, this is the story of Jesus, right?

The antagonism and the indignation of Jesus.

Remember, Jesus in His ministry, the rumors start to spread.

Could this be the Christ?

Could this be the king?

The one we've all waited for?

And how does the nation, how do the people, especially those in authority, the kings and the rulers, how do they respond?

With anger, with indignation, right?

They want to kill Him.

Matthew chapter 26, we read it earlier this year, just before Easter.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

It says, the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest,

and plotted together how they might arrest Jesus by stealth and kill Him.

When Jesus starts to get a reputation, the people start to plot and scheme and plan.

How can we take this man out?

How can we kill Him?

And in Acts chapter 4, the apostles, as they're praying this prayer, one day they're gathered,

Acts 4 · chapter mention

and there's persecution, and things aren't going well, and they quote Psalm 2.

This is what they say.

O sovereign Lord, through the mouth of David, your servant, you said,

why do the Gentiles rage and the people plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves against your anointed one.

For God, in this city, Jerusalem, they were gathered against your servant Jesus,

whom you anointed, both Herod and Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel.

So what do the apostles say?

Who do they say is the king that Psalm 2 is referring to?

It's not David.

It's not Solomon.

It's Jesus.

Jesus is the anointed one that the leaders of Israel plotted and rebelled against.

This is the storyline of Jesus.

And why did they rebel against Jesus?

Why did they hate Jesus?

Why did they want to kill Him?

Well, verse 3 tells us, right?

Let us burst their bonds.

Let us cast off His authority from us.

They don't want to serve the king.

They want to be their own king.

They don't want His authority.

If there's a king in town, it means you need to submit to Him.

You need to surrender to Him.

Remember at the beginning of Matthew's Gospel,

the wise men come to King Herod and they say,

we hear there's a new king in town, right?

King Jesus, the long-promised one.

And what does Herod do?

He gets upset.

Why?

Because if there's a new king in town,

it means he can no longer be king.

He's going to have to bow down.

And friends, Herod doesn't want to bow down to anyone.

And neither do they.

They want their independence.

They want their autonomy.

They want to be able to do what they want,

whenever they want,

without anybody telling them what to do.

They don't want a king who's going to tell them how to live.

And so they rebel.

Down with the king.

They conspire to get rid of him.

Friends, do you know that this is the natural condition of every human heart against God?

That every person, the natural tendency of a heart is to say,

I don't want to serve the king.

I want to be my own king.

I don't know if, again, I didn't watch the coronation of King Charles,

but afterwards when I was reading some of the news reports,

I was surprised, but I shouldn't have been surprised,

at the number of protesters there were at his coronation.

A bunch of people didn't want him to be king.

And so while the mall lining to Buckingham Palace is filled with people waving the Union Jack

and red and white flags and yay for our king,

there are a whole bunch of other people that have got yellow placards saying,

not my king, not my king.

Did anyone else see that?

Okay?

Friends, this is the natural posture of every human being.

Jesus says, I am the king, and we shout, not my king, not my king.

Oh, we like the idea of a savior who will come and forgive us of our sins

and make our life more comfortable and help us with our career progression

and help us with our relationship difficulties

and take away the anxiety of our hearts when life is a bit difficult.

We want a savior.

But when Jesus says, I am the king, I have all authority belongs to me,

as humanity, we buckle under that.

Not my king.

I don't want a king.

I want to be my own king.

I don't want anybody telling me what to do.

I want to do what I want, when I want,

without anybody telling me how I should live.

We hate the king.

And George MacDonald, who was a Christian, passed about 150 years ago,

not everything he said was good, but he did write this.

He said, the one principle of hell is this.

I am my own.

I am my own king.

I am nobody's subject.

And he's right, right?

It's the one principle that binds, that everybody in hell shares.

I am my own.

I listen to nobody.

But Tim Keller very astutely said this.

It's also the one principle that creates hell here on earth.

Hell in our relationships.

Hell in our careers.

Hell in our families.

Hell in our church.

Hell in our lives, right?

I am my own king.

Nobody tells me what to do.

So in the words of that great hymn, I don't know if you remember,

Behold the man upon the cross.

My sin upon his shoulders.

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out amongst the scoffers.

The hymn says that if we were there on that day that Jesus was crucified,

many of us, many of us, myself included, would have joined in the crowd saying,

We have no king but Caesar.

And when the crowd shouted out, We have no king but Caesar,

what were they really saying?

We have no king, right?

We are our own king.

Jesus is the king, but we don't like him being our king because we want to be our own king.

The rebellion.

Humanity rebels against the king.

Now look what happens next in the psalm.

Look at verse 4 onwards.

How does God respond to the people's threats and the conspiracies and the fits of rage?

Look at verse 4.

God is not threatened.

Verse 4.

He who sits in the heavens laughs.

The Lord holds them in derision.

Derision means he scoffs at them.

Another translation, the message says,

The heaven-thrown God breaks out in laughter.

He's amused at their presumption.

The coronation of the king.

I don't know if you've ever seen this.

It's not really a laughing matter, but sometimes you just can't help yourself but laugh.

If you've ever seen at the bus queue or taxi queue,

a two-year-old having a temper tantrum and really upset trying to beat up their parents.

Have you ever seen that?

It's kind of a bit sad.

We shouldn't really laugh at it, right?

But sometimes it's just so comical.

You see this little kid trying to beat up their parents, right?

Because their parents aren't giving them that ice cream or whatever it is, right?

Something like that is going on here.

God looks at our futile attempts to dethrone God, and he breaks out in laughter.

He's not threatened at all.

He's not in the least bit concerned or worried about humanity's attempts to dethrone God.

God is not there saying,

Oh boy, a plan's gone wrong.

They're going to crucify Jesus.

Holy Spirit, what should we do now?

Well, I guess we better come to the plan.

No, no, God breaks out in laughter.

But then, verse 6, he says,

In other words, despite humanity's best attempts to deny Jesus the king, to dethrone Jesus the king,

to eliminate the king, even to kill the king, despite everything we threw at him,

Roman crucifixion, the worst of the Roman Empire, hell itself,

humanity's best attempts could not dethrone or deny the king,

could not stop Jesus being affirmed and established as the king.

When humanity threw its worst at God, God established Jesus on the throne.

Now, you may say, well, when was Jesus enthroned as the king?

I mean, I don't read that anywhere in the Gospels.

Okay, maybe Jesus got a crown of thorns put on his head,

but that doesn't really count because that was done in mockery.

They weren't really bowing down before him.

So when was Jesus enthroned the king?

Do you remember before Jesus goes to the cross,

he's on trial before Pontius Pilate, and what does Pilate say to him?

He says, are you really the king?

Are you really the Christ?

And while Jesus is on the way to the cross, what do the soldiers do?

They wrap him in a purple robe.

They bow down before him and they say, hail the king.

They're mocking him.

But then when he's on the cross, the passers-by mock Jesus and they say,

if you're the king of Israel, why don't you bring yourself down?

You said that you're the king.

Why don't you save yourself?

And how does Jesus respond to all of those things?

He stays silent.

You know why?

Because Jesus' kingdom wasn't established with words of argumentation

or with soldiers with spears, but by an empty tomb.

You see that?

When was Jesus established the king?

It was when the grave was left empty.

Jesus didn't establish his kingdom by evading death on the cross,

but by going through death and defeating it.

And so Ephesians 1 tells us, when God raised him from the dead

and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

far above all rule and authority and a power and dominion,

above every name that is named, not only in this age,

but also in the one to come.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, he was crowned the king.

Pilate says, Jesus, you're not the king.

Really?

And Jesus says, I'll show you I'm the king.

And the soldiers say, come, if you're the king, save yourself.

And Jesus says, I'll show you.

How was Jesus enthroned?

The empty tomb.

In Acts chapter 13, the apostles and Paul are telling some people about the gospel

Acts 13 · chapter mention

and they're calling them to follow Jesus as the king.

And this is what they say.

It's a little long, but listen to it.

It says, they say, for the rulers in Jerusalem,

because they did not recognize Jesus as the Christ,

nor understand the words of the prophets in the Old Testament,

they condemned him.

And though they found no guilt in him worthy of death,

they asked Pilate to have him executed.

And when they carried out all that was written of him in the Psalms and the prophets,

they took him down from the cross and they laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead.

And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our forefathers,

this he has fulfilled.

By raising Jesus from the grave,

as it is written in the second Psalm,

you are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

So the apostles, they go around preaching,

they say,

God raised Jesus from the dead,

just as the second Psalm,

Psalm chapter 2 said he would.

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

And then they quote Psalm 2.

And what do they quote?

Today you have become my son.

Now that doesn't mean that the day Jesus was raised from the dead,

he became the second member of the Trinity.

He was always the member of the Trinity.

It means his resurrection was his coronation ceremony.

It's the day his kingdom was established.

Despite all the opposition,

all the conspiring,

the crucifixion on the cross,

his resurrection proved he's heaven and earth's true king.

Friends, don't you see?

The more humanity tried to eliminate and deny Jesus the king

and kill the king,

the more they played along God's plan

and established him the king.

And God who sits in the heavens

laughs at humanity's feeble attempts to dismiss Jesus.

Because for all their rejection of Jesus as king,

all they did was they confirmed him

as the coronation of the king.

Does that make sense to you?

Do you understand what's going on here?

So the nations rebel.

They rebel,

but actually the rebellion leads to his death.

His death leads to his resurrection,

which is his coronation.

That proves he is the king.

He who sits in the heavens laughs.

He says,

As for me,

I have set my king on Zion,

my holy hill.

You are my son.

Today I have begotten you,

established you,

crowned you as king.

Ask of you,

I will make the nations your heritage.

The ends of the earth,

your possession.

In other words,

you are crowned king,

not just of Israel,

not just of the Jews,

not just of Jerusalem,

of the whole world.

From Hong Kong to Houston,

from New York to New Zealand,

everywhere and everyone in between,

you are heaven and earth's true king.

Psalm 2 tells us the story of Jesus,

rejection to coronation.

Finally,

Psalm 2 leads us with declaration.

Look at the last part of it.

Look at verses 10 onwards.

How are we going to respond?

Now therefore,

kings,

be wise,

be warned,

O rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear,

rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the son,

lest he be angry,

and you perish in your way.

For his wrath is quickly kindled,

but blessed are those who take refuge in him.

This psalm ends off where we began this morning,

encouragement and warning.

It's an encouragement to those of us

who love the Lord Jesus as king,

who long to see his kingdom established,

who long to see many people

come to know him as king.

And the psalm tells us that nothing,

not death,

not Roman crucifixion,

not hell itself,

can stop Jesus being crowned king

and Lord of all.

And therefore,

there's great encouragement,

great comfort, right?

What will Jesus do to his great enemy,

Satan,

Leviathan?

What does he do?

Well, actually,

interesting,

Revelation chapter 12

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

describes how Jesus

conquers this great dragon,

this beast like Leviathan,

called Satan.

And it quotes Psalm chapter 2,

Psalms 2:9

verse 9.

It says,

you will break him with a rod of iron

and dash him in pieces

like a potter's vessel.

Friends,

Jesus died and rose again

and is seated on the throne

of the right hand of God in glory

and will overcome all opposition forever.

The psalm is a great encouragement.

Do you sometimes feel like

God's kingdom is shrinking?

Jesus is on the throne

and he will be victorious.

The psalm is also a great warning

to those of us

who reject Jesus as king

and as Lord,

who refuse to bow down to him.

He warns us against

his judgment to come.

And so, friends,

the psalm leaves us

with this question.

Do you know Jesus as king?

That's the question

Psalm 2 asks us.

Do you treat him as king?

Do you revere him as king?

Do you bow down to him as king?

Do you worship him as king?

Jesus comes and he says

to each and every one of us,

if you want to know me,

if you want to receive my grace,

you must acknowledge

that I am heaven and earth's true king.

And the way to receive my grace

is to acknowledge

that you don't own yourself,

you belong to me.

Because I am heaven and earth's true king.

So, dear friend,

is he your king this morning?

Have you followed him?

Maybe you've been coming to church

for a long time,

many, many years.

Maybe you grew up

in a Christian family

and you feel like,

I've always been a Christian.

I was born a Christian.

No, friends, you weren't.

You were born a rebel.

You become a Christian

when you surrender

to Jesus as king.

And that's actually

what Kirsten and Michael

are going to be

demonstrating next week.

As they baptize,

they are going into the water

saying,

my old life

where I was lord

and I was king

and I was master,

that life is dead

and buried in the grave.

And as I come out of the water,

I'm raised to new life.

I've been transferred

from the kingdom of self

to the kingdom of Christ.

I used to live for myself.

Now I live for Jesus.

I've switched allegiance

from the kingdom of self

to the kingdom of Christ.

Friends,

what else has taken Christ's place

as lord and king

and God in your life?

In ancient times,

the gods and the kings

were bloodthirsty

and hard to please.

Even still today,

modern kings

and modern gods

and idols are.

But there is a king,

Jesus,

who didn't demand your blood

but gave his own.

He's the most gracious king.

He's the most gentle king.

He's the most merciful king

you can ever find.

But he's still the king.

Friends,

will you come down?

Will you come and bow before him?

Jesus speaks

and he issues an invitation

but also a warning.

An invitation to come

and find refuge

and shelter

in his lordship

as king

or to suffer

the consequences.

The psalm begins

with the turmoil

and the chaos

in the nations

but it ends

with the blessing

of those who

find refuge in him.

Verse 12,

blessed are those

who take refuge in him.

And so what the psalm

teaches us is this,

that Jesus Christ

is heaven and earth

true king.

You can't run away from him.

There's no place

in the universe

you can run from him.

You can't escape him.

You can't run from him

but you can run to him.

And so friends,

don't avoid him.

Embrace him.

Don't reject him.

Open yourself up to him.

Don't shut him out.

Open up your heart to him

and let him in.

His mercy

truly

is more.

Let's pray together.

Maybe actually

before we pray,

sorry,

we've got three questions

on the screen there.

Maybe I can give us

just two minutes

to reflect and ponder.

Let's think about

these questions.

Friends,

is Jesus Christ

truly your king?

How is Jesus' kingship

encouraging to you

at the moment?

How is Jesus' kingship

challenging to you?

Why don't you take

a few minutes

and just quietly reflect

and think

and ponder

when you ask God

the Holy Spirit

to speak to you

and then I'll lead us

in prayer.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Lord Jesus, we come before you this morning.

We humble ourselves.

God, we get on our knees, as it were, and acknowledge joyfully, willingly, that you are heaven and earth's true king.

You're not just the king of Israel.

Yes, you're a descendant of David in the flesh, but you are more than that.

You're the king of all creation.

And God, one day, every knee will bow down and acknowledge that.

Some joyfully, some begrudgingly, knowing it's too late.

God, this morning, I pray, won't you help us to bow the knee before you?

Lord, you help us to see, God, that you are a good and a gracious king.

That Jesus, you died and you rose again.

You've been enthroned king of all.

And there's this period of amnesty where you offer us the chance to come and switch allegiance to your kingdom.

God, help us to do that.

Help us to do that, not just on a Sunday morning, but Monday through to Saturday.

Sunday through Saturday, every day of the week.

Lord, to live devoted to you.

God, I pray that for us as a church, one of the things that will mark us is that we are a humble people.

That bow down before your kingship.

That we declare you as heaven and earth's true king, but also the king of our hearts.

God, I pray, won't you help us to do that this morning?

Friends, maybe there are some of you that are not Christians, or maybe you came here this morning and you weren't a Christian.

The scripture is clear that the only way to become a Christian is to surrender to Jesus as king.

To acknowledge that he really is Lord of all.

To acknowledge that you, like all of us, have rebelled against his kingdom.

You have lived for yourself.

The Bible describes that as sin.

And if you acknowledge that, if you say, Jesus, it's true, actually I've lived for myself.

But I now see that you are the king.

He will forgive you.

He will welcome you into his kingdom.

He will save you.

He will change your life and transform it forever.

Friends, if you came here this morning, not a Christian, why don't you bow down to Jesus this morning?

Why don't you invite his lordship into your life?

Why don't you, for the very first time, acknowledge him as king and let him be your king?

And choose to follow him?

Why don't you do that today?

Jesus will change your life.

Christ, come and have your way in our life, we pray.

In your great name.

Amen.