Jesus My King

But yeah, Pastor Justin is out of town.

So, like when you're out of state, even then everything's fair game.

So this morning I get the privilege to bring God's word to you this morning.

I'm super excited about it.

We are wrapping up our series in the Psalms, Cry of the Heart, the emotions that the Psalms address.

Next week, I'm excited to announce that we'll be starting our first week in Hosea about how God is a faithful God, even though we are unfaithful people.

And so this morning, um I want to get right into the text.

Last time I think I rambled like 74 minutes, and I think I got it down to 90 minutes this week.

So I better get into it quick.

We are going to be looking at the emotion of assurance.

The emotion of assurance or or confidence or hope.

And so as I was uh prepping for this text, uh Psalm 144, I started to ask myself, like, what are the things in my life that I am most sure about?

What are the things that I'm like in life that I'm most confident?

Uh the things put things down in the category of like really quick.

So I was like, pass.

Um it got super dark and morbid really quick.

So I was like, well, um, I'm definitely my body's gonna continue to break down.

That's gonna happen.

I'm gonna probably continue to put on weight.

Um, I'm eventually going to die.

Uh the government is definitely gonna take my money.

My kids will probably be a struggle to obey me for the rest of my life.

I mean, it just got super dark, and I'm like, man, there's gotta be like some better confidences.

And I started thinking, like, even my job, so I I uh am a firefighter on the side gig, right?

Like it's a glorified kid that gets to put wet stuff on hot stuff, and uh I enjoy it, but really the whole purpose of my job is to give assurance to people, right?

Like when you call 911, you expect that things will get better, right?

Like there's this confidence, there's this security that, like, hey, you phone up 911, things are going to get better.

I have to break it to you.

Uh sometimes you guys do stuff that is so dumb that we can't even fix it.

Okay?

No, I'm serious, but something's just happened, right?

Like our bodies break down.

You can have like this marathon runner who is like the most in shape, most fit person, and they're walking down the road and have a big, massive heart attack and fall and die, right?

You can have all the money in the world, and your ship, your carnival cruise ship sinks and you die, and you just retired.

Like these terrible things happen.

You can place all these securities, all these uh things that you think you can place your hope and confidence in, and ultimately all of them are not really that sure or as sure as what we thought they may be.

And so this morning I'm hoping that I won't be that morbid, uh, that I won't be like uh we're just gonna talk about death and everything.

I I'm I'm hoping that you will leave this place with some confidence, with some encouragement uh in your faith.

And my hope this morning is that you would be able to taste and see and savor that the Lord is good King, that the Lord is, that He will remain true to His word.

And so the main point of our text this morning, I'm just gonna give it out at the beginning.

I'm hopefully everything I say and do around it will hopefully deeply embed this point into our hearts and our minds as we go from this place to be encouraged.

The main point is this the assurance the kingdom of God brings for the believer is the fountain for God's richest blessings.

The assurance or the assurance is that the kingdom of God brings for the believer is the fountain for God's richest blessings.

I'm gonna pray and we'll get into Psalm 144.

God, we praise you this morning.

God, we pray that you would be with your people.

God, I ask uh special safety and care for Pastor Justin and Pastor Kurt and Pastor Matt as they are away overseas.

I pray that you would protect them.

God, as they are surveying the landscape and the um the area of where we can partner globally, missions-wise.

God, I pray that you give them wisdom.

I pray that you would give them safety, that they would be brought back safely.

Um, God, I pray for their families and their wives and their children.

Um, God, that you would allow us to surround them.

They would feel your church's love and care for them even as their loved ones are away.

God, I pray for this church this morning.

God, I pray for the children and kids this morning that they would hear your gospel faithfully proclaimed.

They would see it as good news to their souls.

God, I pray for the workers with them that they would cultivate their hearts to a deeper love and adoration and desire to follow you all the days of their life.

Lastly, God, I pray that your spirit would be with us, that you would work through me as I attempt to bring the gospel to light, as I attempt to draw out the beauties and the assurances of your gospel, the blessings that you have given us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God, I pray that you would use me this morning, that I would not get in the way of what you are trying to accomplish.

God, that your church would leave this place feeling and believing that they have met with the risen and reigning Lord.

It's your name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

So Psalm 144, this is our last psalm.

I'm gonna read the text in its entirety.

This is a psalm of David.

So David wrote the majority of the songs, and we're gonna end up on one of his psalms and a precursor.

I'm like amped up about this sermon.

I've I wanted the song A Mighty Fortress to be played like a walk-up song, like as like a walking out to the plate.

Um, I was like really amped.

This song, this text is just like it, and then that MTV Cribs beat came on.

I was like, all right, that's gonna have to do.

So I'm amped, I'm shaky, um, I'll probably cry because that's what I do, and so you're just gonna have to live with it.

So, Psalm 144, a psalm of David.

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.

He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the Son of Man that you think of him?

Man is like a breath, and his days are like a passing shadow.

Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down.

Touch the mountains so that they smoke, flash forth the lightning and scatter them.

Send out your arrows and rout them.

Stretch out your hand from on high.

Rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

I will sing a new song to you, O God.

Upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, who gives victory to the kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword, rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

Then may our sons and their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace, and ten thousands in our fields, may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing.

May there be no cry of distress in our streets.

Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall.

Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

This is the word of the Lord.

I pray that God blesses uh our time and his holy scriptures this morning.

So, did you guys catch the theme, kind of like the ammo that's getting me amped up of this text?

There's there's this theme of battle, and this theme of this war, and there's theme of this kingdom or this this fortress, this people, almost like this dynasty.

And there's this theme of this rock who's who trains hands for war, who trains fingers for battles, he's a fortress, he's a shield, he's a stronghold, he is a deliverer.

Really, the story of the Bible is the story of the kingdom of God, and today's text is no different.

My aim this morning is to point to the riches of Christ's kingdom, what it brings for the people of his kingdom, and to address what our role is as the people of his kingdom.

So I kind of have this broken up in three different assurances that I see in this text, one through five, six through eleven, and twelve through fifteen.

So the first assurance that the kingdom of God produces, number one, the proximity of the king produces assurance.

The proximity of the king produces assurance.

He is God with us.

He is God with us.

Ten times in verses one through two alone, we see this personal pronoun, right?

We see this personal nature, this proximity of the king with David.

Right?

He says that he is my rock.

He is the one who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for battle, my steadfast love, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues people under me.

What great confidence David has in the close personal relationship that God has with him as he is king.

And why is that?

David is able to have this confidence because he's reflecting on what he has seen, felt, and the fact that he has met with God.

He has a close and deep relationship with God.

And his reply to these assurances in verse 3 why is it that you care for me?

What is man, O God, that you regard him, or the Son of Man that you think of him?

Note the assurance in the way that he forms this question.

He doesn't, he doesn't ask, God, do you care for man?

Do you even see me?

Do you care for me?

No.

No, he says, Why is it, God, that you care for me?

That's that's a completely different confidence.

It's it's almost a sense of a rhetorical question.

Why is it, God, that you care for me?

And this this great assurance leads him to a petition.

He leads him to a prayer.

He says, Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down.

Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down.

This is a storyline that is seen throughout the Bible.

The pursuit of God to dwell with man.

The pursuit of God to dwell with man.

We see it in the creation, right?

And Eden, God dwelt with man, right?

God created Adam and Eve, and he walked in their midst.

He was a God who was close.

He was a God with us.

And because of sin, because Adam and Ave eated that fruit, and God is perfectly holy, man was cast out from this blessed proximity, this blessed presence of God, and he was kicked out of the garden as an act of love to save him from the death that should have come his way because he sinned.

God's rules in him to be able to be dwelling with him.

We see it in God's rules and statutes in the tabernacle, right?

He created this place of worship that God's people could come safely and be able to worship him, safely to be able to dwell with him.

We see it in the very nature of what Mary and Joseph are told.

You shall bear a child, and his name shall be Emmanuel.

He is God with us.

And then we see it in the coronation of our King.

In all four gospel accounts, we see as Jesus is going to be baptized.

Really, the prayer that we get, bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down, is answered in a beautiful way.

Right?

Jesus comes out and John the Baptist is baptizing folks, and what happens?

The heavens part.

And behold, God the Father said, This is my beloved Son.

And what happens?

The Spirit descends on Jesus, empowering him for his earthly ministry.

Literally, the heavens are bowed, the heavens come to earth and rest on Jesus so that he can be God with us, full of the Spirit.

We see it at Pentecost.

Jesus tells his disciples that I'm going to have to go, I'm going to have to leave you.

But before you go out, and before I leave, I'm going to send someone to help you.

And so he truly is God with us.

He gives us his spirit to live inside of us.

And the confidence that we have, the hope that we have is that God will remain true to this character.

And when he comes again in glory, he will draw all people to be with him in this inseparable, eternal kingdom.

God is a God who desires to dwell with his people.

The proximity and nature of our king should give us assurance this morning.

He is not some far distant off ruler, but rather a God who draws near to his children.

He is God with us.

Number two, the power of the king produces assurance.

This is verses 6 through 11.

He is God for us.

This is like where I wanted to sing a mighty fortress.

All this stuff is in here, right?

He has power.

He has power.

What do we see?

And flash forth your lightning and scatter them.

Send out your arrows and route them.

Stretch out your hand unfigh.

Rescue and deliver me from the many waters, from the hands of foreigners, whose mouth speaks lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

This right hand is a sign of an oath.

David feels this oath, this promise of people trying to destroy the kingdom.

And David calls out.

This is crazy, David, who's a king who has power, who has strength, who has army, doesn't rest on his own strength, but he calls out to the greater king.

Come and rescue me.

Come and rescue me.

Stretch out your hand.

And what great confidence we see in the in the verse 9 and 10.

He says, Then I will sing a new song to you, O God.

This new song literally translates a song fit for the occasion.

David is confident in the assurance.

He's confident in the victory that is his.

He says, Who gives victory or salvation to the king?

Do you guys feel the triumphant mood of David's petition, the triumphant mood of his prayers?

David asked the king to save him.

He asked God to save him.

Not his own army, not his own might or strength, but God.

I've never been in a war.

Whether you believe it or not, I haven't been there.

And but I I do I do uh play Call of Duty.

I've played that before and I freak out.

I can't take it.

I bought a PS3 and I got like so anxious that I had to return it because it gets me worked up.

But listen, if I really was in a war, I would be freaking out, right?

There are so many uncertainties.

There's so many things that are unaware.

There uh does am I gonna get flanked from behind?

I'm looking this way, and there's the whole army's coming behind me.

I mean, all these all these types of uncertainty, it would it'd be terrible.

It would be frightening.

He and he has confidence in the fact that God is going to fight for him, that God is a powerful God, and he has assurance and he has confidence in that.

David has seen this firsthand, the Lord's power in and through and on his behalf from early on when he was anointed as king.

First Samuel, David is being anointed as king, 1 Samuel chapter 16, and we read that the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.

1 Samuel 16 · chapter mention

David had felt the powerful presence of God from the time he was anointed to king at 17 all the way through his 40 years as reigning as king.

What about the most uh well-known story of David?

Those of you who've grown up in church, right?

There's this big story.

I recite this sermon to the kids today, and they got it.

So David fought a man named Goliath, right?

So God's people, the Israelites, they are up against this giant army of the Philistines, and there's this great champion, this great warrior named Goliath, and he's taunting, he's mocking God's people.

Who will fight me?

Who will fight me?

And the Israelites stood in fear, and they could not send anybody out to fight him.

Day after day, Goliath came out and taunted them.

And then we read what David does.

David goes to Saul the king, and he says, You are not able to go, and Saul says, You are not able to go up against the Philistine to fight him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.

But David said, Your servant used to keep sheep for his father.

And when there came a lion or a bear, and I took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it from his mouth.

And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine, the greatest adjective, right, shall be one like them, for he will be defied by the armies of the living God.

And David said, The Lord who delivered me from the pall of the lion, and from the pall of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine.

And Saul said to David, Go and the Lord be with you.

David's David's felt this powerful presence.

David killed a lion, he killed a bear, he f he he killed Goliath.

We know the end of the story, those of you who grew up in church.

David marches out on the battlefield and he grabs his AR-15 and tags Goliath square between the eyes, right?

He kills him, he cuts off his head, battle's done.

David wins the war for the entire Israelite nation.

And so he snagged this victory for the king, but it wasn't on his own.

It was because God was with him.

So I said, Go and the Lord be with you.

And we we too this morning can take great confidence that our God is not only with us, but that our God is for us.

This is our gospel conviction.

At Calvary, Christ our King defeated our greatest enemy, sin.

Exchanging his throne for a cross, he not only saves us, but makes us co-heirs of his eternal kingdom.

Is that good news?

At Calvary, Christ our King defeated our greatest enemy, our greatest Goliath, sin.

And he exchanged his throne for a cross.

He not only saves us, but more than that, he makes us co-heirs of his eternal kingdom.

This is the climax of all the scriptures, right?

We had no hope apart from Jesus coming.

We have sinned, and so death had spread to all men because all men have sinned, and the wages of sin is death.

We needed a greater king.

We needed someone to come on our behalf, and that's what Jesus does as God with us, as God Emmanuel.

He took on flesh and he came and lived a perfect, sinless life.

And he died on the cross, exchanging our record of debt, and he gives us his righteousness.

For those who put their faith and confidence in him, he gives us his righteousness because he did not stay dead.

The scriptures tell us that he rose again, triumphant over sin, death, and hell.

The one thing that's going to get us all, he conquered in himself this morning for us.

He is our steadfast love, he is our deliverer, he fights on our behalf.

He is God for us.

Number three, the provisions of the kingdom produce assurance.

The provisions of the kingdom produce assurance.

So we see this in verses 12 through 15.

It's starting to look like a pretty baller kingdom.

This king is right alongside of him.

He's like Russell Crowe going out into battle with them, right?

Like he's he's he's fighting alongside.

He's not leaving them, he's not sending them out into battle hoping that they win, and then a messenger will come back.

Hey, this is what happened in the war.

Actually, everyone died, right?

No, he's with them.

He's their fortress, he's their stronghold.

He's actually there intimately training their hands for battle.

And not only that, he fights on their behalf, he goes before him.

And so the provisions of this kingdom, there's all these great outward things, right?

May our sons and their youth be like plants, full grown.

Whatever that means.

The kids grow up, right?

Our daughters like corner pillars, right?

These graceful, majestic sources of anchor or stronghold for this palace.

May our daughters grow up to be like that.

May our granaries be full, producing all kinds of produce.

May our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands, not only like what we need, but that seems to be an abundance.

Thousands and ten thousands.

May our cattle be heavy with young.

Suffering no mishap or failure and bearing, may there be no cry of distress in our streets.

This peace, this provision, this prosperity that the kingdom brings seems to be too good to be true.

What great gifts and blessings and assurances that we have in these three little verses.

But the final beatitude, the final blessing, the final assurance is reserved in verse 15.

Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall.

Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

Whose God is the Lord.

The people of God's kingdom are a blessed people, not for what they have, but for whose they are.

Not for what they have, but for whose they are.

God's favor, God's blessing, the climax of it is that He is their God and they are His people.

God's favor is the climax of human blessedness.

The people of His kingdom are blessed and highly favored.

Ephesians 1 says it like this.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

No greater gift than God to send his one and only Son to die on our behalf.

But God didn't stop there.

He blessed us even richer by sending his very self to live inside of us, his very Holy Spirit to be God in us.

The provisions of the kingdom produces assurance he is God in us.

The Holy Spirit, God in us, should produce great confidence of the inheritance and guarantee of our place in God's kingdom.

Amen.

So we have three assurances of the kingdom.

God is with us, God is for us, God chooses to be in us, and now four, our role in this kingdom.

There's this beautiful kingdom, and God is has done all these things by grace on our behalf.

And we turn to what is our role in this kingdom?

And number four, the mission of the kingdom produces purpose.

God threw us.

The mission of the kingdom produces purpose.

God threw us.

Now listen, I had like 10 P's.

I restricted it down to four, so I'm I go alliteration.

I don't know why every time.

I can't rhyme, but Webster Dictionary, Google.com.

It's to go into the world and to make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.

That's our mission.

That's our purpose.

To go into all the world, to make and mature disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.

What does Jesus say in his great commission, his great sending, his great marching orders for his kingdom?

Go therefore and make disciples.

Go therefore and make.

Red letters.

Jesus tells us, go.

And how shall we go?

How shall we go?

Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

We are to be witnesses, heralds of the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we do not go alone.

God is not leaving us on our own.

He's for us, he's in us, and he chooses to work through us.

By the power of his Holy Spirit, he sends us out.

Charles Spurgeon, in one of his last sermons to a group of pastors at a conference that he used to have before conferences were like everywhere, I guess.

He has this quote that I love and I want to read to you.

He says, A church is a soul-saving company.

We are a little detachment of the king's soldiers, detained in a foreign country upon garrison duty.

Yet we mean not only to hold the fort, but to add territory to our Lord's domain.

We mean not only to hold the fort, but to add territory to our Lord's domain.

With our armory and the inherent inspired word of God, our army and the church of God and our strength by his Holy Spirit, God works through us to accomplish his mission.

And this leads us to our gospel vision this morning.

If we believe this, what should it look like?

God plans for his kingdom is you, full of his Holy Spirit, equipped and powered and sent to advance his rule and reign to every nation, tribe and tongue.

God's plan for his kingdom is you, full of the Spirit, equipped and powered and sent to advance his rule and reign to every nation, tribe and tongue.

You mean me?

Me?

I can't even get my kids to listen to me.

Alright?

Like I can't even rule my own house.

He's choosing to use me to advance his kingdom.

Yeah.

He has given you the spirit to go out and make disciples.

You mean me?

Yeah.

It's for all of us.

His his army.

This is his kingdom.

He has seen fit to use us to advance his name, to advance his gospels.

Missions is not optional.

Missions is not just for some, but it's for all of his kingdom.

Our king has seen fit to call us onto the battlefield to be ministers of reconciliation.

Think back to David.

The story of David.

God anointed David, this ruddy shepherd boy.

That's what the scriptures say is a ruddy shepherd boy at the age of 17.

He anointed David to be king at 17.

And he equipped him to be king.

He didn't leave him at that 17-year-old shepherd boy.

He equipped him.

He equipped him to be a vice regent of his kingdom where he reigned for 40 years.

Why?

Because God's empowerment through his Holy Spirit.

And the Spirit of God was on David from that point forward.

We read.

Why?

Because God saw fit to use him.

God's choosing to use us, we can understand, but we can't believe.

But then he builds his church through this man who just denied him to preach what a few days later at Pentecost, and hundreds of people come to salvation.

This Jesus, whom you crucified, this man just a couple days ago denied him three times.

And here he is preaching at Pentecost.

And all these people, and the and the disciples, the apostles, daily numbers were added.

Those who are being saved, we read in Acts 2.

God chooses to use us.

You and I are no different.

I don't know who said this quote, so if you want to take credit for it, you can, but he said, God doesn't call the qualified, but he qualifies the called.

He's not going to abandon us.

He's going to equip us.

He's going to train us.

He's going to build us up to advance his kingdom.

It's his kingdom and not ours.

He will fight with us and for us and on our behalf.

The Lord is our rock who trains our hands for war, our fingers for battle.

He is our shield, our fortress, our stronghold and deliverer.

God's plan for his kingdom is you, full of the Spirit, equipped, empowered, and sent to advance his rule and reign in every nation, tribe, and tongue.

I want to highlight a few ways that we tend to struggle with this.

We tend to struggle with maybe believing this beautiful gospel message, maybe with believing and walking out this call to arms, walking out this place and this role and this purpose that we have in this great kingdom.

So I have three ways.

Number one, some of us are too content to stay in the castle.

Some of us are too content to stay in the castle.

What do castles do?

Castles provide strength, they provide familiarity, comfort, safety, food, lodging, friends, family, a bed to sleep.

All these good things, right?

That's what castles do.

They're this these walls that no one can come into.

They close the gates, they protect you from enemies coming in.

And so whatever your castle is, whatever it is that you seek comfort in, you seek security in, you seek peace in, you seek prosperity in.

We've been called to a battlefield.

And our king has trained us for war.

Towards the end of World War II, there's a story of Adolf Hitler who the German army was surrounded and they're in this bunker.

And Hitler's said before he killed himself, he's said to have be holding tea parties in a bunker while the army is surrounded, pretending like everything's great, pretending like there's not a war that is literally outside above him.

His army is fighting, they're getting demolished and destroyed, and he's holding a tea party.

For some of us, we're no different.

We bunker down in our castle and we forget that there's a war to be won.

There's a war to be won.

Ephesians 6 says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over their present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand, withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stay.

This is not a you need to do this.

Feel like you are at war.

You rarely feel like you are in a battle.

Then Satan, the deceiver, just might have you where he wants you.

Led asleep in your castle and not on the battlefield.

We've been called to war.

Are you on the battlefield or are you in the castle?

Couple questions.

When's the last time you had the opportunity to lead someone to Christ?

We've been called to go and make disciples, to mature disciples.

When's the last time you got to share the gospel with someone outside of these four walls, someone outside of this community?

When's the last time you got to invite someone over to your house who doesn't know our great king?

Maybe when's the last time that someone invited you over to their house and you had the opportunity to share this hope?

I get there's more to making disciples and more to this kingdom than can be physically seen, and we saved, we got to walk this person through the gospel and they place their faith and confidence.

But God's call is to go and make.

To go and make disciples.

That's what his kingdom is about.

Reconciling people back to God the Father.

And so we, the people of his kingdom, that's our natural implications.

We should be people that herald this good news and get to see the fruit of our labor.

God has called us to be active and willing participants in heralding the good news through word, action, and deed.

1 Peter 2.9 talks about that we will be a holy nation, that when the outside, then those outside these walls speak against us as evildoers, they will see what?

They'll see our good deeds.

And in turn, they'll glorify our Father on the day of visitation.

The way that we live, the way that we carry ourselves, the way that we herald this good news should cause the world around us to change.

We are to go and make.

So the question I have: what in your life is holding you back from this?

What in your life is holding you back from being ambassadors, being sent ones, being heralds, being witnesses to all the ends of the earth?

For me, to be honest, it's fear.

It's fear of man.

I'm afraid that, man, I'm not, I'm gonna say something that offends them.

I'm gonna lose a friendship.

I'm gonna lose this relationship that I have because man, I am I'm so weird.

I have my faith.

Jesus said that his kingdom is not of this world.

And blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

Fear of man is something that should not be holding us back from sharing this good news.

The gospel is good news, it speaks life to death, it opens light into the darkest places.

If this is you, like it is for me, it's it's it's a lie straight from the devil.

Christians should be the greatest risk takers on the face of the planet.

We know the end of the story.

We know the end of the story.

We are part of his army, part of his kingdom sent to advance his rule and reign.

We've been called to take up arms, to be messengers of this gospel, to push back the darkness with a kingdom of light.

Jesus is king, whether it be self, stuff, or love, ah, I skipped number two.

My bad.

Number two.

Some of us are ruled by another king.

Some of us are ruled by another king.

This is seen in verses 6 through 11.

Jesus is king.

We see this in all of scripture.

So whether it be self, stuff, or love, if Jesus is not our rule, if we do not submit our lives to his reign and governance, we are in opposition to his kingdom.

We delight and make, we think that we know better than God.

We think that we are exceptions to the rule.

We think that, yeah, there are people that are supposed to go, but that's not me.

I'm going to give them money, or I'm going to, yeah, there's parts of that that are true, but we are disciples.

We are to be Christ like.

He has called us to go and make.

Really, this thought process is what got us in this issue, right?

In the garden.

Well, what was the deception?

The serpent came to Adam and he said, Man, God said that to you?

Don't eat of that tree?

Is he he really said that to you?

He's holding out on you.

That's not that's not right.

He knows if you eat of that tree, then you're gonna be like God, knowing good and evil.

God's holding out of you, and so Adam ate of that fruit because he believed that he did know better than what God had told him.

Right?

He he knew what was better more than the creator, the one who had walked with him in perfect harmony and gave him dominion over everything on the earth.

He thought that his ways were better, and he ate of that tree, and he brought death upon himself, and we're no different.

We willingly eat and continue to eat of the tree, making ourselves kings and queens.

We are terrible kings.

We're terrible kings.

Like I said earlier, I can't I can't even roll my three little kids.

I mean, they I there's a parent in here.

I think you can you can relate to that, right?

We're we're terrible kings.

But we have a better king, and his name is Jesus.

Jesus is often portrayed as this baby in a manger, or depicted as a bruised and battered and beaten and torn apart man, defeated on a cross, right?

Those things did happen, but Jesus didn't stay like that.

He rose again and he's victorious.

He is king of kings and lord of lords.

Revelations gives us a different picture.

He says, Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true.

In righteousness he judges and makes war.

His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew except himself.

He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name was called the Word of God.

And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on horses.

Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod iron.

He himself treads the winepress of the fiercest and the wrath of the Almighty God.

And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Our King is not defeated, our King is a warrior, our King is victorious, he's not desperate, but he is King of Kings.

When Christ the King returns in glory, the time of mercy will be ended in the curse of the Psalms, like we read, the revenge of God for his people last week, they will be poured out against the enemies of God.

This morning, if Christ is not your king, there's an invitation to enter into his kingdom.

There's an invitation to enter into this rest, enter into this safety, enter into these rich blessings, this rich assurance, this rich confidence.

Jesus says, Come to me and I will give you rest.

By grace you have been saved.

By faith this morning, you can enter into this loving, eternal, and everlasting kingdom.

If you'd like to talk more about that, if you'd like to process that, if you'd like to understand more about that, I would love to talk with you after the gathering.

I'd love to pray with you and for you.

I'd love to get you a Bible.

I'll be at the welcome desk banner in the back after the service.

And I would love some of us have lost sight of the assurances his kingdom brings.

Some of us have lost sight of the assurances his kingdom bring.

Maybe this morning you need to be encouraged.

We saw this in 12 through 15, all these outward, external blessings, which are great, but the richest blessing was left for the people of God.

Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

Blessed are the people.

We are blessed.

Colossians 2 says it this way And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed the rulers and the authorities, and he put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.

He put them to open shame.

Our God is a warrior.

Our king is a warrior.

Blessed are the people of his kingdom.

In closing, our God, he is a God with us.

What is man that the creator of the universe would make us objects of his divine love and election?

He is a God for us.

What is man that God would send his son to die on a cross, taking our place and bearing our punishment?

And praise be to God that he saw fit to use and work through us.

He is God for us, he is God with us, he is God in us, and he chooses to work through us.

The assurance and the confidence, the hope of the gospel this morning should fuel our lives for service in his everlasting kingdom.

And God's plan for his kingdom is you, full of his spirit, equipped, empowered, and sent to advance his rule and his reign to every nation, tribe, and tongue.

Let us pray.

God, this morning, we thank you for the assurances that we have been able to reflect on in your scriptures.

God, we praise you for the confidence that we have in you.

God, we thank you for the repeated nature and revealing of who you are, that you are God with us, that you are God for us, that you live inside of us, and your spirit is that seal, your spirit is that reminder of this great inheritance.

God, we pray that we would be a people that advances your kingdom, that pushes back the kingdom of darkness, that you would be God who works through us.

God, there is a war to be won.

There is a battle at hand.

Open our eyes to the places and people that you have placed us in and around.

God, that you have cultivated, you've called us to cultivate, called us to work, called us to fight for.

God, and we take confidence that you do not leave us, that you are with us, and you will work in us and through us.

God, we pray all these things in your mighty and powerful name.

Amen.