Prophet, Priest and King: Part 3

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 1 and verse 3. We are going to be talking about today the fact that Christ is King and we're in a series wrapping up today on Prophet, Priest, and King. Look with me in Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 3 at the last phrase in verse 3 and notice that Christ is King. In Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 3 it says: "And He is the radiance of His glory," that's phrase A, "and the exact representation of His nature," continuing on, "and upholds all things by the word of His power when He had made purification for sins," this is the last phrase, phrase E, "He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." This is a celebrative point already in the Book of Hebrews right away that Christ is King.

When you look at this phrase, "He," being Jesus Christ, is now on the highest throne ever. Notice where the throne is. It's in Heaven. There is no higher throne and the fact that He sat down—He sat down, sitting down, you know, you sit down when your work is done. His work on the cross, the phrase right before this phrase is where He made purification for sins. That is a reference to the cross. His work on the cross is done and so He is now sitting down and sitting down in a position that is not offensive. He is not on the offense. He is not charging. We are His chargers. We are the ones who are spreading the Gospel of making disciples. His work is done and now He, in all authority, with all of His authority, has delegated the role of making disciples to His children.

And so now He has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Notice that He is at the right hand. This is where He is at. He is on the throne. At the right hand of God expresses the idea of the fact that He has been exalted. It expresses the idea that He has dominion, complete authority, and all majesty. This is incredible. He being at the highest and loftiest ever and ever and ever, we now see that the throne is a place of praise according to Revelation Chapter 14 and verse 3. So around the throne you have unending praise. The throne is also a place of glory. In Psalm 66 verse 2, the glory is radiating from the throne of God. And the throne is also a place of grace for those who are believers, but it is a place of judgment for those who are unbelievers. Wrapped up in the throne you have praise and glory and grace and judgment, but also the throne represents His sovereign rule. And this is where His sovereignty reigns from. And the throne, again, is in Heaven. It is the highest throne.

Just as the Bible recognizes the hands and the feet of God, the mouth of God, this does not mean that the throne is literal either. This is a metaphor. This is symbolic. This embodies the fact that this is the throne, the power source. Isaiah 6:1 sees it like this: "High and exalted, seated on a throne," and that is to portray His power. "High and exalted, seated on the throne, portrays His power and His splendor and His glory." And so Jesus holds the highest place of honor. Jesus is King. This expression that He sat down is also not literal either, but symbolic, and it signifies that He has privilege. He is seated on the throne. That is a privileged position. And He gained that privilege because of what He did on the cross. And so He made purification for sins, the Bible says. And so He is King. Jesus is King.

Turn to Philippians Chapter 2 verse 9, and let us read a wonderful passage of Scripture that exalts Christ as King. In verse 8, if you back up with me, in Philippians Chapter 2 verse 8, you will see His humiliation. And this is incredible because the Apostle Paul here to the Philippian church couples the ideas of the humiliation and the exaltation. And you see the same two coupled ideas in Hebrews Chapter 1, phrase D and phrase E. You have the humiliation where He made purification for sins and then the exaltation now that He is on the throne of God.

In Philippians Chapter 2 verse 8: "See the humiliation being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross." This is His Passion, His humiliation, the work on the cross. Now look in verse 9 at the exaltation. Philippians 2:9: "For this reason," okay, the reason that Jesus came to die on the cross to provide salvation for those who repent and believe. "For this reason also God highly exalted Him and bestowed upon Him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in Heaven and on the earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."

At this particular juncture you should circle the words "Christ is Lord." This is important for you to understand. Even the Apostle Paul when he was preaching in the Book of Acts addressed the unknown God in Acts Chapter 17 as the one whom is Christ the Lord. And so as he was proclaiming this he also references Psalm 110 and "the Lord said to my Lord." This is incredible because if you understand that Christ is Lord, He is King, then you see the Trinity. You see these terms in a synonymous fashion and so when you see Yahweh or you see God or you see Adonai or you see Jesus or you see Lord you see Jesus and this truth is illuminated brighter and brighter and brighter throughout all of Biblical history.

And so then in verse 12: "So then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed not in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and trembling." One of the application points of having Christ as King is that you will work out your salvation. You will see that the salvation inside of you is growing and being more and more sanctified. You cannot afford your salvation but you can work out your salvation. Salvation is synergistic and regeneration is monergistic and so your part is obedience. As you obey Christ in the good times and in the bad times you will be honoring Christ as King.

Another point of application is found in verses 13 and 14: "For it is God who was at work in you. You are honoring His work in you as King, as Lord of your life both to will and to work His good pleasure." Now another point of application, not only honoring God as King, honoring Jesus as King and His work happening in your life, and you are not resisting His sanctifying work inside of you. You are participating and working out your sanctification, your salvation. Verse 14 says to do all things without grumbling and disputing.

Oh brothers and sisters, hear me clearly: when you complain and when you murmur about anything you are actually complaining about Christ as King. And so we should work out our salvation in fear and in trembling and be very, very, very, very slow to complain. Actually, do not even do it at all. Just zip it. If you do not have anything good to say, do not say it at all.

I am telling you Christ is King. It brings a shadow of doubt upon those who complain. Christ is King and He truly is ruling and reigning from the throne. And if you believe with all of your heart that He works all things according to Romans 8:28 for His glory then you do not complain. And you even control the murmurings going on inside of your heart. Christ is King.

I am telling you, listen, you may throw an "oh poor me" party. You know what the antidote to "oh poor me" parties is? Not only to recognize that you are complaining against your King and what He is doing by sovereignly ruling the earth but you are also really diminishing other people's severe sufferings in your life in their life. There is a lot more going on in the world today by way of true suffering—really, really, really, really bad hardships—and yet we would complain in our privilege and so we had better honor Christ as King by saying the things that would bring honor and glory to Christ.

Very important, verse 15: "So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God." You are not innocent if you are a complainer. You are not innocent if you are not honoring Christ as King and you are not innocent if you are not working out your salvation. Alright, you need to prove that you are blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights.

Do you see that if you do not do these things that you diminish your light? And then in verse 16: "Holding fast the word of life." This is your fidelity. This is what is called the doctrine of perseverance. You are persevering in the faith. It is very important for us to do this by way of honoring Christ as King.

In Psalm 135 verse 6 it says this: "Whatever the Lord pleases He does in Heaven and in earth." And this is a fact and we should live this way and we should act this way and we should speak this way. When you do not understand you should simply say I do not understand what the Lord is doing. Just be honest. Do not complain about circumstances. Honor God in your circumstances. He is in total control. No king according to Daniel Chapter 2 verses 20 and 21 is in control. Christ is in control. No person is in control. Christ is in control. He is working all things and you can have the confidence that He is working it to your good if you love Him. If you are truly obeying Christ and yielding to Christ you can be confident in these ways.

There is a wonderful expression that is an allusion in Psalm 110 verse 1. Turn to Psalm 110 verse 1 and I want you to keep in mind that Philippians 2 verse 11 says that Christ is Lord. Okay? This is important intellectually to get these things first so that you can have an overflow of praise in the right vein. Sometimes you would see that worship and even friendships and conversations jump too quickly to the inspiration or the overflow of worship and it is not based upon substance. So let us get our theology right and allow that to overflow into worshiping Christ our King.

Christ is King in Psalm 110 verse 1. The Lord says to my Lord. Now do not let that confuse you. That is wonderful rich theology. The Lord, His first proper name is the sacred name of Yahweh. And guess what He says? He says to Christ that He is Lord and then commands that He would sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Praise God. This is phenomenal theology and if you understand that Christ is Lord according to all of the New Testament scriptures, you will read the Old Testament in light of the New and see it clearly and not be confused.

So this is according to theologians in Hebrews 1:3 and Philippians 2:11 an allusion from verse 1 and you see that now back to Hebrews you have a wonderful thought process happening in the mind of the preacher or the author of Hebrews. The thought process behind the scenes is Psalm 110. This is what he is dwelling upon and this is where this information is coming from. Psalm 110 is what is in the author's mind and Psalm 110 is the backdrop of Hebrews, the entire message in fact. And if you want a better explanation of that, simply go on our YouTube channel, go back a couple weeks because Elder David Parker did a phenomenal exposition on Psalm 110 and so appreciative for that and that helps us to understand that He sat down at the right hand of God.

Now this right hand signifies three things. We have three points. Point number one is kingship means power. When Christ has sat down at the right hand of God and He is now on the throne it signifies that kingship means power. In Exodus Chapter 15 and verse 6 the Bible says: "Your right hand O Lord is majestic in power." And so when you see that Christ is King you see and understand in your mind synonymously power, this ability to make things happen. His power is without any limits. I mean it is incredible how much power Jesus Christ has.

I mean just in the beginning you know that Christ was Creator according to Colossians 1:16 in the beginning God, Yahweh, Elohim, Jesus spoke. I mean just think of the power that it takes to speak and make something come into existence much less all that is. The power of God is amazing. We see Christ is King and all of His power. It is glorious because you have just this wonderful confidence that He is on the throne. He is on the throne. He is ruling. He is reigning all the way down to the little bitty things that are happening in this world according to Psalm 135 the vapor is controlled by God. The things that are involuntary inside of your body, God did that and it is so glorious.

Point number two is kingship means not only power but protection. Kingship means protection. In Psalm 73:23 I want you to see this. Turn to Psalm 73:23 it says: "Nevertheless I am continually with you and you have taken hold of my right hand." There are several allusions right in this little phrase, Psalm 73:23. Oh, it is incredible. Nevertheless I am—that is a very, very, very, very clear indication of Exodus where God says "I am the great I am" and then in fact in John 8:24 Jesus said "unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins" and so Jesus claims to be the great I am of the Old Testament. This is fantastic and so "I am" so "nevertheless I am in verse 23 continually with you" so this great I am for which the Apostle John is preaching about: "I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the door of the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection of life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the true vine."

John clearly proclaims that Jesus is the great I am. He is God through all of these "I am" statements and it is wonderful just to unpack each one of those. If you had time I would impress upon you, this study is so rich and wonderful. For example, just with one of them, the bread of life in John Chapter 6 and verse 35, this means that the bread of life that came down from Heaven in the wilderness, that this was the provisions and the protections from God by the means of Jesus as bread to live forever. John 6:58 proclaims that Jesus is the bread of life, so wonderful.

And as you go through the "I am" statements you see spiritual nourishment, you see guidance, you see the good shepherd and you see power over the devil as He is the Resurrection and life. You see the single source of salvation—the way, the truth and the life—and you see as the true vine the true Israel, the true source of true fruit. It was wonderful to study the "I am" statements but here in this text in Psalm Chapter 73 and verse 23 following, not only does it say "nevertheless I am" and then it goes on to say "continually with you" and this is great. Commission continued: "I am with you always" in Matthew Chapter 28 and verse 20 after He gave the Commission for Christians to go and make disciples He said "and lo, I am with you always" and here you see the same language and "you have taken hold of my right hand" and so now He has sat down at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. It is Hebrews 1:3 and Psalm 110:1.

These three allusions reveal Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in one verse: "Nevertheless I am Jesus. I am continually with you, Jesus is continually with you and you have taken hold of my right hand" and now Jesus is on throne. Hey, this is fantastic. Not only point number one is kingship meaning power but it also means point number two protection and also means in point number three the kingship means triumph. This victory is a done deal. It is already completed. He sat down. He won the war. The Devil is defeated. Praise God! And now we are just working it out and so it is already done but not yet.

This triumph in Psalm Chapter 21 verses 7 to 9. Psalm 21:7 to 9, I will read it to you and I want you to see that Christ is not only King but He has defeated His foes. His enemies are going to be thrown into the fire and endure His wrath. In Psalm Chapter 21 verse 7: "For the King trusts in the Lord and through the loving kindness of the Most High he will not be shaken. Your enemies," and so now you see that the King, Christ, He will find out all of His enemies. In verse 8 continuing it says: "Your right hand will find out those who hate you and you will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger and the Lord will swallow them up in His wrath and fire will devour them" and so the strong right hand of King Jesus is victorious over His foes. It is a done deal. The triumph is complete. Praise God!

Now back to Hebrews just want to mention a few things as we continue. If you would, Hebrews repeats this theme as Christ as King over and over and over and over. It is a main theme in Hebrews. Think of those whom are shrinking back from Christianity like the audience for which the Hebrew preacher is preaching to and the letter here now is reaching them. Think of them as eroding back into their old rebellious ways and you can apply that in today's vernacular you can see those who have tasted the goodness of God and now are shrinking back or not living according to Christ or not honoring Christ as King. They are not worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. They are not studying His Word. They have a filthy mouth. They have a negative impact on others.

Let me tell you, be very aware of your fruit and whether when other people taste your fruit whether it is rotten or fresh. This is your exuberance of Christ and how you impact others. You are responsible for that on a day of judgment. And as you see Christ as King repeated through Hebrews I believe that we should take note of this repeated theme because of its being repeated in Hebrew thought. What is repeated is important. I mean it is vital. I mean God does not have to repeat Himself. He could simply have written one verse—an entire Bible—"I died on the cross for you and I am King, period," and that would be sufficient. But we are so dull we need it reiterated over and over and over again.

And so you see in Hebrews 1:3 that Jesus is at the right hand of the majesty on high and then it is repeated in verse 13. Look at it with me: Hebrews 1:13: "But to which of the angels has He ever said, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet'?" And so this, again a reference to Psalm 110:1, is repeated in Hebrews. So you have Hebrews 1:3 and now Hebrews 1:13. Well, in Hebrews 8:1 it is repeated again. Hebrews Chapter 8 verse 1: "Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens." This is a wonderful verse because it helps us to see that not only is Christ Priest but He is also King. And so this is repeated again.

And now moving forward to Chapter 10 and verse 12. Hebrews Chapter 10 verse 12 says: "But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God." This is incredible because you see in Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 3 the coupled ideas of His humiliation and exaltation and I showed you that in Philippians Chapter 2 the coupled ideas of His humiliation and exaltation and you see it again right here in verse 12: "But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time," a reference to the cross, His humiliation, "sat down at the right hand of God" and that is His exaltation. Wonderful themes here. One more time that is repeated in Chapter 12 and verse 2. Chapter 12 and verse 2: "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross—okay, do you see the themes again the humiliation and now here comes the exaltation—despising its shame, has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." This is incredible.

And if you want help while you are hurting, read verse 3: "For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Very important to know that in Hebrew culture what is repeated is important and this theme of Christ as King is repeated. A point of hermeneutics would be able to ask well, what does this emphasize then? What does this kingly phrase illuminate? If this statement "He sat down at the right hand" was not included what would not be emphasized the same way? Another way of saying what is emphasized? I will give you A, B, and C.

A is authority. Christ is King. He has authority. King Jesus is on the highest throne. He bears all authority and you wonder by whose authority do you do what you do? You have been commissioned by the One who has all authority to go therefore and to share the Gospel and make disciples to baptize and to teach to make disciples. So Matthew 28:18 all authority has been given to Jesus and so this phrase emphasizes His authority. Kingship emphasizes authority.

B it emphasizes forgiveness. Oh, this is very, very, very important. For having a good forgetter, you do you forget things often? Yeah, I do too. But let us apply that skill set in areas that are spiritual. Forgive people and be able to interact with them right away and forgive people. Just be one whom cannot be offended. I mean, have you died to yourself or not? In Galatians 2:20 it says you die daily, right? And if you truly have died to the self then you cannot be offended because you are just a corpse and the only thing that is alive is because of Christ, Christ in you and so therefore we are able to forgive right away. When Christ sat down after His work on the cross it emphasizes forgiveness on the cross and so without this phrase of Christ being King we would not have this idea of forgiveness as well because of who He is and how He got to the throne as one whom conquered death, Hell, and the grave on the cross. He got there because of His work of purification. Because of His work of purification He was enthroned and so He has this throne and because of that we need to emphasize forgiveness.

C is rulership. This is an important theme. Christ has been exalted to His rightful position and He is faithful to execute His role. His role as King includes complete rulership. He is ruling and reigning. Again, in Psalm 135:6 He does and He causes these are things that He makes happen and by the way He created all things for Him and by Him in Colossians 1:16: "By Him all things were created both in the Heavens and on the earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been made by Him and for Him" and so His kingship emphasizes authority, forgiveness, and rulership.

Take home truth number one today is that you reject all gods with a little g. Christ is King and therefore you must reject all other gods. The gods of this world. In Joshua Chapter 24 verses 14, 15, and 16, you can turn there if you would like. In Joshua Chapter 24 and verse 14 it says: "Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in the sincerity of truth and put away the gods." See, reject the gods. Put away the gods which your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord choose for yourself today whom you will serve whether the gods which your father served which were beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living but as for me, my house we will serve the Lord.

This is glorious and sad at the same time because it seems that Joshua has been a faithful Christian and he has served his King. He has served God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is great and he has drawn a line in the sand and he says for as for me and my house, we will not yield to any Canaanite gods, pagan gods, or any other gods. No other gods at all. We are rejecting all of those gods because God is my King. He is my sovereign ruler. I yield to Him and I follow Him and as for me and my house we are going to do that because I am the head of my household. That is wonderful but at the same time it is extremely sad because it seems that he is making the same mistake that Moses made and not being able to delegate and make disciples.

He was able to train those up underneath him. Moses worked himself nearly to death and it took his father-in-law Jethro to tell him "stop being stupid Moses and delegate the things that other people can do." Right, so Moses had perhaps a leadership weakness in that he did not end up the next generation and it looks like perhaps his right-hand man Joshua made the same mistakes.

And in Judges Chapter 2 and forward, just a couple pages if you would in your Bible, you need to see this. Judges Chapter 2. As the story continues you will see Joshua reaping the results. Here in Joshua Chapter 2 verse 8: "Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten and they buried him in the territory of his inheritance." Verse 10: "All that generation also were gathered to their fathers. Okay and so that generation from Joshua were gathered to their fathers and there rose another generation after them who did not know the Lord." Now this is sad.

Joshua said as for me and my house we are going to serve the Lord but it is almost like as if a leader was to say "do whatever you are going to do because you are going to do whatever you are going to do anyway" and that is a defeatism mentality. That is not having Christ as King and ruler. That is not. In fact, he should have said it like this: "Yield to God. Obey your God. There are repercussions if you do not obey Christ your King. If you do not obey God, Yahweh, the One who brought you out of Egypt and through the wilderness, if you do not obey Him there are consequences." I encourage you and implore you and I beg you to walk with Christ.

You see here in the text: "Nor yet the work which He had done for Israel." They did not know God and they did not even know that God brought them out of Israel and in verse 11: "Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baals and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods." This is sad to see that Joshua even said "choose for yourselves whom you will serve" and them in perhaps a bit of a way to go their own way.

And what does this now mean for us? It means that if you do not share the Gospel and make disciples the nation goes astray. The nation of Israel continued to go astray and so will our nation and so will our communities and so will our churches. You say "not here we have got a good, we are strong. We started the Bible and make disciples. We share the Gospel. We teach the Word. We are on it." Hey, good. But if you are not making disciples it stops here at your lifetime and so we come here as worshippers and we worship through learning the Word. We worship by hearing the Word and yielding our lives to Christ. We worship by singing and praising who God is and reviewing His attributes and praising His good name and praising His attributes—His goodness and His mercy, His salvation.

We worship Him through loving others, loving God and loving others. We worship in many different ways in the ordinances and the giving of yourselves and giving of your finances and is giving and giving. Christians are givers. We worship Christ but throughout the rest of your life who are you? And part of what we are commissioned to be and do is to make disciples. So now by way of application you got to choose whether or not Christ is King and you are going to obey His commission or if you are going to flirt with other gods. Dear, in the week and something else become your God.

If something else becomes your God, perhaps for the Israelites in the Book of Deuteronomy, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and they are worshiping that. You may say that is silly, but for you and your life silly things become gods and you can be a rebel to your King and rebel against His edicts or theological terms His decrees. You can rebel against Christ if you allow something else to be a God in your life and so if Christ is your King then you are obeying His commands but if Christ is not your King then another God has distracted you.

Other gods are so slick because it is the wisdom of Satan that works into alluring you into distractions. First, you be distracted from the main things. It is so hard to keep the main things the main things. Around here as eldership we are constantly having to say no to all kinds of good things so that we can say yes to the great prescribed things for the church. It is a ton of things we could do but we do not want to water down the doctrines. A ton of things that we could do we do not want to spread ourselves too thin and serving Christ. It is a ton of things that we could do. Could do this, could do lots of inspiration, lots of ideas, but is it Scripture? Is it biblical? You must do the same thing in your own life to be able to discern what is the great thing that I am called to do and what is in opposition to that? What is taking my time? What is taking my finance? What is taking my focus?

It is almost like we work and work and work and work and work and work, work and work and work and work and work and work and work and play and play and play and play and play and play and play and then oh squeeze in some service to Christ our King. Is that rendering Christ as Lord of your life? Let us flip the dial and let us say okay, well if I am going to participate in entertainment or playtime or work there are ways to do this to where my priorities are right and Christ is my King and so you work as unto the Lord and not unto men. Colossians 3:23, right? And whatever you do you do it to the glory of God. These things are done with a spiritual prioritization inside of your soul, a mental preset that I have a King and so if somebody asks you something, if you are tempted by a God, you say "I got to report to my King before I can say yes. I got to ask Him because I am His subject. I am His servant. I am His slave. I am owned and operated by God" and so you got to reject all the other gods of this world that are fighting for your affections and fighting for your mental space, your thoughts, what you are thinking of, fighting for your eyes to look at them, to think about them, to be allured in by them.

And Deuteronomy Chapter 13 verses 5 and 6 it says: "So you shall purge the evil from among you. If your brother or your friend entice you secretly saying 'let us go to serve other gods' you shall not yield. You shall not listen to him" and then it gets graphic "nor spare or conceal him." So it is not just rejecting gods. It is exposing gods. It is not just rejecting gods. It is rejecting the temptation of the gods through even your family and friends to the point to where you expose that and put in country terms you got to call a spade a spade and a snake a snake and be bold in your faith kind and bold truth and grace. This is the way of Christianity. Christ is King and so reject all other gods and obey Christ and make disciples.

Take home truth number two is revere the King. Revere the King. You know there was I guess a famous song by the Rolling Stones that illustrates this by way of an antithesis and bear with me if I get anything wrong. I just simply had to look it up. But this song by the Rolling Stones in 1965 says this and this is the antithesis to revering Christ as King: "I am free to do what I want any old time. I said I am free to do what I want any old time. I am free to be what I want. I am free to be what I choose to get my booze any old time."

When I read those lyrics like this, it is celebrating slavery to sin. Instead the Bible says in Romans 6:6: "No longer slaves to sin for He, King Jesus died to free us from sin." I rewrote the lyrics if you are interested. Maybe somebody to put into a song: "I am free to serve my King any old time. I am free to be His slave any old time. I am free to be clean any old time." Maybe somebody will plug it into AI and put to some cool rock song or something like that and send some to be great. Would not it be great to celebrate Christ is our King? And I am free to be what He wants me to be any old time. I am free to serve Him. I am free to be His slave.

That is not a contradiction of terms. I am free to be His slave for freedom that Christ set us free in Galatians Chapter 5 and verse 1. And so revere Christ is King. He is our Lord. He is our ruler. Christ is our King.

My last point is point number three: conform to the King. Conform to your King and all of His decrees. When you are serving Christ with all of your soul, mind, and strength then you are conforming to Christ as your King. You have a King who is a model for your life. He is not some transcendent far away God that is not approachable or touchable. He is here for you. "Behold I am with you always." Christ is our model. We are to conform and to be little Christs—little, not little gods—but conforming to His image. This is a wonderful walk with Christ in every single way in your life.

Christ is working through His Word to help point out where you fall short and it is up to you to respond in humility and yield to His Word. And God works through the fellowship of believers to correct and guide us as one another because we need one another. And so as we hear truth, as we yield to these things we have a choice to live as Christ as King and to speak in a way that honors Him or to be one whom speaks in a way or acts in a way or does these things it is not conforming to Christ but it is distasteful and it actually taints the very things that you love the most because for some reason that is what people do.

I pray that we conform to our King. He has written to us no short letter. This love letter is immense. We can spend the rest of our lives conforming to Christ and worshiping Him.

And now if you do not know Christ as your King I beg and plead that you would profess Him as Lord. I beg and plead that you would repent of your sin and confess Him as King. It is no easy ask to bring someone to the point to where they confess Christ as King. It is no easy request. In Romans Chapter 10 and verse 9 it says: "To confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" and that He was persecuted on the cross and He was risen from the grave and then you can be saved and this was in the face of Caesar as King and the repercussions for confessing Christ is Lord was execution. Romans Chapter 10 and verse 9 is no easy ask.

Romans Chapter 10 and verse 13: "Whoever will confess Christ as Lord." Whoever will—this is no easy ask. This is asking people to be willing to suffer persecution and to be completely radically changed and conform for the rest of living a completely different life. This is no easy ask to confess Christ as Lord, to confess Christ as King. He is already King and if He has not made your King and it is because you have not been regenerated yet and my request is that you like the Apostle Paul and Peter preached all the way through the Book of Acts would recognize that this King, this Jesus, this Lord whom you crucified—yes, it is our sin that put Christ on the cross. We played a part in His crucifixion.

This one, Jesus whom you have crucified, in Acts Chapter 2 verse 36, the same Jesus is both Lord and Christ, both Master and Savior, both King and Messiah. This is our Prophet, Priest, and King and if you have never yielded to this King I pray that you would do that in the quietness of your soul even now. Do not let another day go by. Do not taste the goodness of God and Jesus and cling to Him. Hate what is evil and cling to Christ. Come to Jesus. Profess Him as your Lord and Savior. Be biblically baptized. Join this local church. Commit to studying the Bible and then go forth yourselves and make disciples. Share the Gospel and make disciples.

God we do love you and we thank you for the fact that you are not only a Prophet—a Prophet who has spoken to us so clearly it is unmistakable who you are—but you are also a Priest, but not just an earthly priest who worships the Lord but also whom offered Himself as a sacrifice for the propitiation of sins. Thank you, dear Jesus, for doing that. You are the Prophet. You are the Priest and you are also King. You are the divine Ruler who was seated on the highest throne in the highest of Heavens and you are over everything.

And I pray, dear Jesus, that if there is one soul that has never been raptured by your grace, they have never been regenerated by your converting power, that they have ever been transformed, I pray that you save the soul and give them the ability to come to you as Christ the King and draw them closer to you. And I pray that they would do their part, dear Jesus, and continue in the faith and so prove that they are disciples. I pray that they would continue in the Word and prove that they are disciples. I pray that they would not take no for an answer when it comes to serving you as King. I pray that they would reject all other gods and honor you in every single way.

I thank you, dear Jesus, for this wonderful church and all that it does for the furtherance of the Gospel and also with how much they are committed to even learning new theological hymns so that they can have some substance in their heart and mind to be able to proclaim the things that you have done by way of rich theology put to music. Thank you, dear Jesus, for all the hymn writers have done such a good job to help us to worship you.

I pray God that you would forgive us of our sin and I am speaking to you as Christians on behalf of our entire church. Forgive us, dear God, where we have erred where we have not proclaimed you correctly as King in our actions and in words. Forgive us, dear Jesus. Every single one of us, especially myself, Lord, where we have acted in a way that is as if you are not on the throne ruling and reigning and I pray, dear Jesus, in all of the areas of our life that we would be faithful to do this to your glory and our good in Christ's name, Amen.