Good evening. Those were some good psalm choices, especially in relationship to our topic this evening, as Christ as King. We sang about the church as the bride of Christ being brought to the King. In marriage, we sang of God as King over all of creation and orchestrating all things for His glory and for the proper functioning of this world. And of course, we sang Psalm 2 and the enthronement God the Son as King, the God-Man over all things. Tonight we'll be, again, focusing on one of the offices of Christ, the last of the three, Christ as King. And as I've done for each one of these topics, I've been reading from Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 4. As I said last time, these four verses here really sum up those three offices of Christ quite well. And I probably should have said at the beginning, but I'd encourage you to memorize these first four verses of Hebrews, because it really sums up the beautiful work of our mediatorial Jesus Christ. So here, the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent. than theirs. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank you for these opportunities we have had to consider the work of your Son. And we pray this evening, as we consider your Son as our King, that you would give us a clear vision of Him and of His work for us. Bless us, encourage us, give us hope and comfort as we live in this world that does seem so chaotic and turned upside down. Lord, we pray that you would give us a firm conviction that your Son reigns over all things, and he does so for the sake of the church and for your own glory. Bless us with this truth by your Holy Spirit, and use this jar of clay for your glory's sake. It's in Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Well this evening we do wrap up our short series on the three offices of Christ. We've been considering this from the perspective of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, what are the offices of Christ, and my hope really was that you would see that the questions and answers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism are far more than just abstract principles that reflect some theoretical knowledge of what it is we believe, but they really are applicable to our lives. They impact the way in which we live our lives. They have an effect on us. And so this evening we'll be considering question and answer number 26, which deals with the subject of Christ's kingship. Now by way of reminder, I want to quickly review the prior offices by expressing what I hope you were to gain from our study of each one of those. From studying Christ's office as a prophet, I was hoping that you would be assured of your salvation by hearing the voice of Christ in the Word. From studying Christ's office as a priest, I was hoping that you would find comfort in knowing that Jesus has sacrificed Himself for you and is even now at the right hand of God the Father praying for you. Intimately, specifically about the things that are happening in your lives. And then this evening, my hope is that by studying Christ's office of a king, you'll find comfort in knowing that Jesus is reigning over all things. This world, the church, and even your own life as a king to rule and defend and preserve and protect you. And so, how doth Christ execute the office of a king? The catechism asks. Well, the answer they give Christ executed the office of a king in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. And the first thing that we know and see from here is that Christ reigns as the King of kings. Now, of the three offices of Christ, His kingship is probably the most obvious one of them for us, particularly in this denomination, isn't it? And so I don't need to spend a whole lot of time to prove that the office of king existed in the Old Testament or that Christ is the fulfillment of that office, that kingly office. It's evident that the kingship existed from books like Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. David, of course, being the foremost example of what kingship in Israel looked like. And it was prophesied that Christ would fulfill that kingly office in Scripture in texts such as Genesis 49.10, which proclaimed that the scepter, or the ruling rod of authority, would not depart from the line of Judah. Or Isaiah 9, 6, and 7, prophesying the birth of the Christ who should be the Prince of Peace. upon whose shoulders would be the government of the nations. Zechariah 9.9 foretells of the king who would come lowly and riding on a donkey. And Luke 1.32-33 declares that this Christ would be the Son of the Most High and would have the throne of His father David and that His kingdom would never come to an end. And we know that Jesus did fulfill this kingly office. 28.18, Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Paul says in Ephesians 1.22 that God has placed all things under the feet of Jesus Christ, and even declares in 1 Timothy 6.15 that Jesus is the blessed and only sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords. These passages show that Jesus Christ is King and He is King right now. His kingship is not something that is future, not something that is distant, not as reserved for the King and the world that is to come. The kingship and kingdom that is the world to come. No, His kingship is not limited to some future period of time, but His kingship is right now. He is the King of kings. But whenever we talk about Christ's kingship, it's important to distinguish between the two types of kingship that Jesus has. The first is what we call Christ's essential kingship. Christ's essential kingship. And what this means is that Christ is king simply because he is God. The mere fact that Christ is the second Person of the Trinity makes Him King over everything. So Psalm 47 says, sing praises to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King. Sing praises. For God is King of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on His holy throne. And so since God created everything, He is King. of everything. He rules everything. He owns everything. He is so by virtue of His essence because of who He is. And so when we say that Christ has an essential kingship, we understand it to mean that He is King because He is God. And He is God over all. And this includes all lesser kings and lesser kingdoms of the earth. But the second aspect of Christ's kingship can be called his economical, or maybe more familiar, his mediatorial kingship. Christ as mediatorial king is his becoming king as the God-man. So Jesus Christ as man has been highly exalted into the position of king by the decree of God the Father. We already sang this this evening. Psalm 2. I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to Me, You are My Son. Today I have begotten You. This is enthronement language. This is God declaring that His Son is King over everything. All of the nations. God the Father has made Jesus of Nazareth the king over everything because of his work of redemption. Paul tells us in Philippians 2, verses 6-11 that though Christ Jesus was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. That was his essential kingship. He did not count that as something to hang on to, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, Paul says, in light of that work that Jesus has accomplished, therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. It is Christ as Mediatorial King. Christ as the God-Man who said in Matthew 28.18, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. So Christ as Mediatorial King means that Jesus Christ, the God-Man, has been made King over all things because of His work of redemption which He has accomplished. Maybe to put it simply, Christ as man earned what he always rightly possessed as God. Christ as man earned what he always rightly possessed as God. And this distinction of Christ's kingship was understood by these Westminster divines whenever they wrote this catechism. They asked, how does Christ execute the office of a king? It was his mediatorial kingship that they had in mind. How does Christ the God-Man exercise His kingship? And we're told that this Christ as King has subdued you to Himself. Christ as King makes those people into His subjects who have been predestined by the Father to serve Him. These are the ones whom Jesus has purchased with His own blood as Acts 28 indicates. Men and women whom Jesus has purchased, before they were saved, they belonged to the kingdom of darkness. They served in the kingdom of the evil ones, serving Satan as their king. These are the ones who Paul points out in Timothy 3 who were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. That's what the kingdom of Satan is like. And that's the way His subjects live in this world. But Christ would not allow those whom He had purchased to live long in the service of Satan. Those who were to be His subjects, He would set free. He would redeem. He would rescue out from the clutches of this evil kingdom. And we see a vivid picture of how Christ subdues His people to Himself when we look at Acts chapter 9. In Acts 9, we read of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and in this chapter, Saul is quite dramatically subdued by the king. Luke tells us, and Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogue of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound into Jerusalem. You see Saul in the service of the king of this world, right? The prince of the power of the air. He's in the service of the evil one carrying out his will in this world against the church. But as he journeyed and came near Damascus, suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. And he fell down to the ground and he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? He said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And so he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city and you will be told what to do. And verse 20 goes on to tell us that Saul became a subject of the true King. A subject of Christ. He began to preach about Him and His holy kingdom. And friends, what happened to Saul is what has happened to you and me whenever we were subdued by Christ. And though we may not have seen a flashing light in the sky, and though we may not have heard a booming voice speaking to us, unless you're sitting here in the morning and Barry's preaching the Word of God to you, even though you might not experience these things, Christ has subdued your heart by His Spirit. that you would serve Him. And He did so in the most dramatic way. Just think about it. You and I belonged to this kingdom of Satan before we knew Christ. We, as Ephesians 2 points out, once walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air. The Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Among whom we also once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh. fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, we were by nature children of wrath just like the rest. We were enslaved in this kingdom of darkness. But Christ subdued us to Himself. He rescued us from this kingdom. He shined His bright light into our darkened hearts. And we who once bowed the knee and bowed our necks to Satan to do His will, Turned and now bow the knee to the King of Glory. The King of Light. To serve Jesus as our King. And we said along with Saul, Lord, what do you want me to do? And we follow His leading, His ruling in our lives. This Jesus who subdued you has now become your new sovereign. Your new Master. Your new King. And this gracious King now desires to direct your life for His glory. and for your good. And this is just what the catechism goes on to say about what Christ does. Listen to what it says again. Christ executeth the office of the King in subduing us to Himself and in ruling and defending us. Christ as King rules us both outwardly and He does so inwardly. The fact that Jesus rules us really isn't something should be called into question. He has complete authority over us. In fact, we're not our own. And Paul points this out. We're not our own, but we've been bought with a price. Isaiah 33, 22 reminds us that the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. He will save us. So in Jesus is wrapped up all of this judicial, legislative, and executive authority all in one. And He is our Lord and He is our Savior. And He exercises this authority as our Savior both outwardly and inwardly. And when I say Christ governs us or rules us outwardly, what I mean is that Jesus outwardly governs His church by those He has appointed in His church as overseers or elders in the church. And of course, we see this in 1 Timothy 3, but we see it especially in Hebrews 13.7 when the writer speaks to the people. He writes to the people and he says, Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account. They have to give an account to the one true King. Governors are under-shepherds, under-governors, if you will, of the chief shepherd and governor of your soul, Jesus Christ. They provide the church with order and structure according to the Word of God so that it can function for the glory of Christ and the furtherance of his kingdom in this world. And these governors have also been given the duty to guide and shepherd and defend and even discipline those who are insubordinate to King Jesus. This is what we call church discipline. And that kind of duty is given to the elders of the church in Matthew 18, 15-20. Matthew 18, 15-20, Jesus gives the leaders of the church the authority to discipline unrepentant church members in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus declares that whenever a session renders judgment, whenever the elders render judgment, Christ is there to affirm its authority as if Jesus himself has made that judgment. In fact, this is actually where we find that Scripture passage which speaks about where two or three are gathered together in my name. There I am in the midst of them. It's actually in the context of the session meeting for the sake of the church. He is there. giving them His authority to rule and govern and shepherd and care for the people of God in His name. That's meant to be in connection with the elders of the church meeting together and Christ being present with His kingly authority. And therefore, since it is Christ as King who has appointed these elders of the church, we need to be willing to submit to their authority, their teaching. if necessary, the discipline as we are submitting to the Lord himself. This is the way in which Jesus rules us outwardly. But Jesus also rules us or governs us inwardly, and by that I mean he does so by his Holy Spirit, that he has written the law of God on our hearts and he directs us by it. Hebrews 8 verse 9 quotes the Old Testament, but he applies it to us in this new Kingdom of God that Jesus is the ruler over. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be My people. And Isaiah 30.21 speaks of this spirit guidance when it says, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it. whether you turn to the right hand or whether you turn to the left. My friends, as you live this Christian life and you're confronting things that happen in your day-to-day experiences, isn't it true that sometimes when you're confronted with a moral issue, you have the sense of what you're supposed to do? You know what you're supposed to do. It's almost as if you can hear the Spirit speaking through the Word, telling you what it is you're supposed to do. You have a sense. of what to do. This is Christ's governance of you and your heart inwardly. And that's Him calling us to follow Him, to lead Him, to be led by Him, to submit to Him. And just as we are called to faithful obedience by the church and disciplined outwardly whenever we're disobedient to the will of God, we're also called and led inwardly by this Holy Spirit to follow God's will according to God's Word. But we're also disciplined inwardly by that same Spirit as well. We can grieve the Holy Spirit, as Paul says. When we sin, we may fall under God's fatherly displeasure and have not the light of his countenance restored to us until we humble ourselves, confess our sins, beg pardon, and renew our faith and repentance towards God. An example of this is found in Psalms 51 and 32, when David pleads to God for forgiveness in light of the physical and spiritual discipline he was experiencing from God as the result of his sin. Make me to hear joy and gladness again that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit. Though the Lord disciplines us, we may find comfort in knowing that our King Jesus rules us justly. He does so for our benefit and His glory, and even when we do fall under His fatherly displeasure, we can take comfort. We can take heart, knowing that all whom the Lord loves, He disciplines. And He chastens every son whom He receives. Christ not only rules us, friends, but the Catechism says that He also defends us. And to this we can add restraining our enemies. Christ executeth the office of a king in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. Jesus as your King defends you and restrains your enemies. Isaiah 27.3 explains that Christ as King defends His church. Speaking of the church, He says, I, the Lord, keep it. I water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I keep it night and day." This is the Lord, the King, defending His people. And those who attempt to harm the church are her enemies, the world, the flesh, the devil, even death. Yet even so, we know that nothing can cause us to lose our salvation. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, because our King defends us. Christ our King defends us against anything that would take our salvation away. Just as Jesus said in John 10, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. Jesus, as your King, defends your salvation, and he does so tenaciously. And Christ also defends us against excessive temptation. 1 Corinthians 10.13 explains that no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will also make a way of escape. that you may be able to bear it. This is the work of your King. We also learn from Psalm 91 and Hebrews 114 that Jesus, as King, dispatches His angels to defend and protect His church. For they are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation. King Jesus has His servants, His angelic servants He sends into the world to defend and protect his people to fight against the forces of evil. It's an interesting study. Actually, if you read the book of Daniel, Daniel is told that the prince or the king of this particular country was fighting against the angel Gabriel who was trying to give him the message. He's talking about angelic warfare. There's war going on in the heavenly realms and Jesus is dispatching his angels to defend and fight against and protect the church. But we also learn from Scripture that Christ restrains His and our enemies by setting earthly limits upon them, preventing them from expressing their wrath more fully than they would if they were left on their own. Psalm 76.10 says that, "'Surely the wrath of man shall praise you. The remainder of wrath you shall restrain.'" So Christ has all of His and our enemies, whether it be the world, the flesh, or the devil on a leash. And they can go no further than Christ is pleased to let them. If this were not so, the church and everyone else for that matter would be quickly overrun. I often think of the movie, The Lord of the Rings, or if you imagine what happens in the book, the Lord of the Rings and all the orcs and goblins are up on the hill about to descend on Helm's Deep. And they're in that fortress waiting for all of these orcs to just swarm over them and completely consume them. And they would have if it had not been for the king, so to speak, to arrive at just the right time. Gandalf and the forces of light respond and they restrain those forces of evil and they are not overwhelmed. They are not overcome. Jesus restrains our enemies. Our enemies cannot take one step beyond Christ's permission. We see this clearly in the life of Job, don't we? Satan could do nothing to Job without the prior consent or allowance of God. This is the way it is with every one of our enemies and of Christ's enemies. Even if everything in creation were to marshal itself against Jesus' church, they could not so much as breed a threat against her were it not for the wisdom and sovereign will of Christ our King allowing it. So friends, I hope you take comfort in knowing that Jesus, your King, stands at the ready to defend you and restrain all assaults against you, and know that whatever enemy does come your way, whatever does come into your life, it does so by the permission of the all-sovereign, all-wise, and all-good King Jesus. It is still under His control. But at the end of the day, all His and our enemies will not endure forever. But they will be defeated. Christ executeth the office of a King in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. King Jesus will finally conquer all enemies in absolute and complete victory. And when we think about Jesus conquering His and our enemies. We need to think of His victory in two ways. His present victory and His future victory. It's true to say that Christ has defeated all His and our enemies presently, but that there is a victory in the future yet to come. Christ's victory has only been revealed or seen or actualized, so to speak, in part. In part, we see our enemy Satan is defeated. Jesus says in John 12, now is the judgment of the world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. And this He signified by what death He would die. Here we see that by the cross of Jesus Christ, not only are people saved, but the ruler of this world, Satan, is defeated. We learn from 1 John 2.17 that our enemy, the world, and all of its desires are passing away. Every time the church experiences peace and tranquility, we taste a tiny morsel of that complete victory to come. We learn that our other enemy, the flesh, in part, was defeated whenever we were converted. Therefore, Paul says in Romans 6 that sin shall not have dominion over you because our old man was crucified with Jesus. And the whole body of sin is done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin. But friends, we also see that that last great enemy of the saints, the enemy of death, has been in part defeated by the resurrection of Christ. Therefore, we can declare with Paul, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? 1 Corinthians 15 As Paul says only just a few verses later, Christ must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. So there is a victory yet to come. There's a victory that has happened. But there's a victory yet to come. So we live in this tension of the already but not yet. Victory now and yet victory still to come. But we may be assured that an ultimate and final victory over all of ours and Christ's enemies is coming. And we see this in the book of Revelation. Listen to what John records about our final victory in Jesus Christ. And even if you want to, close your eyes and just listen and think and picture what Jesus will accomplish. Revelation 20, we see Christ's victory. The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. The devil and the beast, false prophet, which represent the world, our enemies, they're finally defeated. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And it was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. and the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Here is the final defeat of our enemy, death. Now listen to Revelation 22. And He showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its streets and on either side of the river was the tree of life which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face and His name shall be on their foreheads, and there shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever." Friends, here we see the enemy of our flesh completely gone. because our flesh is completely restored, completely sanctified, completely holy in this new and perfect world which Jesus has purchased for us. This is the day in which we will experience no temptation, no sin. It's a day when we will always walk in righteousness before our King Jesus. I don't know about you, but I can't wait for such a day. When we will always walk according to the law of God. We will never sin again. We will never feel that shame and that brokenness of sin in our lives ever again. It will forever be gone. This is the work of our King. King Jesus will have victory over all of His and our enemies. And for those of you who are in Christ Jesus, I pray this gives you comfort as you live in this life, patiently waiting for this life to come. The honest truth is that for those of you who are here this evening who have not bowed the knee to this King, this Jesus, you need to know that you currently stand as one of Christ's enemies. You currently stand as one who is opposed to this King and His Kingdom. And friend, you will lose. This King will have the victory This King will restrain and conquer all His enemies. Isn't it a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God? He will win. And yet, this King is a King of mercy. This King is the King who says, turn to Me and be saved. ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other by myself have I sworn from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return to me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance It's this King who left the realms of glory to lay aside all of His rights as a King in order to take on human flesh and live that holy, perfect, and sinless life on behalf of His people He came to save. And died a terrible, hell-filled death in body and in soul for the people He came to save. And rose again from the dead victorious for the people He came to save. And He reigns now as the God-Man-King, Jesus, over the people He has saved. And so submit yourself to this King. Bow the knee to this King. Confess this King as Savior. And as Lord, trust the One who has done everything necessary for your forgiveness, your peace, your life in glory forever and ever. and find comfort in knowing that Christ is your King and He has subdued you to Himself. That He rules you, He defends you, and He restrains and conquers all His and your enemies. This Christ the King does for His people. This Jesus the King does for you. Praise God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank You so much for the work of our Savior. our prophet, our priest, and our King. And Lord, we pray that You would give us the faith to trust Him in every one of these ways. As we face the various circumstances of our lives, the various doubts, the various guilts, the various fears, Lord, we pray that You would apply the truth of Christ's mediatorial offices to our lives. That You would answer each one of those things in our lives. That we could rejoice and have joy the people of God serving under this beautiful Savior Messiah. Bless us with these things for Your glory and for our good. It's in Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.