Benjamin Keech's Catechism, question 29, will be the topic of our study this morning. This is a continuation of our study, again, of the decrees of God as it pertains now to the offices of Christ and to the salvation of God's people. God has decreed that he would save his people from damnation, the damnation that they had earned for themselves, And we've seen that he has decreed to accomplish this work first by creation and then by providence. And Jesus in his ministry becomes the means and the way that God accomplishes his decrees in providing for that salvation. Jesus says, I am the way. He doesn't just say to a sinner, you are saved. He first provides many things to that sinner to allow them to be saved. He pays the debt, which they earned through sin and unrighteousness, and then he gives them a righteousness of their own. So if we think in terms of a transaction, the providence of God in accomplishing his decrees means that sinners go from having a negative righteousness, an unrighteousness, a sinfulness, to having a positive righteousness because of the work of Jesus Christ. That's an amazing thing in and of itself. And that's an example of the providence of God in salvation. He provides relief from debt, and then he provides a new and perfect righteousness on our account. So God saves people by providence. He provides relief from the debt of unrighteousness and then replenishes our accounts with a perfect righteousness. And we see this clearly when we study Jesus as a priest. We touched on this in some detail last time, but really this is the gospel. Jesus lived as a man in order to earn a perfect righteousness so that he could then give that righteousness to other men. That was the purpose in Jesus' perfect life. That was the purpose of him coming down here to be a man. But he also died to take away the sins of the world. That was the purpose of his perfect death. That's how that transaction happened. In order for God to provide us with something that we needed to save us, Jesus first had to come to earth as a man and accomplish everything needed to make that possible. In order to provide salvation from death, he died. In order to provide righteousness for unrighteous people, he lived righteously. And then the accomplishments of the Son of God were accepted by the Father and then distributed to God's elect. We call this a substitutionary atonement. Jesus takes our sin and we take his righteousness. His death and righteousness are substituted for our death and our unrighteousness so that we might live. This is only possible because Jesus, being infinite and divine, has an infinite amount of righteousness and an infinite payment of death that can be applied to an infinite number of people. all those who will come to faith in Christ. So everything we study about Jesus as a prophet, a priest, or a king, all point us to his work on earth in accomplishing our salvation. And then everything he accomplished is to be passed on to us in the substitutionary atonement. God has chosen to use the life and death of his son and the fruits of his earthly ministry to provide for our salvation. That's God's providence in executing his decrees. Early on in our first message on God's decrees, I quoted John Owen, and I want to remind us of this wonderful quote of his before we spend any more time thinking about the offices of Christ. I think it's really important that these kinds of theological studies are used to help us grow in grace, not just knowledge. And I think this quote is worthy of our meditation again. These are deep spiritual things about the works and offices of Christ, but the purpose of our studying them is always to grow in grace, not just in our intellect. And I think Owen reminds us of that here. So I want to just quote him again. He says, It's not a great argument against the sincerity of a man's faith in grace if he spends more time considering the offices and graces of Christ and the benefits that we obtain from him, but it is an argument against his growth in grace. Now listen to this little bit of insight. Owen wants more for us than just knowledge of God and Jesus' Word. He says, a thriving faith and an increase in grace will show themselves in an increasing consideration of the person of Christ. This involves the soul studying his person, the glory of God in him, his natures, the union of them in one person, his love, his condescension, and his grace. It involves the heart being drawn out to love him and cry, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. I think that's a pretty good quote from Owen. And I want that to be the backdrop of everything we think about this morning. The work of Christ as King is our topic this morning. And it's a wonderful thing to study. But it needs to bring us face to face not with some impersonal worker who worked on our behalf, but with the beauty and the glory of the person of Jesus Christ, the one who suffered for us, actually suffered for us, and the one whose heart beats for our good. These studies should help us to love our God and our Christ. Question 29 asks the question this morning, how does Christ execute the office of king? And the answer is, Christ executes 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. The summary of this morning's message can be found in your bulletins. It says, as our king, Christ subdues the whole world. and then restores his kingdom to its intended glory. He will subdue the flesh, and sin, and Satan, and even death before he is done, and then he will reign forever in righteousness. And now with that as our introduction, let's pray as we begin. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you just for the gift of this morning, just for the gift of life this morning, and the gift of the Lord's Day where we can gather in the presence of your people to be ministered by your Holy Spirit. I pray, Lord, that we would hear your voice as we consider your word this morning, that you would touch our souls, that you would set our minds upon holiness and righteousness that we find in Christ alone, that Christ would be lifted up in our minds and in our thoughts, that our hearts would beat for the beauty of our Lord, and that you would just guide us as we grow in grace, as Owen reminds us is the most important part of our study this morning. So I pray, Lord, for all of these things. I pray, Lord, that your kingdom would be edified this morning all over the world. I pray, Lord, that your will would be done even in this place today. And we pray in Christ's holy name. Amen. Okay, so Jesus is our king. He is our sovereign prince who sits upon the throne governing the creation he created and providing for every creature's needs. This is a compassionate and caring and loving king. He knows the number of hairs on your head and not a single sparrow falls to the ground without him knowing it. And what does that even mean? It means that he is so in tuned with his creation that nothing catches him off guard. Nothing surprises Christ our King. Earthquakes don't surprise him. Hurricanes don't surprise him. Broken hearts don't surprise him. Wars don't surprise him. And certainly broken water heaters don't surprise him either. And what sets him apart from other kings is that he isn't just a king. He is the sovereign one over all of history. He is sovereign over human souls and the weather and even cultural movements that take place over centuries and centuries. But it might be his connectedness to his creatures that sets him apart even more than his infinite awareness and his ability to influence and affect his will on the world. I mean, think about it. What's better from your king? Someone rich and powerful and able to get things done or someone who is all of those things and also willing and able to do what's best for every individual in his kingdom. It almost sounds like the kind of utopia that world governments try to promise. But this is our king and this is his decree. Christ will use all things, good and evil, for good. Christ will reign in perfect peace. And all the trials and suffering we experience today is to prepare us for that promise. He will use every discomfort in this life to mold us into the image of the sun and to prepare us for eternity. All things work out for good for those who love God. He is truly sovereign. No other king has ever been truly sovereign. The most powerful kings and emperors in history died from diseases or battle wounds or in the weakness of old age, but not Christ. He is sovereign even over death. And what's amazing about Christ as King is not only that he's able to accomplish his will, it's that his will is to do what's best for you and me and every other Christian throughout history. That's God. The idea that he knows when the sparrow falls to the ground isn't just pointing to his unlimited awareness, even though it does, It's pointing to his love for his creation. He cares about every creature. And that's Jesus our King. That's the person of Christ that Owen reminds us to think upon. Okay, so let's start by reading our question once more. How does Christ execute the office of a king? The answer is Christ executes 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. Our first point this morning is the matter of Jesus subduing us. Jesus subdues us. I'm sure everyone here who professes to be born again can agree that this is something we actually experienced in our conversion. We begin as enemies We are then subdued, and then we become friends to him and his kingdom. But it begins with Christ subduing us. While we were yet enemies, Christ died for the ungodly. First though, what does it mean to subdue? It can mean a variety of things, but it usually just means to conquer, or to overcome, or to bring under control. That's what Jesus does for us and to us. And in order to understand this, it's important that we first understand our own depravity. When we teach that people are born totally depraved, that's not to be mean or pessimistic about the human race. It's just an acknowledgement that we are completely opposed in our natural condition to holiness. And of course, God is holiness. And so to be opposed to holiness is to be opposed to God, which makes us enemies of God. And that's what it means to be depraved. It means that our sin has so totally transformed us from the way that we were created that we can have no fellowship at all with God as our creator. We are opposed to everything that God stands for. Depraved literally means morally corrupt. God is the only morally pure being and we are the opposite of that. We are totally sinful, completely impure, at least we are before the Lord. subdues us, right? So the work of Jesus as our king is that of a king who goes to battle against enemies, both foreign and domestic. All kings have a responsibility toward their kingdom, right? They are to fight against evil that might undermine or destroy their kingdom. That means maintaining order and justice when it comes to crime and murder, theft, as well as crimes committed by foreigners against his people. like an enemy kingdom. The king is to protect his own interest as the ruler over the kingdom itself, as well as the interests of the people he rules over. His job is to preserve the kingdom and protect its people, no matter the enemy. And that's exactly what Jesus does. In our case, he subdues us while we were yet enemies and makes us his friends. In the case of the devil and his demons, he will subdue them by destroying them in the lake of fire. Both are the role of a king. He saves and reconciles some to himself and he punishes and destroys others in order to preserve his kingdom and protect his people. Please turn with me to our first proof text, which is Acts chapter 15. Acts 15, starting in verse 14. I want us to see what's meant by Christ subduing us. What does that mean? Acts 15 says, Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, after this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up. Okay. Now this verse, at least on face value, doesn't seem like a strong verse to show Christ as a king subduing his elect, does it? But let's think on this just a little bit deeper. Let's think about these words visited and to take out. The church age in the very early years of the New Covenant, we saw that God was moving greatly in the Gentiles, right? Maybe even more so than among the Jews. And what we see in this is that it wasn't the works of men, but the visitation of God. God was the one accompanying the apostles, and he was working in those ministries, and he was calling men and women out of the Gentile nations. So for hundreds of years, God really gave little attention to the Gentiles, but now he was visiting them. And what was he doing among the Gentiles? It says he was visiting them for the purpose of taking from them a people for his name. He was reconciling those who were enemies and bringing them into the kingdom as friends. So now let's just think theologically about these people who were among the Gentiles that God was visiting and taking. They were blasphemers. They were idolaters. They were adulterers and murderers, but these were the elect, weren't they? This is what God does to the elect. He visits them, he calls them, and then he woos them as a husband woos his wife. We see this kind of imagery throughout the whole Bible, don't we? God calls his people from among the heathen, and then he says to them, those who were not my people, you are my people. And then they shall say back to him, you are our God. That's Hosea 2, and that's the story of every elect person. God subdues the enemy soul and makes that person to know him and love him. And he does this as a king who subdues us. This is part of the battle he fights for the souls of men. Psalm 110, which we will read later, says, your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power. That's right, the blasphemers and God-haters will be volunteers in the day of His power. Why? Because He will subdue His elect. He will soften their hearts and call them gently and lovingly into the kingdom, and they will come as those who volunteer. That's the power of our King, and that's the beauty of Christ's person. I listened recently to John Bunyan's book by the name of The Holy War, In it, Bunyan does a really amazing job of revealing this battle for the soul that Jesus fights for us. For those of you unfamiliar with the book, it's written in the form of an allegory, much like his more famous work, Pilgrim's Progress. And as an allegory, we see different spiritual things given names and even personified. The name of the town is called Mansoul. The name of Jesus is Emmanuel. He is the warrior prince who leads the attack on Mansoul. Clearly Bunyan saw this aspect of Christ's ministry, right? And all the aspects of the unregenerate and regenerate soul are given names as well. And he reveals in the first chapter of the book something telling about the soul of man. First he tells us that the town has five gates by which people can come and go. which are also places by which the enemies can come and go, by the way. These five gates are the five senses. These are the ways Satan tempts the soul. These gates are called ear gate, and eye gate, and mouth gate, and nose gate, and feel gate. Now think with me. How does Satan tempt us? He speaks lies into our ears, right? and tries to convince us that what God said is not true, and that sin is something to be desired, right? He also places beautiful things before our eyes, and tasty things before our lips, and scented things before our noses, and even tempts us with things that feel good to the body. Think about the sins you struggle with and tell me this isn't so. The senses are the gateways that bring a temptation to the soul. When temptation is nearby, Satan can weaken our defenses by bringing a sweet smell to our nose, a nostalgic smell, or a beautiful image before our eyes, or an enticing lie to our ears. The senses can and will be used against us in the enemy's tactics, and they have been since the beginning. And in this allegory, when Satan has breached the gates, Bunyan tells us that the most important men in the town are the ones Satan chooses to destroy first. Those men he named Captain Resistance and the Lord Innocency. That's exactly what Adam experienced in the garden, isn't it? Satan in that first attack tempted Eve's mouth gate with the taste of forbidden fruit. Then he attacked at Eye Gate by revealing its beauty. And then Eargate, when he whispered lies about God's law and God's will. That's at least three of the gates being attacked by Satan. And Eve shared these things with Adam, and Satan's attack was now on Adam's soul. And these attacks proved successful. Why? Because Adam's resistance, Captain Resistance, according to Bunyan, was the first to be murdered when Satan attacked at the gates. And what happened when Captain Resistance died? Mansoul gave in to the temptations of Satan and Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Temptation without resistance became sin. That's the story of the Fall. That's what happened to Mansoul. And that's what happened when Satan attacks us in our senses. He's weakening our resistance. He wants Captain Resistance dead. That's what happened inside of Adam's soul. And Bunyan tells us that his innocence, Lord Innocence, was immediately killed when Satan occupied the kingdom. That's what happened to us. And so now, who rules the totally depraved soul? Who is king in Mansoul? Satan is. And without Captain Resistance to battle against sin from within, and without the Lord Innocence influencing the soul against sin, where does that leave the Lord and holiness inside of man's soul? Nowhere. There's no room in this soul for God. And there's no room for holiness anymore either. God and Satan cannot share the same temple. Just like light and darkness can't be together either. Listen to the introduction to one of Bunyan's sections in Holy War. This is what happened when Satan took over, and this is building the scene for us to see Christ the King come to battle for Mansoul again. Bunyan writes, Diabolus, which is Satan, takes possession of the castle. That's what happened as Lord Innocence was killed. Satan can't enter the soul of an innocent man, but once innocence is lost, Satan is able to enter the castle. And the first thing we see is Satan removing Mr. Understanding from his office, and a wall is built around his house to darken it, Bunyan says, to darken the understanding. Satan will disable the soul from knowing the truth. Then Bunyan tells us that Mr. Conscience, the recorder, is put out of office and just becomes a very obnoxious person, both to Diabolus and to the inhabitants. And then the Lord Willbewill, who he says heartily supports the cause of Diabolus, is made the principal governor of the town. The will who was once loyal to the king is now loyal to Satan, and it's this wishy-washy man who is now in control of the whole town. Then Bunyan tells us Satan's next move is to deface the image of Shaddai, that's God the Father, and to set up that of Diabolus in its place. So sinlessness in the image of God is replaced with total depravity in the image of Satan. That's the human soul after Adam's fall. And then finally he says, Mr. Lustings is made the Lord Mayor and Mr. Forget-Good. So what is happening? Diabolus is now the king. Mr. Understanding is taken out of the public eye and is darkened so he can't stand for what is true within the soul. He is shut down. Then we see Mr. Conscience. He's put out of office also, but he isn't closed off, is he? He's able to work against Diabolus. The Conscience is still alive in the fallen soul, and he's one of the only ones remaining who can express something good. But we also notice he has no authority, does he? He has no real power. He lost Captain Resistance and the Lord Innocence. Mr. Understanding is in exile. And so now he's alone in the fight for man's soul. All he can do is annoy its people as the obnoxious reminder of the law and the truth. But now notice who is put in charge, the will. My lord will be will is what he's called. Tell me Bunyan didn't hit the nail on the head there. The will is in control within the fallen soul and it is moved to and fro by the senses. Every gate is open in Mansoul and the will is influenced by everything that is impressive to it or convenient to it. First John speaks of the flesh and says that those who are under the sway of the devil are ruled by the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. These are the will of man after the fall. They do as they will. They serve their lusts. This is the Lord will be well. He feeds himself upon whatever feels good, both spiritual and in the flesh. This is the incredible transformation we see in Mansoul immediately after Satan and his troops enter the city. Satan completely restructures the government of the town and puts the most ungodly and corrupt people into the most influential positions. These are the ones you and I continue to fight against even as Christians. We call these the flesh. And they fight against the spirit and the souls of every Christian. But prior to the fall, they never had any authority or any influence. This all changed after the fall when Satan entered. And then we see the image of God is defaced and the image of Satan is propped up in its place, as Mr. Lustings and Mr. Forgetgood take over the castle. And these men govern in perfect harmony with the Lord Willbewill. Everything that is true about these evil characters, the opposite was true before the attack. Pretty sad to think about. That's what is now the natural condition of the souls of men. With rulers like that within us, How can we be anything but corrupt and totally depraved, right? And this is why we need a king to regain the castle and set the original inhabitants of Mansoul free again. And we need him to evict Satan and all of his evil workers as well. So back to the catechism, it says that Jesus subdues us. To understand that, we first see that we were subdued by Satan, right? And we see that illustrated in the first chapter of Bunyan's Holy War. I think we can all understand what the enemy did in the garden and the lasting consequences of that battle on all of us, even thousands of years later. And so now we see that another battle needs to happen for the soul of man. And we see that the soul needs to be won back to Shaddai, or God, by the son of God, who is Emmanuel. So Christ will lead his army back to the soul, and he will battle for the soul with Satan. And he will do this for every individual soul of every single elect person of God. Pretty special when you think about it. Christ is the kind of king who is able to accomplish anything he desires, and yet his desire, his will, is to battle for the souls of men one at a time to reclaim them from Satan. Did any of you realize just how hard Jesus was fighting for you? His work is immense. So the Catechism says Jesus subdues us, and the Bible calls this the crucifying of the flesh. And how does he do that? Listen to Bunyan again. He writes, Shaddai sends an army of 40,000 soldiers to overcome Mansoul. There's that word for subdue again. And he does it under the direction of four captains. These are Captain Boanerges, Captain Conviction, Captain Judgment, and Captain Execution. Now think about this group of men leading these 40,000 soldiers. First is Boanerges. This is a word that signifies sons of thunder. It was actually given to Jesus' disciples, James and John, the sons of thunder. So we see this first captain is a captain with seal, and earnestness. That's what that means. This attack on the soul will be one that is unmistakable with a loud and powerful force against the senses, right? Just like thunder. That's how we experience the Lord's work on our souls, isn't it? Like thunder with zeal and earnestness and wave upon wave. Second is Captain Conviction. This is something we experience when the Lord is working on our souls too. Conscience begins to find an echo. There's something coming from outside the city that's saying the exact same things that the conscience has been saying inside the city. That's a wonderful change for Mansoul. The preaching of holiness is now in surround sound. Comes from the conscience and now from Christ's army as he assembles outside of Ear Gate. The third captain we see is Captain Judgment. He preaches about the consequences of ignoring the conscience and reminds them of the law and removes any doubt of safety for those who choose to stay aligned with Diabolus. He points out their guilt. This is another gospel grace. Christ actually comes to us and teaches us the consequences of sin and the goodness of the law in order to bring us back in subjection to him. He's beginning to subdue us and he's using the law. And the fourth captain is Captain Execution, who preaches the consequences of sin and the promise of death. Christ is coming first with the law and judgment. That's what these captains are bringing to Irgate, and they're bringing it with thunder. Bunyan says, these men address the inhabitants with great energy, but to little purpose, because Diabolus, in credulity, Ilpahs and others interfered with them in order to prevent submission to them. So even the Lord's army meets resistance. Satan isn't ready to give up Mansoul. And so there is a resistance waged in this battle. Bunyan says that Mr. Prejudice stood and defended Irgate with a guard of 60 deaf men. Kind of interesting imagery, isn't it? This is how it works. who within the soul fights against the preaching of God's Word. Let's just give these men modern names. They are unwillingness, they are hesitancy, and they are prejudice. Those are the things we hear from people who aren't ready to come to Christ every single time. They are unwilling when they say they don't want to give up their sins. They are hesitant because they love the world. And they are prejudiced in that they think they already know what's best and are unwilling to hear something contrary to it. It's a pretty good summary, really. And they guard the ear gate with deafness. They just don't listen. But Christ will overcome. He will subdue man's soul. Isaiah 33 in verse 22 is our proof text. It says, for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king, he will save us. That's what we're talking about, right? He is our king and he will save us. In our natural condition, we are prisoners in our own souls. We are slaves to an enemy king who has subdued us and made us willful enemies of God. But he will save us by changing our wills and making us enemies of his enemies. He's going to turn us on the enemy king. That's what was promised, if you remember, in Genesis 3.15. The Lord says to Satan, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. What he's actually saying here is that God, what God is actually saying here is, I realize that you have conquered Mansoul, Satan, and turned Mansoul to your side and made Mansoul your friend but I will turn Mansoul against you, and your willing slave will once again be your enemy, and I will accomplish this by the seed of the woman. That's what's going on in Genesis 3.15. God is declaring war on the devil, and he is vowing to take Mansoul back, and he does that great work at the cross of Christ. That's where Satan's head is bruised, and that's where Christ's heel is bruised. And that's the victory that secures salvation for the king of righteousness. Isaiah 33 in verse 22 again says, the Lord is our king. He will save us. That's the role of a king. He will save us from our wretched condition and he will save us from the enemy king who is holding us hostage. and he will crucify the flesh and set us free to love God and serve the rightful king who is Christ himself. Isaiah 32 verses 1 and 2 is another proof text and it says, Behold, a king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule with justice. A man will be as a hiding place from the wind and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Here we see the Lord promising to defend his people. He defends us. And none will hide from the power of his justice, because justice is the Lord's and vengeance is the Lord's. Those are the roles of a righteous king. We don't have to fight our own battles alone. We fight alongside God. He is our king, and that's what a good king does. When he sees a righteous servant of his being persecuted and mistreated, he comes beside him with the full might of the kingdom to defend the weak and the poor and the innocent. And the guilty will be brought to justice, and none will hide from him, whether that's Satan, when he faces eternal judgment, or evil people in this world, who will face eternal judgment, our God will have his justice. Every single soul who has not repented and put their faith in Christ will be held accountable for the life they lived and the decisions they made. And every evil person, if he does not repent, will have his justice in the end. And that justice will be accomplished on account of the people of God and on account of the holiness of God and his law. God will not be mocked. And no matter how much it appears that evil wins in this life, our King has promised that in the end, evil will be punished. Christ will subdue us, but he will also rule with justice in the last days, and he will subdue all the enemies of his kingdom. And he will also fight in both the physical and the spiritual realms to bring us back into the likeness of Christ and to deliver us from sin and the consequences of sin. There is a victory in Christ that is more than we can even really wrap our minds around. It's something more complete and more perfect than just the conquering and subduing of men like Hitler in The Judgment or even Satan. It's something more than just subduing our own wretchedness. Catechism points out that Christ has a victory over all the enemies of his kingdom and all the enemies of us as well. He will destroy those who persecute the church. He will destroy those who blaspheme. And he will subdue the flesh within his elect. And listen to our next proof text. There's even more. This is 1 Corinthians 15, verses 25 through 28. 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 25, for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. And the last enemy that will be destroyed is death, for he has put all things under his feet. And now think about this. It says that all the enemies of God are destroyed And then death is destroyed. Death is conquered by the death of Christ. Death is the last enemy to be subdued. And so what does this look like? A lot has happened. A lot has to happen before death is finally conquered. Imagine again, Satan's conquering of Mansoul in the Garden of Eden. And what happened there? A siege on the gates of Mansoul. And how did that end? With death. with Satan killing Lord Resistance and Mr. Innocence, right? We read in Romans 5 that now in Adam all die. And so when Christ comes to Mansoul, it will be in the exact same way that Satan did. Christ will reverse the curse of Adam and turn death back to life when he re-enters the town. And so he will come to the ear gate and then eye gate and he will siege the castle to regain the soul that was lost to Satan. And that's exactly what he does when he subdues the soul and turns us on Satan. He destroys death. The only way a person can turn on Satan and stop serving sin is if Christ has subdued the soul and taken over as king of the soul and begun defending the soul. And only then will life be returned to Mansoul. Christ must become king of Mansoul again, or else we remain, as the Bible says, dead in trespasses and sins forever. And so now in Bunyan's chapter eight, listen to the description of what happens next. Mansoul is now under attack by the good king, Immanuel. And listen to what happens as some of the inhabitants have begun to hear his message, and they realize the number of his force and the quality of his men. And so the good men within the city begin to realize that judgment is coming quickly, and they realize that every single unrepentant inhabitant of the city is about to die. Death is coming to Mansoul. And so listen to Bunyan. He says, the principal inhabitants now hold a conference, and agree to petition the prince for their lives. Now think about this. They pray. That's what's meant by this petition. The city of Mansoul has been an enemy of God up until Christ laid siege to Ear Gate. And even though we left off hearing that the captains of Emmanuel were having little success, we see some hope. We see that there were a few faculties within Mansoul who had been awakened to the preaching which had come through Eargate. Paul says in the book of Romans, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. What is the soul hearing? It is hearing the prophet of God, Jesus Christ. It's hearing the law and judgment and execution. It's hearing the gospel. the good news that the Son of God has come to fight on their behalf for freedom from sin and Satan and even death. And so what does this soul do? The one who is finally heard through ear gate, the one who was guarded by so many deaf men, he prays. I don't remember whose quote this was, I think it might have been J.I. Packer, and I'm going to paraphrase it, but it went something like this, the soul that is awakened by the grace of God can do nothing to obtain that grace but cry out like a newborn child. That's all we can do, right? That's what we believe in Calvinism. We bring nothing to our salvation but a whimper. And that's what Mansoul does in this petition. Life has overcome death and the first breath of the newborn baby does what? He cries out. And the new believer cries out in prayer. We bring nothing to our salvation, but when we are born again, we cry out to the Lord in prayer, saying, save me, Lord. And that's what Mansoul does in chapter eight of Bunyan's Holy War. They petition the prince for their lives. They beg for mercy and they beg for him to subdue them. They are made volunteers in the day of his power, Psalm 110. And then what? Bunyan says the castle gates are broken open and Emmanuel, marches into man's soul. That's what the sovereign king does when he sets his will upon something. He simply marches in and claims the victory. When Christ has subdued the soul to cry out to him, the battle is already won. That doesn't mean there won't be thousands of other skirmishes, of course. We all know that by experience. We know that the devil will be trying to sift us like wheat until we die. But it means that the victory is the Lord's, and nothing can overcome that victory. Satan will never again overcome Mansoul. And Mansoul will never again stop in its allegiance to Emmanuel. Life has been breathed into death, and Mansoul is once again alive. Bunyan says, Diabolos is now made a prisoner, and he is bound in chains. The enemy king is made impotent. He is powerless. He is bound. And Christ is victorious as a warrior king. Then he says the inhabitants greatly distressed petition again and again until finally a free pardon is obtained and universal joy succeeds. That's the battle of our king on our behalf. He conquers our enemies both within and without. And he restrains our enemies by putting them in chains. We are subdued and so are our enemies. Bunyan has just put this catechism question into our minds in full color, hasn't he? Now what happens next? First Bunyan says, the liberated prisoners return to Mansoul, where they are received with great joy. Then the inhabitants request Immanuel to take up his residence among them as their king. He consents and makes a triumphal entry amid the shouts of the people. After this, the town is newly modeled, and the image of Shaddai erected Again, we have a celebration. And what better way to celebrate the victory of the good king coming to free his people than to re-erect the image of Shaddai? Have you ever thought about that? The image of God was defaced in the fall, and it is restored when we believe. We don't become sinless again, but we do become able to not sin. We lose our total depravity. Incredible thought, really. God's own image is restored in our souls when Christ comes and takes up residence within us. Do you see how the war for our souls is so multidimensional? Everything that was put on hold in the chaos of the garden is brought back into order when Christ overcomes the devil and reclaims his territory in the human soul. And the last battle comes when Christ is victorious over death itself. He overcomes spiritual death when we are born again, and he overcomes physical death when we die on this earth. Because in his kingdom, death no longer seals the soul into eternal destruction. Death for us now releases the soul from the body to enter eternal life, to enter glory and everlasting peace and the presence of God. And this is all accomplished by Christ's work on the cross, where he battled with Satan to the death. And it is brought to its fulfillment when he and his captains lay siege to the city of Mansoul and overcome it and subdue it and take it back for the Father. I'd like to wrap up this morning by reading our last proof text, which is Psalm 110. I'm going to read it in its entirety, starting in verse one. Says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power. In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth. The Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever. according to the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He shall execute kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the nations. He shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall execute the heads of many countries. He shall drink of the brook by the wayside. Therefore, he shall lift up the head. The psalm shows us the prophet, priest, and king. who will overcome our enemies and make us volunteers in his service forever. John Owen once again reminds us of the purpose of our study. He says, a thriving faith and an increasing grace will show themselves in an increasing consideration of the person of Christ. He says, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. Knowing what he has done for us is the purpose of knowing him, is for the purpose of knowing him. I pray that this wonderful doctrine of Christ, our prophet, priest, and king, will bring us closer to him as the one who deeply loves us so that, as John says, we might love because he first loved us. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, once again we thank you for the time that you've given us. We thank you for your Word that we can hold the Word of God in our hands and study it together as children study at the feet of Christ. We are your children and you won us at a high price and we thank you for that battle and we thank you for your victory and we thank you that you've chosen to share that with us and that all of eternity is part of our inheritance through you. And what a wonderful thought and what a gracious God you are. Oh, Lord, let us never lose track of your goodness and your beauty. And we thank you, Lord, for doctrine. We thank you for truth. We thank you for the catechism and those who helped to put it together. We thank you, Lord, that you have allowed it to endure and last for hundreds of years so that it might be of some good use to us. And so we will ask you now to bless it as we study it, and bless us as we study your word, and we pray, Lord, that it would be fruitful in all that we do. We pray now that you'd bless the rest of our time together, and we thank you again, in Christ's name, amen.