Kingship of Christ in The Acts, Part 2

Review of the Period of Proclamation and Pentecost Sermon

0:03 For many months, our meditations in the Word of God on the Lord's Day morning have directed our attention to the central figure in the salvation which God offers to needy sinners, that figure, of course, being the person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If considered what the Word of God says concerning Him in the mystery of His person,

0:33 That is the great question, who is Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners? And we have seen that the answer of the word of God to that question is a clear answer. It is an answer that comes to us from the Old and the New Testaments, that the Savior of sinners is truly God. As much God as though he were never man, the Savior of sinners is truly man.

1:01 as much man as though he were never God. And yet this glorious Savior who is God and man is but one person in two natures forever. And now for a number of weeks we have been contemplating this glorious person in the majesty of his offices, that is, the official positions which he occupies in the accomplishment of his salvation. As the only Redeemer of God's elect,

1:30 As the old catechism says, he occupies the offices of a prophet, priest, and king, both in his estate of humiliation and of exaltation. Having already examined the major biblical materials which open up to us the glory of his priestly function, the glory of his function as the great prophet of the church, we are now concerned to establish from the word of God that Jesus Christ in the salvation of sinners is not only to be loved and honored and trusted as our great priest, as our true and only prophet, but as a very real king. And I would underscore again that the emphasis that we are finding in the Word of God is that his kingship is not to be understood primarily in terms of some future activities of the Redeemer,

2:30 but to be understood as the role, the office within which the Redeemer saves His people. And we've been considering the evidence as it is found in the Scriptures themselves. We looked at the evidence of the kingship of Christ in the period of preparation, that is, the Old Testament. And then for several Lord's Day mornings we contemplated the evidence for His kingship as the Savior of sinners,

3:00 in the period of manifestation, that is, the Gospels. And then we spent one Lord's Day morning, the last Lord's Day morning before my trip to New Zealand, contemplating the kingship of Christ in the period of proclamation, that is, the book of the Acts of the Apostles. And in that meditation, in the book of the Acts, we noted, first of all, that Unless we have some understanding of the language of the preaching of the apostles, we will not feel the weight of the centrality of the doctrine of the kingship of Christ to their preaching. Whenever we read in the preaching of the book of the Acts that the apostles were proving or demonstrating that Jesus was the Christ,

3:49 They were demonstrating that he was the Messiah of Old Testament hope and expectations. Well, that, you see, immediately brings us into the kingship of Christ. For no Jew who had any understanding of his Old Testament had any concept of Messiah that was stripped of a true, a bona fide kingship. In fact, their problem was they had such a narrow, truncated view of that kingship that they had problems recognizing it when it appeared. But that Messiah must be king was no point of debate. The point of debate was that prior to entering into the glories of his kingship, that same king must suffer, must die, and must be raised from the dead. And so whenever you encounter the word Christ in the preaching of the apostolic witness,

4:46 You must think immediately of the Messiah who was to be not only prophet and priest, but also king. And then, of course, this word Lord. Though it has many usages, its predominant emphasis in the preaching of the apostles points in the direction of sovereign rulership. Jesus Christ is Lord, that is, Jesus Christ is now sovereign ruler upon a throne of might, and of power. And then all we did in our last study, and this will conclude our brief introduction and review, was to see that in the very threshold of the book of the Acts, chapter 1 and verse 3, and at the conclusion of the book of the Acts, chapter 28, and the last two verses, the doctrine of the kingship of Christ and the kingdom of God are central in the testimony of Luke, the author,

5:44 of the book of the Acts of the Apostles. And then we concluded by looking at the first Christian sermon, the sermon preached on the day of Pentecost, and we saw that the great thrust of Peter's sermon was to demonstrate that this unusual set of circumstances was not to be attributed to the imbibing of too much wine. Some said they are drunk, He said, no, this is the initiation of the new age, as Joel promised an age of the Spirit, so that age has come. And then he went on to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the administrator and the great sovereign of the new age, and that he administers that new age from the position of enthronement. Verse 36 is the climactic statement of that first Christian sermon,

6:37 Let all the house of Israel therefore assuredly know, not that God shall at a future time, but that God has here and now made Jesus both Lord, that is, sovereign ruler, and Christ, that is, the anointed Messiah, this Jesus whom ye crucify.

7:04 And so in a very real sense, the proclamation of salvation in an enthroned Savior was the predominant note of the first Christian sermon. Now then, we will move very quickly to consider a few other of the pivotal passages in the book of the Acts and then seek to draw some very practical conclusions and applications to our studies. In chapter 5 and verses 30 and 31, we find Peter preaching again, or Peter really giving a defense of his actions before some of the leaders. And there he gives us a wonderful summary of his more extended sermon in Acts chapter 2. For we read in Acts 5.30, "...the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree."

Acts 5: Prince and Savior to Give Repentance and Remission

8:03 Him did God exalt with or at His right hand to be a prince and a savior, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. And here the testimony is very clear that Jesus Christ not shall be exalted to a posture of prince and savior, But God has exalted him to the position of Prince and Savior. Now notice, not with reference to political rule in Jerusalem, but God has made him Prince and Savior with respect to repentance and remission of sins. So the point of emphasis again is,

8:54 that in the administration of a spiritual salvation that involves this radical change of mind, this 180 degree turnabout of repentance which results in the forgiveness of sins, Jesus Christ is to be reckoned with not only as a Savior, but as a sovereign upon a throne. And just as surely as there is no remission of sin apart from repentance, There is no repentance apart from the activity of Him who is the Savior, and there is no activity of the Savior apart from Him who is the Savior Prince. And so the testimony of the apostolic preaching is again clear that the kingship of Christ is an integral part of apostolic preaching. Now then, if you will please, turn over to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8: Philip Preaches the Kingdom in Samaria

9:52 Here in Acts chapter 8, we find the gospel moving out from Jerusalem, and now it will touch these half-breed Jews called the Samaritans. God sovereignly directs the affairs of men so as to bring about a persecution which will scatter the church in order to spread its testimony. Now, as the church is scattered, the activity...

10:21 is described in verse 4. They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word. That's the activity itself. But now what was the substance or the content of that proclamation? Verse 5 gives us the answer. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed unto them the Christ. Philip goes to Samaria and and proclaims the Christ. Now remember what we said about the significance of that word? He proclaims that the anointed Messiah had come. In so doing, because these Samaritans accepted the first five books of Moses, they had a messianic hope. You remember the woman at the well said, We know that when Messiah comes, He will tell us all things. He will be the anointed prophet,

11:18 who will declare all things unto us. So there was that messianic hope and consciousness. Now then, Philip proclaims the Christ unto them. So that dominant in his preaching is this note, though we don't read that he identifies Jesus as the Christ, that will come later on. Dominant in his preaching is the concept that whoever the Savior may be,

11:46 He saves in the posture of the anointed one, that one who is not only prophet and priest, but also king. Now, what is implied there in verse 5 is explicitly laid out in verse 12. If you will please notice the language. But when, that is they, the Samaritans, believed Philip, preaching good

12:13 Tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus. He was preaching good tidings. That is, he was a gospel preacher. And his gospel had these two dominant notes. The things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus.

12:41 As one has said, commenting on this verse, they came to believe the good news concerning God's rule and reign of grace, pardon and salvation, as was revealed in the person named Jesus and in his office as the Christ, that is, the anointed one. So the preaching centered in the kingdom and in the name. Would you enter the kingdom? Then there is but one door, and that door is the Christ, the anointed prophet, priest, and king. Therefore, if you enter that kingdom, you must reckon not only with one who is a prophet to teach you, a priest to forgive and cleanse you, but a king to rule over you. He preached the kingdom and the name. No entrance to the kingdom but through the name,

13:41 And all dealings with him whose name is central to preaching are dealings with one who brings us into his kingdom, not this posture, but bent, broken, humbled, and subdued. Now the point of emphasis for our study should be clear, that when the gospel broke beyond the boundaries of Jerusalem, And when the preaching came to the ears of those who were not what we would call pure Jews, there was no material difference in the point of emphasis. It was still the proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah, and that saving mercy was never to be divorced from the proclamation of the kingdom and the kings.

Acts 10: Peter to Cornelius - Lord of All

14:39 The notes of emphasis that were dominant in Acts 2 are now dominant in the proclamation of the gospel to the Samaritans. Well, then we move in chapter 10 to a situation in which the gospel comes not to half-breed Jews, but to full-blooded Gentiles. Now, is there to be any real shift of emphasis? Remember, now all we're seeking to establish is this point.

15:07 that in the period of proclamation, the gospel of saving mercy is a gospel that includes as a dominant note the present reign of Jesus Christ. Now, if you have any familiarity with the book of Acts, you will know that in Acts 10, we have the record of the conversion of Cornelius, this Roman centurion, that is a soldier, and his household. And you remember the amazing incidents. Perhaps you children remember the story. Peter was so full of prejudice about non-Jews that God had to give him this vision. He had to repeat the vision to him several times to get Peter prepared to go to the house of a Gentile to preach the gospel. Well, at the same time God is preparing Peter, he's preparing Cornelius with a vision, and he sends some men, and they find Peter,

16:02 And the whole purpose of getting these two together is beautifully described in the eleventh chapter, where we have sort of a historical reflection upon the event. Acts 11, 13, And he told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, that is, Cornelius, and saying, Send to Joppa and fetch Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall...

16:28 Speak unto thee words whereby thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy house. So the great purpose of getting Peter down to the household of Cornelius was that Peter might speak saving words to these Gentiles. Now when he comes to preach those saving words, what are the major strands of his preachings?

16:57 Well, if you will now look carefully at verse 34 in Acts 10, we can answer the question. And Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to him. The word which he sent unto the children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace,

17:25 By Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. That saying ye yourselves know, which was published throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. And then he goes on in verse 38 to give some historical facts concerning Jesus. And how Jesus of Nazareth was evidently anointed with the Spirit by the deeds that He performed.

17:55 Then he goes on to speak in verse 39 of the facts concerning his crucifixion. Verse 40, his resurrection, and then the witnesses to that resurrection in verse 41. Verse 42, they're commissioned to preach that this same Jesus has been appointed judge of living and dead. And now in verse 43, to him bear all the prophets witness that through his name,

18:23 Everyone that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins. So you will see that Peter's preaching is preaching that has to do with this climactic statement that those who believe on him shall find remission of sins. Now what kind of preaching was preaching leading to that statement? Well, you see, it's the same thing that we encountered in Acts 2.

18:51 It's essentially the same thing we saw in Acts 5. We saw in Acts 8. In his opening statement he says, verse 37, I'm sorry, verse 36, the word which he sent unto the children of Israel preaching good tidings of peace, that is, a basis of just peace has been made between God and man. And that's glorious news that the God of heaven who has a controversy with his creatures His creatures who apostatized from Him in Adam. His creatures who have broken His law, who have offended His justice, who have provoked His anger. This God has taken the initiative to establish just peace. That's good news. That's glad tidings. Now he says, this saying of glad tidings of peace, by Jesus Christ. Uh-oh, there we encounter it again.

19:50 That message of good news, of peace between God and man, is inseparably tied up with Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, the Anointed One. That is the prophet, the priest, and the king. And because he's speaking to Gentiles whose knowledge might be more limited, even though they were in some sense proselytes and had some knowledge of the way of God, He affirms it with this parenthetical statement. Now notice, not He shall be in some future age Lord of all, but He says He is Lord of all. So He immediately ties together the preaching of peace with the concept of Messiah and with the concept of Messiah that asserts He is right now

20:49 Lord of all. Then whatever else he says in the sermon to flesh out some of the fundamental elements of the gospel, when he comes to verse 43 with the promise of forgiveness, to him bear all the prophet's witness that through his name everyone that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins. Everyone in Cornelius' household knew two things.

21:17 If we would ever have remission of sins, we must believe on His name. And to believe on His name is to have dealings with one who is the anointed Messiah, who is now, right now, Lord of all. And if we would have dealings with Him, we'll have dealings with a sovereign upon a throne. Now that's gospel preaching.

21:45 This is not a deeper life convention held in Cornelius' household. Saying, now there's a whole bunch of you out there that have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, but you're botching up your Christian lives and it's about time you took Him seriously as your Lord. This is not a deeper life convention. Nor is it a charismatic convention where they're trying to help people get to baptism by giving testimonies about those who've had it. Here is preaching of remission of sin.

22:16 Remission to be found in one who is Lord of all, who is the anointed prophet, priest, and king. And while this preaching goes on, the Holy Ghost is poured out with power, and they are brought to faith. And then, because faith is an invisible thing, God has to drive out the prejudice from the heart of Peter and his companions. So he gives this unusual, visible manifestation that was parallel to the day of Pentecost until finally Peter and the rest say, look, Fellas, there's nothing else we can do. It's obvious that God doesn't regard these Gentiles as dogs anymore. He's put faith in their hearts. And because we can't see their hearts, He's given them the ability to speak in languages as we did. And He's put that upon their tongues and our ears can hear it. And we know it was the Holy Ghost producing that in us then. Therefore, if He's given them the Holy Ghost the same way He gave the Holy Ghost to us, the conclusion is inevitable.

23:14 God receives Gentile dogs who believe the gospel. But now remember, it wasn't a different gospel from the one he preached to Jews in Acts 2, and it wasn't a different spirit. It was the same gospel, the same spirit, and it was the gospel of an enthroned Savior. Well then, let's hurry on to Acts chapter 13. And here we have the Apostle Paul preaching...

Acts 13: Paul at Pisidian Antioch on David's Seed

23:45 at Antioch. And when he's preaching to Jews, he always likes to give some Hebrew history as sort of a touchstone. And this becomes very effective. When I was in New Zealand several weeks ago, the preacher with whom I was privileged to share the conference in the city of Hamilton is a native Welshman, but he has spent the last 18 years in New Zealand. And when he was preaching on John 3, 8, the

24:13 irresistible grace manifested in the work of the Spirit. The wind blows where it wills. When he started talking about the different kinds of winds they get in that southern island of New Zealand, he had everyone's ears. They were really listening because he obviously was locked into their own history and to their own circumstances geographically and meteorologically and in every other way. Well, Paul would do the same thing. And when he'd stand to preach to a bunch of Jews, he'd start just reeling off this Hebrew history and every Jew to whom this history was precious. Boy, his ears were blown right out there listening. So he began to do that in Acts chapter 13 and verse 14. Notice Acts 13 and verse 14.

25:00 Passing through Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down. And there was the reading of the law and the prophets. Paul stands up, verse 16, Beckoning with the hands said, Men of Israel and ye that fear God, hearken. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers. And then he gives them some Hebrew history from verses 17 through 22. But now notice what he says in verse 23.

25:28 After speaking of David, he says, Of this man's seed, that is David's seed, hath God, according to promise, brought unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. Now, what promise is being referred to? When he says to the Jews, Of this man's, that is David's seed, hath God, according to promise brought a Savior to Israel, what promise would come to their minds? Why, that promise we've seen again and again in this study. 2 Samuel chapter 7, the promise made to David, the promise that formed the backbone of the hope of Israel. And here it is, 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse 15, My loving kindness will not depart from him

26:23 as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee, and thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee. And when will this happen? Verse 12, When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee that shall proceed out of thy bowels and establish his kingdom. Now Paul says,

26:51 God, according to His own promise given to David, that someone would be raised up to sit on his throne while he slept. There's the key. While David sleeps, God will neither slumber nor sleep in the fulfillment of His promise. And He says, according to that promise, He's given Israel a Savior. So immediately, the Savior is conceived of in their minds in what terms?

27:21 as the rightful heir of David's throne. Sitting on that throne now! And then he proceeds in his sermon to the second great passage, frequently quoted in the New Testament, the second psalm. A psalm which has as its dominant note the kingship of Christ. And though we don't have time to go into it in detail, suffice it to say that

27:50 In using the second psalm to buttress his assertion that Jesus is indeed the promised Savior, he shows and demonstrates that there can be no conception of the Savior apart from the promise of God that he would sit at his right hand until his enemies were made the footstool of his feet. And so again, the point of emphasis for our study should be clear.

28:20 Forgiveness is available. Yes, it is. Look at verse 38 of this sermon. Be it known unto you, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins, and by him everyone that believeth is justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. It's the gospel of present forgiveness. But in what person is it offered?

28:48 It is offered in the Savior who was given according to promise. That is the promise that He would be raised up to sit upon David's throne. The one who was promised according to Psalm 2, who would sit upon His throne, to whom a kingdom would be given, and who would dispense the sure mercies of David. You see, it is not the gospel to say,

29:14 That the kingship of Christ is something that awaits a future age with predominantly political and material blessings for a certain ethnic entity. The gospel is forgiveness is extended to sinners who deserve damnation. The gospel is that that forgiveness is in the Christ. God's only anointed one. And that Christ is Jesus of Nazareth, who has been raised to sit upon the throne of David in order to do what? Give forgiveness. To grant the Spirit to provide and to impart saving mercy. Well, then we move to Acts chapter 17. And this passage is very pivotal because...

Acts 17: Paul's Custom of Reasoning from the Scriptures

30:09 It is not only a summary statement, it is one which tells us what Paul's normal pattern of evangelism was wherever he went. And we read Acts 17, 1, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews, and Paul as his custom was. You see, Luke is describing not an isolated incident, but But this specific incident is a specimen incident that reflects the normal pattern of Paul's activity. As his custom was, he went in unto them and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ, there's that word again, the Messiah, to suffer and to rise again from the dead and...

31:08 that this Jesus, whom said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ. Now you see the great burden of his preaching. Luke says this was his custom. Go to the synagogue. Open up the Scriptures and then attempt to do two things. Number one, to prove to the Jews from their Old Testament Scriptures that the promised Messiah had to be a suffering, dying, resurrected Messiah.

31:37 Now you see, that's where they had a mental block. The Jew would take his Old Testament and every time he'd read about Messiah being a king and Messiah reigning, he'd get all excited. He'd say, isn't that wonderful? Messiah comes, Rome's going to go down, we Jews are going to go up, it's going to be wonderful. Our king will come on a great charger, he'll put his enemies beneath his feet. They loved to find those passages and oh how they majored on them. Now Paul took their very scriptures from which they got this perverted concept and it says, according to Acts 17...

32:08 He opened and he alleged, proving from the Scriptures, that the anointed Messiah, the King, as well as the prophet and the priest, first of all had to suffer and to rise from the dead. Now, after he had proved that from their Scriptures, and that wouldn't be a difficult task. When you have Isaiah 53, the suffering servant of Jehovah, that wouldn't be a difficult task.

32:35 when you have the prophecies of Micah, when you have the prophecies of Zechariah, when you have all the types and shadows, when you have all of that Old Testament history which prefigures both the sufferings and the glories of Messiah, that wouldn't be a difficult thing. And so when he had, as it were, shut their mouths on that point, now he said, I have a second point to my sermon. Having proven that the Messiah must suffer and be raised,

33:04 Jesus of Nazareth is that very Messiah. Now what would be the result? Well, when Paul would be done preaching, every Jew who was listening, even on a warm day like this, and even caught a half of what he had said, would understand two things. If I am ever to have forgiveness, it is to be found in the promised Messiah, and that Messiah is Jesus of Nazareth, therefore...

33:34 I must embrace him as my prophet to teach me, as my only priest to forgive and to cleanse me, and as my king to rule and to reign over me. And no one could sit under Paul's gospel preaching and receive the impression that he could choose one of the offices of Messiah while rejecting the other, that he would, as it were, snatch at the priestly functions of Messiah while rejecting His prophetic and His kingly rule. No, it was this person who had to be embraced as the object of faith, and he was embraced to the end that there might be forgiveness. Ah, but someone says, Pastor, you still don't understand. You see, when he goes and preaches to the Gentiles,

Acts 20: Repentance, Faith, Grace, and the Kingdom Are One Gospel

34:28 and is not in a Jewish or even a proselyte situation as he was with Cornelius and the rest, then the emphasis shifts, does it? Well, let's turn to his own witness in Acts chapter 20 as the final passage. This morning, Acts chapter 20. The apostle now gathers around him the Ephesian elders.

34:54 A church made up primarily of pagan Gentiles according to the book of Ephesians. You remember when he's writing the letter to the Ephesians he says you were strangers from the commonwealth of Israel. Aliens from all of these things. It was a church made up primarily of pagan Gentiles. Now he's reviewing his ministry when he came to preach among them.

35:20 Well, what did he preach? Well, he tells us in Acts 20, 21, testifying both to Jews and Greeks. The New Testament knows nothing of a different gospel to the Jew and another one to the Greek. And all that has been written in all the literature talking about the gospel of the kingdom that's to the Jew and the gospel of the grace of God to the Gentiles is sheer rubbish.

35:51 Using my words carefully, it is sheer biblical and theological rubbish. There is not a shred of evidence for it. Paul said, I had one message testifying to Jews and to Greeks, and what was it? Repentance toward God and faith toward our, oh, here it is again, Lord, sovereign ruler and who is Jesus of Nazareth, the anointed Messiah, prophet, priest, and king. So when he preached to Jews, he said, there is mercy. There is good news of peace and pardon, but it's to be found only if you're prepared to turn from your sins, to turn from this God business of playing God and doing your own thing. There must be repentance toward God.

36:47 And then there must be the going out in faith to one who sits upon a throne. He is the sovereign ruler. He is the Lord. But He is the Lord who came to His throne by way of the cross and the open tomb. He is Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, who was raised from the dead.

37:10 And He is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the prophet, priest, and king. Whether Jew or Gentile, whether Greek or Jew, there is no salvation outside of that person. And there is no dealing with that person apart from His offices. You must embrace Him as the Messiah, as your prophet, as your priest, and as your king. Now what does He call such preaching?

37:40 Well, at the end of verse 24, he says, it's the gospel of the grace of God. Behold, I count not my life as any account dear to myself, that I may accomplish my course. And the ministry I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify, not a gospel, but the gospel of the grace of God. That's the only gospel he knew. He preached it to Jew. He preached it to Gentile. That's the gospel that Peter preached. It's the gospel that Paul preaches.

38:08 And now, behold, I know that ye all among whom I went about preaching the kingdom. Well, Paul, you're all mixed up. First of all, you're preaching the gospel of the grace of God. Now you say you preach the gospel of the kingdom. And a little bit earlier you said you preach repentance and faith. Now can't you get all sorted out? Tell me, Paul, what in the world did you preach? He's not mixed up. We're mixed up if we find any problem in moving easily...

38:37 From repentance and faith, the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel of the kingdom. For they're all one and the same thing. It's just looking at the gospel from different dimensions, like a beautiful diamond. Having many facets. Some of you young ladies with diamonds on your fingers. How often have you held your diamond in one direction and then looked at it in another and looked at it in another. And you've seen different lights and highlights and side lights.

39:03 Well, that's the glorious gospel. It's so big and magnificent and full of the majesty and glory of the Godhead that Paul can say in one sense, it has two great elements. It involves this radical change of mind and heart and disposition, this 180 degree turn with reference to the government and law of God, repentance toward God. And it involves faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

39:33 And he says, when you think that the God of heaven would even call upon rebel sinners to repent, that He should do anything less than trust them in His righteous anger, when the God of heaven would so love the world to send His only begotten Son, what can you call it but the gospel of the grace of God? So he looks at it from another light and he says, well, no, it's not the gospel of repentance and faith. It's the gospel of the grace of God. Then he says, now what does grace do?

40:03 Why, when grace works upon a sinner, it takes him from underneath the bondage and the thralldom and the power of the prince of this world, the devil himself. There he is, a slave of the devil. And it takes him out of that kingdom. And it brings him into that kingdom where Christ wields a scepter of might, of grace, and of power. And that scepter crushes the chains that bind the sinners.

40:32 That scepter sweetly draws the sinner into bonds of loving obedience to the Son of God, makes him a companion of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the spirits of just men made perfect. And as Paul thinks of the gospel from that standpoint, he says, it's the gospel of the kingdom. It's not three different gospels. It's just the one glorious gospel viewed in its different and glorious dimensions,

41:01 And he says, it is this message that I preached wherever I went, both to Jew and to Gentile. Well, what do we say then to all of this? As we try to summarize now and bring this to a practical conclusion this morning. Well, I hope what we have seen is this. As surely as the period of preparation demonstrated that the Savior of sinners must be a king.

Three Conclusions from Apostolic Practice

41:27 As surely as the period of manifestation found him declared, Now to be king! My kingdom is not of this world. I am a king and I have a kingdom. So we have seen in the witness of the period of proclamation, from the opening words of chapter 1, to the first Christian sermon in chapter 2, to the summary statement to which Pastor Fisher directed your attention in chapter 28, verses 30 and 31, again and again and again and again, the apostolic proclamation is, Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, is now and ever shall be King of kings and Lord of lords.

42:21 Now if this be so, and I don't see how anyone being honest with Scripture can come to any other conclusion, then we are warranted to say at least three things. Number one, all preaching that is apostolic preaching must include the proclamation of an enthroned Savior. All preaching that is apostolic preaching must include the proclamation of

42:52 of an enthroned Savior. And therefore, seeking to preach apostolically this morning, I say to every impenitent sinner in this place, if you are ever to find forgiveness and mercy, it will be at the footstool of a throne. The Savior is not at the bargaining table. He is on a throne.

43:17 You either bow in repentance before that throne or you'll be crushed by the scepter of judgment that goes forth from that throne. All preaching that is apostolic must include the proclamation of an enthroned Savior. All the apostolic preaching we've examined did that. Second, all preaching which omits this note of an enthroned Savior is guilty of serious and crippling error.

43:47 All preaching which omits this note of an enthroned Savior is guilty of serious and crippling error. On the one hand, it dishonors Christ, for He purchased that throne at a dear price. But we're not talking about the throne that is rightly His as the second person of the Godhead. We're talking about the throne that he occupies as the mediator, as the savior of sinners. And the scripture makes it plain that he purchased the right to that throne at the price of his awful humiliation. And it's bad enough when sinners in the unregenerate venom of their hearts mock him and deny him his role and position as king. It's a terrible thing.

44:42 when where he is professed to be loved, he is not declared to be king. Jesus Christ is king, and all preaching that omits that note is guilty of serious and crippling error that on the one hand not only dishonors Christ, but it often deceives men, because it leads people to think they can have dealings with the Savior while bypassing reckonings with his thrones.

45:10 And the Christian church in America and around the world is full of deceived people who think they are under the saving mercies of Christ, who are as lost as the devil because they've never reckoned with the throne of Christ. And dear people, that is not an overstatement. Neither is that something I'm parroting because I read it in the pages of an old Puritan. It's what I've seen, what I've heard.

45:37 What I have with grief and pain observed with my own eyes in 25 years. Multitudes who really believe they have saving dealings with Christ in His office as priest. Who have never once capitulated from the heart to the demands of Israel. I say then all preaching that omits this note is guilty of serious and crippling error.

46:07 that dishonors Christ and deceives men. Now I'm going to make a third statement. And I don't like to make it, but I must. All teaching which deliberately denies this note is another gospel. See the difference? Preaching which omits it is guilty of serious error. All preaching and teaching which denies this note is another gospel.

46:36 And there are people in our day committed in writing as well as in week by week preaching to deny, openly to deny, that there is any necessity to reckon with Christ on the throne in order to be saved. I heard one of the so-called outstanding Bible teachers of our generation whose views of Scripture are now embodied in a study Bible.

47:04 with his notes right alongside the text of Scripture. And I'm not speaking of a past generation. I'm not making reference to the Schofield Bible. And I heard this teacher say with my own ear, sitting about eight rows away from him, we need a Savior to get to heaven. We need a Lord to live by on earth. And it is not only possible that many trust Christ as Savior and are ready to go to heaven,

47:34 But who have not bowed to him is Lord and are therefore not prepared to live on earth. That is in reality the experience of most. Here was a man deliberately teaching. Deliberately denying the necessity of reckoning with an enthroned Christ. As an essential element of saving faith. And I say that is another gospel. For it is not the gospel of the grace of God. The gospel of the kingdom of God.

Application: Is Jesus Christ Your Gladly Owned Lord?

48:03 the gospel of faith toward our Lord, Jesus, who is the anointed Messiah, prophet, priest, and king. Now, how do I bring this all home? Out of the realm of the theoretical and out of the realm of the doctrinal, as our British friends would say, and our New Zealand friends say it that way as well. So when I went to say it, that came first instead of doctrinal.

48:30 Well, I know no better way than to just leave you with a question this morning as you leave this place. And the question is simply this. Is Jesus Christ your gladly owned Lord and Master? Do you lovingly embrace His scepter as well as trustingly embrace His cross and believingly embrace His word? That's what a Christian is.

49:00 A Christian is someone who believingly embraces the Word of Christ. He trustingly embraces the cross of Christ. And he lovingly and without reservation embraces the scepter of Christ. The Word of Christ he embraces to teach Him. The cross of Christ he embraces as his only ground of forgiveness and mercy.

49:31 And the scepter of Christ he embraces as the rule and law for his life. My friend, is that true of you? You see, that's your basic problem. You who are unconverted this morning. Oh, you say I've got problems about... No, no, no, no. You know what your basic problem is? You know what your basic problem is? You're determined that you're going to sit on the throne and do your own thing.

49:59 And the problem is you still want to go to heaven when you die. That's your problem. You want to sit on the throne while you live and still go to heaven when you die. Can't do it. If you sit on the throne now, you'll bear the consequences of that usurping of that throne in the world to come. And hell is basically...

50:26 The place to which God consigns those who would rob Him of His throne rights. It was made for the devil and his angels. Those spirits that would say, We will ascend to the throne of the Most High. And God prepared a place for them. And it's prepared for all who share the spirit of the devil. We will sit on the throne.

50:56 My friend, that's your basic problem with the gospel. Your problem is not that you have serious intellectual doubts. Your problem is not that you question the validity of the... No, no, no. Come on now. Come off all of that charade and all of that smokescreen. And be honest with me this morning. Isn't the problem right here? Who's going to occupy the throne of heart? My friend, until Jesus Christ does, you ought to be filled with holy dread and terror.

51:27 Because that scepter which so sweetly and lovingly governs His saints is the rod of iron with which He'll break every impenitent sinner. And that's why in that beautiful second psalm, the psalm of the King, it ends with that note, Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. Abdicate your throne. Bow before Him. Embrace His scepter. Kiss the Son.

51:55 Lest he be angry and ye perish in the way. Blessed is everyone that trusteth in him. You see, to trust in him is to embrace his scepter. That's it. So I close this morning with that question. I would press it upon your conscience.

52:18 As you sit here this morning, is Jesus Christ your gladly owned Lord and Master? Either He reigns or sin reigns. If He reigns, then He reigns with power. And He has broken the chains of sin. And though the remains of sin are there, you're no longer its bond slave. You're Christ's free man. Or sin reigns.

52:45 Where sin reigns, it exerts its authority. And you're the slave of sin, according to Romans 6. Oh, my friend, what a terrible thing to have such a vicious master who destroys now and in the world to come when he who said, My yoke is easy and my burden is light, bid you come and embrace him. What but the moral insanity of sin would keep any sinner in this place this morning from hugging his chains. That's what some of you do. You'll hug your chains. Chains that will drag you to hell. And Christ says, come and I'll break your chains. Put heaven in your heart now and then take you to heaven with me hereafter. All for free.

53:41 What but the moral insanity of sin would keep you clinging to your chains? Answer me. Answer me. Answer me. Answer me. What but the moral insanity of sin would keep a man clinging to chains when freedom and liberty is proclaimed by Jesus Christ? Oh, embrace this wonderful Savior as your prophet, your priest, and your king. Amen.

Closing Prayer

54:21 O God, our Heavenly Father, we are shaken in our own spirits when we think of the blindness and the binding, deluding power of sin and evil upon the human soul. And what can we do but cry to You to have mercy, to restore some to sanity, that they may this very day willingly give up their chains

54:52 For the liberty, the glorious liberty that is in Christ Jesus. Have mercy, we pray, upon all who resist the scepter of so gracious a king. And grant that in our day we shall yet see our king putting forth his scepter with power. And bringing the most obdurate, stubborn, impenitent men, women, boys and girls. To embrace him.

55:20 and lovingly to bow before Him. O God, seal Your Word to our hearts this morning. We ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.