Kingship of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:25, 26

Introduction: Truth Is the Mother of Godliness

0:02 If the scriptures teach us anything with both unmistakable clarity and unshakable certainty, they teach us that the fundamental concern in seeking to be godly is one of understanding the truth of God. In other words, the Bible makes plain on page after page that truth is the mother of godliness.

0:33 Paul uses such language in Titus 1.1 when he speaks of the truth which is according to godliness. Or the words of our Lord in his high priestly prayer, John 17.17. Father, sanctify them in the truth, thy word is truth. Now if this is so, and it is,

0:57 Then there is no progress in godliness without an increasingly accurate understanding of and a believing absorption of the truth. So the people of God can never be too knowledgeable of the truth of God. When you've reached a plateau where you need no increase in godliness, then you need no increase in knowledge.

1:26 But as long as there is progress to be made in godliness, there is progress to be made in knowledge. And another of the interesting things set forth in the Word of God is that the field of knowledge which is productive of godliness is a basically limited field. It has to do with God, man, sin, grace, forgiveness.

1:56 pardon the work of the Spirit. Now, of course, those great themes involve mysteries that even angels cannot fathom. And yet we do not grow in terms of a vast field of knowledge until we become, as it were, very learned people who dazzle people with how much we know. A man who knew mysteries of the gospel beyond that which any of us will know could say as an old man,

Return to the Series and the Kingship of Christ

2:26 My great ambition is to know Him and the power of His resurrection. For to me, to live is Christ. Now, why am I saying all of that? Well, I'm saying all of that, I hope, to create in your minds and hearts a sense of freshness as we return this morning to a contemplation of a very basic issue in the Word of God. In this lengthy series with the general title, Here We Stand,

2:54 We have been contemplating for many, many weeks and months the person of the Redeemer. We have contemplated Him in terms of who He is as God and man, one person in two natures forever. We have been contemplating Him as He is revealed in His threefold office as prophet and priest and king of His people. And we are now in that section of our study in which our attention has been riveted upon the kingship of Christ. And what I have been attempting to do, albeit intermittently with the trip to New Zealand and then the setback physically, but at least attempting to do with some degree of consecutiveness, is to demonstrate how central is the kingship of Christ to the entire Word of God. And so we consider the teaching of the Old Testament, some of the major passages

3:50 pointing to the fact that the Redeemer is indeed to redeem as a king. And we entitled that the kingship of Christ in the period of preparation. Then we turned to the Gospels and we beheld Him as we saw Him in John 1 this morning, as the King who comes to save as a King in the period of manifestation. Then we contemplated Him in the book of Acts, in the period of proclamation,

4:18 as the great King who has come to establish a spiritual kingdom. And then when we last considered Him, we looked at what Paul says in Romans 14 and verse 9, in that section of the Word of God, the epistles that I have entitled the section of confirmation and explanation, and there we beheld Him as the One who died and rose again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Now what I propose to do this morning is to move on to the book of 1 Corinthians, and in particular chapter 15, to consider again the kingship of Christ in this section of the Scriptures that we call the section of explanation and confirmation. And our desire is once more to consider a passage which sets before us this glorious truth

5:11 that in the salvation of his people, Jesus Christ functions not only as a priest to forgive by his atoning work and to intercede, not only as a prophet to instruct them outwardly and inwardly, but as a mighty king to subdue all his and their enemies. And I underscore that again. that our concern is not to demonstrate that he is a king in some general sense, for very few have any debate with that issue, but that he is a king in the pursuit of the salvation of his people. Not that he is simply a priest and a prophet in saving them, and at some future date will assume the role of a king in something other than the salvation of his own,

6:02 but that is surely as he saves in the full exercise of both priestly and prophetic roles, so he saves in the full exercise of his kingly authority. And perhaps there is no more clear and emphatic passage in all of the New Testament with respect to this than the passage that I shall read and briefly expound this morning, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 15.

Reading 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 and Identifying the Problem

6:31 follow as I read verses 20 through 28. But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, that is, as all who are in union with Adam die,

6:58 So also in Christ, that is all who are in union with Christ, shall be made alive. But each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, then they that are Christ's at his coming, then, and don't insert the word cometh. You'll notice it's in italics in the old authorized or in the 1901 edition. There is no verb in the original. Then the end.

7:26 when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign until he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. For he hath put all things in subjection under his feet, but when he saith, All things are put in subjection. It is evident that he is accepted who did subject all things unto him. And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all. Well, obviously, the text that will occupy our primary attention, or the two verses, are verses...

8:25 25 and 26. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. But since it is not right to simply lift those verses out and to expand upon them, I shall, as in handling the Romans 14.9 text, give only as much background of the drift of the argument as is necessary to a proper understanding and application of our text. So our first concern this morning is to understand the fundamental problem addressed in this chapter. Unlike many of the problems to which the Apostle addresses himself in the Corinthian letter,

9:14 He does not, in the opening words, tell us what the problem is. That's the wonderful thing about the book of Corinthians. You know almost immediately the problem dealt with in every chapter, as Paul will say, now concerning collection for the saints, now concerning spiritual gifts. I understand that some of you are going to law with one another. But in this chapter, though, he does not begin, in the opening words, laying out the problem to which he is addressing himself,

9:42 The nature of the problem is very clearly revealed in such verses as verse 12, 16, 29, and 35. Notice verse 12. Now if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? The problem was a denial of the bodily resurrection of the dead.

10:11 The apostle states it in unmistakable language. How say some among you no resurrection? Verse 16. For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised. There's the assumption you see. Some are arguing the dead are not raised. The latter part of verse 29. If the dead are not raised at all.

10:37 There was the problem. A denial of the resurrection of the dead, and added to that denial was a skepticism with respect to some of the details of the resurrection. Verse 35, but someone will say, how are the dead raised? And with what manner of body do they come? So you had both a denial of the fact of the bodily resurrection and overlaid

11:04 On that denial was a skepticism, how in the world can dead bodies be raised? If they are raised, how in the world would they manifest themselves? So you had blatant denial of the possibility of bodily resurrection and a skepticism concerning the mode of resurrection. Now remember, the issue was not the immortality of the souls.

Paul's Three-Stage Argument in the Chapter

11:32 It was not an issue of the souls of believers being annihilated when they died. It was a denial of bodily resurrection. Well then, if that is the problem, how does the apostle treat it? Well, his treatment forms several major blocks of argument, and 1 Corinthians 15 is relatively easy to outline, and again, my purpose is not to expound the whole chapter, but but simply to give as much of the flow of the argument as will cause us to feel the weight of our text. Argument number one is given to us in verses 1 through 11, and basically it's this. The apostle demonstrates that the bodily resurrection of Christ, as a well-attested fact, is an indispensable ingredient of the proclamation of the Gospels,

12:26 and therefore an indispensable element in the object of saving faith. Now that's the whole argument of verses 1 to 11. He says, you know the gospel we preached. Christ died, Christ was buried, Christ rose. He says, that's the gospel you believed, verse 3. That's the gospel, verse 2, which if you hold to it, you are saved. So he demonstrates that to deny the bodily resurrection of the dead...

12:56 is to deny an essential element of the gospel, and it is to strip the object of saving faith of one of its essential ingredients. Now, having done that, then his second line of argument is verses 12 to 19. He lays out the horrendous implications and consequences of denying the bodily resurrection of the dead, and in particular, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

13:26 And the whole paragraph is if, then. If this, then neither that. And as you read through the paragraph, that's the whole form of it. He said, now if Christ is preached that He be raised from the dead, I'll say some among you, there is no resurrection. If there is no resurrection, neither hath Christ been raised. If there is no resurrection, ye are yet in your sins. If there is no resurrection, we are liars. He shows the horrendous implications of denying resurrection.

13:56 bodily resurrection. Now then, the third line of argument is the paragraph in which our text occurs. And in this particular paragraph, his main argument is this. Christ has been raised, and Christ's bodily resurrection is the pledge and the pattern of the bodily resurrection of all his people. Verses 20 and 22 are the key texts. But now hath Christ Christ been raised from the dead, and the article, the thee, is not in the original. He hath been raised from the dead, first fruits of them that sleep. You see what he is saying? The first fruits, you see, were the first gatherings of the harvest that had come to full bloom or had come to the place of maturity. And you would gather the first fruits and bring them as an offering to God in acknowledgement that the entire harvest was his,

14:55 And when people saw the first fruits gathered, it was pledged that the entire harvest was soon to come. So he says that in the very nature of Christ's resurrection is this concept of a harvest. Christ being raised was not an independent act. It was just the gathering of the first fruits and his pledge that all the other sheaves will also be gathered.

15:23 Then he changes the concept in verse 22. As in Adam all died, Adam's sin becomes the sin of all who are in him by representation. So in Christ all shall be made alive. All who are in Christ, their head, their representative, shall be raised to life in him and with him. Now it is in the development of this argument, And I know it's warm, and I know it's hard to think, but remember, truth is the mother of godliness, and the Holy Ghost inspired the train of argument as well as the words. I didn't. He put them here. And we must think if we would be more godly. We must follow God's thoughts with our minds if we would apprehend them with our hearts. Now notice what he's doing. It's in the midst of developing this third argument that

16:17 Christ's resurrection is the pledge and pattern of the resurrection of His people that He brings into sharp focus the kingship of Christ. He is proving that the resurrection of the body is not only a possibility for the saints, it is an absolute necessity. Because Christ is so related to His people that if He has been raised, they must be raised.

Four Clear Statements in the Text

16:46 And in the midst of that, he then gives us the tremendous statements of our text. Well, having laid out the general context, now in the second place, notice the clear statements of this passage. And there are four clear statements that form the framework of this wonderful attestation of the kingship of Christ. First of all, he says, all who sustain a relationship of union to Christ will be raised to life and glory. Verse 22, as in Adam, all die. And there's no doubt about that fact. The human race is a monumental and inescapable testimony that everyone who sustains a relationship to Adam by representation dies in Adam.

17:39 The universality of sin and death is eloquent, inescapable testimony that all who are in Adam die. Now he says, as surely as that relationship has produced death, all who are in union with Christ shall be made alive. That's the first fact asserted in the text. Secondly, this resurrection to life and glory will occur at His coming.

18:09 Verse 23, each in his own order. You see, someone might say, now wait a minute, Paul. I can see in Adam all die. All of us are living monuments of our relationship to Adam. But if you say all who are in Christ live, Christ is alive, but how come his people still go in the grave? I had to throw dirt on the grave of my loved one this past week, Paul. How can you say in Christ all are made alive? The bones of Jacob and all the rest...

18:39 Those bones were laid in caves and tombs. How can you say all in Christ shall be made alive? He says, well, there's an order that's been established by God, each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, then they that are Christ's at his coming, his parousia, at his second coming in power and in glory, he will manifest that all who are in him share his

19:09 in His resurrection power and life. The third fact of the text is this. This act of Christ, in which He raises His dead saints, will represent the final triumph over all rule and authority and power. Verses 24-26 Then the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have abolished All rule, all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. And the last enemy that shall be abolished is death. Now when does he abolish death? At his coming. When he raises his own to life, death is abolished. So you see, the raising of dead believers is Christ's climactic triumph over everything.

20:07 hostile power in the universe. And then the fourth fact, given in verse 24 and then enlarged on in verse 28, this will then result in the adjustment of certain mediatorial arrangements. And that's the safest thing we can say. Certain adjustments in some mediatorial arrangements in which Jesus Christ will relinquish

20:36 Certain aspects of his kingly rule. Look at the language. Verse 24, Then cometh the end when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God. Verse 28, And when all things have been subjected unto him, that is to Christ, in the accomplishment of the work of redemption, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.

21:05 Now is that saying he will cease to be a king? No. For the Bible says thou art not only a priest forever, thou art a king forever. He is to have an everlasting throne. But there are certain adjustments in some of the mediatorial arrangements that will occur when all the things he was to accomplish as mediator have been accomplished.

Candlish on the Mediatorial Adjustment

21:32 You remember he said, All power hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Ephesians 1, He has been exalted far above principality and power, and everything's been put under his feet and given head over all things to the church. Well, perhaps the best description of this adjustment in a short compass is given in the reprint of a classic exposition of this chapter by Candlish. Notice how perceptively he...

22:01 picks up, as it were, the very heart of the issue. Contemplate our Lord's coming forth from the Father. A province in the great universe of God has apostatized. That's the earth. In Adam all die. Its inhabitants have thrown off their allegiance, and they are in open rebellion, are usurping Prince, the devil, with his legions, demons,

22:27 has got possession of the soil, and has won the hearts of those who occupy it. Suddenly, though after long warning, the son, the heir and rightful monarch, makes his appearance. He comes on a strange errand. He comes to expiate the crime of their rebellion on behalf of all who will adhere to him by the substitution of himself in their stead.

22:55 and is bearing for them the deserved wrath of their rebellion. He comes as his father's delegate and viceroy, invested with full power and absolute authority over the whole province and everyone within it. The universal power and authority thus conveyed to him, he is commissioned to use, now follow closely, Here he comes on this errand with full power given from the Father to use on the one hand for attaching all who are to be his adherents to himself, and on the other hand to overthrow every hostile force. The war is long. The struggle is severe. But at last it is over. The captain of salvation is gathered around him.

23:46 the entire number of those whom He came to save. His delegated sovereignty has been wielding on their behalf with mighty power. He has wielded it effectually. He needs to wield it no more, in their name as well as in His own, as representing them, being one with them, and having them one with Himself.

24:08 being still their head and Lord and redeeming King, He delivers up the kingly power which is in that character He has been exercising over the province once rebellious and now subdued, and He delivers up the kingdom to God, even the Father. So do you see the point that Paul is making? Not that he steps down from being king. Not that he relinquishes the office of king.

Pivotal Assertion 1: Christ Is Presently Reigning as King of Grace

24:35 But there are certain adjustments in the administration of the mediatorial kingdom, which, when he's destroyed the last enemy, he will then deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father. Well, if those are the clear statements of the text, now then, what are the pivotal assertions with regard to this whole matter of the kingship of Christ? Now we come to the heart of what I want to say this morning. And I have but two assertions that stand on the very face of our text this morning. And they are these. Number one. Jesus Christ is presently reigning as the King of Grace. Jesus Christ is presently reigning as the King of Grace. Verse 25. For He, not God.

25:38 Now that's the way many people teach in our day. When Jesus comes and raptures the saints, and then a little more time follows, then He will set up His throne and begin to reign. This verse says, when He comes, He ceases a large dimension of His reign. Now who's right? Paul or the Charts? Paul or the Charts?

26:03 all of the Scofield Bible. This text does not say he shall reign when the last enemy is destroyed and is coming. It says he reigns until the last enemy is destroyed. And the language of this text is both emphatic and vigorous. For

26:31 That little particle, day, is used. It is of absolute necessity that he must, and he uses a present infinitive, he must reign and continue to reign until. And the very word he uses for reign, it's the word which in its noun form is translated king. In another noun form, a bit altered kingdom.

27:01 in the verb form, to reign as a king, but all the same root of the word. And so we could rightly translate the verse, for he must reign as king till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. And that word, he must reign until it points to certain point in time when the purpose of that reign is realized, and then the alterations of the kingdom mentioned in verses 24 and 28 will then be ushered in. And you see, this language is taken directly from Psalm 110, and I want you to turn back to that. Psalm 110 says,

27:55 A psalm which Jesus applied directly to himself when he spoke to the religious leaders of his own day. He said, if the Messiah is David's son, how does David call him Lord? Psalm 110, Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, that is, in the place of power.

28:23 Sit in that place of authority and power until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. You see, Candlish's writing was absorbing this concept that he is here in this rebellious province and he's reigning to do two things.

28:50 To draw his own to himself. Verse 3. Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power in holy array. But he'll also do something else. Functioning as a king and a priest for them. Verse 4. He will also crush the enemies of his kingdom and his people. Verse 5. The Lord at thy right hand will strike through kings in the day of Israel.

29:18 He will judge among the nations. He will fill the places with dead bodies. He will strike through the head in many countries. He will drink of the brook in the way. Therefore, will He lift up the head. You see, the apostle takes the language of Psalm 110, and he does not say it will be fulfilled sometime after the last enemy is destroyed.

Pivotal Assertion 2: The Primary Concern of His Kingship Is the Salvation of His People

29:43 It is being fulfilled now up until the point when the last enemy is destroyed. And so the great assertion of our text is that Jesus Christ is presently reigning as the King of grace. And the second major assertion of our text with regard to Christ's kingship is this. The primary concern of His kingship is the salvation of His people.

30:13 The primary concern of His kingship is the salvation of His people. You see, the great issue that introduced the kingship was what? The resurrection of believers. Their resurrection as the consummation of a spiritual salvation. Remember what He said in the opening words. This is the gospel of divine forgiveness.

30:38 the Gospel that says Christ died for sins by which you're saved if you hold to this Gospel. Well, you see, it's in the context of a spiritual salvation that will include and find its climactic expression in the resurrection of the body that He introduces the present reign of Christ, telling us in this way that the primary concern of His kingship is the salvation of His people. Now, many will admit that Christ is some kind of a king in some way now, but that the real kingship awaits His second coming. So they may pray, we ask this in the name of Him who is our prophet, priest, and coming king. Coming king. That's the exact language that's placed over the logo. Not Christ our Savior, sanctifier, healer, and reigning king.

31:36 No, he's Savior now, sanctifier now, healer now, and coming King. Well, I frankly believe they got those two points mixed up. They're bringing the benefits to the body and to the world that now is, and putting the dimension of his thrones into the world that is to come. And they got those last two points basically and fundamentally mixed up. For you see, the climactic expression of kingship in this passage is to be found when He comes. And that coming is what is so often identified and given an unscriptural term, the rapture. Look at verses 53 and following of 1 Corinthians 15 as he enlarges upon this. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality, but when...

32:32 As an adverb of time, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?

32:54 When is this going to happen? Verse 51. I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, we shall be changed. Almost the exact language of 1 Corinthians chapter 4. I would not have you ignorant concerning them that sleep, that ye sorrow not as those that have no hope.

33:21 For this I say unto you by the word of the Lord, we that are alive and remain shall not go before those that are dead. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This is precisely the coming described in 1 Corinthians 15. Now, what's our point? Our point is this. When He thus comes, the last enemy is to be destroyed. That enemy is death. The great enemy is death. Destroyed at His coming, there is the consummation of this kingship exercised in a situation of conflict.

34:14 And when he has taken that last enemy and put it beneath his feet, he says, in essence, the purpose for which I assume this vast measure of power as mediator to accomplish salvation in a hostile environment, O my Father, the work is done. And he presents all of his redeemed ones now with bodies like unto his own glorious body.

34:43 And he relinquishes, not his kingship, but certain aspects of the exercise of kingly authority no longer needed. Why? No longer any enemies that he needs to subdue. They're all subdued. And now God, the beauty and glory, and if I may say without being irreverent, in the equally distributed glory of his trinality, will be all in all.

35:13 For all eternity. For all the redeemed. Now if that's so, what space does it leave then for a kingship that is primarily political? Primarily geographical? To be exercised from a throne over in Palestine for a lengthy period of time? Now I simply ask you, my friends, what room is left for that? In the light of this passage. I see no room.

35:42 I see no room. Ah, but you say, but what about? My friend, it's not a matter of what about. It's a matter of what does the text say. The last enemy to be destroyed is not people who have somehow been externally held in by a so-called rod of iron at the end of a thousand years. They all break out in rebellion and then they need to be destroyed. No! When death is destroyed for you and me, the last enemy is death.

36:16 Do you have what the text says? Have I buffaloed you? Have I twisted the Scriptures? There it is. He must reign until. And that tells us then what I have called the second pivotal assertion of our text. The primary concern of His kingship is the salvation of His people. Isn't that what He said in His high priestly prayer? He lifted up His eyes to heaven in what was His prayer.

36:47 Glorify thy Son that thy Son may glorify thee even as thou hast given him authority over all flesh to do what? That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Well, having sought to lay before you the facts of the text, the two pivotal assertions of the text, now I want in closing to lay before you several deductions and applications of the text.

Application 1: Christ Is Robbed of His Present Glory

37:15 And they say, Pastor Martin's back with his one, two, three. Well, I'm sorry. That's the only way I know how to preach. And frankly, I feel like I haven't preached for about a year. So if some things kind of fumble and stumble a little bit, you bear with me till I get acclimated to my tools once again. Several deductions and applications of the text. Most of the errors relating to the kingship of Christ result from one of two things.

37:43 either obscuring the reality of the present kingship of Christ, or misunderstanding the nature of the present kingship of Christ. So pay close attention now as we derive some deductions, make some applications, expose some erroneous tendencies and positions. Number one, any teaching which denies or obscures the

38:12 present kingship of Christ blatantly contradicts the teaching of this passage and produces tragic results. Any teaching which denies or obscures the present kingship of Christ blatantly contradicts or veils, if not blatantly contradicts, the teaching of this passage and produces

38:42 Tragic results. Specifically, alright, number one, Christ is robbed of a major part of His present glory in the esteem and worship of His people. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, and he contemplated their gathering for seasons of praise and worship and instruction, how did he want them to conceive of Christ? If we are to worship the triune God in spirit and in truth, what should be our concept of Christ as we render worship to Him? Well, the apostle wanted the Corinthians to think of Him in these terms. He is and shall continue to reign, not as a king in name, but as a king who is subduing his enemies one after another, who is going on

39:40 reign of his conquest. And when the shout comes and the voice of the archangel is heard, the last enemy will be put beneath his foot. So when the Corinthians met in the midst of the sea of the ungodliness there at Corinth, perhaps with the frown of Rome soon to break upon them in open persecutions,

40:07 When they would meet to pray and praise, how were they to think of their Lord? They were to think of Him as not looking, longing, wistfully hoping that someday soon the role of His elect will be complete so that He may come and then sit upon that throne that has His name upon it. No, no. They were to think of Him as seated upon that throne in all the splendor and glory of the

40:38 It was given to Him as the reward of His sufferings. And they were to worship Him as we worshiped Him this morning. Crown Him with many crowns. The Lamb not longing for, but the Lamb sitting upon the throne. Oh, how our Lord is robbed of glory and praise that is due Him from His people.

Application 2: The People of God Robbed of Their Comfort

41:05 Whenever the teaching of this passage is denied or obscured with respect to his present kingship, and what a tragedy it is to rob Christ in the very house of his friends, we expect him to be robbed amongst his enemies. But oh, that he might receive his due in the midst of his friends. The second great consequence that comes from this denial or obscuring of his kingship The people of God are robbed of a major ingredient of their comfort. The people of God are robbed of a major ingredient of their comfort. And oh, the people of God have enough problems with all their comforts set before them. And when you rob them of a major dimension of their comfort, this is thievery that is tragic in its results. The people of God face disappointment. They face affliction.

42:01 And they face that great and that frightening specter of death. If you tell me you have no fears of dying, I question whether or not you've really meditated upon what death is. Now, it's possible for a Christian to have no morbid fear of death, while at the same time to have a healthy fear of the experience of dying. All your life you've been a body-soul entity. You never fought.

42:30 Without your soul, you never thought without your body. And to think of that soul and body being wrenched apart, and to think that these hands that now serve me when I eat and drive and when I preach, that these eyes that serve me and become, as it were, the inlet to the soul, that as I look upon your faces, I can, as it were, read your thoughts and responses to the Word, To think that these eyes will be rotting in a grave and the worms will eat them. That's no pleasant thought, my friends. To think that this body that's so much alive will be laid out in a casket. And I've thought much of it in these past days where I've been confined so much of the time to my bed. And daily I've sought to remind myself every pain, every sickness is just a precursor, a forewarner, a...

43:22 A herald that the time is coming when I too shall lay there in a casket, lie there in a casket. Well, as we face these things, what are our comforts? Oh, my friend, here's our comfort. We're joined to a king who's reigning and who's putting his enemies beneath his feet. And he's committed to destroy every last enemy of his people. And look at the text again.

43:47 Our enemies are so much his that what is only our enemy in reality is called his. In the text, notice the language. He must reign, verse 25, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy is death. Death is no longer his enemy. He conquered it when he rose from the dead. But because death is still my enemy, my Lord makes it his. And he says, look, your enemy, my child, is mine. I'll take care of that.

44:15 Oh, what a comfort to know that the Christ who by His scepter put beneath His feet the enemies that would have kept me from salvation. What enemies? My native rebellion, my blindness, my spiritual deadness. What did He do with those enemies if I'm a Christian? He stretched out His scepter and He said, Enough. He stretched out His scepter and this rebel heart that said through all of its days...

44:48 What happened when Christ touched that heart with His scepter? I fell at His feet and said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Who did that? My King! Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of Thy power! That's in the concept of an enthroned King! Well, as I lie there upon a bed of sickness, and I say, Lord, death is coming! The grave is coming! The worms will eat this body!

45:18 But Lord, I do love you. I do want to obey you. Why is that so? You put forth your scepter. You said to that enemy that existed in the heart of Al Martin, Enemy rebellion, you must be done away with. And lo and behold, that enemy was destroyed. And is in the process of a total destruction. King Jesus...

45:47 You must reign until you've destroyed all my enemies. What a comfort to know that he reigns for that specific purpose, to bring all these enemies beneath his feet. Isn't it a tragedy to rob the people of God of that comfort? You see, we don't think much of death. The elders were talking about this last night. We're a young congregation.

46:11 The last death we had apart from the death of two infants, and I say that tenderly, was someone who had long since lived out her three score and ten, plus her bonus ten, plus fourteen more. In the ninety-third year when the Lord took Mrs. Blair. We don't see death. There are many of you children here. Seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, fourteen. You've never stood by a casket.

46:42 You see, when death starts to cut into our ranks, there's going to be quite a harvest, friends. You better face death squarely. Because it's appointed unto men once to die. But oh, don't face it thinking of a vacated throne that's waiting until after He comes to be set up somewhere in Palestine. He's on that throne and He said to death, I will put you beneath My feet. And that means when that's done, I will be raised to life with a body like unto His own glorious body. For what purpose? Not to sit on a cloud and plunk a heart, but to serve that God as we would have served had sin never entered, and man will exercise His rightful dominion, now no longer with a possibility of defection and apostasy, but confirmed in righteousness,

Application 3: The Church Robbed of Her Proper Identity

47:42 Oh, may we never rob the saints of God of such comfort. Thirdly, the church is robbed of a major ingredient of her proper identity. Whenever the present kingship of Christ is obscured or denied, the church is robbed of a major ingredient of her proper identity. If He's the King, then although

48:10 The Bible says we reign with Him in life, and there's a wonderful truth of our being kings in Christ. The Bible also teaches we're His subjects, who owe one swerving allegiance to Him, not in general or simply in the closet when we reconfirm our submission, but in His visible kingdom, His church. You see, the church is not a democracy.

48:37 As John Brown says, they mistake the nature of the church who regard it as a democracy. It is an autocracy in which Jesus Christ is the sole sovereign who administers his rule by inferior magistrates who are recognized and set over the church by their common suffrage. He's referring, of course, to those who rule in the name of Christ as appointed shepherds and under shepherds, elders, bishops, whatever biblical term we use. Well, you see, if the church is thinking primarily that Christ is presently waiting in the wings to become king, I say the church is robbed of a major ingredient of its proper identity. And when the church does not have a self-conscious identity as the servants of the king, then Judges 17.6 becomes its experience. There was no king in Israel.

49:35 And every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And evangelical churches, for the most part, have to one degree or another gross manifestations of anarchy. Why? Because Christ is the coming King. He's not the King now. I've actually heard Bible teachers say, nowhere are the people of God instructed to regard Christ as their King. Their Bridegroom, yes. You see, that has lovey-dovey connotations. But King, no. That has the idea of throne.

50:05 and scepter and monarchy, unilateral instructions. The king doesn't use ballot boxes. He just utters decrees. My friend, the church is his kingdom, and he is the Lord and the sovereign. May God grant that we as a church will never lose that self-conscious identity as the subjects of the king.

Application 4: Sinners Robbed of Holy Spirit Conviction

50:35 who speaks in His Word, and what His Word says is that Word is expounded and applied and implemented by those set over us by the King. When we lose that self-conscious identity, anarchy will reign, and the Spirit will be grieved, and the blessing will depart. Well, then, fourthly, sinners are robbed of a major element conducive to their own conviction.

51:04 Whenever the teaching of the present kingship of Christ is obscured or denied, not only is Christ robbed of glory, the people of God robbed of comfort, the church robbed of a major ingredient of her identity, sinners are robbed of a major ingredient conducive to their Holy Spirit-born conviction. If Christ is reigning as King, everyone who is not under His scepter in love

51:33 is His enemy whom He's committed to destroy. You see, the whole idea of Jesus standing outside the locked door of the heart with the languid look in His eyes, pleading for admission, that doesn't make you feel too uncomfortable when the pastor or the evangelist or the preacher pleads and entreats that you allow Christ to enter. You leave pitying Him that He didn't get you that time.

52:02 But when we see that he who entreats and he who pleads is on a throne with a scepter, saying, I will guard my own with that scepter. I will crush my enemies with that scepter. My unconverted friend, listen. Your impenitence is defiance of the authority of a king. That's the language of Luke 19.

52:35 would not that I should reign over them, bring them before me and destroy them. Who in the name of God are you to defy one to whom God has given all authority in heaven and on earth? And he is wielding his scepter on behalf of every one of us in this place this morning. He is wielding

53:05 He'll bring us home to glory, or He'll wield it to crush us down to hell. But wield it He must, and wield it He is. Let's sober you up a little bit, man, woman, boy, girl. I trust in the name of God that it does, because this is not an overstatement of the case.

53:37 And in his forbearance, he holds back that scepter, which is, as it were, put out. And on it is written those words, Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. My friend, forbearance will not go on forever. And the scepter that is held out with those words of mercy.

54:04 will be the scepter that will fall in judgment. The language of Psalm 110 is vigorous. He will strike through the head of his enemies. And I say to you who preach the Gospel, we can never hold up the glories of Christ crucified too much. We cannot, in the language of Paul, too plainly placard Christ crucified before men

Caution: The Kingdom Is Not Advanced by Carnal Weapons

54:34 But oh, let us never stop with presenting Him in the agonies and the terrors of Golgotha and Gethsemane. Let us tell men, God has made Him Lord in Christ and He sits enthroned. And the offer of mercy bristles with regal power and glory. And if you as a sinner have been confused and comfortable in your sins, I say to you this morning, Christ is committed to destroy you if you will not bow. Well, there are many other implications that could be drawn out, but I don't have time to draw them out. I want in closing simply to utter a word of caution. Any teaching that seeks a present carnal kingship

55:32 is out of harmony with this passage. You see, there are some who said, oh, Brother Mark and I believe everything you've preached this morning too long. The idea's been Christ will be a king out there. He'll be a king in the future. He's king now, that's right. And that's why in the name of Christ, I want to go out and conquer politics for Christ and conquer economics for Christ and conquer all the structures of society. And I want to see a pervasive obedience to the law of God in the New and the Old Testament. And listen, this is a very serious threat to New Testament Christianity in our day. There are some men who are brilliant, men who are eloquent, men who have trenchant pens and keen minds, who have taken the doctrine of the present kingship of Christ and and they've pushed it into a dimension that is foreign to the New Testament. It is a kingship that can be extended and implemented with carnal weapons. Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world, else would my servants fight. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. When the church, under the apostolic leadership,

56:47 had perhaps the most powerful influence upon any given period in all of human history, when it is estimated that perhaps one out of twenty people in the Roman Empire was a Christian, there is not the slightest suggestion that the apostles tried to organize the fruits of their evangelism into social structures to implement the kingship of Christ. There is not a shred of evidence in the New Testament.

57:17 They were to be light. They were to be salt. Slaves were to be obedient to their masters. Masters were to act as those who knew they had a master in heaven. There is not a shred of evidence that they were to set up a visible expression of the kingdom of God as the fruit of their evangelism. And may God preserve us as a church in our reacting against the denial of the present kingship.

57:46 May He preserve us from being sucked into that which the heart of every true Christian in one sense longs for. Wouldn't you love to know that if you went down to your bank, they were handling your money on the basis of Christian principles? Wouldn't you love to know that labor unions, when they sat down to bargain, would open the Bible and say, we must not bargain for one thing that means we get something for nothing.

58:17 Man, who wouldn't want that? There's not a shred of evidence in the New Testament that that is to be our experience or that that is to be our goal. If it becomes a happy byproduct of such a mighty movement of the Holy Ghost, then in a given town of a thousand men who comprise the workforce, 900 become Christians. Why, of course, they will act as Christians in their labor concerns. Granted!

58:49 They'll not do it when six or seven of them begin to coerce and push and force and use tidal methods to impose the kingship of Christ. I say there's not a shred of evidence for it in the New Testament. For some of you, that's just a tempest in a teapot that you didn't even know existed. But for some of you, it's a word of caution. You may meet me at the door with a frown this morning and say, Pastor Martin, I don't agree with you. Fine. But let's sit down and you bring forth your evidence from the New Testament, my friend.

59:20 And when you can do that, I will become your student. But if you come to me with human reasoning, if you tell me what Abraham Kuyper did in the Netherlands, I'll say, fine. If you want what the Netherlands is now, then you can have it. I don't. If you want people who think that being Dutch is being Christian, you may have it. I don't. And that's no aspersion upon our dear Holland friends who are here.

59:46 I mean that sincerely, but I'm speaking of the whole idea that we can structure Christianity downward by legislation. No, Christ's kingship is a kingship that has for its implementation weapons that are not carnal, but mighty through God. Well, I should not try to make up for three weeks out of the pulpit in one morning...

Closing Appeal and Prayer

60:14 You've been most patient in a warm morning. But I ask you, where are you in relationship to this great king? He's reigning this morning. And thank God he shall continue to reign until his last enemy is put beneath his feet. Oh, my friend, are you his friend or his enemy? Give yourself no rest till you know that you're the friend of the king. Let us pray.

60:51 Our Father, how we praise and magnify Your name today, that You have given to Your Son a throne, and that He sits upon that throne and wields a scepter. We thank You for all the power that You have invested in Him, that while we are yet in alien territory, He is restraining and subduing all His and our enemies. And we thank you. Oh, how we praise you this morning that he must and shall reign until our last enemy is destroyed. Fill us, we pray, with nerve and with courage in the face of so glorious a prospect. May we never be spooked by the enemy of our souls into thinking that somehow he has pushed our sovereign from his throne. Oh, God.

61:47 Give us as your people the courage and the vigor of faith and the clear eye to see that our Savior sits upon that throne. Trouble the hearts of impenitent sinners. Give them no rest until they too have found forgiveness at the footstool of that throne. Hear our prayer. Preserve us from errors on the left hand and on the right.

62:16 And get to yourself a glorious name through us, your people. We pray through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.