King Of Kings, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. I think one of the problems we often run into is we see Jesus in a benign sort of way, and we're all grateful that He's the Savior. You know, that means that one day, no matter how I live my life now that I've trusted Him, I get to go to heaven. And won't that be nice? You know, I think one of the problems we often run into is we see Jesus in a benign sort of way, and we're all grateful that He's the Savior. You know, that means that one day, no matter how I live my life now that I've trusted Him, I get to go to heaven.

And won't that be nice? But He is so much more than that. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. If you're wondering why I showed that video before this message, it's because I wanted to remind you of who Jesus Christ is.

As a nation, we're facing an election, and surely, at least in my lifetime, maybe all history, this may be the angriest, most anxiety-producing election for a U.S. president. So much so that for the very first time in the history of Dallas Theological Seminary where I was trained, they are offering on November the 9th an all-day class online for pastors just like me. The name of the conference that they're having is Ministry in an Angry Culture. And when they sent out the email, they said this, how do we model Christ in our politicized, polarized, and outraged culture? Is it even possible to minister when you're also angry, especially when some of the angriest voices we hear belong to Christians, with the resulting fallout of an increased hostility toward Christ's church? Sometimes I fear that's for good reason.

You don't want to miss this one-day virtual interactive event hosted by the Hendricks Leadership Center on November the 9th. And then they have a little subtitle called Loving Well When Everybody's Mad. They recognize something, a lot of anger, and what's more important, we recognize there's a lot of anger in the church, and that's what they want to address. Unlike most Christians who have ever followed Jesus Christ in the history of the church, unlike most Christians even in today's world, you and I have a privilege of being involved in the democratic process. That's a vantage that we have. That's a privilege, though, that somehow is skewed, I think, a lot of the ways in which we think. Now, clearly, I would tell all of you to follow your conscience as you engage in this process called the American democracy.

Just follow your conscience and get involved. It's an advantage that we have. But here's what I want to say to you this morning. I want to give you one word to remember. Relax. Just relax.

And I want to give you the reasons for that. First of all, the Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing. Now, notice that word, be anxious for nothing. Now, does that include the upcoming election? I think so. And the Bible says don't be anxious about that.

You need to relax about something like that. And the reason is this. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. In the video, he is the King of Kings. He is God incarnate. Satan has already been defeated.

Victory has already been achieved. He is alive. And he is here.

That's what we have to remember. I want to paint a picture of Jesus Christ for you this morning that can help you in this way. Let's start off by looking at Revelation 19 16. Right near the end of the Bible.

No excuse for not finding it. Revelation 19 16. John is describing here in Revelation 19 the second coming of Jesus Christ. And he says in verse 16 and on his robe.

And on his thigh. He has a name written. King of Kings. And Lord. Of Lords. He has a name written and interesting that one is on his robe.

And one is tattooed on his thigh. OK, so you know, one forgets you want to know my name. I'm the King of Kings. And I'm the Lord of Lords. Paul wrote to the Philippians and he said, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name which is above every name.

Especially at a time of covid-19 and economic uncertainty and a national election. We need to see Jesus Christ for who he is. I think one of the problems we often run into is we see Jesus in a benign sort of way and we're all grateful that he's the savior. You know, that means that one day, no matter how I live my life, now that I've trusted him, I get to go to heaven.

And won't that be nice? But he is so much more than that. And it's going to become abundantly clear as we go through some of these verses this morning.

He is so much more than that in such a practical way. Go to Hebrews chapter one with me for a moment. Hebrews chapter one.

The writer of Hebrews says this first verse. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets and in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us and his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the world. And he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. And he upholds all things by the word of his power.

Wow. He says when he made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels. And he has inherited more excellent name than they. I want to look at verse three there for a moment. He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. His glory. He's not just a shadow of the glory. He said he is the exact representation, the radiance of his glory.

In John, John's Gospel, verse 14, John says the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the father, full of grace and truth. The glory of Jesus Christ, the glory of the son of God is unparalleled. No one, nothing has more glory than Christ.

No one. He said it's an unparalleled glory. Randy Elkhorn says this. Christ's desire for us to see his glory should teach us deeply. What an unexpected compliment that the creator of the universe has gone to such great lengths. At such sacrifice to prepare a place for us where we can behold and participate in his glory forever. The glory, the doxa of God, that's Jesus Christ.

There's not more glory coming. His glory is unparalleled. Secondly, turn with me to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28 and verse 16, a famous passage. Starting in verse 16, Matthew writes this. He said, but the 11 disciples proceeded the Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Amazing. Look at verse 18. The first words he says, and I think he probably says this for those who are doubtful, all authority. Not some. I got a lot of authority.

No. I have all authority. I have all the authority that exists in heaven and on earth. There is no more authority than my authority. No king, no kingdom, no president, no prime minister, no one rivals my authority.

I have more authority than anyone. So the first thing he says, it's implied with all authority has been given to me, is do you and I surrender to his authority? Do you surrender to his authority?

He has all of it. Secondly, do you embrace his mission for us? Do you embrace his mission? Go, make disciples. Thirdly, he says, let me tell you what you need to do when you make disciples, teaching them all that I've taught you.

That's all discipling is. Someone taught me, and I teach you. Then you teach someone else. That's how we all make disciples. Whatever you have learned of the Lord, you teach to someone else. And lastly, he says, relying on his presence in my life.

Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. As I said earlier, Jesus isn't tucked away in heaven. He's right here.

He's alive and he's right here. And he says, all authority has been given to me. I love what the psalmist says in Psalm 24, 10. He said, who is he? The king of glory, the Lord Almighty. He is the king of glory. His glory is unparalleled.

His authority is unrivaled. So who is this king, Jesus? Go with me now to Matthew 1, verse 23. A very famous Christmas verse.

I always think about that. It seems that the great Christmas narrative about the incarnation of Christ is so good, but we almost only ever talk about it at Christmas. It's like, oh, no, that's a Christmas story.

That's not really true. It's no more a Christmas story than the resurrection of Christ there, or his death on the cross as an Easter story, just talking about it then. These are things that are part of who he is. So the angel was speaking, and in verse 23 he says, behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means God with us. That's his name. We'll call his name Immanuel, God with us. Notice he doesn't say, and here comes a guy, it's a good role model, and he's a fine example to follow, and he's a pretty good teacher.

He's so far beyond that. He is God with us. In John, John said, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning, and through him all things were made, and without him nothing was made that has been made. The great creator God, that's him.

That's our king. Paul said this to the Colossians. The son is the image of the invisible father.

Same thing is said in Hebrews. The firstborn over all creation, for in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers, rulers and authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. Everything, everything in the material world, everything in the spiritual world, everyone in the material world, everyone in the spiritual world. He said, I created them all, and I created them all for me. His power is without limits. He has no limits to his power. He's God. He's God with us. He said that's what he is able to do.

Now I want you to see how this plays out in the possibility of an election. Go with me to Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2.

Verse 1 says this, Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left them. Nebuchadnezzar, two things. One, he's one of the greatest kings or leaders in the history of mankind. Secondly, he is an egomaniac. That's who he is. Remember, he makes a gigantic statue of himself and makes everybody worship it.

That's who Nebuchadnezzar is. But now he has a dream, and this dream is really troubling him. So what he decides to do is to get together all of his wise counselors, magicians, everyone, and he says, and he's a pretty smart king in this way. He said, okay, I want you guys to interpret it, and I'm sure they probably went, hey, we can do this. He said, but it's going to be different this time. I'm not telling you the dream. You tell me the dream, now then you interpret it.

Okay? Now, no wiggle room here, so notice what they say in verse 10. The Chaldeans answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king in as much as, he says, no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer, or Chaldean. You can't do that. How do we fudge it? You see, how do we fake it?

You can tell us anything and we'll tell you something back, but now you want us to tell you what your dream was. Verse 12, because of this, the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. All right, I'll kill you all.

That's amazing. They're all going to die. Verse 14, then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Arioch. He said, the captain of the king's body guard who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon. And he said to Arioch, the king's commander, for what reason is the decree from the king so urgent? And then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king. Now, something really between the lines here that's pretty neat about Daniel, he didn't want those men to die. He didn't want to murder all the magician, all the soothsayers, all the counselors. He didn't want them murdered. He said, why is this so urgent?

You give me a little time. So that's exactly what happened. So in verse 19 it says, then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. And then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. God tells Daniel directly what the dream is and how to interpret it. Then Daniel speaks here when he's addressing, he says this, let the name of God be blessed forever and ever for wisdom and power belong to him.

And then this verse. It is he who changes the times in the epochs. He removes kings and he establishes kings and he gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is he who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise for you have given me wisdom and power. Even now you have made known to me what we requested of you for you have made known to us that kings matter.

Verse 21 is an interesting verse. He says it is he who changes the time in epochs. He removes kings and he establishes kings. We mean kings, yeah. I remove kings, I establish kings. I remove kings and I establish kings. I remove emperors and I establish emperors. I remove prime ministers and I establish prime ministers. I remove presidents and I establish presidents. I do that. No, no, I think we do that. He said I do that.

Why? I'm sovereign. Over all the affairs of man. This is Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan king, as pagan as a man could be.

He said, yeah, I do that. But there's something else here that's really important for you to see that we often overlook in this verse. It is he who changes the times in the epochs. I've been saying the last few weeks that America is changing. You see, and what we want to say, you know why it's changing? Because of them out there. That's why. Because of him up there. He's in complete control of this.

Absolute complete control. He said I change the times in the epochs. And I want you to think about this maybe from a little bit different perspective here. When you come to the times, what if this is the beginning of the end times? Some of you ask me that all the time. You always get the same answers.

Those who have known me long enough never ask anymore because you're going to get the same answer. I have no idea. But is this the end times? Is this the beginning of the end times? What if it is the beginning of the end times? Okay, let's just assume that for a moment. Now, if you know your prophecy at all or eschatology at all, when you read about the end times, tell me everything you read in the Bible about America. Nothing, right?

Absolutely nothing. Now, there's a couple possibilities here. Some people would say, well, but America could be part of the European Union, the old Roman Empire, certainly possible. It's getting a little less probable as time goes on. Remember, when Americans first started saying that, it was because guess where everybody that was in America was from?

Europe. Is that the way it's going now? No. So is it possible that America could be in steep decline?

Is that possible? Yes. And by the way, someone told me between services and I think he was right. And you add to that, take the rapture of the church and the church leaves America, what is the standing of America now?

What is the culture like? Could be terrible. All I'm saying is what if this is the end times? Are you going to stop that when you go to the voting booth? We'll stop it. We can stop it.

Really? You're going to stop God? You're not. What if this? What if God is going to restore America? What if there's going to be a revival in America?

Okay. Same thing though. Are we going to do that politically? If we make the right political choices, then God will do something. Not necessarily. But God's going to do what God's going to do.

That's the point. God is going to do what God is going to do. And I got to be honest, I'm fine with that.

And so should you be. He's God. He controls the times and the epochs. He controls the kings.

His power has no limits. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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