Behold the King (Through the Psalms)

Welcome to Through the Psalms, a weekend ministry of the Truth Pulpit, teaching God's people God's Word. Over time, we'll study all 150 Psalms with Pastor Don Greene from Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

We're so glad you're with us. Let's open to the Psalms right now as we join our teacher in the Truth Pulpit. Psalm 93 is what I'm going to read.

We're actually going to spend a couple of weeks introducing this next section in the Psalter because it's so important. But I'll read Psalm 93 because that's where we have come in our exposition to this point. Psalm 93 beginning in verse 1, it's a brief psalm compared to many. The Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord has clothed and girded himself with strength. Indeed, the world is firmly established.

It will not be moved. Your throne is established from of old. You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their pounding waves. More than the sounds of many waters than the mighty breakers of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty.

Your testimonies are fully confirmed. Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. Now, this psalm is introducing a new section in the Psalter as we will see. Psalms 93 through 100, emphasizing the theme that God is king. God is king. And in that, Psalm 93 is picking up on a central verse that we saw in Psalm 92 last time. If you look at Psalm 92, verse 8, where it just says briefly, but you, O Lord, are on high forever, making a statement about the supreme sovereignty of God over all things. And Psalm 93 picks up on that theme, and with it, it is pivoting toward a new theme that is going to mark the coming Psalms repeatedly, the idea that God is king. Now, we have a problem in the 21st century with that phrase, God is king. In our Western society, we do not live in an era of kings. We do not intuitively and experientially grasp the fundamental concept, because it's not what we've grown up with, it's not what we live in, it's foreign to our environment completely.

And I want to tease that out with you a little bit, work that out a little bit so that you can see, because I think it's really important for preparing our minds to understand what we're going to be looking at over the next couple of months, actually. Here in the United States, we are used to a completely different form of government. We thrive on a balance of power. The legislative branch makes laws by majority vote. The executive branch must sign those laws that have been passed into law before they take effect, and then the executive branch enforces them. The judicial branch reviews laws to make sure that everyone's acted in accordance with the Constitution.

And so the powers are distributed in different ways. The law originates in the legislature, theoretically speaking anyway. The executive branch has to approve it before it is implemented. The judicial branch has power of review, and all that I'm saying here is that we are accustomed to a form of government where there are checks and balances in our system of government that prevents one branch from getting too powerful, and certainly prevents one man from having absolute authority.

Let me get a little bit further. Our president holds power based primarily by majority vote. We won't get into the technicalities of the electoral college for now, but our legislators certainly hold their office based on the power of majority vote, and they have to periodically face the electorate for re-election. The voters have to keep them in office so that there are all kinds of checks and balances in place.

Think about it. You could be a U.S. congressman and have a pretty high position in American society, but your power is quite diluted when you go into Congress, and there are 434 other representatives that are there, and you're only one part of a bicameral legislature. You have the House of Representatives and then the U.S. Senate, and there's just all kinds of ways to check and to dilute authority so that one man does not have such supreme power. All of that to say that in our system of government, we are used to this idea that there is no one person who holds unfettered discretion, unfettered power in the oversight and in the implementation of power.

There are all kinds of things that restrain them. Our leaders are not sovereigns. Their power is limited by the system of government that we have.

Their power is temporary as they come up for reelection and possible loss of an election, and so their power can be withdrawn at any time, really, and here in the United States, we just have a fundamental assumption that that's the way government works with varying degrees of consciousness. Our culture, therefore—here's my point, I'm not making—I know I sound like a political science lecturer up here tonight, that's not my purpose—all very incidental to simply making this one little point, actually. The culture in which you have lived and have grown up does not give you a good context for understanding all that is meant by calling God king. What does it mean that God is king?

What does that mean in the context of the U.S. political system in which we are used to thinking about our leadership, checks and balances and all of that? Well, when you see that, what I want to suggest to you is, and what's occurred to me as I spent time preparing for this over the past few weeks, I want us to take our time to prepare ourselves for the studies ahead. Tonight we are only going to do one limited tiny little thing in one sense. We're only going to show forth the prominence of this theme that God is king in this section of the Psalter and then we'll move out and expand beyond it. We're going to explain the meaning and the significance of it in the future. We'll deal with all of that later on. I just want you to see the significance of this statement and what it means to biblical theology that God is king. And we'll just say this much. To say that God is king is a statement of His sovereign authority and His majestic excellence.

To say that God is king is to say that He has authority and that He is majestic. And those are things that we're not accustomed to attributing to our leaders so much, certainly not in the way that the Bible presents the theme. And so we're just going to look at two things tonight and this might be briefer than you're accustomed to. I don't know. I had about 90 minutes of material and I either said I can preach a really long time or I can break this up into two.

So I'm breaking it up into two. But our first consideration tonight is to just look at God as king. God as king, and particularly in this section of the Psalter, the book of Psalms. Psalm 93 opens a series of what is called theocratic Psalms, theocratic Psalms.

They celebrate God as sovereign king. And I know that before we started studying through the Psalms, perhaps, we were a little more comfortable just looking at Psalms individually in isolation and not necessarily considering them in the context of the other Psalms which surround them. We want to change that here tonight and over the course of our studies we've done that some. Look at Psalm 93 verse 1 with me and you'll start to see this unfold. I find these things very exciting. I find this very engrossing to start to see things like what I'm about to show you and I trust that the Spirit of God will work in your heart as well. Psalm 93 verse 1, look at it there with me, the Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord has clothed and girded himself with strength. You see that word reigns there, a statement of God's sovereign oversight.

He reigns and that's what kings do. They reign over their realm. Now as you read through the following Psalms you start to see that this is repeated again and again and again. Look at Psalm 96 verse 10. Psalm 96 verse 10 reads, say among the nations the Lord reigns, indeed the world is firmly established.

It will not be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. The reign of God extending over all of the nations of the world. The reign of God extending over the physical firmament of the world. The reign of God extending to judging people in equity. God reigns and here in Psalm 96 it's saying He reigns over the nations.

This is a statement of supremacy over everything that we see about us. Psalm 97 verse 1, Psalm 97 verse 1, you see this verb again, the Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice, let the many islands be glad. And in Psalm 99 verse 1, you see a bit of a contrast with Psalm 97 verse 1, the Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble.

He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake. And so in Psalm 97 verse 1 we see the Lord's position as King, His reign being a cause for joyful celebration. In Psalm 99 verse 1 you see it as a cause of fear. This sovereign authority of God provokes complementary reactions in the hearts of those who believe and the hearts of those who hear, it provokes complementary reactions, one of joy in His righteousness, one in fear of His power. And so you see this verb in Psalms 93, 96, 97, and 99 being used, the Lord reigns. Now look at Psalm 95 verse 3 now, and you see the noun King coming into play as well.

Let's start at verse 2. Let us come, Psalm 95 verse 2, let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to Him with Psalms.

Why this gratitude, why this joyful proclamation. Verse 3, for the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also, the sea is His for it was He who made it and His hands formed the dry land. We're declaring God as King and saying that His realm extends over every aspect of nature.

Everything about the physical world that we see is under the sovereign reign of this God who is King. Psalm 98 verse 6, Psalm 98 verse 6 says, with trumpets and the sound of the horn shout joyfully before the King, the Lord. And one more, Psalm 99 verse 4 says, the strength of the King loves justice.

You have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. And so, beloved, all I want you to see without a little bit of review is this. With the exception of Psalm 94, an exception which we will explain when we get to it, throughout Psalm 93 to 100, you have statements echoing this theme that God is King, that God reigns, that God is over nature, that God is over the peoples, that God is over the nations. And so as you take these Psalms together, what you start to see is this overwhelming sense of the great majesty and authority of God that everything that we see with our physical eyes is under his sovereign hand.

And he is King and he has authority over it all. And so what we're saying here is that as we come to this section of the Psalter, somehow, in a way that we'll explain more in the days to come, not tonight, somehow the idea of King describes a critical reality about God. It must be important if this theme is repeated so often in so many Psalms that are in immediate direct proximity with one another.

We're meant to understand this. As you read through the Psalms, you are brought to a section here where you are stopped in your tracks and you look up and you see God high and lofty and exalted because he is King. And that is what we find and that's what these eight Psalms or so are going to unpack for us as we move forward in the days to come. God is King. Now if we'll expand it out a little bit, we'll see that there is another factor that increases the significance of this for us as New Testament believers. Even more, even exponentially, it's the reality that Jesus is King. Jesus is King. God is King and Scripture reports that Jesus is King as well. What you're going to see, we're going to turn to the New Testament for most of the rest of our time. You don't want to turn there just yet, but you see that this concept of the kingship of God, the kingship of Jesus, links the Old Testament with the New Testament.

Christ has three predominant offices that he serves as prophet, priest, and king. And this idea of Jesus being King is prominent throughout the New Testament and is anticipated in the Old Testament as well. And so we just want to look at some passages that talk about Jesus as King here. Start with the book of Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9, beginning in verse 6, this very familiar prophecy about the coming of Christ, Isaiah chapter 9, beginning in verse 6, for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, the Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this. Approximately 700 years before the time of Christ, Isaiah makes this prophecy of a coming one who will be the incarnation of God, and he will reign over his kingdom.

He will be a son, a descendant, that is, of David, and he will sit on the throne of David and over his kingdom. And so one of the early prophecies of Christ is anticipating him in his role as king. Now when you turn to the New Testament, and when your mind is alerted to the reality of these things, what you find is that from beginning to end, from Matthew to Revelation, this theme of Jesus as king is made known. Looking at it from another perspective, over the chronological history of the life of Christ, from his birth to his second coming, this idea of king is embedded in at every critical juncture of his life. Scripture is naming and pointing out to the reality that he is king.

And so just as being king described a critical reality about God in the Old Testament, the New Testament brings that into even clearer focus and describes it all to our Lord Jesus Christ. And let's just walk through that a little bit, Matthew chapter 1, verse 1, we're not really talking about the kingship here, but it's implied, the word king isn't used, but it's implied right from the beginning, Matthew chapter 1, verse 1, the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham, David the king passing his throne down through biological generation, and Christ stands in the line of the throne. And then when he is born in Matthew chapter 2, look over at this, Matthew chapter 2, verse 1. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. They say right from the time of Jesus' birth, men were saying a king has been born, we want to see him, where will we find him? Jesus grows in stature, he grows physically during the course of his life, and the time comes for him to be manifest in his public ministry some 30 years later. Look over at the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, and we see right at the early part of his ministry, he is being acknowledged as the king of Israel. You'll remember the story of Nathaniel, we'll pick it up in John chapter 1 verse 43. John chapter 1 verse 43, the next day Jesus purposed to go into Galilee and he found Philip, and Jesus said to him, follow me.

Now Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said to him, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see. And Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said to him, behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. And Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel. He's acknowledged as king right at the beginning of the Gospel of John by Nathaniel. And so, just to step back and not lose track of what we're saying here, prophetically he was predicted to be the king in Isaiah. Step into his life, step into his birth, the Magi are saying, where is he who's been born king of the Jews? He is making himself known publicly and he's recognized as king by Nathaniel. Now, as you go along with this, Jesus himself announces his royalty and proclaims it later on in the Gospel of John when he's standing before Pilate.

Look at John 18. In John 18, beginning in verse 33, therefore Pilate entered again into the praetorium and summoned at Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, are you saying this on your own initiative or did others tell you about me? Pilate answered, I'm not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priest delivered you to me.

What have you done? And Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews.

But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. And therefore Pilate said to him, so you are a king? And Jesus answered, you say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And so you have Christ now simply stating it in the plainest of terms to Pilate that although he's not a king that belongs to this evil world system, though he's not a king in the political sense in which the people of that time were used to thinking, Christ says I am a king.

You're correct. I am a king. And so you have this prophetic looking forward to it. You have it declared at the time of the beginning of his public ministry, you have him declaring it at the end of his public ministry when he's on trial before Pilate. God is king. Jesus is king. This is a prominent theme throughout all of scripture.

And it's even the exclamation point, you might say, at the end of his life. And let's look at the four parallel passages that the Gospels all climax at the end of Christ's life in this recognition of Christ as king when it speaks of the inscription that was placed above him as he was crucified. Look at Matthew chapter 27 verse 37 with me. Matthew 27, we'll look at verse 35 to start with.

You can follow along with me here. And when they had crucified him, they divided up his garments among themselves by casting lots. And sitting down, they began to keep watch over him there. And above his head, they put up the charge against him which read, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Look over at Mark 15 verse 26. Each Gospel writer gives a portion of the overall inscription that was put above Jesus' head when he was crucified.

That accounts for the slightly different language that you will see. Verse 24 of Mark chapter 15. And they crucified him and divided up his garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. It was the third hour when they crucified him.

And the inscription of the charge against him read the king of the Jews. Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23.

We'll start at verse 33. Luke 23 verse 33, when they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves.

And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at him, saying he saved others, let him save himself if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine, and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Now there was also an inscription above him.

This is the king of the Jews. And one last time in the Gospel of John, all four Gospels testifying to his inscription when he was crucified, all of them emphasizing the reality of Christ, the king of the Jews. In John chapter 19 verse 16. So he then handed him over to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus therefore and he went out, bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him.

And with him two other men, one on either side and Jesus in between. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews. Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified, was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek.

Three different languages testifying at the same time to the reality, the identification of who Christ was. This is Jesus the Nazarene, he is the king of the Jews. And so from his birth to his death, you see his authority as king being proclaimed. Now turn back to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28, I should say. Matthew chapter 28, after his resurrection, after his resurrection, we see not the word of king being used, but the concept of his realm being emphasized.

In Matthew 28 verse 28, Jesus now having come out of the tomb, being alive after having been dead. In Matthew 28 verse 18 it says, Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 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 and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And so Christ, after his resurrection, makes what at that point is a pretty indisputable claim.

If you've been dead and you come back and you're alive, you're a man of authority. And he declares, I have all authority. In heaven above, on earth here, all authority has been given to me, I command you as my disciples to go out and teach others about me.

Go out and teach them to observe what I've commanded you to give. And so prophesied at his birth, at the beginning of his public ministry, as he's testifying before Pilate, at the cross, after his resurrection, there is this statement that Jesus is king, that there is authority in him, and this is displayed for all to see. And so, all that we're doing tonight, as simple as it seems, is to recognize that this theme of the kingship of God and the kingship of Christ is one that is elevated and is of great importance to understanding what is happening when we look at Christ. He is king. Now there's more to it yet to come.

There's more to it that is future to us yet today. His final triumph in his second coming will show forth his majesty as king, and it will be on display. Look at the book of Revelation with me. Revelation chapter 17, and actually let's make a quick pit stop if you don't mind. Revelation 15 verse 3, they sang the song of Moses, the bondservant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God the Almighty, righteous and true are your ways, king of the nations, asserting the royalty, the kingship, the authority, the majesty of God that is exalted above all the nations of the earth.

And what is the response to that? Well we've seen a lot of joy attached to that in the Psalms that we were looking at earlier, but here in verse 4, in response to that declaration that he is king of the nations, the response is one of fear. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, for all the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. Now beloved, what I want you to see and to understand in addition to this broad testimony of the kingship of God, and I'm just giving you a little sampling of it here tonight just to make the point, is that when we talk about the authority and majesty of God as king, when we take in the authority and majesty of Christ as the Lord of all, as the resurrected Christ, and as we're going to see him in just a moment, what we see is that for us as believers, there is a sense of joy that attaches to that, the one who is Lord over our individual lives as Lord over all, and so we belong to the king, we are literally children of the king, you could say, and the fact that the one that we love most is the most high exalted in the universe, and one day will be worshipped by all nations and will be acknowledged as the king that we know him personally to be, the one that we love, his glory is precious to us, is one day going to be fully displayed, and we will rejoice when the one that we love receives his rightful honor and do, and we rejoice in that, but there is also attached to the unparalleled and unchallenged authority of Christ that provokes a reaction of fear as well, to recognize that in his presence, we are in the presence of greatness that dwarfs us, we are in the presence of greatness that is high and lofty and that is far greater than anything that we've ever seen with our eyes. There's a reason why when Christ displayed his glory, and Peter saw it, that he said, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, there's a reason when the glory of the king is displayed in Isaiah 6 that Isaiah says, woe is me, I am undone, for I have seen the Lord, the king of hosts, and I'm a man of unclean lips, it produces this sense of reverence and fear along with the joy, there is just such a profound reaction that the reality of God of king provokes in our hearts. And I would venture to say, I think that this is true, is that when we see God lifted up as king and we understand him for the great one that he is, that it starts to inform our heart and it teaches our heart, it instructs our conscience that we are to respond to this one in worship, as it were, we are to bow low before him, that we are to humble ourselves before him, to forget about ourselves, so to speak, to lay aside our pride, to humble and prostrate ourselves before him, and to give him the honor and homage that he is due.

That's what understanding and recognizing the kingship of God and the kingship of Christ does is that it draws us to worship, to ascribe honor to one who is far greater than us. Now that was a little pit stop in Revelation 15. Now look at Revelation 17. One of the things that kings did in Old Testament times was that they led their people out to battle and what we're going to see here is that Christ will wage battle at the end of time and he will prevail. Chapter 17 verse 14, his opponents rise up against him, in verse 14, these will wage war against the lamb and the lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and those who are with him are the called and chosen and faithful. At the end of time, at the final climactic battle, Christ will be victorious and he will be victorious because he is King of Kings. He has authority, he has a power over everyone that would rise up against him and that because he has this surpassing authority and power, he will prevail and all of the anger of nations and all of the opposition that they could muster up against him is futile even though they will try, it is futile because he is over all.

His authority cannot be overthrown. He is King of Kings meaning that he is the highest one and there is no one above him to thwart his will. One last one, in Revelation 19 verse 11, you see glimpses of the glory of the majesty of our King in Revelation chapter 11, and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war.

His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean were following him on white horses and from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords and so we just see the sweep from his pre-incarnate days all the way through the culmination and the final times Christ is King, he is King of Kings, he is Lord of Lords, that's who he is and that provokes in us a response of worship, a loving sense of proper fear toward him, it produces joy in us to know that the sin of this world will one day be overturned and punished by our King. That our King, our Lord, the one who is most precious to us is high and lofty and exalted above all things and in the end he will prevail and all the world will see that he is King that which we know now by faith and so beloved think with me here Christ is King with great majesty and Christ is King with the greatest of authority over an unlimited realm. Think with me here, he is King of the universe and he's King over all nature, he could still see with his spoken word that's how great a King he is, that's how great his authority is over nature, he is King over the nations of the earth, he will conquer them in the end and they will be helpless to stop him, over the nations, over the nations. He is King over the course of human history, scripture says that he works all things after the counsel of his will in Ephesians chapter 1.

King over the universe, he spoke it into existence, he holds the planets in their orbit. King over nature, King over the nations, King over human history, he's King over angels, he's King over demons, he casts them out by his spoken word while during his incarnation, he's King over the demonic realm, he's our King, King over believers and we are his glad and willing subjects. He is King over unbelievers for he will punish their rebellion in the end. He is King over justice because he is the great law giver, he is King over sin because he conquered it at the cross. He is King over death for he rose from the grave, beloved. Scripture points you to Christ, it takes you in the progress of revelation in the Old Testament it points to Yahweh as King, you follow that through to the New Testament and you see that Jesus Christ is Yahweh incarnate, he is God incarnate and this title of King that the Old Testament ascribes to Yahweh is applied with equal authority to Christ himself and you see the manifestation of the way that he exercises his authority over everything conceivable.

There is nothing, there is not a cosmic speck of dust that is outside the realm of his authority that is outside his kingship. He is King over all and what Scripture does is it points all men to Christ and says behold the King and in a particular way for us as his people it points us to Christ and says behold your King. This is who your King is and we ask the question have you bowed your heart to this King?

As we said often everyone will bow to him eventually either in willing submission during the course of their earthly life or in forced submission later on. Look at Philippians chapter 2 remembering that revelation put side by side the titles King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Philippians chapter 2 and I know we go to this passage a lot part of it is because we are in Philippians part of it is because it is such a signature New Testament text. The majesty of our King is greater even than what we have said so far because this King was a King who was willing to humble himself for the sake of his people. This King with all of the greatness of which we have described had a superlative aspect to his character that made him willing to humble himself to sacrifice himself for the salvation of his people. Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus which was in the King who although he existed in the form of God he was by very nature God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped to be clutched to but he emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. He took on the form of a slave during his incarnation humbled himself to be obedient to the will of his father this is what the father had for him he is King and he is living out obedience to his father. Verse 8 being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross that pointed back to his kingship with its inscription above him in three different languages.

So after all of that after all of that one day the time will come where his humiliation during his incarnation that's now over ahead is the manifestation of his exaltation. Verse 9 for this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name king over kings Lord over lords verse 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. Christ is king over a universal kingdom and one day there will be a universal acknowledgment by all everyone that that is the true reality of the universe and everyone either by force or by glad submission will ascribe to him the glory that he is due. Christ is king and every knee will one day bow and acknowledge that. So for us here in truth community church over the coming weeks while the people of our day can clamor over whatever it is that they want to clamor over their silly shows their game of thrones or whatever that thing is I don't even know what that is I just see headlines about it all the time. Can clamor over their politics they can clamor over their athletics they can clamor over whatever they want to clamor over they can preoccupy themselves with the passing things of this world that are a mist and a vapor just like their own lives are but for us in the coming weeks what we're going to do is we're going to devote ourselves to the study of this great king and I trust that you'll be with us as we do bow with me in prayer. Oh Lord our God and our King, King Jesus in light of and in response to what we've seen in your word today we hasten to bow our knees before you to humble ourselves before you to deny ourselves to take up your cross which declared you to be a king and to gladly willingly joyfully fearfully acknowledge that you are king with all authority over everything that exists in both the visible and invisible realms.

We as your people gladly own you as our King. We gladly confess now that you are Lord and we trust that that confession brings glory to God the Father and it will be our glad privilege to to own you and to proclaim you and honor and worship you as King throughout all of eternity that's the ultimate desire of our heart. We pray O Christ that your Holy Spirit would illumine our minds to grasp the significance of these things as we embark in our study in the weeks to come. We pray that on the other side of these coming Psalms that we would find ourselves greatly enriched in our worship that we would greatly have expanded by the help of your spirit the recognition that you are high and lofty and that our praise would evermore be transformed into a greater degree of appropriateness of what you are due. As we go along O Christ we pray that your Holy Spirit would open the eyes of those who are still in darkness who are still pursuing vain and worthless things with their lives their brief and passing lies that the spirit would open eyes and awaken hearts to bring them to Christ that they might repent of sin and confess faith in Christ not only as Savior but as King as Lord as their own personal head. Yes Lord we ask for nothing less than a transformation from one glory to another of our understanding of you as we take on this study. We desire to know you better. We desire to worship you in a better way.

We desire to see you as the King that you truly are. Help us to that end we pray in Jesus name Amen. Well friend thank you for joining us for through the Psalms a weekly ministry of the truth pulpit and if you have the opportunity we would love to invite you to join us on Sundays at 9 a.m. Eastern and Tuesdays 7 p.m. Eastern for our live stream from Truth Community Church in Cincinnati Ohio. You can find the link at thetruthpulpit.com. Thanks Don and friend through the Psalms is a weekend ministry of the truth pulpit. Be sure to join us next week for our study as Don continues teaching God's people God's Word and we also invite you to join us on Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern for our live stream from Truth Community Church in Cincinnati Ohio. You can find the link at thetruthpulpit.com. This message is copyrighted by Don Greene All Rights Reserved.