18 Dec 2016
The King of Christmas Pastor Jason Lim 18 December 2016 Presidents come and go, but Jesus reigns forevermore. He alone is the King of Kings who sits on David's throne. And one day, every knee shall bow before Him. There will be those who rejoice at His return, and there will be those who will weep when He returns. This is the inevitable meeting with our king. Will you be ready when the King returns? Find out more here in this sermon.
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This is the season of Christmas and so we are in this series called "What Child Is This". It really is a series that allows us to see more clearly, the intent of God for this Christmas season.
I know this is Christmas, but at the very same time, it is also durian season. I love durians, many of you here are durian lovers, you probably love durians too and one of the most popular breeds of durians today would be the Mao Shan Wang, let's take a look at Mao Shan Wang, it is unique,alright, it's, it's rich, it's creamy in its texture, the flesh is thick, it doesn't stick to the seed at all, it peels off the seed effortlessly as you can see. But because it is so popular, it is also very expensive, 18 per kilo or 20 per kilo alright, $20 per kilogram of that fruit.
And so many people would try to sell you fake Mao Shan Wang to earn your hard earn money alright, so they, they give you Thai durians or some other breed and say no, no, no, this is Mao Shan Wang, this is Mao Shan Wang, the best there is.
And so today I want to do you a favor alright, I wanted to do you a favor. I've taught this before in our church but I'll teach this again, since there are many new friends who are here with us. How do you tell a real Mao Shan Wang apart from a fake one, without having to open up the fruit, just looking at it from the outside, just looking at the fruit itself, you can tell that this is real or not, five simple features alright, are you ready. After that, if you buy durians, you can blanjar me lah aah.
Number one, you look at the thorns, the thorns of the Mao Shan Wang are pyramidal. In other words, the edges are flat, not round, you could see, you can see very clearly here that the edges are are flat, you can see that. It's not circular, it's flat, pyramidal. Number two, you look at the base of the stem it should be bare or brown, there should not be any thorns there. Number three, you look at the shape of the fruit. It is almost always oval or kidney shaped, almost never spherical or circular, it's not a ball. Number four, you look at the bottom of the fruit and you should see the base bare without thorns, brown. And number five, you see these tentacles, like a starfish, extend up to the middle of the fruit.
So these are the five features if you forget, let's run that through number one, the next slide here, you see again the thorns, they are pyramidal, flat, you see these they are generally quite conical or round. Number two, you look at the base of the stem, it's barren and brown versus thorns here. Number three, you look at shape, this is not a great picture, but that's what I got, should be oval not round. Number four and number five you look at the bottom of the fruit.
Now according to this blog page, they tell me, you must have all the five features together in a single durian, because there maybe some durians who have one or two of these features and they will masquerade it to you as Mao Shan Wang. So if you are not familiar, they say, I got two out of five, should be Mao Shan Wang lah, no, no, no according to this blog or this writer, he says you must have all five.
Now, it's important to tell a good Mao Shan Wang or a real Mao Shan Wang from a bad one because it saves you money, and it avoids frustration in your life when you, when you don't get what you pay for.
But I think it's even more important to get this right, that you have selected or you have chosen to believe in the real Savior, don't you think? It's important to select the right durian Mao Shan Wang, but it's more important to believe in the right Savior 万王之王, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.
You see, why should you even want to find out the real deal, are there many fakes around for me to distinguish anyway? Absolutely. Matthew 24, it says here, "For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray." (Mat 24:5)
So the devil is like that dishonest durian seller. He tells you, this is the real deal, he is the real savior, but no. He may have one or two features but not all five and because you're not careful, you'll be led astray.
Now the consequences of buying a wrong durian may be minimal, a few dollars but the consequences of believing in the wrong savior is disastrous. You end up in damnation, in hell forever, because you have no savior for your sins. So it's extremely important for us to understand who is our Savior. How do you know if this man, who say he is the Savior, is really the Savior sent of God?
So for the past two weeks we have looked at two very important features. Number one in Genesis chapter 3, we saw the very first promise of Christmas, that God will give a child, God will give a man, the offspring of a woman who will crush the serpent's head. So this is the first mark, He will absolutely defeat the devil, He's a man, hundred percent man, offspring of a woman but He will be victorious over Satan.
Number two, last week we saw that this Savior must be a descendant of Abraham. He must come from Abraham's family line. "In your offspring shall all nations be blessed", God promised that to Abraham. So today at some of us would be disqualified, maybe all of us would be disqualified because if you trace your ancestry all the way up, you can't trace it to Abraham. Of course, few of us will know our ancestry, but the point is this, God says, if He is to be the Savior of the world, He must be from the line of Abraham.
Number three, the third feature which we are going to study today, is that he must be an offspring of David, and he must be a King on David's throne. Now if I have one of these characteristics and I don't meet the other two, can I be the Savior? Absolutely no. You must have all three, actually there are many others, but I'm highlighting three to you.
Today, we are just going to look at characteristics number three, he must be a King on David's throne. We find that in 2 Samuel 7 and let me read these verses to you it says, "When your days are fulfilled", so God is saying to David, when you're about to die, when you're about to go, your days are fulfilled, "and you lie down with your fathers", this is what I would do, "I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body," So this Savior must be in the line of David. So he must be from the line of Abraham but you say there are so many children and descendants of Abraham, let's narrow it further. He must be from the line of David. Number two, he goes on to say, "I will establish his kingdom." He will be a King. So this Savior must be a king, "I will establish his kingdom."
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Number three, "He shall build a house for my name," The word house can literally be a physical building or it can refer to a household that is not about bricks, but about people and I think this is what God meant, he shall build me a people, it's a household, a family of faith who would know me, who will glorify me, who will love me for my name. So this King will lead a people, God's people to glorify Him. This is the kind of king we are looking at, and lastly, this King will be a king who never cease from the throne, "I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."
So he will be an eternal, everlasting King. So this promise in 2 Samuel spoken to David is a very well-known promise to the Jews. Of course the Jews had the privilege of receiving God's Word in the early days and this is very, very important to the Jewish people. Now we are not Jews, I don't think anyone of you here I have met is a Jew, and so you may say, wah this is so strange, but understand that for many years, God has been preparing His people, the Israelites, the Jews, that He will send a Savior. 6000 years ago, He spoke that prophecy to Satan in Genesis 3. 4000 years ago He spoke that Abraham. 3000 years ago, He spoke to David, and the Jews remember it.
So this morning we're going to look at very simply, Christmas and what is it all about. It's about the King of Christmas. The Jews are looking for this Savior. He will be of the line of Abraham, He will be the line of David, and He will be a King and this becomes a very foundational reality that the prophets, you know the prophets, they are the people who speak God's Word to God's people and encourage them even in times of difficulty, the prophets will keep reminding Israel that God's promise Savior, will be a King.
So let's look at some verses I'm going to, let me say this for this next five, ten minutes, it's going to be a lot of verses out up alright err, usually we don't do that, but I want you to be so clear that God is absolutely clear. He doesn't fudge around. He, He makes it so clear that for the Jew and for the people of the world today, we can say yes, this is the clear sign God has said, Mao Shan Wang must have pyramidal thorns, aah, the Savior must be from the line of David, and He must be king. So let's look at these verses, Isaiah 9:6 and 7, nothing unusual to you, you must have seen this. I remember seeing seeing this in Tangs, long time ago, Tangs shopping center, they will put it right in front of the building, great verse that says, 'For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder, the name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Of course this refers to the promised Savior, but look at verse seven, "of the increase of the government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore."
So Isaiah is written after God has spoken to David. Isaiah builds upon the promise. So this is what you read in Isaiah chapter 9. Jeremiah, a book that not many people read, but Jeremiah when he encourages the people of Israel say essentially the same thing, your your Savior is a kind of a David, He is the descendant of David. So God will raise up David. Of course we understand not that David will resurrect, but a descendant after David, "a righteous Branch and He shall reign as King." (Jeremiah 23:5)
The next verse, "But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king," (Jeremiah 30:9) So the anticipation is always there for Israel. In the next verse, Jeremiah 33 (verse 17), "For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne." Now we, I, I, picked this up because when you read the Bible by yourself, you probably wouldn't see this, you probably just skim over, what's the significance you say, very significant for the Jew, king, David's line, king, David's line is drilled over and over again. Next verse, Ezekiel 37 (verse 25), "They shall dwell in the land that I give to my servant Jacob," so on and so forth, "David my servant shall be their prince forever."
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Daniel 7:14, he will have "an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." So the rule and the reign of this Savior is everlasting, reaffirmed. Hosea 3:5, "David their king," and of course the most familiar one maybe to us in Micah 5:2, "But you, O Bethlehem" and so on, this is where the ruler in Israel will be born, "whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." So the prophet Micah is saying, this person, this Savior, which I'm speaking to you about is not a new invention, it has been spoken off, of old, ancient days, back in the garden of Eden.
So you see God's progressive revelation, progressively revealing more and more and more about the Savior. So after Micah spoke, centuries passed by, no sight of a Savior until one day, on a very silent night, a child is born, wrapped in swaddling clothes, in a manger.
People say this will be a special child, the angel told Mary that this will be a special child, you have to give him a special name and you call him Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins. But the question is, is this child who is born in a manger, who we all celebrate today, who we all remember today, is he really the real deal? I mean, how do you know if Jesus is really the Saviour? Oh, pastor told me. Now, how do you your pastor is right? Does Jesus fit the bill? Is he the offspring of a woman who will crushed the serpent's head? Is he a descendant of Abraham? And is he from the line of David and who will be king? Does he fit all three?
It's very interesting, but the Bible goes on, I think in a sense, quite diligently to prove Jesus fits the bill. The very first verse in the New Testament, does anybody know what it is? The very first verse in the New Testament. I mean it's like one of the first verses you read in the Bible, you read Genesis chapter 1 I'm sure, you read Revelation 22 I'm sure and then you read Matthew chapter 1, I'm sure.
So what does Matthew 1 say? Well, it says this (verse 1), "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ," the New Testament after 400 years of silence, the first word we read in the New Testament is this, 'The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ," and look at this, not the son of Noah, not the son of Solomon, not the son of Daniel, but "the son of David, the son of Abraham" and you go on, you read the family tree of Jesus, you say why? Because Matthew knows, Matthew is a Jew, and he knows he's been taught the Scriptures since young and he knows the Jews, all of them are saying, if the Savior comes, he must be a son of David, he must be a son of Abraham and that's why it's proven or that's what Matthew is written, it sets out to prove Jesus is the King.
But not only Matthew say so, Luke says so. In Luke chapter 1, we read the angel came and said to Mary do not be afraid, you've found favor with God, you will have a child and you will call his name Jesus. Alright, so we are very clear this is about Jesus. Now, did Jesus really fit the bill, according to God and according to the angel? Absolutely, look at verse 33, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David," Mary you're born in David's line and this child will be your child, therefore he will have as his ancestor, David and this child would be king because "he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." It's very clear, according to the Scriptures.
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Let's look at the next verse. When the wise men from the East came to worship Jesus, they somehow knew right, they somehow knew, probably they knew because of Daniel, who were, who was living in the East long time ago, when the Jews were captured. So he might have left teachings there, he must have taught the people there and after centuries, the people still knew that the Jews talk about this Savior, who will be the King and so they traveled far and when they came to this boy Jesus, baby Jesus, they were asking, "Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:2), they knew about the promised King.
When Jesus grew up and walked amongst men and serve and ministered and performed great things, how did they identify this Jesus? Wow, this amazes me, in my own study, I was amazed that this reference to the son of David is so frequent, look at this. In Matthew 12, when Jesus healed this man who was demon oppressed, they were all amazed and said, can this be the what, Son of David? I mean for me if I'm a Singaporean, is is he the Savior, I will probably use the word Savior, but for the Jew the Son of David, that the definitive identity of this promised Messiah and Savior, the Son of David. God promised to David our father that he will have a King who will reign forever. This King will crush the serpent's head. So is he the one, is he the son of David?
0:20:17.0
And then we read on, in Matthew 15 (verse 22) "Have mercy on me," a Canaanite woman. A Canaanite, a Canaanite is not a Jew. She did not grow up learning all these Jewish scriptures but somehow, someone must have told her about the faith written in the Scriptures and she says oh, I must get to know this Son of David. You know this just tells me how little we know about the Bible. How little I know about the Bible that I was never strickened with this realization that the Son of David is such an important concept to God's revelation of His Savior.
Let's read on, verses after verses, Matthew 20:30, "Son of David!". The next verse, Matthew 21:9, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Wow, Matthew 21:15 and we stop here little while, it says "Hosanna to the Son of David!" and you know what the chief priests and scribes were indignant, they were angry. They say how, how can this carpenter's son be the King? Preposterous they say and they would not accept that their King will be of such a lowly birth, born in a manger, in no man's family, carpenter's son, but this tells us, Son of David is not a term you throw around lightly isn't it?
The next verse, Matthew 22 (verses 41-42), who do you, "What do you think about the Christ?" What do you think about the chosen one, the anointed one, the Messiah, what you think about Him? They said to him, this is his definitive description, He is the Son of David. If you are not the Son of David, you cannot be the Christ, you cannot be the Messiah, you cannot be the Mao Shan Wang. And so when Jesus was on the cross or going to the cross, he stood before the governor and the governor asked him, "'Are you the King of the Jews?' Jesus said,' You have said so.'" (Matthew 27:11). I am the King, doesn't look like it now, I'm going to the cross, I look helpless but believe Me when My heel is crushed I crush the serpent's head and I will, I will have a throne that will reign forever more.
0:22:57.7
After Jesus died and rose again, what did people say about Jesus. I mean, that's we, we read about how people were, the prophets were prophesying His birth, we saw His birth, we saw His life. Now, after He dies, and after He rises again, what would people say, about Jesus. Acts two, it says here (verse 30), Peter who is preaching, Peter who lived with Jesus, walked with Jesus, saw Jesus, ate with Jesus, slept with Jesus, Peter who knew everything about Jesus during those three years, after Jesus rose again, this is what he said about his Savior, about his Master, "Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him", that is David, "that he would set one of his descendants on his throne," who would that man be. Verse 32, "This Jesus God raised up." So the testimony of Apostle Peter, is there is no one else, there is no one else, it's absolutely clear, it's Jesus Christ.
The next verse, (Acts 13:23), "Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior," who is he? "Jesus," He's the One, undisputed.
Next verse, (2 Timothy 2:8) "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David," The offspring, David had many offsprings, of course, many descendants, but this is the One. But most of all, hear what Jesus said Himself, (Revelation 22:16) "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David," You know how diligently God proves that Jesus is indeed the one, it's very important, at least to God.
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Today you may take this faith for granted and say, aah everybody says is Jesus, so it must be Jesus, well the Bible gives you all the clear evidence. The Bible is absolutely objective and robust. Jesus is the Savior. So at the end of the day, what am I saying, I'm saying some 2,000 years ago, in that manger, there's a king size bed, a king, a King of the Jews, a King who will lead a whole people, a household to fear God, to love Him, to serve Him, to glorify Him. A King who will reign forever, is born that very night, that is the message of Christmas, the King, in David's line.
0:25:55.6
Well, I think it took more than 10 minutes. I didn't know how long I'll take, but the sermon is not yet done, because I'm going to ask this question, what does this mean for me? What does this mean for you? So what pastor, so what, okay you have proven and God has proven He is the King of David, the Son of David, but so what?
Number one I say to you, in Jesus Christ, we have hope. The Bible starts with gloom and doom, you know that? When Adam and Eve sinned against God, the whole world is plunged into sin and darkness and rebellion against God, doom and gloom, for the wages of sin is death, the whole world dies, you suffer, you age, you have wars and you have all kinds of sins in this world and you know you are separated from God, it's doom and gloom.
But God gives us a hope, there will be an offspring of a woman who will crush the serpent's head, He will come to destroy the works of the devil. Then God said further that, Abraham in your seed shall all nations be blessed. Blessing, wow, we will have an eternal home, we will know God, we will be reconciled with Him. Wonderful and He will be your King. He will be your King. We all look for a king and he will be your King who will reign forevermore. So someone said this well, life without Jesus is a hopeless end, a life with Jesus represents endless hope, it's all about Him.
Think about it, if there is no Christ, there is no one to defeat the devil, sin and hell, then enjoy your life today, because after you enjoy this life, you're going to hell, literally. Hopeless end and all that you enjoy in this world means nothing, because you know after your very short enjoyment here, you're going to suffer forevermore, alienated from the God who made you. How scary that is, but the difference is this, with Jesus, you've an endless hope, you may suffer in this life, but so what, I have eternal life, I've a hope of heaven, I'm going to be with God forevermore and He's going to be a King forever.
In your offspring shall all nations be blessed, tremendous and you know, Jesus is the Only One, the Bible tells us in Acts four (verse 12), "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." No one else. If you go to Israel today and you speak to Jews today who do not know Jesus, they're still waiting for the Savior, you know that? They absolutely believe the Old Testament, Micah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Isaiah, they say, aiyah, we know that it will be a Son of David, there will be a Son of David, there will be a Son of David, they are still waiting for the Son of David. They refuse to recognize Jesus is the Son of David.
But there's no one else, no Jew today can prove that he is from the line of David, all the genealogical records are gone after the destruction of Jerusalem, no one can prove he is from the line of Abraham anymore. You don't have to wait for the Savior anymore, he is already come, 2000 years ago, the angels, the wise men, the Apostles and Jesus Himself said I am the root and the descendant of David. I am the Son of David. There's no one else who can save you.
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My friends, this is objective evidence. You know Christianity is not aiyah, anyhow believe lah, it's not aiyah just psycho me, I feel emotional, no, no extremely clear and logical. God is taking great pains to prove to us, He is the only One there is no one else who can save you and if you reject Him today, there's no hope.
But if you repent and believe Him today, you have an endless hope. Won't you come to Christ? Why, I beg you to come to Christ, I, I urge you to come to Christ. You say, what do I, what do I have to do to come to this King, do I have to bring a tribute to King? Do I have to do some good works to earn my way to favor with this King? No, you don't have to. Look at Isaiah 55 (verse 1), "Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and who he who has no money, come buy and eat!" You say I've no money, never mind just come, I'm going to give you the money, just come, "Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."
What's the only condition to come? As long as you are hungry, as long as thirsty, you can come. Why do I raise this verse, because look at verse three, "Incline your ear and come to me;" What does it mean to come to God? Listen, I'm glad you're here today, I hope you're not sleeping now, listen, incline your ear, "hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David."
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This appeal to come, is related to the reality, Jesus is the Son of David, God is faithful to give us this Son and all you need to do today is come. The great word of the Bible, the great word of invitation of the Bible, come. Not work your way there, just come, come all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest, come you who are thirsty, come you who are hungry, come recognize that where you are today is not going anywhere, you have hopeless end, but come to me and I'll give you endless hope.
There's no one else who can do that, so would you repent, believe in Jesus Christ? This, this is about your soul, your soul may live, the Christian has such a tremendous message to tell the world don't you think? I'm so burdened to tell you this, because you can sit in this auditorium and say, I've been to church, thank God that Punggol has a church building for me to come to, my friends, that means nothing if it at the end of the day you come to church, but you never come to Christ.
I think hell will be more miserable for you, if you don't come to Christ because you have heard, but you did not incline your ear, you did not come to Jesus, so please come.
Gospeliters, my brothers and sisters in Christ I want to say this to you. Andy Stanley said this well, let me just quote him, Jesus is the hope of the world, we don't say that flippantly, I hope you don't, I'm not looking to Jesus as a hope as if it's going to reverse global warming, he is going to heal all sicknesses, no, no, no that's minimizing the work of Jesus Christ. He did not come just to give you money and all these comforts. He came to reconcile sinful man to the holy God. He came to pluck us out of the fires of hell to give us a place in heaven, forevermore, that is what we are talking about. And Jesus is the hope of the world and the local church, you and I. This is tremendous, He is the only hope of the world and the local church is the vehicle of expressing that hope to the world.
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I hope you don't minimize your calling as a child of God. Following Jesus means I bring hope to a world without hope and that's why we come to Punggol and that's why we preach the Gospel. This world needs hope in Christ.
PAP is not going to bring this hope to this world. Donald Trump is going to bring, is not going to bring this hope to this world, the UN is not going to bring this hope to this world, they bring other kinds of secondary hope, but the ultimate hope is only found in Jesus Christ, expressed through His church, expressed through you and me, you are the salt and the light of this world, you alone are the salt and light of this world. So if Jesus is the Son of David this is a message of hope.
But secondly, let me say this, if Jesus is the Son of David, then He is our everlasting eternal King, Jesus is our King. I learned something about myself, I'm not sure if this is true for you, but I long to have a good king. I think humanity looks towards a leader, a king. A year ago our founding Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew passed away. The whole nation mourned, whether you like him or not, the reality is the whole nation mourned. Many people are appreciative, many people are thankful for him, but you know one thing about Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, he left, he is gone. No matter how well he did or how terrible he did, in your opinion, he did not reign forever, no king has reign forever.
0:36:33.8
秦始皇 wanted to reign forever, he can't. There's only one who would reign forever. I read the Bible with my kids, I force them to read sequentially, but of course, my son sometimes, my youngest one, Matthias, especially wouldn't want to follow, because he has a few favorite stories. Aah, he, he loves Moses, he loves the, the four beasts in Daniel story and the other one that he likes is the story of this statue in, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
See, he loves it and in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, you say what is this all about, I said, Shawn and Mattias this, this is really about the world and the kingdoms of the world, what you mean?
Well let's look at another picture, this is from the book we have, alright, but this is a diagram I can find on the Internet. The statue represents the great kingdoms of the world, the gold head represents Babylon, the silver torso represents Medo Persia, this bronze belly and thighs represents the Greeks and then the iron and clay represents the Roman Empire. No empire lasts forever, Babylon is overtaken by Medo Persia, Medo Persia is taken over by Greeks and so on and so forth.
But in Daniel's teachings in this book, we read that there will be a final superpower. That there will be a rock from heaven that will shatter these kingdoms and it will grow and expand and be an eternal kingdom and this is the kingdom of the Son of David. We have an eternal King, an eternal King.
Revelation 11 (verse 15) tells us, "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world'", is all smashed, it's over, "has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ,", you say, who is he, the Son of David, "and He shall reign forever and ever."
Now if he is a terrible king and he reigns forever and ever then is forever torment right? What kind of a reign would he have? Well the Bible tells us (Isaiah 9:7), "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end," our King will reign in absolute peace, it will be of absolute justice. You know, we can't stand injustice right, we don't like turmoils right, we do not like unrighteousness right. Well Jesus when He reigns will be absolute utopia. Romans 14 (verse 17), not only that, but there will be "joy in the Holy Spirit." There will be joy, when Jesus comes to reign again, when He returns a second time, there will be joy peace and so on. So Jesus is our King. This is my hope, my hope looks forward to this King.
Today Lee Hsien Loong is our king, Donald Trump is the king in a sense, in America, I'm not sure how well they will do, but I know they will pass away. I know things, may not be as great as it should be, but that doesn't matter because I'm looking to the heavenly city that is to come, where Jesus will reign in absolute peace, righteousness, joy, justice.
So my dear brothers and sisters, you serve this King. What a great Person to serve. I rejoice I serve my King, you say pastor, of course, you're full-time pastor, you serve the King, yah, I've a great job by the way, because my boss is Jesus Christ.
0:40:49.4
But let me tell you this, your boss is Jesus Christ. When you work at IBM or CPF or whatever, you think your boss is someone you see on hierarchical chart. No, the Scriptures say your real boss is Jesus Christ and when you do your best in your workplace, when you live out Christ in your places of employment, you are serving the King of kings and He will reward you in due time.
My friends when you serve God in Gospel Light, when you serve God in your neighborhood, in your family, I pray you will realize who you serve, a worthy King. Give your best to your Master and I say to you today, you hear this message, you say, well, great, but I still don't want to believe in Jesus, maybe later. Maybe he's not the real deal. Let me say this, the Bible says in Philippians 2 (verses 9-11), "God has exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name," Jesus today is risen, His Name is above every name, "so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Whether you like it or not one day, everyone would confess this. Some happily because we know Him as our Savior. But maybe for many, it will be with tears because they know that's the last time you ever meet with the Lord and they will be damned in hell forever, one day every knee should bow, you can decide today how you want to meet your King. But whether you believe it or not it doesn't change the fact, He is King.
Maybe the last thing I want to say, as you look at the Son of God, Jesus as the Son of David, I want to remind you that God is great. I mean, God the Father is great, Jesus' great of course, the Holy Spirit is great, but we we must not neglect the Father. The goodness, the faithfulness of our God. God who chose to send His Son. You know, Joshua said, we have a long passage to read in Psalm 89, I just want to say, go back and read it for yourself now that you understand the Son of David, go and read it for yourself and see how committed and how faithful God is to His covenant. It's an unconditional covenant, you know that? I will do it, I will do it, I would do it, man doesn't deserve it, man may, may mess things up, but I will do it and I faithfully see to it that it will be done. So Jesus came at the right time and Jesus will come again at the right time, He will do it.
And my friends, God is so good, God gave the promise of the Savior when man sinned against God. God gave the promise to Abraham when he came from an idolatrous family, worshiping other gods. God gave this promise to David, when David actually said, God can I make a house for you, can I build a temple for you. You know what God said, David, you don't have to do that, it's great that you have that desire, but let me do this for you, I love you and I want to make this promise to you that from your descendants, there will be this King. This is the overwhelming heart of God, He loves us and He wants to do good for us. This is our God, I pray you will worship Him today through His Son, Jesus Christ. Let us be a church, a household, for His Name.
Let's pray. Jesus is the Son of David, there's only One in this whole world throughout history who can save you from your sins. I'm glad you came this morning, but I pray you'll come to Jesus. If you are thirsty, if you are hungry then incline your heart towards God, hear these words, respond to Him in faith, by coming. How do I come ? Well, acknowledge that where you are right now is wrong, repent of your sins, be willing to say, Lord, my sins are terrible and I know I've grieved, I've sinned against You and I can't help myself but you can, so I'm going to leave my sins and I'm going to come to You for cleansing. Jesus says come, God says come, would you come this morning, because there is no other Name given under heaven whereby man may be saved.
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Gospeliters, you have a high and glorious calling. You are the vehicle of hope to this world. Why do we spend so much money on ministry, why do we spent so much money in the buildings, you say why, because ultimately we see that the church is the expression of the only hope, for this world.
In a sense I say to you there's no amount of money too great to bring this hope to this world. I pray you'll labor to bring hope, I pray you will sacrifice, to bring hope because if you could just imagine you have a glimpse of what happens in hell, there will be nothing you won't give to bring hope. Jesus is our King, serve the King. Give of your best, in church, at work, in your family, you don't serve men, it's terrible to serve men, it's unrewarding to serve men, it's disappointing to serve men, but serve your King, your labor shall never be in vain in Him.
Bow before Him today in your heart, bow before this King because every knee shall bow. Come to this God who is eternally faithful and good. This is who we worship. I pray you'll worship God with all your heart this day.
Father we thank You this morning for Your Word, bless it to each and every soul, may Your Spirit bring about glory to Your Name, through our obedience, in our lives. So thank you, in Jesus Name, amen.
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