Let us now turn to God's Word and first of all we will read from Job 42 verses 1 through 6. Job 42, 1 through 6 and then Romans 15, 1 through 12. You may recall that the situation that Job was struck by the wiles of Satan and lost all his possessions, lost all his children, then he lost his health, and then Job and his friends disagreed on the fact that all this happened because Job was such a sinner, but he also questioned the Lord, and then finally the Lord himself speaks, answers Job, out of the whirlwind, or we might even say out of the tornado. And halfway, Job says a few words, and then in chapter 40, the Lord says, moreover, the Lord answered Job, and he speaks again about Behemoth and the Leviathan, And then in chapter 42, the Lord, Job answers the Lord. He had a word of God. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hide his counsel without knowledge? And therefore have I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here I beseech thee, and I will speak. I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes, and particularly These last two verses will come to have a role in the message this afternoon. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Then we go to Romans 15. Romans 15 verse 1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached he fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning. that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now I say that Christ Jesus was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God and to confirm the promises made unto the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, for this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name. And again, he saith, rejoice ye Gentiles with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud him, all ye people. And again, he saith, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. And that is our text. There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. He ends the reading of scripture. Blessed are those who not only hear the word of God, but also keep it. Hallelujah. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, You may have heard it on the news. You may have seen it. The royals have landed. That was the news. Of course, they meant by that Crown Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. So, something special. But if you ask now what power, what authority Do the royals have in our land? What authority does the queen have? Well, actually, it's very little, maybe a signature here or there. But then, who has authority over our country? And does Parliament? Does the party in power? I've heard members of Parliament say, well, we can look after our constituency, but for the rest, as far as the governing the land is concerned, it's the prime minister who says jump and we say how high. And so who really is in charge of our country? Well then, of course, when we look at Romans 15 that we read, then we have there this word that says in verse 12, And again, Isaiah saith, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. hope. So it is really the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the root of Jesse. Now Jesse, of course, is the father of David, so it is also the root of David. And the root, of course, is something that comes up out of the trunk of Esaias. It says somewhere in the scriptures that when a tree is cut down, that's not the end of it, because If water comes to the trunk, then it sprouts, and so you have, in that sense, a shoot out of the old tree. And so here we are talking about a shoot out of the old Jesse, or a shoot out of the old David. Now it says, in verse 12, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise shall reign over the Gentiles. Now, he shall rise. Rise from what? Well, there is, of course, a rise from the womb. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he rose from the womb of Mary. And already in his life, he showed that he had total power, even before his resurrection, total power over nature. If you look at Mark 4, verse 39, then you see what that power is like. In Mark 4, verse 39, we read that the Lord was asleep on the boat, and then a tremendous wind arose, and the disciples were afraid that they would perish, and they woke him up, And then we read, and he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. So you see how he has already, before his resurrection, he has a tremendous power over nature. And the same with fishing. In John 21, for instance, he said, cast out a net and you will catch. And the net was so full that threatened to tear. But then also, the Lord, when he was born, he had already total power over the evil one and over his servants. You can read about that in Mark 5, verse 6 through 9. This is the Gardarines. They had crossed the lake, the disciples, and the Lord in the territory of the Gardarine, and there was a man who could not even be kept shackled. He would break everything. And then when he sees the Lord Jesus, then we, in chapter five, verse six through nine, then when he saw that man saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him and cried out with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with Jesus, thou son of the Most High God, I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. For he, that is the Lord Jesus, said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And the Lord Jesus asked the man, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are many. A legion was in the hundreds of soldiers. So I do not know whether there were hundreds of evil spirits in that man, but the truth is that indeed the Lord Jesus had total power over evil spirits, over the evil one, and the powers of darkness. And he also had total creative power. In our prayers we confessed the creative power that he has because it is still an act of God, you may say, when seed does sprout, we cannot make it sprout. And they can say, well, there is a German in there and that can, but ultimately it is the Lord. Creative power, but also in feeding of the 5,000, for instance. People thought, well, people have said, no, that had nothing to do with the Lord Jesus. It was just that this little boy started to share, and everybody shared, and then they had more than they expected. But no, it was the Lord who broke those few loaves of bread, and they were not loaves. Of course, they were flat, and they broke them in pieces, and those pieces just multiplied and multiplied and multiplied. and 5,000 men plus women and children, which is well over 10,000 people, were fed and 12 baskets were taken up. Well, total creative power. So when he rose from the womb, total power over nature, total power over the powers of darkness, total power over the creation, and so then not only that, but he also, it says, he shall rise, this root of Jesse shall rise, and he rises from the dead. Death had him. Now we think, when we think of death, we think of, well, somebody stops breathing, the heart stops, and the person is dead, but we do not think really of death as a power but in the scripture death is presented to us as a power that has to be defeated and the last enemy to be defeated is death and so death had the Lord Jesus Christ in his clutches, so to say. But he could not hold its prey. He could not hold the Lord Jesus. He broke free from death. And he shall rise from the grave. Now the Lord Jesus was buried in a sepulcher. A sepulcher was a space carved out of soft sandstone and then A big, very heavy stone rolled in front so you were securely locked in. You just couldn't get out. We have the same thing. When we are buried today, there is usually a concrete container and a casket goes in that and a concrete lid on it and then a few feet of dirt on top of it and you're buried. You're locked in. But the Lord Jesus rose from death. And we are told that all at the end, all people shall rise from death. But he had that power, and he came out. He was locked in, but it didn't stop him. And the stone stayed where it was, he came out, he rose from the grave. But he also rose from the power of Rome, because there were those guards in front of the sepulcher, and they could not control him. And those guards represented Caesar. So Caesar could not hold Christ in the grave. He shall rise. And then finally, when it says, the root of Jesse shall rise, then it says he rises and he ascends to the throne of God. And of course, then we are told in Matthew 28, verse 17, Matthew 28, 17 or 16, 18, all power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. So he rises and all this power in heaven and on earth, all power, not just some power, all power. is given unto him. And then in Philippians, we are instructed even further that the Lord Jesus Christ is exalted about everything and everyone in heaven and earth. In Philippians 2, we are told there in verse 9, Wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Highly exalted him and every knee shall bow. It reminds us of when Joseph was given the second highest position in Egypt and he rode in his chariot through the streets of the cities of Egypt that runners going before him would call out, bow the knee, and everybody on the street, if they knew what was good for them, they bowed the knee. knelt down because Joseph was coming by. Well, here it says that every knee shall bow in heaven on earth and under the earth for the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in Psalm 2, it says so clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ shall also reign over the Gentiles. I will read that for a moment to give us an idea of the description of the power of the Lord Jesus. Why do the heathen rage and, that is the Gentiles, and the people imagine vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bands asunder. and cast away their cords from us. That's what the Western world is doing in Europe and in North America. They're saying, let us cast, let us break their bands asunder. Let us do away with this Christian faith and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them. in the region, and then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. So it is clear in the light of the New Testament that the Lord Jesus says, I will declare the decree that the Lord, his father, has said unto him, the Lord Jesus, thou art my son, This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, the father says, and I shall give thee the heathen, the Gentiles for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings, as the rulers of the earth. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. And so this shows us the the power that the risen Lord Jesus Christ has. So he shall rise from the womb, he shall rise from the grave, and he shall rise and ascend to heaven to reign over the Gentiles. So the real sovereignty over Canada and the rest of the world is the risen and the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. The question is, how does the Lord Jesus Christ reign? First of all, not by letting everyone having his own way or her own way. We live in a time in which many people like to have as much freedom as possible. And we see this now also in the legislature that is coming to be free to smoke marijuana, which is really harmful to people. It destroys young minds, but this is what the people want, and this is what the government gives them. And so people want to have more and more freedom and do. If it feels good, do it. Well, no, says the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not the way it is. In Matthew 5, verse 17, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount, The Lord Jesus says, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Not to destroy the law. So there is a continuation of the Old Testament law. It is not so that Okay, we are no longer under law, but we're under grace. We have nothing to do with law anymore. We just follow Jesus. That's not there. The Lord Jesus says even a little bit later, he says, till heaven and earth shall pass, one yacht or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. So the law stays, the Old Testament law stays. Now the Lord Jesus, in the rest of the chapter, explains that law and says, you have heard it said, but I say, and so he lets his light shine upon it, but he has not come to destroy the law. No, he has come to fulfill the law. And also he has not come to destroy the prophets. As many people, I say the Old Testament, forget about it. Or the Psalms are nice, but for the rest, forget about it. I read about, in preparation for this, I came across this little vintage that one student of the man who wrote the book told him that he was in a class with some 25 people and only five were not ministers, 20 were ministers. And it was an introduction into the Bible. And the professor at the beginning said, how many of you have read through the Old Testament? So there is some 20 pastors there. Five hands went up. So even if those five were pastors, there were 15 who had never read the Old Testament, 15 ministers. Well, that is 75%. If that is true for ministers, how many people I've read the Old Testament. How many of you have read through the Old Testament? No, the Old Testament do away with, just the New Testament, no. The Lord Jesus says, I have come to fulfill the law and the prophets. And so the Lord Jesus has not come to start something new, the church, forget about the Jews, forget about the history of Israel, no. The Old Testament is being fulfilled. And as our confession says, the church starts with Adam and Eve. And it runs right through up until now. So how does the Lord Jesus reign? But not by letting everyone have his or her own way. He reigns by fulfilling law and prophets. Well, how does that fulfillment then run? Just to have a little example out of the Old Testament, look at Numbers 26 and verse 3 and 5. And Moses—okay, I'm sorry. I said numbers. It's Leviticus. I misread. It's Leviticus 26 and 3 and 5. And there the Lord says, if ye walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in due season. and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and your thrashing shall reach into the vintage, and the vintage shall reach into the sowing time, and ye shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely. In other words, you will never hunger. There will always be enough to eat, and it'll carry over from harvest to harvest, but the land will also be saved. These are the blessings when the law is fulfilled, but also when the law is fulfilled, there is destruction. In the same chapter, in verses 14 through 16, we read, but if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments, and if you shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that you will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant. And it says that ye will not do all my commandments, not just some of, all my commandments, but ye shall break my covenant. I also will do this unto you. I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you." We are so afraid, many people are afraid in the Western world that Islam will come and rule over our country. Well, if ISIS had its way, then that's what would be the case. And then it would be true that they that hate you shall reign over you. And that is how the Lord Jesus reigns. He reigns by fulfilling law and prophets. But the Lord Jesus also reigns as savior and judge. He reigns as Savior by keeping the law perfectly and sharing His perfect obedience with those who believe on Him and cry out to Him because He has fulfilled all righteousness and He hears those who call upon Him and He is their Savior and their Lord. He reigns as Savior, but He also reigns as Judge. by fulfilling the law and the prophets in judgment, as we just heard. And so the believers experience the Lord Jesus by fulfilling his promises. And that may not always be materially in this life, but the believers will experience the fulfillment of his promises and the promises of the prophets when they pass away, and they will pass away in peace and glorifying the Lord. And they shall live in a newness of life. And so this is how the Lord Jesus reigns, not by letting everyone have his own way, but by fulfilling the law and the prophets and reigning as savior and judge. Well, so the Lord Jesus then is the ruler over all the nations, but also, first of all, the ruler for us over Canada. And so what is the responsibility of those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, that's again in that well-known verse at the end of Matthew where the Lord Jesus says to his disciples, he says, go ye therefore, first he says, all power is given unto me in heaven and on earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations. Teach all nations. That's the first thing he says. Then he talks about baptizing them. in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But he says, first, teach all nations. And of course, at another place, he says that you have to begin, he says to the disciples, in Jerusalem, and then in Judea, the land around Jerusalem, and then Samaria, the next province. And then to the uttermost parts of the earth. So you begin where you are. And so the Lord is saying also, teach all nations. He says to us as a church, teach all nations beginning in Canada, beginning in Mitchell, in Bornholm, and wherever we live. Teach all nations. And teach what? Well, he says that also. He says, verse 20, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. All things what the Lord has commanded you and me, we have to teach to those around us. So first of all, of course, we have to know what the Lord is teaching us. But not only that, if we're not going to be hypocrites, then we also have to do what the Lord is commanding us. So this is our responsibility in this land. It's nice when they build a new gazebo in Lyons Park in Mitchell, and I don't know what other things they did for the 150th anniversary of Canada. In other places, everybody did something special, I guess, to remember this 150th by. But the greatest gift we can give is not another building or something like that. that we teach those around us all that Christ has commanded us. And then the Lord Jesus says also in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, you are the salt of the earth. You are the salt of the earth. Now, we use salt and now, More and more sparingly, we're told salt is bad for you. But we all have refrigerators, I'm sure. But I remember, I'm old enough to remember, that when my mother got some meat from the butcher, the first thing she did was rub some salt over it. Because salt preserves, keeps it from spoiling. And so, salt preserves. You, says the Lord Jesus, to his followers, are the salt of the earth. You are the ones who are to preserve the society in the midst of which you live. You are the salt. And then he also says, but if the salt has lost its savor, Then he says, it is therefore no good for anything but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot. Now you say, how can salt lose its savor? Well, salt can leach away. The taste can leach away, and if the salt is impure, then all you have left is a little bit of stuff that is nothing, really, and you can throw that away. And the Lord Jesus says, if the salt, if you lose your savor, you're no good for anything anymore. You may be a church, but you're not good for anything. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. And there's people walking in darkness. Now, you may not know them, but there are people that really live in darkness, and they don't know how to get out of it. And we watched the London news on TV, and how many times there are people in the courts, and they're walking in darkness, and the things that they have done in darkness is terrible. They're crying out. And where is the light? We are supposed to be the light. And so that is our responsibility. to our country according to the Lord Jesus. And the second thing is to preach repentance and remission of sins. This is what the Lord says in Luke 24, verse 47. There he says, thus it is written and thus it behooves Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, or as we would say, beginning in Canada. Preach that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations. And so, now Job, we read about Job, you remember? Well, Job did not repent, it says, until he saw the Lord. Now, does that mean that he saw a picture of the Lord? Not really. What happened is he had heard of the Lord. He knew a lot about the Lord, and he and his friends, before he got sick, they could discuss things about the Lord, but he had no experiential awareness of the Lord. And then when the Lord came in those four chapters and showed his power and his might and all he could do and set this before Job, the Lord did it in such a way that it got Job in the depths of his heart so that he realized the great power and the great glory and the great majesty of the Lord. And he cringed when he thought of all the things he had said about the Lord and questioned the Lord. He cringed within himself and he repented in dust and ashes. You see, repentance It's not just that you're convicted of sin. You know, those people that caused the death of this little one-and-a-half-year-old boy with scalded coffee, they may be convicted that they have done something wrong, but that is not repentance. Repentance is not only conviction of sin, it is also contrition. It is a broken heart before God. This was a human being. Look, I have become a murderer. I cannot undo this. This really hits me deep within. And there is really a godly sorrow. I am grieving. I cannot undo this. Lord, I am terrible. I am a horrible sinner." And this is why Job ends up on the ash heap, in dust and ashes, because he just abhors himself. He thinks he is a terrible person. And that is what repentance comes to. So that finally the Lord comes and lifts you up and says, but I still love you, sinner. I still love you. And so it is that kind of repentance and remission of sins that has to be preached to all nations. That's more than saying, just accept Jesus and you're saved. This goes deep, this goes way deep. This is preaching from out of your own ash heap, pleading with tears for a perishing nation and world. We do not really realize what many people are up to or what happens when they die. Just about every day on the news, somebody has died. It was a collision. It was a car. It was a tractor. It was a motorcycle, whatever. Where did those people go? Did they go to be with the Lord? Or did they go to hell? And then I have to say I'm not really concerned as I should be for my neighbor and for my fellow countrymen. We have to preach from out of our own ash heap, pleading with tears for a perishing nation and world. And this is how The Lord wants us to serve him. And we think again about the text. So, verse 12, and again, Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall rise to reign over the Gentiles for salvation and for judgment, and in him shall the Gentiles trust." When the gospel is brought, Gentiles, heathens, shall trust. This is how we may be a blessing to this land. Most of us, I'm sure, are either children of immigrants or immigrants ourselves. We're thankful for this land. This is how we may show. our thankfulness. Amen.