Well, let's turn in our Bibles, please, to Matthew chapter 27, the gospel of Matthew chapter 27. Our study today is going to be in verse 37, Matthew 27, 37. We'll start reading in verse 36, Matthew 27, 36. Notice it says, and sitting down, they watched him there. and set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." Now in our studies together in the Gospel of Matthew, we've been considering together the crucifixion of Christ. We looked at the crucifixion itself. and saw the physical and the spiritual torment that Christ endured to provide an atonement for our sins so that we might be forgiven them. And then we looked at the soldiers dividing Christ's clothing among themselves and gambling for his robe. And we saw two lessons from that event. We saw that at death all our material possessions are left behind, and therefore we must live for spiritual and eternal things, and not for temporal and for physical things. And then last week, we looked at the symbolic use of clothing in the Scriptures. And we saw that we must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ when we appear before God on the day of judgment, or else we will be cast out from His presence forever." Now, today, we want to consider another event that occurred during the crucifixion of Christ, and that was the affixing of the title to the cross by order of Pontius Pilate. Now, it was the custom of the Roman government to attach a list of crimes that the one being crucified was guilty of, so that those who passed by might become aware of the reason for the criminal's death. Now, in order to further clarify this business of affixing the title to the cross, which listed the crimes of Jesus, I want us to turn to the Gospel of John chapter 19. Now, in our text, in Matthew 27 and verse 37, this business of affixing the title to the cross is disposed of in one verse. John gives us a more extensive treatment of this event in four verses. And so notice, if you will, John chapter 19, verses 19 to 22. It says in verse 19 of John 19, and Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city. And it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Now, the purpose of placing the list of charges on the cross of those crucified was twofold. When someone was crucified, they put the list of the crime for which he was crucified on the cross over this person's head, and they did it for two reasons. First of all, it was to convince the people of the justice of their actions, that this person was being crucified, not for no reason. There was a reason why they were being crucified, and here it was. No one was ever crucified without a declaration of why it was happening. placed upon the cross over their heads. And the second reason why the list of charges was put on the cross of those crucified was not only to convince the people of the justice of their action, that there was a legitimate reason for doing this, but also to persuade them not to be involved in such actions themselves. lest they suffer a similar fate." If you saw someone who was guilty of insurrection being crucified and you saw that was the reason why they were there, you would say to yourself, hmm, I better not do that particular thing or I'll wind up where that person wound up. And so it was a great deterrent to crime. So it was an effort to say to the people, there's a just reason for doing this. And secondly, you had better not be engaged in this behavior yourself, lest you suffer a similar fate. What was done in this case to Christ in terms of placing a list of the crime for what he was being crucified for over his head, what was done in this case was nothing extraordinary from a natural perspective. All criminals received similar treatment when they were condemned to die upon the cross. But even though there was nothing extraordinary from a natural perspective about this statement of Christ's crimes being placed over his head, as we shall see from a divine perspective, what was written and the way it came about and the results that flowed from it were quite extraordinary. And so we have this very ordinary event that happened all the time to everybody who was crucified. but God attached a very extraordinary significance to it. And so there are several of these significances, and there are several lessons that flow from it that we want to learn about today, and we want to consider them together. So in the first place then this morning, let's consider together the origin of the title. The origin of the title. Now it's interesting to note that although the Jews had accused Jesus of many things before Pontius Pilate, it was in fact this particular inscription that Pilate chose to place above him. And that is the one accusation that the Jews expressly denied as being true. So the Jews accused Jesus of this and this and this and this and this. Pilate accused him of being something, and they expressly denied that accusation. While the Jews did accuse Jesus of trying to make himself a king, the Jews never said he was the king of the Jews. What they accused him of is trying to be a king over the Roman kingdom. and that he was trying to be a second Caesar and depose Caesar. They never accused him of being the king of the Jews. And when Pilate in John 19 verses 14 and 15 called him the king of the Jews, the Jews said, we have no king except Caesar. And so the Jews never accused Jesus of being king of the Jews. Pilate said, behold your king. And they said, away with him, crucify him. And Pilate said, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priests answered and said, we have no king but Caesar. And so the Jews expressly repudiated Christ as being the king of the Jews. They never accused him of that. And when Pilate accused him of that, they denied the accusation. But even though the Jews had declared that they had no king but Caesar and that Jesus was not their king, Pilate, perhaps out of anger at being pressured to make a decision he did not wish to make, or perhaps out of disgust and disrespect for their obviously false accusations and wrong motives for condemning Jesus, Pilate placed this particular title over Christ as a backhanded insult to the Jews. The Jews never owned Christ as their king, but Pilate declares Him to be their king. And by doing so enrages the Jews. People who passed by and read the inscription would look at Jesus hanging there crucified and would despise the Jews for having a defeated king and therefore being a defeated people. In these days, it was a reflection on the whole nation when its king was humiliated and defeated. And for it to appear that a Jewish king had been humiliated and defeated was in fact an insult to the entire Jewish nation. It was a mockery of the whole concept of Jewish national sovereignty and self-respect and pride that their king was hanging on a cross. And so Pilate, by affixing this title over Jesus, is conveying to the world that the Jewish king and thus the Jewish nation is a defeated and a subjugated and a humiliated people. That's why he wrote it in three languages as John tells us. So the insult would be conveyed to as many people as possible. So out of anger towards the Jews for being manipulated by them, And out of disgust towards the Jews because of their false accusations towards an innocent man, Pilate now seeks to insult them by placing this title on the cross, an accusation which they had expressly denied. But Just as Joseph could say to his brothers for selling him into Egypt in Genesis 50, verse 20, that they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, so the same can be said regarding this inscription that is placed over the cross of Jesus. Pilate placed these words here to insult and to anger the Jews. But in fact, God meant them to be placed there as a statement of truth. Because in fact, Jesus was the King of the Jews. You recall that when Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the week before his crucifixion, In Matthew 21.4-5, Matthew quotes Zechariah 9.9 regarding the significance of this triumphal entry. And the quotation that Matthew gave assigning meaning to this triumphal entry was this, Tell you the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And so the fact that Jesus rode this donkey into Jerusalem was a declaration that He was the King of the Jews in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9 in verse 9. You recall furthermore, that the angel who appeared to Mary at the Annunciation when He told her that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah, declared that Jesus was to be the King of the Jews. In Luke 1, verses 31 to 33, the angel said this. Behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. And he shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. Now here it is. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Who was David? He was the king of the Jews. And Jesus was going to sit in the throne of David. and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom, there shall be no end. And so at the annunciation, the angel said regarding Jesus, who was to be conceived and born from the womb of the Virgin Mary, that he was the King of the Jews. Even the wise men recognize this when they came from the East to honor him at his birth. Their question as they came to Jerusalem was this, where is he that is born King of the Jews? You remember Herod got really upset. King? King? I'm king. Who's this? This rival. And you remember he went and killed all the children in Bethlehem that were two years old and younger because he didn't want this king to live. Nathanael. Declared in John chapter 1 in verse 49 when Jesus met him. He says thou art the Son of God Thou art the king of Israel So over and over and over again in the scriptures, Jesus was declared to be the King of the Jews by prophecy of the scriptures in the Old Testament, by the revelation of angels to Mary, by the wise men and by Nathanael. And so Pilate's declaration, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Pilate's declaration then was really a statement of absolute truth. This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. That is what was written over his head. And so we see how God in his providence uses even his enemies to serve his purposes and to glorify his son. I mean, Pilate was no friend of Jesus. He sentenced Him to death, and yet God uses even His enemies, people like Pilate, to bring glory to His Son. And the point is simply this, the enemies of Christ never fail to serve and honor Jesus Christ in spite of their best intentions to do otherwise. Pilate was no friend of Christ, and yet in spite of himself, wound up doing that which proclaimed Christ's true identity to the whole world when he put that statement on the cross, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. And I believe that it was that very title that spoke to and was instrumental in the conversion of the thief on the cross. Because what Pilate did when he nailed that statement to the top of the cross, is that he set forth a gospel tract. And as the thief read it, it must have convinced him as to who Jesus really was. And so he said what? Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. How did he know he was a Lord, a king, and how did he know he had a kingdom? Because there was a title above him that said, Jesus, King of the Jews. God is so infinitely wise that as Psalm 76 and verse 10 says, surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain. And so the wrath of the Jews and the wrath of Pilate, they were all set against God. God used it all to proclaim the true identity of Jesus, and through that proclamation, the thief on the cross. came to understand the true identity of Jesus, and came to put his faith in Jesus Christ. God is so infinitely wise, that He takes the worst that His enemies can do, and uses it to further His kingdom, bless His people, and to glorify His Son. The same thing occurred when Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church. It simply spread the message further. You remember, they stoned Stephen to death. And it says in Acts 8, verse 4, that regarding the persecution that arose around Stephen, it says that they scattered and they went everywhere preaching the gospel. It's like grabbing a dandelion and shaking it, and the seeds just go everywhere. And then you've got 50 dandelions instead of one. And so they grabbed Stephen and they shook him and they tried to destroy him and the gospel just spread. And so the worst that the enemies of Christ and his people can do only result in the furtherance of God's purposes. You remember that the Jews thought, we'll put Paul in prison and that'll shut him up. We got four New Testament books out of that. I remember my own father who despised the gospel. getting me the job where I was witnessed to and brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ. He came home to me one day when I was a teenager, 16 years old. He says, hey, I got you a job. I said, oh, really? With who? Well, this guy named Jim Bamford. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, he's going to be cleaning up the campgrounds that I administer. And I told him that, you know, I had a son that needed a job. Hint, hint, you'll get the job if you hire my son. And that individual was a Christian and he led me to Christ. It's the last result my father ever wanted to achieve. And so God uses the ungodly to further his purposes and to see to it that his gospel is spread and his people are saved. And even when they're doing their worst, God uses it to accomplish his best. And so it is the wisdom of God to establish and spread the truth through the very means as enemies are seeking to use to suppress it. Therefore, do not let the enemies of the cross discourage you and do not fear them or tremble before what they might do. Because in the end, God will manage them in such a way that his purposes will be furthered while theirs will be utterly defeated. Now that's not to say, of course, that they will obtain any benefit from their unwitting service to Christ. They will be judged by their intent and not by the outcome. And if they meant it for evil, it will be judged as evil, even though God uses it for good. The stoning of Stephen was an evil act. They meant it for evil. God used it for good to spread the gospel throughout the Roman empire. And so it does not excuse a sin that God can bring glory to himself and good to his people out of it. You remember Paul said in Romans chapter three, he says, shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid. People say, well, if we sin a whole bunch, then that magnifies the grace of God a whole bunch. So sin is justified. And Paul said, no, it's not. So when the wicked do their worst and the result is the gospel flourishes, it doesn't bring any benefit to them because they're judged by their intent, not by the effect or the outcome of what they do. And so Pilate promotes the honor of Christ in the title that he gives him. But Pilate receives no benefit for doing so because his motive was corrupt. So the origin of this title is that it came as a sarcastic insult from the hands of Pilate towards the Jews, but it also came as a statement of absolute truth from the hand of God. Pilate meant this title for evil, but God meant it for good. And that brings us then to our second major point, having seen the origin of the title, notice secondly, the application of the title. The application of the title. Now it says in John chapter 19 and verse 20, which I have read to you, It says, this title then read many of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Now, the result is that many people read this title both because of its proximity to the city and also because it was written in three different languages. It's written in Hebrew, it's written in Greek, And it was written in Latin. Now there's great significance in the fact that this title was written in three different languages. That Jesus was the son of David, sitting on the throne of David as the king of God's people was not just a message for the Jews. He was for the Gentiles as well because it was written in their languages also. Now follow along here. It was to be known in religious circles that Jesus was the king of the Jews and that's why it was written in Hebrew. It was to be known in cultural circles that Jesus was the King of the Jews. And so it was written in Greek. It was to be known in governmental circles that Jesus was the King of the Jews. And so it was written in Latin, which was the official language of the Roman government at that time in history. And so Hebrew was the language of the religious people, the Jews. Greek was the language of Roman culture. Everybody spoke Greek. It was the common language. And then, of course, it was written in Latin, which was the official government language in which all official government documents and communications were written in. In other words, this message of Jesus' kingship was to be proclaimed and applied to all people in all places, in all circumstances. This was a foreshadowing, not only of the breadth to which his kingship would extend to all peoples, both Jews and Gentiles, but it was also a foreshadowing of the depth of his kingship. that it was to be brought into every area of life, be it religious life, or cultural life, or governmental life. Jesus is king over all peoples in all situations, wherever they might find themselves. Jesus is to be king over religion, Jesus is to be king over culture, and Jesus is to be king over government. To be the king of the Jews was no small matter in the sense in which it is spoken of regarding Jesus. Now I want you to turn in your Bibles, please, to Zechariah chapter nine, the book of Zechariah, the ninth chapter. We're going to look together at verses nine and 10. Zechariah nine. Verses nine and 10. Now, Zechariah 9.9 is the verse that Matthew quoted in interpreting the meaning of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in Matthew 21. Notice, if you will, Zechariah 9.9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto thee! He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass and upon the occult, the foal of an ass. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, that is, the chariots and horses of enemies that are coming to assault Jerusalem and Ephraim, the northern kingdom, and the battle bow shall be cut off. and He shall speak peace unto the heathen." That's the Gentiles. Now here it is. And His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. And so when it says that Jesus is the King of the Jews, that doesn't mean He's the King of an itty-bitty piece of geography and a little tiny couple of millions of people. To be the king of the Jews meant to be the king of the whole earth. It meant to be the king, not only of the Jews, but all of the Gentiles. And there is no part of the world over which that kingship does not extend. And when that kingship is fully exercised, then the earth will fully be at peace with God and among the peoples of the earth. Only Jesus can provide salvation and justice and peace. And we have salvation and justice and peace because he has provided it. That's the kind of king he is. Wouldn't it be nice to have a king like that in our president's office? Someone who brought the gospel, and someone who brought justice, and someone who brought peace, instead of someone who brings satanic lies, someone who brings division, and someone who has justice for some, and injustice for others, like Kim Davis. Turn in your Bibles, please, to Psalm 72. Psalm 72, and we're going to look at verses 8 to 14. In Psalm 72, verses 8 to 14, we have an expansion on what Zechariah said. You remember Zechariah said in chapter 9 and verse 10, his dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth. Now notice how the psalmist picks that idea up. And he says in Psalm 72, in verse 8, speaking of Messiah, And he shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness, that's the Gentiles, shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. That is, they'll be face down in front of him. Faces to the ground. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him, for he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that has no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall his blood be in their sight. And so that's just an expanded description of the effect and the nature and the objects of His rule. That He's going to rule over all kings and He's going to bring salvation to all peoples. So to be the King of the Jews then, meant nothing less than worldwide dominion, absolute submission of that world to that dominion, perfectly righteous judgment, and the provision of gracious salvation to those who are needy. This was quite a proclamation for Pontius Pilate to make, wasn't it? However unwittingly he made it, when he said, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, he was saying everything that Zechariah 9 and verses 9 and 10 say, and that Psalm 72 verses 8 to 14 say about Jesus. And this is why the Jews were so furious when they saw that title over the cross. To declare Jesus to be the King of the Jews in the ultimate sense, like Pilate was doing, was to declare the duty of all people to submit to him and to seek salvation from him. And they knew it because they knew what the scripture said about the King of the Jews. And what the Scripture said about the King of the Jews strikes at the pride of man in such a way that only the grace of God can cause him to receive it and to bow before what it means for Jesus to be the King of the Jews. Because to be the King of the Jews is to be the King of the whole earth over all peoples in religion, in culture, and in government. where all kings bow before Him and no one is exempt from submitting to His authority." So this title was a proclamation that Christ was to establish His throne in every nation. And that all peoples were to be told of His rule and salvation that He as a King would bring. The truth of the kingship of Jesus is to be applied to all peoples of every language and every situation and condition in which they are to be found. Christ is to rule in religion. Christ is to rule in culture. Christ is to rule in government. And Christ is to rule in every single area of your life. And that is a message that the world hates with a passion that enrages them. And you can see the rage of the homosexual community and the rage of the judge. When Kim Davis said, I'm under the authority of God and not of man, I serve Jesus and not the Supreme Court. They throw her in jail without bail. when the worst murderers are given bail. Having seen the origin of the title and the application of the title, notice finally, and thirdly, the objection to the title. The objection to the title. Now, once again, we look at our passage in John 19, which gives us the fuller record It says in John 19 and verse 21 and 22, then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. In other words, change what you wrote. And in verse 22 of John 19, Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. In other words, I'm not changing it. The Jews objected vigorously to this title given to Christ. Because not only did it humiliate them nationally, as stated earlier, It also deeply offended them personally, because if Jesus was the king of the Jews, then that meant he was also their personal king, and they were not about to have this man rule over them. They had worked long and hard to rid themselves of him. And now to be told that he was to rule them, was something that was abhorrent to them. Now they were willing to allow that he claimed to be the king of the Jews, but they were not willing to allow that he was the king of the Jews. But what Pilate had written over the cross was not a supposition It was a statement of fact. He wrote, this is the King of the Jews, Matthew 27, 37, our text today. This is, not that he claimed to be, this is the King of the Jews. It was not a supposition, it was a statement of fact. It was not a hope. It was a reality. It was not a claim. It was a declaration of truth. It set forth the position of Christ and it set forth their duty to Christ in no uncertain terms and they wanted none of it. Now this sounds like many people today, doesn't it? They want nothing of Christ's rule in their lives and they are offended at the suggestion that God defines the nature of marriage. The Supreme Court doesn't and judges don't. The idea that God would rule and that His rules would be normative for the nation is abhorrent. to the people in culture of our day, and they are furious, not at the supposition, but at the declaration of fact that that's how it is. They are willing to allow religion to make claims, but they will never allow absolute statements of fact that are non-negotiable. They're happy for us to say, well, you know, I believe in Jesus and it really works for me, but I'm sure that you have your own religious beliefs and they satisfy you. Now they would have no problem with us saying something like that, but they would have and do have a problem saying, this is universal truth. I have to submit to it and you do too. As long as Jesus is just one of the many possibilities, fine. But when Jesus is presented as the only and exclusive Lord of mankind, and every other authority is subordinate to his, anger erupts and the mob starts screaming. Now notice, if you will, how the Jews try to get Pilate to change the wording as though that will change the fact. Rewrite it, they say, from a statement of fact to a mere personal claim. And it sounds like those who are trying to rewrite the Bible in our day, so it'll be gender neutral. and do away with the whole idea of a masculine God who is a father and has a son. Boys, not girls in the Godhead. I don't know if you know about the history of Thomas Jefferson. He was a deist, decided he didn't like what the Bible said, so he rewrote it. And he cut out the parts he didn't like, like the resurrection, the miracles. But you know, the fact that he rewrote what the Bible said didn't change the facts one iota of what the scriptures did say. You can rewrite things all day long, but it will never change the facts of what actually exists. They said he only claimed to be the king of the Jews, but he really wasn't. So rewrite it, Pilate. Altering the word of God, whether by rewriting it or by denying its authority or by impugning its accuracy or by simply ignoring it, none of that changes its reality and its truth and its application. You know, it's like standing on a set of train tracks and the train's coming. And you deny that the train is coming. It isn't going to keep it from hitting you. And you can deny all day long that Jesus is King, but it's not going to stop Him from being King or from you experiencing the results of that kingship when He comes in wrath and judgment. The train is coming. The only question is, are you going to be on it? Or are you going to be in front of it? Is it going to carry you to heaven? Or is it going to crush you into hell? And you can deny there's a train and you can deny it's coming all day long. You can rewrite what the scripture says about those events, but it isn't going to change them. One iota. Now, Pilate here once again unwittingly takes the role, I say unwittingly, takes the role of the servant of God when he replies, what I have written, I have written. And just like Pilate would not change his words or his declaration of absolute fact regarding Jesus in the same way, God will never change his words or his declaration of absolute facts either. Now Pilate's stubbornness and refusal to change his words was the result of his arrogance and insolence towards the Jews. He loved the idea that he had gotten their goat and that he had irritated them. Once again, he takes the position of representing the mind of God. What does God say about his words? He says, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. What he has written, he has written, and he will never change it. On the day of judgment, many will plead with God to alter his word. but he will not. God has written in his own word that Jesus is the king of the Jews, and he will never change that writing. God has written that those who rebel against his king will be broken in pieces with a rod of iron, and God will not change that writing. He has written that those who have submitted to His King and put their trust in Him are a blessed people. And He will not change that writing either. God's words are fixed and changeless and utterly reliable, and no matter who objects to them or what pressure they bring to bear and hopes that they will be changed somehow, The Word of God is fixed and changeless forever. Heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away. Therefore, It behooves ourselves to adapt ourselves to God's words and to shape ourselves to His words, because His words will never be changed or adapted or fitted to us. That's what the Jews wanted. Change this so it suits us. I have three applications. The first is this. We must never fear the enemies of Christ because they always play right into his hands and ultimately serve his purposes. We must never fear the enemies of Christ because they always play right into His hands and ultimately serve His purposes. You can see it in the Jews and you can see it in Pilate. They were no friends of Christ. They were at war with each other and yet both of them served the purpose of God to provide a Redeemer and to declare His identity. You look at the devil and how he did everything he could to destroy Job, and all it did is play into the hands of God to create the book of Job that has been a comfort to suffering Christians for centuries and millennia. You think of the Muslims today who are slaughtering Christians. All they're doing is playing right into the hands of Christ to further the spread of the gospel. The refugees that are pouring out of Syria to escape the fighting, are coming to Christian churches and refugee camps and finding Christ as Savior. And so, when you think of the worst that the wicked do, all it does is play into the hands of the best that God intends to do. Where He works all things together for the good of His people. Even the most wicked actions of His most hateful enemies. And so we don't need to fear the ascendancy and the triumph of the wicked. Yes, they do horribly evil things and they need to be punished for those things that they do. But in the end, whatever they do only furthers the glory of God and the cause of his kingdom. Secondly, We must submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of our life and seek salvation only from Him. If He's the King of the Jews, then what that means is that He's your King. Because to be the King of the Jews is to be King over all the nations and all the peoples of the earth. and to be our King in every area of our life. He is my King in my work. He is King in my family. He is King in my church. He is King as to how I behave when I move and speak within my culture. He is my King in my relationship with my government. Government is not my God and it's not my King. And if they command me to do something that's contrary to the will or the word of God, then they must be defied. Thank God for a woman who's willing to stand up and defy the godless wicked government that we have. And what follows from this people is this. You cannot have Jesus as savior without having him as Lord. You know, so many people say, well, you know, I can pray the prayer and get saved and then live any way I please. But God's obligated to save me and I'll lose a few rewards, but I'll get to heaven. No, if he's not your king, he's not your savior because Jesus comes as a package. And you either accept all that he is or you have none of what he is. And yes, he's a savior, but he's also the king of the Jews. And so he must be king in your life, not just on Sunday, but every day throughout the day and all the things you do in that day. Jesus is Lord. He says, if you continue in my words, then are you my disciples indeed. And so that statement, the king of the Jews applies directly to us. He's our king. Thirdly, we can be confident that God will never alter his word. We can be confident that God will never alter his word. In that sense, Pilate was representing how God himself acts. What I have written, I have written. And in spite of efforts to change the word of God and edit the word of God and to reinterpret the word of God and to provide all sorts of new versions that say whatever people want it to say, what God has written, he has written. And he doesn't bow to editors or alterations in what he has written. In Psalm 119 and verse 89, it says, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. It's settled. It's never going to be rewritten or re-edited. There's not a second edition coming out, people. In John 10.35, Jesus says the Scriptures cannot be broken. And what this does is it gives us absolute certainty regarding the future. God's purposes and God's plans and God's promises that he has given in his word will certainly come to pass. And he will not alter the thing that has gone out of his mouth. What he has written, he has written. He will not change it ever. And this is for us a blessed hope and a comforting certainty. So as we come to the Lord's supper today, What do we remember about this Jesus whose body was broken and whose blood was shed? What we remember about him is he's the King of the Jews. And what that means to us is that we should rejoice greatly. We should shout because our King has come to us. He is just. He has salvation. He is humble who rides upon a colt, the foal of an ass. He will cut off our enemies. He will speak peace to us. He will redeem our soul from deceit and violence. Our blood will be precious in His sight. You can take that to the bank because those promises will never be changed. And so while this declaration, Jesus is the King of the Jews, is the greatest threat in the world to the rebellious, it is the greatest comfort in the world to the believer. And it's all declared in Psalm 2. Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine of vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bands asunder. Let us cast their accords from us. He that sits in the heaven shall laugh. He says, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. He has asked of me, I've given him the nations for his inheritance. All those who rebel, he will break with a rod of iron, like a rod of iron breaks a pottery vessel. So be wise. kiss the Son in submission, lest He be angry with thee, and you perish from the way. But, O blessed are all of those who put their trust in Him." This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Be in His kingdom, or be under His wrath. Repent of your rebellion. Receive Christ as your savior. Trust in him for your forgiveness. Bow before him in meekness and in humility and say to him, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. I recognize you as a king. I recognize you have a kingdom. I want to be in that kingdom. Oh, Lord, invite me into your kingdom. Receive me. I trust you. I look to you as my king. May that be the disposition of all of our hearts. And may we never fear those who would try to turn us away from that by declaring, he didn't say that, he didn't mean that, he's not that. Those are those who will be with Pilate and the Jews in hell. May we be among the true Jews. like Paul and Peter and John who submitted themselves to Christ and who follow him. Shall we pray together? Father, we thank you for our savior. We own and acknowledge that he is our king. He is king over religion. He is king over culture. He is king over government. There is no place where his rule and authority and law is not to be acknowledged. And Lord, we just pray for the salvation and the redemption of our nation that has risen up and shaken its fist at God. And Lord, may we walk the path of obedience, though it means martyrdom. Though it means suffering, though it means imprisonment, Lord, may we walk before you in confidence, knowing that in due time, the true Supreme Court, which is the great white throne judgment of Jesus Christ, will stand in judgment on every magistrate, every police officer, every citizen, and bring His judgment to bear on them. Father, help us to be those who constantly bow before Jesus as Lord, not just in word, but in deed. In Christ's name, we ask it. Amen.