Please remain standing for our Old Testament lesson, which is also our sermon text this morning. It comes from 1 Kings 1. Now King David was old and advanced in years, and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. Therefore his servants said to him, let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms that my lord the king may be warm. So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel and found Abishag, the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not. Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him. His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, why have you done thus and so? He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom. He conferred with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest, and they followed Adonijah and helped him. But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rehi, and David's mighty men were not with Adonijah. Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle by the serpent stone, which is beside En-Rogel. And he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah. But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, or Benaiah, or the mighty men of Solomon, or Solomon his brother." Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king and David, our Lord, does not know it? Now therefore come, let me give you advice that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go in at once to King David and say to him, did you not, my Lord the King, swear to your servant saying, Solomon, your son shall reign after me and he shall sit on my throne? Why then is Adonijah king? Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words. So Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was attending to the king. Bathsheba bowed and paid homage to the king. And the king said, what do you desire? She said to him, my lord, you swore to your servant by the lord your God saying, Solomon, your son shall reign after me and he shall sit on my throne. And now behold, Adonijah is king, although you, my lord the king, do not know it. He has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but Solomon your servant he has not invited. And now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise it will come to pass when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders." While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in and they told the king, here is Nathan the prophet. And when he came in before the king, he bowed before the king with his face to the ground. And Nathan said, my lord, the king, have you said Adonijah shall reign after me and he shall sit on my throne? For he has gone down this day and has sacrificed oxen, and fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, long live King Adonijah. But me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he has not invited. Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king, and you have not told your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? Then King David answered, call Bathsheba to me. So she came into the king's presence and stood before the king. And the king swore, saying, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity, as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, Solomon, your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place. Even so will I do this day. Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, May my Lord King David live forever. King David said, Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. So they came before the king. And the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel, then blow the trumpet and say, Long live King Solomon. You shall then come up after him and he shall come and sit on my throne for he shall be king in my place And I have appointed him to be ruler over israel and over judah And benaiah the son of jehoiada answered the king. Amen. May the lord the god of my lord the king say so As the lord had been with my lord the king even so may he be with solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king david So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and the Cherithites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule and brought him to Gihon. There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet and all the people said, long live King Solomon. And all the people went up after him playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy so that the earth was split by their noise. Adonijah, and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, What does this uproar in the city mean? While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, came. And Adonijah said, Come in, for you are a worthy man, and bring good news. Jonathan answered Adonijah, no, for our Lord King David has made Solomon king and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and the Cherithites and the Pelethites and they had him ride on the king's mule and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon and they have gone up from their rejoicing so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard. Solomon sits on the royal throne. Moreover, the king's servants came to congratulate our Lord King David, saying, May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours and make his throne greater than your throne. And the king bowed himself on the bed. And the king also said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted someone to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it. Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and rose, and each went his own way. And Adonijah feared Solomon, so he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. Then it was told Solomon, behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not put his servant to death with the sword. And Solomon said, if he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hair shall fall to the earth. But if wickedness is found in him, he shall die. So Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and paid homage to King Solomon. And Solomon said to him, go to your house." The word of the Lord. Let's pray together, please. Holy Father, we recognize how little we actually hear from you. We hear from all kinds of voices, from sports, to weather, to news, to politics. We are surrounded by voices. And yet, for some of us, this is really the only time that we hear from you at all, all week. And so I pray, Father, as the preacher, that you would strengthen me, that I would speak truth from your word, that anything that I say that is not from you would dissolve into nothingness. But that which is true would resound in my heart and in the hearts of all who hear these words. How desperately we need to hear from you, how tired we are. of trying to arrange and organize our own lives, how weary it makes us when we strive to have the answers in ourselves. You have the answers, you have the solutions, and you hold the mysteries as well. And so whether this morning we are to enter into mysteries or to find answers, please grant to each one of us what we need from your word. Speak to us, Father, for your servants are listening. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen. Please be seated. So, of course, that long, multi-page reading, 1 Kings, in your Bible. And, you know, if your name is John, then you get to hear your name a lot in the Bible, or if it's David. But, you know, I just want to give a shout-out this morning to Benaiah. Benaiah, this is your, like, this is your...it doesn't come up that often. It's always nice to hear that, you know. So we have been preaching through the book of Samuel, which is in English 1 and 2 Samuel. Our sermon text is usually governed by the book of the Bible, and so we might call this a two-sermon topical series on the topic of the end of the life of David. We started 1 Samuel In May of 2014, we finished that book 14 months later. We took on 2 Samuel, February 21st of last year. So although I haven't been preaching from that every single Sunday, I've had vacations and holiday sermons and whatnot, it has been almost a year and that we've been in 2 Samuel and a year and a half on the book of Sam, I'm sorry, two and a half years on the book of Samuel. I know it's sad to have it not, but don't worry. I love Old Testament narratives. I'm just so very fond of them. They're fun to preach. They allow for creativity and examination. But the Lord, in His wisdom, has given us prophets, poetry, wisdom, law, and that's just the Old Testament. And so we want to give our attention to those portions of Scripture as well. So the preaching of the full book of 1 Kings will have to wait to another day long from now. All that being said, frankly, it seemed to me the best way to honor King David. He is not just a name on a page. He's not simply a literary figure. King David is a man who lived on the earth and died many years ago. He was the man who was proclaimed to be the king. We studied his life as a boy, and it seems honoring to him that we would see his life to a close. The book of Samuel wasn't a book about Samuel. That's not why it was named that. It was considered to be, he's the first prophet, the primary prophet in the book, so the book took his name. But by the book of 2 Samuel, Samuel himself has gone from the pages. The book of Samuel is really more about David. But I think we could refine that description a little bit more. As a biography of David, certainly the book of Samuel holds historical interest, biographical inspiration, and so on and so forth. But while David is gone, and we hold on to lessons from his life, what is the continuing importance of the historical events described for us in the book of Samuel? Why do those things matter? What happened in David's life matters to us not because, ultimately, because of the inspiration we might get from such stories. You could read Lord of the Rings and be very inspired by the things that happen there. The fact that they're fictional doesn't mean they're any less inspiring. But the historical events in David's life are of the utmost importance to us today, because the kingdom of David is the kingdom of God. The kingdom has grown past its original geography, it has expanded past its political nature, and it has also grown beyond its ability to fail. But the kingdom of God is certainly not less than David's kingdom. And David's greater son, Jesus, is now enthroned as the king of the kingdom of God. And right down, closer down to the seed, is David's kingdom. So as we are reading about this kingdom, organized under the covenant of grace, we are really learning about the kingdom of God, of which we are now a part. It is more than David's kingdom, but it is not less. And that's all the more important because David's kingdom is once again under threat. There's one last rebellion that David gets to witness, just as the modern-day kingdom of God is under threat from any number of places. David and his followers found a way to make sure that the kingdom persevered, as will we by the grace of God. So this is not a text about you. It's a text about the kingdom of David, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of our Lord Christ. And that is your kingdom. how it is threatened, and how it is saved. So the first thing I want you to notice here is that the book of Kings begins with a tremendous contrast from the David that we once knew. We first met David in 1 Samuel 16. He was described as ruddy and handsome. The anointing oil from Samuel's hand was still glistening on his head as the Spirit rushed upon him and filled him for the task of being seated as king from that very day. Now, though, as 1 Kings opens, David has declined to the point at which he can't even get warm in bed when he's piled with blankets. Verse 1 says it twice, David was old and advanced in years. In other words, he was old and he was old. He was really, really old. Now we know that he was 70 years old at this time, and 70 is not actually particularly old. Even at the time, 70 was not that, it was certainly older. But he wasn't ancient and decrepit. He shouldn't have been. He wasn't past the point of vitality. Joab was roughly the same age as David, and Joab's out planning rebellions, right? So the idea that a young woman could be brought in to him to warm him. Now, obviously, this is certainly not common to our lives in practice, and we really want to understand the difference between what Scripture demands and what Scripture describes. This is, if you're cold at night, this is not a prescription for anything except for your wife. I'm sure you knew that, but you know, you just got to say this sort of thing. I'd feel bad if I didn't say it. Somebody's like, well, the Bible said. In any case, it's not common in our time in the ancient Near East. It was not unusual, particularly for royalty at the time. Abishag, who may or may not have been the bride featured in Song of Solomon, never says one way or another. There's a great tradition that says, indeed, she is. I'm inclined that way, but I have no ultimate proof. Abishag appears to have had the status of some sort of concubine, a lesser wife. She had the status, but she was in the role, really, of a nurse. And the verses here are to demonstrate for us a contrast. Previously, when King David saw a beautiful woman, he went as far to murder her husband so that he could know her intimately. Now, he has a beautiful woman in his bed who is very likely, I mean, she's there for warming. She is very likely not wearing very much, if anything. And that is not enough to spark his vitality. So what has happened that would weaken such a great man? The presence of the young woman naturally makes us think of Bathsheba. And that was in fact when everything turned on the kingdom. The auspicious beginning collapsed. Paul was cast over the kingdom. And great David, the giant slayer, the boy who killed lions and bears, is now so feeble that he can barely stay warm. Even on his deathbed, David cannot escape the consequences of his sin. Lest we forget, his sin was pronounced to be forgiven the moment he confessed by the prophet of God himself. Your sin is put away. You will not die. And yet the consequences stayed with him his entire life. So what does this mean for the Kingdom of God? Well, it is now the Lord Jesus who sits on the throne and He will forever. He doesn't sin. He doesn't change. Jesus does not fail. But the principle still holds that we, as the church, or as a church, should we allow sin to enter in and take root, we will also be weakened. We as a church or as the church, we're looking universally worldwide. Should we allow sin to come in and rest here? We will have no vitality. We won't be life to anyone. We won't be salt and light. We won't be a blessing to the world. We won't fulfill the promises given to Abraham. We can't bless the nations if we are hamstrung and hobbled by our own sin that we have allowed to brew. We won't be a light shining in the darkness. Listen, sin weakens. Sin weakens. It weakens a church. It weakens a people. It weakens your own constitution. It makes for weak people, and David is the illustration of this. So, as the kingdom of God, we must never, first, we can never be content simply to be kept warm under the covers. You wouldn't imagine that David says, well, I've got everything I need now that I'm warm and I can just stay here in bed. As the church, we must hunger for the vitality that comes with being living and healthy, not content to just snuggle up under the blankies. But we must learn from David also that we can never allow for the indulgence of sin. We can't wink at anything, not sexual sin, nor greed, nor gossip, nor hatred, nor self-centeredness. This is you as an individual, us as a church, and us as the church around. So that means that you have to make repentance a centerpiece of your spiritual life. I don't simply mean confession as a rote prayer that you might see. I mean real repentance, a hatred of sin. a regret that you were so inclined to evil in a real effort to put it off. Now, sanctification is a part of this, but I'm not simply saying that we must stop all of these sins. You certainly must. But our hearts, our whole lives long, are always inclined against God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that draws us to Him, that sanctifies us. Our natural state is to rebel against Him. Sins of lust, greed, gossip, hatred, self-centeredness, pride. These are all endemic to the human condition. I'm not asking you if you're struggling with those things. I'm telling you that you are. And then I'm asking you if you recognize that you are. That's the only question that the Bible makes available to you. It assumes you are struggling with sin. And so that means that you can't make the gospel of Jesus Christ a side issue or plan B. Sin is not kept out by a checklist of good deeds done and naughty bits avoided. Sin is kept out by the Lord Jesus Christ and His work for us and our true repentance of the same. What's that look like in kingdom life? It means if somebody comes to you, whether it's me or an elder or a spouse or just somebody in the church, or, oh, and I know you hate this, parents, but even if it's your child and comes to you and expresses to you in some way, you have sin in your life. All those swords that come out, all of the prickles, Let's say, oh yeah? What are you going to talk about? Are you going to talk about my sin? Let's talk about your sin. All of those defenses go away because people who don't defend themselves against the charge of sin can receive grace. People who repel that charge of being sinners, you know who the first person is to back away from that? Jesus. If you deny that you need Him, He has no place in your life. So prepare your heart not to be defensive or angry, but to be thankful that someone would care for you so much that God in His providence would even give you a child who, respectfully, children, who would want you to participate fully in life with God, so much so that they would even be willing to reveal to you your own sin. They don't want to see you weakened, and that's what sin does. And when you're weak, the enemy attacks, and that's exactly what happened here in our text. Adonijah was the next in line for the throne by the traditional rules of succession. He was older than Solomon. But it's apparent from the text that Solomon's position as the heir apparent, appointed by David, was already solidified and promised. I mean, obviously, that's why Solomon didn't receive an invitation to Adonijah's enthronement ceremony. He knew, I can't have Solomon there. Solomon thinks he's going to be the next king. I just have to beat him to the punch. And so Adonijah is revealed as yet again another son of David who never received any discipline from his father. Parents, please take note. And exactly like his late brother and former aspirant to the throne, Absalom, he gets 50 men. He's like, it worked well for Absalom. Gets 50 men to run before his chariot. He sees the weakness of his father. And he sees that he has the support from both Joab, David's chief of his military, and Adonijah, Bathsheba's grandfather. And he comes out in a great show of power. All the runners, the chariot, the support of two of the most important men in the entire nation, and all the countless sacrifices of animals that he makes. The big party. A great show of power and strength. at a time when the king and the kingdom seemed incredibly weak. When Satan caused man to fall into sin in the garden, God cursed him, saying that his head would be crushed by the descendant of the woman. It's not quite accurate to say that God and Satan have been at war ever since. God isn't at war with anyone. We all exist, including Satan, by God's permission. There's no war. God doesn't strive. If God had wanted Satan to be dissolved immediately, that would be done. But there has been a battle and God has given that battle to men to fight against Satan. This is why Jesus Christ had to be an actual man, not God appearing as a man, but he had to be one of us so he could represent us. And because God had promised that it would be a descendant of men, the seed of the woman, who would crush the head of the seed of the serpent. Adonijah is simply another attempt by the offspring of the serpent, by the forces of evil, to try to advance himself over the offspring of the woman. We no longer have an enemy according to the flesh. That is not our real battle. Now, there are certainly people and policies who oppose the church and hate the Lord. But the difference is that we hold out hope that even our enemies can be won to faith in Christ. It used to be that God said, listen, those people are opposed to me, go annihilate them. And now God says, those people are opposed to me, go and allow yourself even to be annihilated by them because you're proclaiming my gospel. He used to say, take their life. Now, following Christ, the model of warfare in the New Testament is now go and lay down your life for those people. So there's nobody that we can say that that person there or that group of people is our enemy. But we do have an enemy, in fact, who will never be one to faith. We do have an enemy for whom the Lord holds no mercy at all. to whom we make no offer of the gospel, and that, of course, is the devil himself and those spiritual forces of evil in the invisible places, powers and principalities that are often called in Scripture. my friends, is the real war on earth between the offspring of the woman, that's you, and the offspring of Satan. I will admit that there is a sense in which it would be just wonderful to have a pretty white church with a nice high steeple in the middle of a grassy field that all the kids could play and I could drive to the riding lawn more, because I think those are loads of fun. You know, we could all come in church on Sunday, go up the hill. The kids could ring the bell while dads parked the wagons and the horses. We'd all sing from cloth-bound hymnals with beautiful voices and sit in solid wood pews with some nice cushions. And I could spend my week in a lovely wood-paneled study, burning candles, working by lamplight, studying ancient tomes while I dip my quill into the ink and make notes on my parchment. Maybe once a week I'd have a nightly appointment and I could, on a beautiful summer night, I could ride the horse out to convey tidings of grace. We'd have to have session meetings only once a year because there's nothing but good things to say. That would be great. Maybe a classroom of children awaiting catechetical training with open ears and folded hands. But listen, that's not the reality that we live in. It's simply not. And yeah, if we had enough money, we could put up the image. But what I'm after is the real heart of that. There's nothing wrong with having a pretty white church, but I want the peace that comes along with that. I want the illusion. I want to just come in and say, I'm just going to preach a nice sermon, everybody's going to love me, and we'll have really not much sin in the body. And what there is, everybody's going to hate and say, oh, pastor, I just await your instruction. If you think that's life in the church, you're going to have a bad time. In most places in the country, particularly if you find a church that is not in the South, and it's got a big pretty steeple and a nice piece of property, the odds are better than not, and it's not always, but the odds are better than 50% that it is probably a mainline church that cares more about helping children find their gender identity than it does about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why is that? Why is that? They got in, they get in, they get comfy, and they start turning their attention to programs and capital campaigns, but they stop defending the church against attack. They're not attacking the enemy strongholds. That might be offensive. They're not seeking to spread the word or disciple the nations, and so the enemy walks right in. and sits down in the front pew and moves them all towards a denial of the word of God or a denial of the image of God. And that's when the infighting begins. Controversies among supposedly serious minded Christians. Theological minutia defines the church. Blogs are posted, Facebook posts are made, and the infighting takes over. And for the sake of doctrine and unresolved conflict, people forget that we are supposed to be a family knit together by the blood of Jesus Christ, committed to one another. People forget that division in the church is reckoned by God to be as evil as witchcraft. If you ever show up and the pastor is slicing open a goat to read its liver, run, don't walk, to your nearest Bible-believing church. The same holds true of those who nurse division and dissension within the church. It is the only sin that I'm aware of that makes an actual numerical claim. For every sin that I know of, how often do you forgive someone? Seventy times seven, a metaphor for infinitely. You just keep forgiving them. But Paul tells Timothy, as for a divisive man, warn him once and then a second time. And after that, have nothing to do with him. There's no church discipline process. Just kick him out. So how do the faithful resist this? What do we want to do if we want to keep the kingdom strong? How do we persevere in this? So look at what's happening here. First, Nathan heard what was happening. He took action with great insight. When Nathan knew what was going on, he made a plan with Bathsheba. He showed her that her life and the life of Solomon were in incredible jeopardy. He made a plan to reveal the nature of that threat. Now, Nathan seemed to particularly understand David's heart. He knows that he's not just going to send Bathsheba in to have a conversation, but he's going to confirm the words at just the right time. How arresting that would be. Here's David with Bathsheba. Of course, the knowledge that his sin with her was what caused the flooding in of all of this wickedness. And here's Nathan again, the last time we saw him in the pages of the text. He said, you are the man, and by your own words, David, four of your sons will die. Here he is again to reveal the sin against him, against David, that is. This took planning and care and attention. Nathan didn't just walk in and say everything at once. He planned it out. He was thoughtful. David, likewise, didn't just call Adonijah into his chambers. He, too, had to come up with a plan. He had to take the risks. He had to organize his people. He had to engage the public. Now, listen. This is, generally speaking, the same situation that we are in. There is planning and work to be done. The enthroned king of the kingdom of God tells us that the fields are ripe for harvest. But the harvesting is hard work. In fact, the better the harvest, the more hard work, right? If the crop doesn't come in. Do you know how much time I had to spend harvesting all of my crops last year? None, no time at all because I don't have any. But those of you with expansive gardens, you spent a lot of time taking care of those gardens, didn't you? But you had a far greater benefit than I did. If the crop doesn't come in, there's no need to harvest. When there's no oxen, the manger is clean. But a great harvest means that there's tremendous work to be done. And our Lord has declared to us that, in fact, this is the season now. Fields are, He actually says, white for the harvest. If you look out on a great grain field, when they're ready, they'll look almost white because they've ripened and dried. This is why Paul tells Timothy in our reading today, it is the hardworking farmer who ought to have his first share of the crop. He's telling Timothy, the work is ready to be done, now get out and do it. We need to be prepared to do the work of the kingdom. That means it will take effort. It means you're going to have to spend a night out of the house sometimes. And sometimes it means you're going to have to decline the invitation to the fun thing, and you're going to have to spend a night in the house. The kingdom of God is spreading in your own house and outward as well. What does this mean? It shows up in little things as well as the larger ones. Kids, this means that you might get invited to a birthday party that maybe you don't exactly want to go to, but you have the sense that it would be a blessing to this person if I went. And so you go because you love Jesus and you want to share that love with others. It might mean that when you're hanging out with your friends after church and you guys are running around and playing or in the better weather, maybe making laps around the church, it may mean that you want to include somebody who isn't doing anything at all. Somebody who's not included and you say, hey, you come on with us. We're going to be your friend. I suppose that same principle applies to adults even after church. But there are some things that adults, of course, can do that children can't. You might find that you have to give some volunteer hours to a place like Options 360, trying to prevent abortion in Clark County. It might mean that you're going to serve on their board or make calls on their behalf. It might mean that you have to endure some awkwardness trying to introduce a neighbor to Christ. Or you simply are putting in the long hours of listening to a lonely widow who has no one to talk to. Maybe you have a particular gift in some area, and you know there's a need for that gift, and so I'm going to utilize it. Maybe you're not gifted, but you see something that needs doing, and you're not gifted in cleaning your neighbor's bathroom when he or she fell down and broke his leg. But you know how to clean a toilet, so you go over and do it anyway. The work of the kingdom is not easy. It will take energy. It will be frustrating. Things move stubbornly slowly. You will have to sacrifice some of your time. It will not make your house prettier. It will not give you internet likes or social media credit. But it does give you a very distinct advantage. And this advantage is really beyond all price. It allows you to proclaim the glory of the King. It allows you to proclaim the glory of the King. Isn't the ending to this story the best? I've always loved the ending to this. It's just like... So you've got Adonijah and all his guests are surrounding him. The coronation has happened. They've got a great big party. Everybody's eating a lot of food because that's what they do with the sacrifice. They burn part and eat the rest. Tons of food, right? Adonijah said, Jonathan, come on in. You're a good man. Making the same mistake that David made earlier. You're a good man. You must be bringing good news. Jonathan says, uh, no, not exactly. Actually, Solomon is king. And the king himself made Solomon king. Zadok is with him. Nathan the prophet is with him. And so is his personal army of bodyguards, the Cherethites and the Pelethites. They were like David's, outside of Joab's authority, they were like David's personal Navy SEALs, right? Or, you know, Air Force pararescue jumpers or Coast Guard rescue swimmers. They were his personal elite fighting force. And they come in and say, hey, actually, Solomon has been made king by David, Zadok's with him, Nathan's with him, and the Charithites and Pelathites, they're all with him, and the whole city is with him. And everyone just kind of puts their forks and knives down, and it's awkward, and they kind of silently walk away. There's no rebellion, there's no fighting, they're just like, we're gonna go now, thank you. They just kind of nope out of there. Nope. Nope. How do you fight the enemy? How do you advance the kingdom? Yes, there are plans. Yes, there's hard work. But at the heart of it, you proclaim the true king. This is what they did. They went and said, you're not the king. There's a true king and he has been enthroned and evil just shrinks back. Rebellion just shrinks back from that. The darkness cannot stand the light. And you got to get that correct in your head. We do the deeds. We do the deeds. We proclaim the king. And by proclaim, I don't just mean to speak. It is to proclaim like we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes to proclaim is to say this is the primary principle behind everything that we do. This is the heart motivation. We live on this. We celebrate this. We proclaim it. This is the center of our universe right here. A lot of Christians end up proclaiming the deeds and ignoring the king. And when you have an empty throne, the enemy will always walk in and sit down jauntily upon it. And the proclamation of the deeds is no resistance at all to the enemy. Feeding the poor without the king, the enemy will turn your church into a social service agency before half a generation has passed and nobody gets saved there. Caring for widows without a king, the enemy will use that to take advantage of weak widows by manipulators. Coming to worship without a king, the enemy will make it either empty dead liturgy or a rock show minus an actual object of worship. Discipling your family without a king, this is what you do if you disciple your family without a king. You get ready for your annual Christmas photo and you line up your little legalists in line, not by order of height, but by order of most legalistic on one end and most resentful on the other. Even homeschooling, homeschooling without proclaiming the king. If you homeschool your kids, While proclaiming the King, they will grow up to have something far better than knowledge of literature and science and mathematics and everything else. They will grow up to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to seek His kingdom first. Anything short of that. And the enemy will have you deep in fear, in anger, in a desire for conformity out of a slavish obedience to man and not out of joy and celebration and response to the great work of the Lord Jesus, which you want to convey to your children. So proclaim the King. I'm not from a place in the country that has cockroaches. Thankfully, we don't here either. But the first time I was in the South, we ate pizza and we made the mistake of leaving the remains out overnight. That was one of the worst experiences of my life. because he came in in the dim morning light and saw that there was a whole pizza there covered with sausage and other good things and, oh, we'll have to throw that out because we left it out. And then someone cut on the lights and the whole pizza ran away. And they told us, oh, yeah, for every cockroach you see, they say there's 10,000 in the walls. I don't see how that could happen. I think all of them were on the old pizza. But all I had to do to get rid of them was turn on the lights. Turn on the lights and the cockroaches run. Proclaim the king and evil scatters. Because whatever evil you might find out there in the world, whatever heresy, whatever rebellion against God, it can put up a pretty good show against behavior modification. It can resist pretty well the American dream. It cannot hold anything against the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a mere candle in a hurricane and is snuffed out immediately. When you proclaim the true light, which has come into the world, no evil can resist it. And this happens in ways that you're not even expecting. It's not a one-to-one. It's not like, I see this evil, I proclaim Christ. I mean, when you turn on the light in your house, say in your bedroom, which corner of your bedroom do you want illuminated? You might just want one corner. I've just got to see over here so I can find my socks. But the light shines throughout the whole room. There are shadows there that you will never see because God is living and active. And when his gospel is proclaimed, when the kingship of Christ is known, his Holy Spirit works and drives out darkness that you never even knew was there. So proclaim the King in your own heart, to your family, in the work that you do, wherever you do it. Proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, that man fell into sin. But that God provided a remedy that for many, many years, the prophets promised that he would come and they searched eagerly looking into the scriptures to see when he would be revealed. And at the right time, the Holy Spirit came on a young virgin girl. And granted her a baby. Who grew in her womb. Who was born in the natural way. Who grew up in complete righteousness, never rebelling, never sinning, always seeking after his father's will. Loving to be in his father's house. At the right time, he began his ministry in great power. As he was baptized to fulfill all righteousness and the Holy Spirit came down as a dove onto him and a voice came out from heaven, which many heard. This is my beloved son. And he went about and he did fantastic miracles as signs. And he taught the people he fixed their wrong impressions of the word of God. He started fixing things that were broken. He brought the dead back to life. And he was betrayed by one of his own. And his enemies came and they took him. They arrested him. They gave him a false trial. They whipped him and beat him. And they crucified him, leaving him to hang to die a horrible death. And as he died that death, he suffered not just physically, but the wrath of God against sin was poured out on him. His body was stabbed through, taken down from the cross and buried behind a heavy stone. And three days later, they went to find his body and it wasn't there because Jesus himself had defeated death. And sin was emptied of its power. He appeared to many, including His disciples, demonstrating His great power, proclaiming and demonstrating to them the forgiveness of their sins, even one like Peter, who denied Him, given fair warning, Peter, you're going to deny me. He said, no, I won't. I'd rather die, and denied Him and denied Him again. And Jesus forgave him and made him a leader in his church. The Christ denier made to be a leader in the church. And he ascended into heaven. And there he sits, ruling over his kingdom at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And he will come with power and glory to judge the living and the dead. Proclaim it. Amen. Our Lord Jesus, we love your gospel. We love your glory. We're thankful that we can not only observe it, but that we can participate in it as receivers of it. Help us to proclaim you as king of all the earth. Deepen our hearts to one another every day of our lives. We ask this with great humility, imploring you to act for us. And we pray in your name. Amen.