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that psalm that we read just a moment ago, Psalm 97. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multitudes of isles be glad thereof. My friends, we're looking this morning at this psalm and my subject is Christ reigning over all, Christ reigning over all. We're talking about a subject that has been in the news for a while now and especially came to a climax yesterday, the coronation of King Charles III and all over the country People have been talking about it all over the world. People have been interested and tuned in to see what is happening and tuned in to see that nostalgic event, Charles being crowned as king, an event which is accompanied with much pomp and pageantry, euphoria and fanfare, and many, if not all, we're happy to see that event. But we're not going to talk this morning about Charles and this earthly king, but we are going to talk about a higher king, a greater king, another king, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, none other than, of course, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is one of His titles. He is the King But not just any king, he is the king of kings. There is no one like unto him. This king, he appoints all other kings. This king has all other kings in his hands. He lifts up one and he puts down another. This king holds the hearts, we read in Proverbs, the hearts of all kings are in his hands. He turns them whithersoever he wills. Now Charles, and I don't mean this in any way disrespectfully, but Charles being 74 years old, well his reign we could say is not going to be very long. His reign maybe will be at most, I don't know, 20 odd years, if God is gracious to keep him that long. But it's not very long, even 20 years. Our previous queen, well, that was a marvelous long time, 70 years that she was on the throne. But the king's reign, King Charles is bound to be short. Christ's reign, oh friends, there is no end to His reign. He is an everlasting King. He sits on the throne now. He will always sit on the throne. He will never be dethroned. He will never lose that position. He ever reigns over all things. Verse 1, the Lord reigneth. This is the banner, friends, that flies over this particular psalm. The Lord reigneth. This is the message that the psalmist wants to leave with those who read this psalm and who sing this psalm. The Lord reigneth. This is the banner that should fly over all this world. The Lord God reigneth. Christ is reigning. Christ is ruling over all things not just a small isle somewhere but over the whole earth. Everything is in his hands. Everything is under his control. Now this psalm friends is actually a prophetic one. It's a psalm about Christ. It's a psalm about His coming into the world and about His reign. In verse 7, we have the words there, the end of verse 7, worship Him, all ye gods. And that is actually mentioned in the Hebrews, in Hebrews and chapter, I'll read it to you, in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 6, the Apostle Paul actually quotes these particular words when he's talking about Christ, and he's talking about the coming of Christ, and he says there in Hebrews 1 verse 6, and again, when he, God, bringeth the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him." That's the quote from this psalm. It's talking about the coming of Christ's kingdom, and so this psalm, we could say, because it has that prophetic reference, is entirely really about Christ and the coming of His kingdom. And we can look at it in that particular way. And we will this morning. So I've got three points to bring out from this psalm. Firstly, the King's majesty and grandeur. And then secondly, we'll consider the King's enemies. Every king has his enemies, and then thirdly, the king's subjects, his people, the church, those who have taken him to be their king, those who serve him, those who love him, those are his subjects. the King's majesty and grandeur. Here in verse one, the Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice, let the multitudes of Isles be glad thereof. Oh friends, it's a matter of great joy You're a believer here today, this morning. It's a matter of great joy and rejoicing to you to know that your Lord reigns over all. That this world that we live in and things seem so haphazard and things sometimes seem so out of place and it seems like there is no sovereign ruling and reigning over all things. It seems to be left to fate and left to chance and left to luck. It seems that way. But it's not. This verse tells us there is a Sovereign. There is a God who is ruling over all things. Christ is reigning over all things. All things are under His power. This universe is not without a Sovereign. And this kindly King, the Saviour, the God of grace and mercy, for He knows all that is happening in this world. And more than that, He is also active in providence, working out all things, exerting His power. He is aware of all that is happening, great and small, in this kingdom. He knows even the thoughts and intents that are in men's hearts and minds, every little bit of information. So he has all that ever present before him. Oh friends, he is a great king. You know there are some people who still think, believe in what's called deism. They believe that God created the world, they acknowledge that, but then they say he's left it, left it to itself, left it like a clock that is all, a watch that is all wound up and then just left to unwind itself. And people, there are people like that who believe God has just made the world and then left it to its natural causes, left it to sort out itself for itself and by the people in the world. Well, that's not true. That is not so. The Bible teaches us that the Lord is not only a God who is transcendent and far above all, but He is an ever-present God who is working through the circumstances and the events of life. This is a God. This King, it is He who lifts up one and puts down another. It is He who thwarts the plans of evil. It is He who preserves the order. Even through governments, He is preserving the order that we have in society. It is He who is doing this. He is good to all. We know sometimes The Lord removes His hand. There are instances when we look in the world and we can see sometimes where maybe there is a civil war going on. And as we see even in Sudan at the moment, there's a civil war. And it's sometimes the Lord removes His hand from a nation to make us realize this is what the world would be like if He took His hand off every nation, if He left the world to itself. We would just be fighting one another. People, as you see, they are fleeing from Sudan, fleeing for their lives, leaving everything behind. Our friends, God is in control, but He allows us sometimes to see what would happen if He wasn't in control. This God, this King Christ, He is good to all, but He reserves, we can say, His choicest blessings for all His people. The Lord has His decrees. This King, He has His purposes. his plans which he wants to enact. And he has the power to bring about those plans, to execute those plans. No one can resist this king. No one can stop him from doing what he desires to do and wills to do. And not only, friends, is Christ kind and good and has all power in heaven and on earth, but He is also the all-wise God. And He rules this world in great wisdom. And everything that He does, we can say, is right. A world without the Lord? Oh, we said it already, how terrible it would be, how awful it would be if it was just left in man's hands. Would you like to live in such a world where man is dictating and man is ordering and putting in place everything and overruling all things? None of us, I'm sure, would like to see such a place. It could only lead to anarchy. You could only lead friends to disorder, and it would be an uninhabitable place for us. Or leave it in men's hands, what would happen? Corruption, exploitation, self-interest. We see this, isn't it? And so many who get power, who are put in places of power, this is how they rule. Not so the Lord, or under the rule of Satan. Imagine if Satan were ruling this world. Think what damage he would inflict. He has no love, no affection for men and women like the king of kings. He hates men and women. He hates people. He's out to destroy you because you're made in the image of God. And anything that reminds him of God, he hates and he despises and he's out to destroy. If he could, he would destroy so much more, but the Lord, this King of kings, he restrains him. He holds him back from doing all that damage that he desires to do. You see what happened recently? There was a bull, I think it was introduced into a rugby match, I think it was, in France, and they brought in a bull or two, I'm not sure why, but the bull got loose, got away from its reins, and it began charging at everyone, any and every player, and those who were on the field at the time, and people were running scared. The devil is like that. The devil, he comes to attack anyone who represents the Lord, anyone who is the Lord's, but the Lord holds him on a lead, we could say, so that he cannot do all that he desires to do. Rejoice, then, believer, in the Lord. Here is our comfort as Christians. Our God is reigning. The Lord reigns. What can man do to us? What can people do to us? The Lord reigns. He will build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Let the earth rejoice. We read here, let the multitudes of Isles be glad thereof, which is a reference even to the Gentiles to rejoice in Christ. Our friends, all, everyone should rejoice. The atheist, He should discard his atheism and he should rejoice to know that the Lord is and that the Lord reigns. Because he surely doesn't wish that there was no God if everything is left in the hands of men. Surely he doesn't wish that. The whole earth should rejoice. All benefit from Christ reigning. It's sadly not everyone does. No, everyone does give to God the glory that is due to His name. Look at verse 2. Clouds and darkness are round about him. Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. And the psalmist here has in mind God's appearance to his people at Mount Sinai. In Exodus chapter 19 and verse 16, we read there, it came to pass on the third day in the morning, this is at Mount Sinai, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount. and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the mount, and Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And that is what is in view here. The clouds and darkness are round about this king, round about the Lord. Well, darkness here is also a cloud, and it represents the thick clouds, the dark clouds, the gloomy clouds. The clouds, as you know, obscure things. They keep us from seeing things. and the dark clouds. On a dark, gloomy day, there is some sense in which we are scared, some sense in which we tremble when we see such an appearance in the skies. It seems a very threatening weather, but it also causes us, in a sense, to tremble. And this is the image that we have of surrounding the Lord, and it speaks to us of the greatness of God, and the glory of God, and the grandeur of God, and that there are things about God that are hidden from our eyes. We cannot know all that there is to know about God. It's impossible for us in this life and even in the next life, even in eternity in heaven, we will be getting to know God more and more. Still, we will never, for all eternity, be able to fully comprehend all that there is to know about Him. There are things about Him that we cannot know. There are things that are hidden from our eyes, things that are inscrutable about the Lord. His greatness, we read, is unsearchable. His ways, Romans 11, verse 33, the Apostle Paul said, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. It's up to Him. He has revealed to us all that we need to know, but so much is kept from our view, so much is hidden in the Lord. But when we think of it, especially in reference to Christ and to His coming, also we could say there was a hiddenness there, there was some obscurity about who this God-man really was. A few people beheld His glory, a few people to whom it was revealed, cottoned on, that this was more than just a man, that Jesus was, in fact, the Son of God, fully God, fully man. But for most people, that view was hidden from their eyes. They never saw his glory as he truly was. He revealed it at times. At times he saw it in his miracles that he did. And the three disciples were taken up to the Mount of Transfiguration, and there especially they saw his glory. So some people saw it. The miracles were evidence of it, but still, People didn't really cotton on and realize who he was. It was hidden from their eyes. And then you think to the cross on which he died, and we remember, of course, the great darkness for those three hours. The last three hours that he was on the cross, a great darkness enveloped him, surrounded him, and he was hidden from the view of the public and those who were passing by and those who were mocking. He was hidden because there in that time of great darkness, he was bearing the penalty for all his people's sin. And that was a private, as it were, transaction between God the Father and himself when he was taking upon himself the punishment The agony that he went through was hidden from those who were watching. It was a tremendous thing that he was doing. It was an awful thing that he was also doing, a majestic thing that he was doing, hidden from public eyes. Sometimes we could say as well, God's ways with us, God's dealings with us are difficult to comprehend. There seems to be a cloud over God's way with us. We cannot get clarity as to what is happening in our lives. What's happening to me? I can't work it out. I can't figure it out. Lord, I am your servant. I'm serving you. But these things are happening in my life and I cannot make sense of it. Perhaps I'm suffering an illness and it incapacitates me in some way or other. So I cannot do the things that I decide to do. Or perhaps I'm having to deal with an unjust and unfair situation in the workplace or in life. And again, I cannot work out why, why Lord, why are these things happening to me? Just recently I was talking to a brother and he was telling me about his wife and his wife is suffering in different ways and they've been from one doctor to another doctor, from one specialist to another, trying to find out the reason and the cause why she is suffering and the cause of her illness and no one's been able to put their finger on it and to identify the reason. They're just left in the hands of God trying to wait until the answer comes. But we trust, friends, in such a time when the Lord even withholds from us the reason, the purpose why we go through difficulties. Our responsibility in those times of perplexity is to trust him. Look at that verse. Clouds and darkness surround about him, yes, but righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. And that tells us that he does all things right, that whatever happens to us, it's always true and righteous, that he can do no wrong. Whatever the Lord sends our way, even though it seems awful and difficult, Remember this, friends. He never does anything wrong. He does all things well. And though I cannot work out head or tail what is happening to me, my response as a believer is, Lord, I will still trust you. I will trust you who does justly and righteously in all your ways. But then, let's move on quickly because time is going. Verse 3 to 7 we see the king's enemies. You could overlap this and you could say it continues the theme of the majesty of God, and you could look at these verses in that way, or you could also look at it as we're doing as the king's enemies and how the Lord overcomes these enemies. I believe these verses are speaking to us of Christ's almighty power. that nothing is able to stand before this king. Fire, look, in verse three, a fire goes before him and burneth up his enemies round about. His lightnings enlighten the world, the earth soar and tremble. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. Verse six, the heavens declare his righteousness and the people see his glory. Nothing is able to stand before Christ. Well, the early church They faced insurmountable obstacles to get going. How could it advance? They were such a small group. They were such a tiny group of disciples. And then there was the world against them. They faced opposition. They faced persecution. There was so much to try and hinder them from spreading the gospel and the name of Christ. What inroads could the gospel make at that particular time in the face of unbelief? the hardness of heart, and the rebellion of the people. How could this gospel conquer souls? Well, friends, the Lord did these things. The Lord, by His power, is able to conquer these enemies. And when we think of the enemies of the king, we're thinking here especially of these, not of men in particular, Not of people, although it could be that way, but we're thinking here of things like superstitions and sin and indifference and unbelief and rebellion. These are the enemies of Christ, the resistance to the gospel, the hardness that is in people's hearts. This is the enemies of Christ. And we know that when the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles, he came in tongues of fire, and what happened? They became, as it were, different men, and they preached in power, and they preached in might, and thousands were converted on a single day. The thousands who before were enemies to Christ, thousands who before were opposing the new faith, now became the friends of Christ. What a change has been wrought in them by the Lord. He has overcome that unbelief that was in their hearts. His lightenings enlightened the world. This speaks of the gospel light which goes out into the whole world. It went out not only into Jerusalem and Israel, but it went out into the four corners of the earth and really turned the world upside down. The truth, lightning, light speaks of the knowledge, the truth about God, the truth about ourselves. The knowledge of these things went out into the four corners of the earth. The way of salvation, the way to be reconciled with God. People heard these things and many of them trembled. And they heard these things, they heard that they are accountable to God. And it brought them to their knees. And it did what we cannot do. It humbled a person and made them seek the Lord and to repent of their sins. Not everyone did. There were people like Felix, we read of in Acts, Felix the governor. He heard Paul reasoning, you remember, of righteousness and of temperance and of judgment to come. He listened intently and when he heard Paul preaching, he trembled in himself. But he didn't tremble to repentance. He just trembled when he heard these words, but then he left it and it seems like he was never saved. He only trembled for a moment. But, oh friends, we must, when the Lord speaks to us and the Lord makes these things real to us and in our minds and in our hearts, in that moment we must turn to him. Look at verse 5, the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. That's poetic language, but it speaks again of the power of Christ's gospel to conquer all difficulties. No matter how great they are, no matter what stands in the way, Christ's gospel can bring those difficulties down, can melt it. especially hard hearts. Oh, it's the unbelieving heart, friends. It's so hard. It's so hard. If it was just left to ourselves, well, all our persuasions and we use all our abilities to try and reason with a person to bring them to Christ, it would never work. Without the Spirit of God, it would never work. Without God working their hearts, it would never be successful. But when the Spirit of God comes, when the Lord works, then hard hearts are melted as well. So this is how God works to conquer his enemies and how he's able to make even enemies like ourselves. It could, as we said, have a reference to people. After all, In our unconverted state, friends, we are as enemies. We are like enemies to the Lord. We are those who oppose God. We are those who resist His reigning over us. We are like those people in the parable who said, we will not have this man to reign over us. We will fight against him. We fight. We don't like his rules. We don't like his commandments. We want to be free from what he tells us to do. But in doing that, in living in that rebellious way, a person makes themselves an enemy of the Lord. You don't want to be an enemy of the king of kings. You want to be on his side. You want to be a subject of his. But verse 7, look at this. Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols. Well friends, this word confounded, it means to be ashamed. Ashamed are all they that serve graven images. Of course, of course they'll be ashamed. Because a graven image, an idol, is nothing. It's just an empty, whatever, a stone, a piece of stone. It cannot help anyone. It cannot hear if you pray to it. It cannot exert any power on your behalf. It cannot feel for you like this great king of kings does. It cannot help you in any way. It's embarrassing to believe in an idol, to serve an idol. That's what this verse is saying. It's going to be a shame. Those who serve graven images, those who serve idols, they're going to be ashamed at some point in their life. They can be shamed either here, when they realize it, or on the Day of Judgment. How embarrassing! On the Day of Judgment to stand and say, well, I trusted in this piece of stone, or marble, or whatever it is. I know that there are some people I've come across, and for them, they trust in a piece of charcoal. And a piece of charcoal is treated as if it can help them and so they place this piece of charcoal even on their dashboard and when they're driving to protect them and to keep them safe when they're driving. I've seen this and people have told me these things. Oh friends, how ashamed will a person be on the day of judgment, I put my trust in a piece of charcoal. I put my trust in something else. But it's not only material things like that. An idol could be anything else in our day. Yes, we don't maybe bow down to such kind of idols, but there are other things that we trust in apart from Christ. Maybe we trust in our good works. Our good works is our idol. But again, on that day of judgment, we will be ashamed if we trust in our good works instead of Christ. Because on that day, we'll be brought to see, well, all those good works that we thought were good are actually filthy rags. Holes and dirty and stinky and smelly. And you'll be so embarrassed. Did I trust in that? It would be too late because the time for trusting Christ has gone. Our friends, some make an idol of their achievements or an idol of self. And again, this will be a source of embarrassment. The core here is trust in the Lord. You won't be ashamed. You won't be confounded. The Lord is God. Compare these idols, these vain and empty things, with this living God, this great King. there is none, no comparison. Worship him, all ye gods, which is the word gods there is actually, as we learn from Hebrews 1.6, all ye angels. But let's quickly move on to Christ and his subjects, the king and his subjects. And I won't be very long here, but verses eight to 12. The knowledge of the Lord reigning Well, that's a source of tremendous joy for God's people, a source of tremendous rejoicing in Him. But also, verse 8. a place for us, sorry, verse 9, for worship. For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth. Thou art exalted far above all gods. And so we should fall down and worship and admire this God who rules over all. But look at verse 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil. He preserved the souls of His saints. He delivered them out of the hand of the wicked. Am I a Christian? Am I a believer in the Lord? Then let me evidence it by my allegiance to Him. Let me evidence it by the kind of life that I'm living. Do I love the Lord? Then I must at the same time hate evil. Evil is something that He hates and we should love the things that He loves and hate the things that He hates. Not just hating the evil that is in the world. Yes, we do that. But hating also the evil in ourselves. What are the things that God hates? He hates lies. So I hate lies. in my life, in the world. God hates pride. I hate pride in myself when I see it, and I see it in the world. Friends, this is an evidence. If we are on the Lord's side, if we are serving the King of kings, then we must show that we are also against these things that He hates. It is something spoken of, we often speak negatively of hate, but here is some kind of hate that you must have even as a believer. We love the Lord, but we also hate those things that are displeasing to Him. And then like any good king who cares for the welfare of his subjects and who is concerned for their benefit and desires their blessing and for them to live happy and comfortable lives, so also this great king is concerned for us. We read here that he preserves the souls of his saints, and he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. He preserves if they fall into trouble, if they come under attack, if their enemies seek to get the better of them. Well, this Savior, this King, he preserves their souls. He intervenes on their behalf. He shows Himself strong and mighty to deliver them. This is what He comes to do. He comes to rescue them. Their interests are His interests. He is concerned for them. If they are in trouble, the Lord is at hand to rescue His people. He is accessible to them. You know, in China a while ago, If you had a problem and you couldn't get help from the local councillors or the local government officials, you had a right to go all the way to Beijing and to the emperor and to bring your complaint to him. and you could present it to him and he could work and say something on your behalf if he chose to do so. Friends, you have something better than that here. You have access as a believer to Christ at all times. You can bring your needs and your troubles to him. He is there to help us, to defend us in that walk of sanctification. Are you suddenly taken by sudden temptations that come your way? Sudden thoughts of evil that accost you when you least expect it? Well, cry to the Lord in that moment. Cry to the Lord for help and deliverance. He will help you. Is some old sin trying to regain its footing in your mind, in your life? Pray again. Cry to the Lord. He will save you. He will deliver you from these things. Are you sinking under a particular trial? Call upon the Lord. He will help you. He will bring you out of your troubles. That's what He makes Himself available for. And then in verse 11, we read, just like a king should provide for his subjects, so light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart. A king provides and here the Lord provides light and gladness. Light is sown. That means it's in seed form and it's yet to appear. And I think the hymn that we read, and Isaac Watts captured it very nicely in verse five, we read, immortal light and joys unknown are for the saints in darkness sown. Those glorious seeds shall spring and rise and their bright harvest bless our eyes. And he used it as a reference to heaven. to glory that is to come. There is light and there is gladness soon prepared for you. You have it in a measure as a believer now. You enjoy some of the light of things to come, some of the joys of heaven you experience in a very small measure here. What is to come in heaven, what is to come in glory, is so much more the light and the gladness that is prepared for God's people. Oh friends, this is so wonderful what this King does for His people. And then finally, verse 12. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. So remember Him. Don't just rejoice, but also remember His holiness. Remember to walk in a way that pleases Him. That leads us to our final point. As a King, we are His subjects, then let us serve Him. Let us obey Him. This is our calling, is it not? Am I a believer? Is Christ my King? Does He still reign over me? Does He still dictate how I live my life? Or have I taken back the reins? Have I taken back the reins as a believer and say, well, now I'm going to make up my own mind and do my own will, and I don't pray about things anymore like I used to when I first came to the Lord? And I do not ask anymore, Lord, what do you want me to do? Because I've already decided what to do. Friends, we must come back to allowing Christ to rule over us as his people. by an unbeliever, haven't yet come to Him. Our friends, don't fight against Him. Lay down those weapons of unbelief. Come and repent and come onto the Lord's side. Yield yourself to Him and be His subject. He will bless you and you will know the joy of Him reigning over your life. May the Lord bless us in these things. We sing our final hymn, number 484, Light of the World. Thy beams I bless. 484.
Christ, Reigning Over All
A prophetic psalm concerning the coming of Christ and his kingdom. Here is majesty of Christ the King, his enemies and his subjects.
ID kazania | 57232034326430 |
Czas trwania | 40:02 |
Data | |
Kategoria | Niedziela - AM |
Tekst biblijny | Psalm 97 |
Język | angielski |
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