Amen. One of the passages from Deuteronomy that I've been looking forward to preaching is this one from verses 14 to 20 of Deuteronomy 17. It's the kind of passage that pops with Christological significance because it lays out what Israel's king must be like. In fact, this passage is part of a series of passages in this part of Deuteronomy that address various offices in Israel. The end of Deuteronomy, for example, is about kings. The beginning of Deuteronomy 18, what's next is about priests. And at the end of Deuteronomy 18, Moses speaks about prophets. So you notice those offices there, kings, priests, and prophets all addressed in a row. The word of God speaking to and about these very crucial offices. And as new covenant believers, we can see in hindsight with greater clarity how the Lord Jesus fulfills these Old Testament offices. Jesus is the ultimate king, ultimate priest, and ultimate prophet. Or as we sang this morning, Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever. Crown him, crown him, prophet and priest and king. We need to understand how Jesus fulfills the expectations and the patterns and offices of the Old Testament. God has made promises and he's keeping them in Christ. He's created offices and he's fulfilling them in Christ. This is why Paul told the Corinthians that the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus. And this morning we'll focus on the kingship of Israel. To do that, we need to dispel a myth about the kingship of Israel. That myth is that there was never supposed to be a human king over the people. This misunderstanding is based on the people's rebellious words against the Lord in 1 Samuel 8, when they very clearly desired a king. And well-meaning Bible readers have read 1 Samuel 8, but have concluded wrongly that Israel was never supposed to have a human king. When we look earlier than Deuteronomy, we will see that the kingship from Israel was prophesied to the patriarchs. Let me give you an example from God's words to Abraham. He says in Genesis 17, verse six, I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you. Later in that chapter, Genesis 17, verse 16, God says to Abraham about Sarah, I will bless her and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I'll bless her and she shall become nations and kings of peoples shall come from her. Later on in Genesis to Jacob, God says in Genesis 35, 11 to Jacob, a nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings shall come from your own body. A human king was not necessarily equivalent to rejecting Yahweh as their king. But desiring a certain kind of human king could be equivalent to rejecting Yahweh as their king. If what they should find in Yahweh they turn to a human king for, then we have a problem. Consider the illustration of Israel's judges. Having human judges in Exodus 18 did not deny Moses' authority as God's mouthpiece for the people. Having human judges didn't deny the truth that God is Israel's righteous judge. We saw earlier in Deuteronomy that judges would have administrative and legal roles and responsibilities. Someone shouldn't look at Israel's judges and say, well, if they have judges, obviously they've rejected Yahweh as their judge. Not necessarily at all, right? In fact, what we notice is that Yahweh is administering his justice through human judges. Likewise, Yahweh would rule over his people through a royal representative, a human king, who reigned in the land. The king was to represent God's righteousness and law. The king was to embody fear of the Lord and obedience and justice. The king was to lead the people by, first and foremost, loving God above all things. Deuteronomy 17 does not say, you shall not have a king. That's not what it tells them. That's very evidently not what it says. The laws of the king are, in some cases, the same kinds of things you want for the Israelites as a whole. The king was to trust the Lord and not hope ultimately in political power. So were the Israelites. You see this in the Psalms and in the prophets. They were to hope in Yahweh, not in wealth and not in power of this world. The king was to fear the Lord and keep his law. So were the Israelites. They were to fear Yahweh and keep his commandments in one true sense. The king of Israel was to be the model Israelite. He used to be an example and a faithful representative of the rule of Yahweh. So we see here in verses 14 and 15, the anticipation of a king. Not the prohibition of one, but the anticipation of one. A king of Israel anticipated in verses 14 and 15. When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and then say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me. You may indeed set a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You shall not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother. We recognize that these two verses are assuming the upcoming conquest. These words look toward the victory of Israel in the land of the Canaanites. They're heading toward this promised land. When Moses gives these words, they're not in the promised land yet. Moses himself will not even enter the Promised Land. He will die outside, and east of the Jordan River. The Israelites are on the east side of the Jordan River, ready to enter the Promised Land, and at the death of Moses, his successor Joshua will lead them there. So these are preparatory words. They're not in the land yet, and they don't have a king, so he's anticipating what's to come. They will subdue their enemies and they will occupy the land and the possession of the land is the result of the conquest in the book of Joshua. Moses says, when you're in the land, at some point, as if with one voice, you will say, I will set a king over me like all the nations around me. So we should observe that the peoples around the Israelites have rulers. The nations around the Israelites would have consolidated authority and power in these different regions with a ruler embodying the people's interests and leadership. But who would rule over Israel? At one level, we want to answer, well, God. God is Israel's great king. the Redeemer and rescuer of the nation who brought them out of Egypt. God formed a covenant with the Israelites at Mount Sinai in Exodus 24. He had made promises to Abraham much earlier about Abraham's descendants who would inherit a land of promise. God was fulfilling these promises. He had given the Israelites commandments and a law to keep, a tabernacle instruction to build and to travel with, and festivals to remember throughout their year. God is their king. All these various elements of their livelihood support that idea. But Deuteronomy 1714 envisions a time when they would have a human king ruling in the land. A monarchy. A monarchy would not be something undesired by the Israelites. It would be something they do want. Do you see what it says here? You will say, I will set a king over me like the nations around me. So there's a wanting that will happen for a king and God would grant that request. Moses is the mouthpiece of the Lord and he says, you may indeed set a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose. Do you see the emphasis there of divine appointment? Whom the Lord your God will choose. The king must be whom Yahweh will choose for them. And this could be something recognized by the prophets who like Samuel will later go to anoint David in the book of first Samuel. But through some sort of means, perhaps the provision of prophets in the land, the will of God will be made clear whom God has chosen for the monarchy. So requirement number one is that this future king will be chosen by God. The people then must not defy God's authority. They must not resist his will. God knows what is best for the people and he is to appoint the human ruler that they will have over them. There is a second requirement in verses 14 and 15 for this king. The anticipation of a king is not only that the Lord your God will choose this king, but that this requirement found in the remainder of verse 15 is that he must be an Israelite. That's what Moses means when he says, one from among your brothers. That means Israelite. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. That's putting it positively, so let's put it negatively. Moses then says, you may not put a foreigner over you who's not your brother. That's saying the same thing twice. The emphasis is it must be an Israelite. It must not be a non-Israelite. Think about why this would be the case. The Israelites are in covenant with Yahweh. And if they bring in a non-Israelite to rule over them, the likelihood would be that such a king would not know or fear the Lord. Non-Israelite rulers were understood to be idolaters. Those were the rulers of the nations around Israel. If Israel chose an idolatrous non-Israelite king to rule over them, such an action would be foolish. It would be rebellious. So the anticipation of the king is there in verses 14 and 15. And two requirements. Must be the one chosen by God. And secondly, it must be an Israelite and therefore a covenant member, a knower of God's commands. The conduct of the king is the rest of the chapter. The anticipation of the king followed now by the conduct for a king in verses 16 to 20. The first thing we're going to notice in verses 16 to 20 are three prohibitions about this king. They're found in verses 16 and 17. Here are the three. He must not acquire many horses for himself. That's number one. Number two, he must not acquire many wives for himself. That's number two. Thirdly, he must not acquire excessive silver and gold. So those are the three prohibitions. Not many horses, not many wives, not much silver and gold. These three prohibitions are all meant as a group, I think, to make this point. The king is not to hope in what the world hopes in, and the king is not to look to for strength and assurance what other kings look to for strength and assurance. So let's think about the details here. The first prohibition, he must not acquire many horses for himself. And there's more to it than this. It says, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses. Since the Lord has said to you, you shall never return that way again. So all of verse 16 is this first prohibition, isn't it? A horse represents battlement. It symbolizes horses for chariots and an army. It's like, well, what does he have against horses? What do you mean he can't have any horses? Think about what a king would acquire horses for. Not pets, all right? We're thinking about something much bigger and strategic, about building up forces and battle-ready chariots. He says, not that he can't acquire any, but he must not acquire many horses for himself. It would be easy in the ancient world for a king to look at the size of an army and draw one of two conclusions. Look at the vastness of my horses and chariots and army. We're feeling pretty good. We're pretty, like, you know, we wouldn't dare anybody to come against us. We'll destroy them. Or the other conclusion, look at the measly situation of my chariotry and horse situation. I hope nobody comes against us anytime soon. We don't stand a chance. You can imagine political and social conclusions drawn based on the amount of chariots and horses a king has acquired. He says Israel's king is not to think that way. It's not to think the way the world thinks and find strength and assurance in what the world finds strength and assurance in. So don't acquire many horses for himself. Nor should you think, well, I don't have many horses around here, but hey, Egypt has some. What if we send some people there? What if we send some people to Egypt and they were able to barter and trade or just purchase outright and we get some horses? He says, listen, not only do you not look for the strength of the world to be your assurance, certainly don't go back to Egypt, the place of your captivity. The place of your former captivity is nowhere you don't look for strength. So certainly don't cause others to go back to Egypt to acquire them. God said to you, you shall never go that way again. The second prohibition in verse 17. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. And why would a king want to establish a harem in the ancient world? Acquiring many wives. Is it because he's just so romantic? That's not the reason. There are political economic reasons why a king would establish through treaties and alliances something that would include bringing in women into a harem and into marriages. Acquiring many wives would be done by kings for economic political purposes. and they would only make treaties with others that they think would be in their best benefit. They would in some way increase some kind of gain or status. They would increase their political credibility and savviness. He says, you're not to think that way. You see the kings around you, their mindset is, well, with our alliances and the treaties and all the stuff that we need to agree, we gotta build up the harem because it will symbolize our status and might. He says, you're not to think that way. They might be doing that, you're not to do that. He's not to acquire many horses for himself, he's not to acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. What would be the risk of his heart turning away for him? Oh, do you think he's gonna bring wives into the harem who are all God-fearing Israelites? No. Or God-fearing Gentiles? No. Instead, these alliances, these treaties would involve the bringing together of a man and wives, wives that are idolatrous. Therefore, not only should he not operate politically in the way that he's thinking here, he should be warned about his spiritual standing to the uttermost. That's the most important thing for him to consider, is his heart. Lest his heart turn away. And then the third prohibition. Nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. This is a clear financial and economic symbol here. The more silver and gold, the more he can do with it, the more amazed and impressed others will be, the more he can purchase and leverage. Also, these are normal worldly sources of power. The king is commanded not to trust in military power, foreign alliances, or economic surplus. Israel's king is not to look to military power, foreign alliances or economic surplus in order to sleep well at night. He's to serve and fear Yahweh, the living God who reigns over all the nations and who is of greater value than silver and gold and mightier than all the horses and chariots of the fiercest ancient Near Eastern enemy. The second prohibition. And third prohibition. Continue what the first does, trying to identify what would be the instinct of an earthly king to look to for power, status, and assurance. Israel's king is to be set apart. One of the ways Israel's king is to be set apart is how his heart is to be shaped and guided. You see, one of the reasons he will not look to silver and gold, and military strength, and foreign alliances with treaties and wives, is his heart is to be shaped and guided by the word of God. That's why. The word of God which directs his heart to God, and this is to be his place of immersion, that all the days of his life he be saturated in the truth of the word of God. Here's the way this is to work for the king. Verses 18 to 20 continue this aspect of it, and in verses 18 to 20, he is to have three, we could call them relationships, to the word of God. First, he is to write the law. Second, he is to read the law. Third, he is to obey the law. He is to write the law, he is to read the law, he is to obey the law. What law? The law of Moses. Certainly this would include the book of Deuteronomy, probably parts of Exodus as well, perhaps even all of the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy. But what it says here in verse 18 is when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a copy in a book, a copy of this law. Pause for a moment and realize what an undertaking that would be. Have you ever tried to copy by hand something from the Bible? It's a great exercise because not only is reading and listening to the word of God helpful, to write something that you are seeing, to engage in some sort of copying by hand engages a whole other part of your brain and furthers the internalization of what you're reading. Why is he to write this out? Is it because the priests are selfish? No, they're to oversee and approve the copy of the law that he's to write by hand because the law is that important for his heart. And writing something out is one way to get it inside of you. And the king is to internalize the words of God, to write for himself. Well, wait a second, doesn't he have other things to do? What about all the administrative responsibilities? My friends, there was no more important thing for the king to do than to make sure his heart was attending to the words of God. That was what the nation most needed from him. The nation most needed from him, that he be a king, saturated with the wisdom of God. This is the way he can be of most use to the people he is to rule over, is that he be a faithful representative of Yahweh, and faithfulness is connected to his view and submission to the words of God. So first of all, we notice here the king is to write the law. When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book, a copy of this law approved by the Levitical priests. Not only is it painstaking for the king to write it, the process of the Levitical priests approving it would involve the very careful, minute work of looking and checking and looking and checking and any correcting and confirming that needed to be done. Now in the ancient world, It is well known that kings could have some sort of documents, things that would guide their behavior, instruct their minds, or be of some sort of consensus for the people of what their nation and vision should be about. What is it to be for the king? This isn't in the king's imagination, and he's not to make up stuff on his own. The law of God has been disclosed. and preserved. And the king is to see that that's the biggest deal that's to shape his kingdom. And therefore he writes him for himself in a book, a copy of the law approved by the Levitical priests. So that's the first relationship between the king and the law. He writes it. And then secondly, he's to read it. Verse 19. And it shall be with him. And he shall read in it all the days of his life. It shall be with him and he shall read it. And this means he's not filing this away among the other many books in the king's local library. This means it's on his nightstand, it's on his working desk. The book of the law shall be with him. It is to be accessible to him for his mind and heart that he would be saturated with and preoccupied with what God himself has said. and shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life. Does that make you think about the blessed man of Psalm 1? Who doesn't listen to the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers? His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. And here, this king is to be a Psalm 1 man. This king is to meditate on the law. He's to read it all the days of his life. And the reason such a frequent attentiveness is required is because of the importance of the words of God. The words of God are so important, they're to have a dominating effect and impact on the king's life. Think of something that must be dominating and important if you're to do it all the days of your life. And there's a lot of interesting things that people do occasionally. but something that you're to do all the days of your life. Well, then that list is not as long. Here you have the king being told by Moses to these Israelites that he, this king, shall read in the law all the days of his life. That means they need to have a king concerned for the word of God. What if They were to have a king who cared nothing for the law of God, who did not care about God's commands, who was not interested in heavenly wisdom, and who only did what he himself wanted to do. You would have a very different kind of outlook in the land of Israel, and a very different kind of outcome with regard to God's disciplining, chastising hand upon the king's life and upon the people. The king shall read in it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them. So I'm gonna take the end of verse 19 here to be this third relationship of the king to the law. He's to obey it. That's what it means to keep the words of the law and these statutes and do them. To keep or to do is another way of saying obey. The king is to read it with the intent to submit to it. The king is not a judge over the law, trying to figure out and decide for himself what he's going to accept and what he's going to ignore. The king is under the law of God, you see. The king is not over the law of the land. The law of the land is the word of God. And the word of God is over even the king. And the king is to know the word, read the word, and fear God. He's to learn in reading and submitting to it how to reverence God in the way he conducts himself. What the people of Israel need is a king with reverence for God. That he may learn to fear the Lord as God by keeping the words of this law and these statutes and doing them. Verse 20 gives some further outcomes here. Verse 20. says that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers. One of the things this will achieve is that the king will not conduct himself with some kind of self-exaltation mindset. The king's not going to look at his reign and be like Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel for walking on the roof of the palace, saying, behold, all the glory that is mine and the great kingdom I've built. The king, in reading the words of God, will be humbled by God. And we'll learn to fear the Lord and not have his heart lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment. Not only will the word of God have an effect to help the king not live in a self-exalted way, rather in a God-exalting way. It will be with a view toward his obedience because as he reads and studies the word of God, he will know what deviating from that looks like. He will know that left of the word of God and right of the word of God are snares, temptations, ditches of iniquity and transgression. So the king will study the word, learn the word, fear the Lord so that he doesn't go to the right or to the left. but instead remain steadfastly focused on the commandment so that, in verse 20, he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel. And this means that the Lord will bless his reign. But if he were to turn from the words of God, not only would it affect him, it would affect the generations after him. Do you see the long-term impact? In verse 20, that he may continue long, he and his children in Israel. Because the covenant at Sinai with the Israelites promised blessing if the Israelites would love the law and keep it, represented by their king. But if the people loved unrighteousness, and if the king was committed to darkness instead of the light, then the people of God would not know the blessing of the Lord. In covenant, they would receive the curses promised and the judgments deserved by those rebelling against God. So this purpose at the end of verse 20, that he may continue long in his kingdom, is a way of saying his reign will abide under the hand of God blessing him. Knowing and keeping the words of God was key to their future. You could say that verse 20 gives three reasons then why the king should obey the commands of God. to avoid self-exaltation, to avoid snares of disobedience to the right and to the left, and to avoid judgment. The judgment would mean he doesn't continue long, he and his children in the land. So to avoid self-exaltation and avoiding the snares of disobedience and to avoid the judgment of God, you know what the king needs? To know, love, and submit to the Bible. Now when the Israelites learned from Moses about these requirements and responsibilities of Israel's king, a king was not near on their horizon. So I want us to zoom out for a moment. So here we are zooming. And in the book of Joshua, the Israelites follow his leadership into the promised land. Joshua, however, was not a king. Never called a king in Israel. When he died, the book of Judges, after him, reports a series of judges who led and delivered various parts of the land for centuries. The monarchy of Israel was not established until Saul became king around 1050 BC. 1050 BC. At that point, the Israelites had been in the promised land for 350 years. That's a long time, right? So we're not thinking about the Israelites hearing these words from Moses and then like a couple of years go by and the people say, we want this king. None of that kind of language is reported in Joshua or Judges or Ruth. Instead we see in first Samuel, 350 years after Moses says these words in Deuteronomy 17, the Israelites express a desire for a king. But this is where things get strange. Let's listen to their request. First Samuel 8, beginning in verse 4, the elders of Israel came to Samuel and they said, now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. Verse 6 says, the thing displeased Samuel. when they said, give us a king to judge us. And the Lord said to Samuel in chapter eight, verse seven, obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but have rejected me from being king over them. In the way first Samuel eight depicts the people's cry, you have to consider a few things. First of all, the spiritual decline since the days of Joshua. Because in the book of Joshua, after his death at the end in Joshua chapter 24, the people slowly decline in the days of the judges, not calling for a king, instead imitating false worship of the nations and the immorality of the peoples around them. They were failing to be a light to the nations and they were living in rebellion against Yahweh. When you open the book of first Samuel, the priesthood is corrupted. And it seems that even pseudo prophets are unable to provide spiritual guidance. So Samuel, Samuel stands distinct, acting in both Levitical and prophetic ways. And he is approached by these elders of Israel who are not known for their spiritual health at this time in the city. And when they come to Samuel, they want a king to judge us like the nations, but they don't require the criteria of Deuteronomy 17. Later in chapter eight, verse 19, they said, there shall be a king over us that we may be like all the nations and that a king will go before us and fight our battles. But wait a second. All the battles in Israel's history, was it a king that fought all of them for them? You just read back in Joshua and Judges, there wasn't a king fighting the battles of Israel, their trust was in Yahweh. So in 1 Samuel 8, we have to look not only at the wording, but the context and associations with the attitude of the people at that time in Israel's history. They were not characterized by a God-fearing, command-loving, holiness-pursuing mindset. They did not ask for a king who embodied the criteria of Deuteronomy 17. They simply, on the face of it, wanted a king like the nations, and that could turn out badly. While in one sense their request does remind us of Deuteronomy 17, we realize their request is not spiritually shaped or rooted in the fear of the Lord or a love for his law. They get the king they think they want. They get Saul. And he's a king not even from the tribe of Judah, the tribe that according to Genesis 49 would be the promised tribe from which the scepter would never depart. Saul's not from that tribe. Saul's Israel's first king, but he's from the tribe of Benjamin. That's one huge indication that what the people are receiving is not really what they need. The reign of Saul actually proves to be a thorn in the side of Israel. He's not the king they need. His successor is David, born in Bethlehem and from the tribe of Judah. David is the king they need. While Saul could not defeat the Philistines, David is a giant slayer. He's the courageous man of God and the one with whom God makes a covenant in 2 Samuel 7. The ruler who will descend from David's line and rule on a throne forever. David's immediate successor was not that promised Messiah. The immediate successor of David was Solomon, his son. And at first Solomon proves to be a very wise king and he reigns in a time of great peace. But then things get strange. If you read further on in 1 Kings, You start to get the impression the writer wants us to think about Solomon's life in light of Deuteronomy 17. So here's something I want you to notice and connect this morning. Solomon's story is narrated in such a way for the reader to realize Solomon is a violator of Deuteronomy 17. In 1 Kings 10, 26, Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. It says he gathered 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities. Solomon's import of horses was from Egypt. Did you hear all of that? From first Kings 10, all those little details about how many chariots he's getting and where he's getting horses from. Now, if we know Deuteronomy 17, we say, oh no, it's not supposed to be that way, Solomon. You're not supposed to acquire for yourself many horses. Certainly not supposed to go get them from Egypt. You read on in First Kings chapter 11, Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite women from the nations concerning which the Lord had said you shall not enter into marriage with them. First Kings 11 3 says, And his wives turned away his heart. Doesn't that sound like Deuteronomy 17? Don't acquire many wives for yourself. lest they turn your heart away. Well, if you go to First Kings 4 and in First Kings 10, you read of Solomon's great wealth that he amassed during his reign. It's as if the biblical author, and I think it's more than just as if, I think it is the case, that the biblical author of Solomon's life is meaning for you to see his account in light of how he's violating every aspect of the criteria in Deuteronomy 17. And as Solomon's son Rehoboam takes the throne, he provokes a rebellion in the land and the kingdom of Israel splits into two parts, a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. And each of the parts of the land have their own line of kings. And none of those kings are a Deuteronomy 17 king. The people of Israel needed a ruler whose heart was right. They needed a ruler who would not trust in worldly sources of power or assurance. They needed a ruler who knew and kept the commands of God perfectly. The king of Deuteronomy 17 was to be an example for the Israelites. The king ought to have been able to say to the Israelites, follow me as I follow Yahweh, follow me as I love the word of God, follow me. Watch my actions, listen to my words, see my life. The king should be the example. He should show the people the way of righteousness because he would love the law of God with all his heart and he'd be committed to righteousness in his own life. Now from later scripture, we learn that the promised king would come from the line of David. You don't get that from Deuteronomy 17, but you do get that layer added to the whole scheme in 2 Samuel 7. God says to David, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I'll raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. A thousand years after David reigned, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Lord Jesus is the promised king from the house of David. Now, do you remember how I said that a human king did not necessarily deny divine rule? God would reign through his appointed representative? How perfect then is the incarnation ministry and victory of the Lord Jesus in this regard? because it is the coming together of divine and human rule. Jesus is the eternal son of God, takes to himself a truly human nature without destroying or undermining his deity. He is the king who is truly divine and truly human. Jesus embodies the rule of God and the rule of a king exercising dominion and justice in the land. Jesus is the king. the perfect king for God's people. He's the saving king and the redeeming king, the living and ascending king, and he's the returning king. When you read Deuteronomy 17, in light of the fullness of the story of scripture, you realize that Jesus is this promised ruler, fulfilling this criteria from this early book of the Bible. And the one who would say to his disciples, follow me, listen to me, believe my words, look to my life. And he could say it with greater sincerity and truthfulness than any previous king ever could have. His words were words of life. His light was a light of life. His water from his heart was living water for the thirsty. He has all authority in heaven and on earth. He says that in Matthew 28 when he commissions his church to go. And so he says to us now, my friends, as the king, Believe in me, hope in me, listen to me, follow me. Let's pray together.