Seeing & Knowing Christ as Our King

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you, and behold I am with you all the days until the completion of the age. Let us look to the Lord. Dear Heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee for giving us the privilege of gathering in Thy presence, worshiping Thee, and remembering what I Son, our Lord Jesus, has done for us.

Our Father, we do thank Thee that we may continue in Thy presence to read Thy word, and now we ask that Thou would bless Thy word, and make Thy word living and operative in each of our lives, that Thou mayest get all the glory. We commit this time into Thy hand, and trust Thy blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

When you open the New Testament, you'll find that the first four books of the New Testament are called the Gospels. The Gospel according to Matthew, the Gospel according to Mark, the Gospel according to Luke, and the Gospel according to John. These four books tell us of the story of our Lord Jesus.

In other words, these four books are historical in nature. They are biographical. And as we read these four Gospels, we come to acknowledge of our Lord Jesus, His life, His ministry.

But brothers and sisters, one thing we need to always remember. And that is, the Bible is given to us as a revelation. In other words, the Bible is to reveal Christ to us.

Whether it is given to us in the form of history, biography, poetry, prophecy, allegory, in whatever form it may be presented to us. The purpose is one. And that is to reveal Christ Jesus.

Therefore you'll find that the Bible is not only historical, but it is spiritual. Therefore as we approach the Word of God, on the one hand we need to read, to study, to know what is written there. Such knowledge is important.

But dear brothers and sisters, if that is all we get from the Bible, then we miss the very reason why the Word of God is given to man. In other words, the Word of God is given to us as a revelation. It is to reveal Christ.

And because it is given to us as a revelation, it has to be received as a revelation. It is not enough just to receive the book as history, or as poetry, or as teaching, or as doctrine, or as ceremony, or as ritual. You have to receive the Word of God as a revelation.

That is to say, you need not only to know the story, the history, the teaching, the doctrine, and so on and so forth. But beyond these, you have to come to see Christ Jesus. If you do not see Christ, and all you know is story.

If you do not see Christ, and all you have is teaching, then you miss the very purpose of what the Word of God is given for. Therefore dear brothers and sisters, as we approach the Word of God, we need to ask the Lord to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may truly know Him. In other words, it is given as a revelation, and it has to be received as a revelation.

By revelation it means that God reveals Christ, and through the book we are to see Christ in our spirit. You know, when a revelation is given, then it results in fellowship. If it is not revelation, there is no fellowship.

And fellowship means having things in common. If there is revelation, then you have that which is revealed. You have fellowship with that which is revealed.

Therefore you find the Logos of God has to become Vrema to us. Logos is the Word, the fact, the truth, the story, the Word once spoken and given by God as revelation. Vrema is the Holy Spirit breathed once more upon the Word that was given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And make it living, present, real, experiential to each one of us. And that is the reason why we need to receive the Word of God as a revelation. And only when this is the case there is fellowship.

And the result of fellowship is transformation. We will be transformed by the Word, by what is revealed, or who is revealed, and thus be transformed and be conformed to the image of God's Son. And you know, this is what the Word of God, the Bible, is really for.

So dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord help us as we approach His Word, that we may approach His Word as a revelation, and receive it as such. And by revelation we may have a sight. Now of course, the first full books of the New Testament are history books.

But even though they are history books, books of biography of the life of our Lord Jesus, and yet you find God's purpose is that we not only know the story, but we really see that we may know Him. This is the purpose of God's Word. Now this morning we would like to begin with the first book, Matthew.

What is the book of Matthew given to us as revelation from God? You know, so far as chronologically speaking, that is according to time, Matthew is not the first gospel book written. Most commentators agree that the first gospel written is Mark. And yet you find in God's sovereignty, we believe there is sovereignty there, in God's sovereignty as you open the New Testament, you find the gospel according to Matthew is put first.

And do you know why? You know, from human standpoint, we will put the gospel according to Luke first. Why? Because from the human viewpoint, the gospel is the gospel of grace, for the remission of our sins. We are conscious of our sins.

We know we are sinners. We need forgiveness. We need the grace of God.

And the gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of grace. And through grace, by faith, we are forgiven and we receive eternal life. So from the human standpoint, we will say the gospel according to Luke should be placed first.

But from the divine viewpoint, from God's viewpoint, you will find the gospel of Matthew is put first. Why? Because from God's viewpoint, the first thing concerning Christ that we need to see and to know, is to know Him as our King. The gospel of the kingdom is God's viewpoint of the gospel.

The gospel of grace is our viewpoint of the gospel. Of course, it is both. But we usually begin from ourselves.

We are so self-centered. We want grace for us, for our enjoyment. And sometimes we forget that we need to be God-centered and we need to see the gospel from God's viewpoint.

What is it that God wants us to know about the gospel or about the Lord Jesus in the first place? He wants us to know Him as our King. You know, one of the reasons why Christian lives are so weak, Christian testimony is so ineffective, one reason is we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We see Him as our Redeemer, but we fail to see Him and to recognize Him as our Lord, as our King.

We receive the gospel for our good, but we do not obey the gospel for God's purpose to be fulfilled. And therefore you'll find, as you open the New Testament, the first thing that God wants us to see about His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, because the whole Bible is to receive a review of Christ, and the first thing that needs to be revealed to us, that needs to be received by us, is to see the Lord Jesus as King. And again I say, this requires revelation.

The Holy Spirit has to reveal this to us in our spirit. It is written there in the gospel according to Matthew, but what is written there has to be quickened by the Holy Spirit to our heart, that we may truly see Jesus as King. When you open the gospel according to Matthew, the first verse said, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

You know there are only two places in the whole Bible, where you have the same formula, the book of the generation. One is in Genesis chapter 5 verse 1, the book of the generation of Adam. And here you'll find in Matthew chapter 1 verse 1, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ.

Why? Because there are only two men in God's eyes. The first man is Adam, and everyone that comes out of Adam, in Adam all die. And the second man is Christ, and in Christ all shall be made alive.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ. What is His history? The Son of David, the Son of Abraham. In other words, from the very beginning of the gospel, God is testifying who this Jesus Christ is.

What is His history? The book of the generation of Jesus Christ. What is it? The Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Who is the Son of David? Solomon.

And yet here you'll find Solomon is just a shadow. The real Son of David is Jesus Christ. As God told David, that in thy son, he will build me my house, and his throne in the kingdom shall never end.

We know even Solomon built a temple. It is just a physical temple. And Solomon did reign, but the throne does not last forever.

So we know that Solomon is just a shadow, a type of Christ. There is the Son of David, who is greater than David, and by Him the true house of God shall be built. He said, I will build my church upon this rock, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

And it is in this Son of David that his throne shall never end. He shall reign forever and forever. He is the Son of Abraham.

Now who is the Son of Abraham, historically? Isaac. And yet God promised Abraham, in Genesis 22, in thy son all the nations shall be blessed. In thy seed all the nations shall be blessed.

And we know that Isaac is just a type, a shadow. The reality is Jesus Christ, because truly in Christ Jesus all the nations shall be blessed. So here you find at the very outset, God is presenting Jesus to us as the King.

He is the promised King. He is the promised Son of David. The promised Son of Abraham, in whom all the nations shall be blessed.

But you know there is something very interesting. And that is, as you read the Gospel according to Matthew, you will find on the one hand God is witnessing all the time. He is bearing witness all the time to Jesus, to His Son, as His appointed King.

And yet at the same time you will find it is recorded how the people rejected Jesus as King all the time. You see a conflict there. Why? Why is it that people fail to see the Lord Jesus as King? You know, as a matter of fact, God chose out of all the nations a people.

And God prepared that people for a long period. For one reason. That the Messiah could come out from their midst.

That is to say, God prepared the children of Israel from the day of Abraham up to the day of Christ. God prepared them with all the preparations for just one reason, that in the fullness of time, the King, the Messiah shall come. But strangely, when the Messiah, the King, arrived, the people of Israel that had been prepared for so long, failed to recognize Him as King.

They rejected Him. Why is it so? Because the concept of a King has been so distorted in human history. That the concept of a King in human understanding is so different from the concept of a King according to the divine understanding.

Therefore, when the King finally arrived, very few recognized Him. The Jews at that time were disappointed in Him. They were expecting Him as King in the beginning.

And they thought probably He was the King. And they were waiting for Him to come out, overthrow the Roman Empire, throw off the iron yoke of the Roman Empire and make Israel the head of the nations. But He didn't do that.

And because of that, they were disappointed in Him. In their concept, He was not the King according to their thought. Therefore, even though He claimed Himself to be King and born to be King, but they rejected Him.

He did not fit with their concept. And dear brothers and sisters, only a few of all the children of Israel, the Jews at that time, only a few, such as Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth, John the Baptist, Simeon, Anna, a few shepherds, these probably were very special shepherds. These were not ordinary shepherds.

People today believe that these were shepherds of the Temple. In other words, they kept these sheep that had been set apart to be sacrificed on the altar. And a few of the disciples of John the Baptist.

Only a few among the whole multitude, whole nation of Israel received Jesus as their King. And how? Through revelation. In other words, the human concept is in such contrast, opposition with the divine concept of the King, that it takes revelation to see Jesus as King.

And brothers and sisters, this was not only true in the first century, when the Lord Jesus came upon this earth, in the human body, but this has been and is still true today. Do you think you can really see Jesus as King without revelation? You may read the Gospel according to Matthew. There he is presented to us as King.

But as you read it, probably you have a conflict within you. And the conflict is, even though Jesus is presented to you as King, you do not see too much of his kingly nature, of his kingly manner, of his kingship there. Probably you would take the same position as the Jews in the old days.

He is not much of a king. What has he done? He takes revelation. We really need revelation that is an unveiling by the Holy Spirit in our heart.

As we read the Gospel of Matthew, that as we read it, God has to open our eyes to see that Jesus is truly a King. But he is not a King according to human thought. He is a King in God's and we must receive him as such, as our King.

When Jesus was born, in Galatians we are told, in the fullness of time. He was born of a woman, born under law, that he may deliver us from the curse of the law, that we may have adoption, that is, sonship. To God it is the fullness of time.

In other words, the time was right for the Lord Jesus to come as a King. But if you read history, probably you would say, this isn't the time. Why? Because when Christ Jesus was born, you know who was on the throne of the nation of Judah? Judea? Herod.

And I do mean, there is an Edomite. Not even a Jew. Not a son of David.

But an Edomite was on the throne of the kingdom of Judea, of Judah. And who is on the throne of the world empire? Caesar. Augustus Caesar.

We would say, this is not the time. And yet you find in God's viewpoint, it is the fullness of time. For his son to come as a King.

When he was born, he was not born in Jerusalem. We would expect a King to be born, a Prince to be born in the capital of the nation. He was not born there.

He was born in a little village, in a little town called Bethlehem. When he was born, nobody was aware of it. Only a few wise men.

Magi. A few wise men from the east. They looked at the stars.

They saw a tremendous, brilliant star. And their interpretation was, a King was born. A King was born.

And probably they had some knowledge of the prophecy by Balaam. Balaam was a Gentile prophet. And these people being Gentiles, they might know something about the prophecy of Balaam.

And Balaam prophesied about the star and the scepter. So they thought that there must be a King born. And he was in the area of Judea.

So they came to Judea to find the King. But where did they go? Naturally, they went to Jerusalem. Because that's where the King should be.

But he was not there. And you remember how Herod was disturbed? Because he was King. And another King was born.

And naturally he was disturbed. And he called all the Pharisees and the scribes together and said, where the King should be born? And you know, these Pharisees and these scribes, they were really Bible scholars. You know, without going, without saying, wait a minute, let's go back and refer to our concordance.

They are living concordance. When Herod asked them, where the King of the Jews shall be born? Immediately they said, he shall be born in Bethlehem of Judea. And you know, how did they know? Because there was a little word in the minor prophet, not the major prophet, Micah.

In Micah chapter 5, there is a prophecy saying that Bethlehem, even though you are the littlest of all the towns, and yet a ruler shall be born out of you. And his days are endless. He is eternal.

Ah, these scribes, these Pharisees, they knew the word by heart. Even today, if I ask you to find Micah, probably, I don't know how many of you can find it. But they don't even need to look at it.

They know it by heart. Oh, they really had the knowledge. But did they go to seek the King? No, they were disturbed.

In other words, even though they had the knowledge, and yet they did not have the King. And brothers and sisters, the same thing is true today. We may mentally say Jesus is King, but spiritually, really, do you seek after Him as your King? Do you yield your life to Him and let Him rule over your lives? There is a great difference here.

And this King was reared in Nazareth. In the upper part, in Galilee, in the hilly country, there was a town called Nazareth. And this King was raised there.

He was not raised in the palace. He had never been to school, that is, rabbinical school. He didn't have a theological degree.

There he was in that hidden place for thirty years, about thirty years. Never been to school. But he was in the school of God, his Father.

And the day was come when he was thirty years old. He was to be presented to the world, as it were. And how did he present himself to the world? Not by a royal banquet, but by going to the river Jordan and be baptized by John the Baptist.

The baptism of John the Baptist is the baptism of repentance. In other words, John the Baptist came and he preached repentance. Repent.

Change your mind. Turn around. Hundred percent, hundred eighty percent degree turning.

About face. The way you are going is entirely wrong. Even you are very religious.

You have the temple, you have the sacrifice, you have the priesthood, you have the synagogue, you have the Old Testament, the five books of Moses, the Torah, you have the prophets, you have the songs. Even you seem to be very religious and you seem to be doing all the right things. No.

Repent. Turn about face. You are completely in the wrong direction.

Why? Because the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh. The King is coming. Being religious won't help you.

You need to repent of being religious as well as of being irreligious. Why the King is coming? It is repentance. And here you'll find the King himself comes to be baptized.

He has nothing to repent of. Our Lord Jesus has absolutely nothing to repent of. Because He and the Father are one and He always pleases the Father.

And yet here you'll find in presenting Himself to the nation He took the baptism of John. Why? He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the nation, for the sins of the world. That is His presentation.

He is the King of love. He gave Himself as a sacrifice for us. That is His credential.

That is His qualification. That is the proof that He is King. His kingship is not proven by fanfare and poems.

His kingship is proved by being a sacrifice. And as He went down into the water to be baptized by John the Baptist, identifying Himself with the sinful world, offering Himself as a sacrifice, then when He came out of the water, the Holy Spirit came upon Him. Not only upon Him, but dwell in Him, the Bible said, as a dove.

And do you know what a dove is? The dove is the offering of the poor. The poor cannot afford to offer a bullet, nor even a lamb. They can only offer a dove.

And here you'll find our Lord Jesus offering Himself spotless to God as a dove. The offering of the poor. This is the way He presents Himself as King.

And then He was led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness to be tempted of the devil for forty days and forty nights. And there you'll find He overcame the enemy. In the Garden of Eden, in the best of circumstances, man, the first man Adam, fell before the tempter.

And here you'll find in the worst of circumstances, in the desert, fasting for forty days and forty nights. And yet He overcame. You know, it is just like the way King David was presented to the nation of Israel.

You know, the first time King David was presented to the nation of Israel was, he slew Goliath. And by slaying Goliath, everybody knew, here was a king. And here, brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus, being tempted in the wilderness forty days and forty nights, and He overcame the enemy.

The enemy couldn't do anything to Him. No place in His life. And His victory over the enemy proved to the world that He is the King.

When He came out to preach. I was just going through the Gospel of Matthew with you. And when He came out to preach.

You know, and at the time when John the Baptist was in prison, then the Lord Jesus began to preach in earnest. And you remember, Gospel, in Matthew chapter four, as He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, you'll find He began to call disciples. He saw Simon Peter and Andrew, they were casting nets in the Sea of Galilee, and He said, Come and follow after Me.

I will make you fishers of men. So they left everything and followed the Lord. And then He went a little distance forward and He saw the two sons of Zebedees, they were mending the net, and the Lord said, Come, follow Me.

They left the net, they left the father, the boat, and everything, and followed the Lord. In other words, you'll find a calling of the disciples. Now, what does it mean? You know, today you may have heard much about discipleship.

But what is really meant by discipleship? You know, the Lord, He came out and He called people to be His disciples. Come, follow after Me. He is calling for disciples.

And what does it mean? It means that these people who responded to His call, they gave up everything, and be with Him, put themselves under His kingship, and let Him transform them, conform them to His own image. Now, this is what discipleship really means. The call of discipleship is the call of the kingdom.

It is the call of the King. The King is calling His people to put themselves under His kingship, His rulership, so that He may transform them and make them truly His own kingdom. Now, that is the call of discipleship.

If this is what the call of discipleship is, can you be disciple to any man? Does any man have the qualification to call you to be his disciple? No. We are only disciple to Christ. Not to anybody else.

People may help us in the discipleship, but they are not our masters. We have only one master. We have only one King.

We do not have two kings. We do not have the Lord Jesus and Caesar. We have only one King, the Lord Jesus.

The call of discipleship is the call of the King. It is the call into the kingdom. It is the call to be His subjects.

It is the call to submit ourselves wholly to Him. And that is the reason why, every time the call of discipleship comes, the response has to be, leaving all and follow Him. In other words, if you still try to look back and cling on something, the Lord said, you are not worthy to be My disciple.

Let go everything. Let go yourself and let Him do what He wants with your life and in your life. Are you afraid of that? Thank God for that.

If you hold on to yourself, how much can you make out of yourself? You make a mass out of it. But if you let go yourself and let Him take care of you, He will make you a son of the kingdom. In other words, He will transform you and let His kingly character be wrought in you, so that you may truly be kings and priests unto God.

Do you know that? We are not only being washed by the precious blood, but we are also made kings and priests unto God. Do you know you are a king? Potentially. And He called you to be His disciples, that He can make you a king really.

But what is the concept of a king? Oh, how different is God's concept from man's concept. We may think now, if He called me to be king, well, I will sit high up and give command that everybody serve Him. Now that's a king.

But no, that's not the type of king our Lord Jesus is. As we already mentioned, His kingship is so divine, so different. He calls us to be His disciples.

And as we come to be His disciples, what is He going to disciple us? To discipline us? To train us? I believe we all know the Sermon on the Mount. You know, He gathered His disciples, He went to the mountain, and as the disciples came to Him, He opened His mouth and began to speak. Remember, Matthew 5, 6 and 7 are not words spoken to the world.

Even though many people in the periphery, they heard about it. But these words were spoken to His disciples. People have already put themselves under His kingship, and allowed Him to have absolute sway over their lives.

And this is what the Lord Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Matthew 5, 6 and 7, the Sermon on the Mount. What is it? There the Lord Jesus describes to us what His kingdom is like.

This is His kingdom. His kingdom is not of the world. We know what the kingdom of the world is like, but we don't know what His kingdom is like.

So He is just describing to us the nature of His kingdom. What His kingdom is like. And as a matter of fact, His kingdom is just like Him, the King.

This is what He is. And because this is what He is, therefore this is what His kingdom is like. This is what those who are in the kingdom are like.

It is not law, it is grace. That is to say, this is what He is able to do, and to make us of. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Now what is meant by poor in spirit? Poverty in spirit. It does not mean that you are spiritually poor. On the contrary.

Because you are spiritually rich, therefore you can be made poor in spirit. Think of the Lord Himself. In Philippians chapter 2, He who is equal with God.

And that is not something to be grasped at. Because that is what He is. Essentially.

Eternally. That is what He is. He is equal with God.

He is in the form of God. And the word form there means the inward character. Whatever God is, that is what He is.

He is rich. Spiritually He is full. As we study the letter to the Colossians, all the fullness of the Godhead makes its home permanently in Him.

That is how rich He is. How full He is. And because He is so rich and so full, therefore He is able to empty Himself.

You know, actually there is not much for us to empty. Because we are empty. We do not have anything.

But we think we have a lot. But with the Lord Jesus you find He is rich all the fullness of the Godhead. Can you imagine the fullness of the Godhead? That is something beyond our understanding.

The fullness of the Godhead and everything that God is. And to its fullness. They all dwell in Christ bodily.

They all make their permanent home in Him. Not just a flesh, but permanently there. And He emptied Himself.

Oh, what an emptying He made. Of course He cannot empty Himself of His deity. That is impossible.

But He emptied Himself of all the things that are connected with deity. His glory, His honor, His worship. And all these things He emptied Himself.

And He took the form of a slave. Not just of a man, of a slave. In other words, inwardly He became a slave.

A love slave to God His Father. He was equal with God. He took an inferior place to God in such extent that He becomes a slave.

A love slave to God. That is the form He took. And outwardly He take the fashion of a man.

He put on the flesh. The likeness of sinful flesh. Without sin.

He took that form of a man. And being found as a man. He humbled Himself.

That is, He took His place as a man. As a created being before the Creator. He humbled Himself.

And becoming obedient unto God. Even unto death. And that the death of the Christ.

That is, poor in spirit. In other words, poor in spirit simply means, humility. Humility.

You know what is humility? Think of the Laodiceans. If you read Revelation chapter 3. You'll find the Laodicea, the church in Laodicea. They boast of themselves and say, we are rich.

We have everything. We lack in nothing. And yet God said, you are poor.

You are miserable. You are naked. You are blind.

Brothers and sisters. How arrogant we are. How self-asserted we are.

Self-confident we are. Self-sufficient we are. We think that we know everything.

We have everything. We are lacking in nothing. The Bible says, pride goes before the fall.

If you are proud, you will fall. But what God looks upon, the man that God looks upon. You know Isaiah 62, 66 verse 2. He said, the man that God looks upon is the one who is of a poor and a contrite spirit.

And who trembles at his word. Oh brothers and sisters, naturally we are all proud and arrogant. We assert ourselves.

We are self-sufficient. We think it is a shame if we had to look up. Naturally, that's what we are.

But as we come to be disciples of Christ. As we answer the call to the kingdom of the heavens. You know the first thing that the king will work in our lives.

To work his own character into us. Is this character of humanity. He has to transform us.

From thinking that I am somebody. I have everything. I can do all things by myself.

He has to transform us. He doesn't mean to say I am nothing. I can do nothing.

I have nothing. Therefore, he has to be everything to me. Brothers and sisters, this is the first quality of a king.

According to divine concept. You know according to human concept, that's the last thing. If you are a king.

You cannot afford to be humble. You have to assert yourself. You have to be authoritative.

You have to be proud. Just like Louis XIV said, I am the state. Oh no.

But the king in the divine sense is so opposite. The king in the divine sense. The first quality is humility.

Are you a king in God's thought? Do you have that kingly quality in you? Is there humility in you? If there is humility in you. Then brothers and sisters. The bible said, God looks upon that man.

Only talk. And these trials do not come from very noble backgrounds. They are fisherman, publican, so forth.

And yet you see one thing among them. That they argue and struggle and strive with each other. Throughout the years they are following the Lord.

Think of that. They are following the Lord. They are his disciples.

They are all being to be transformed by him. And yet there is something in them that seems to nag them. That seems to trouble them.

And to the very end even. What is it? Who is the greatest? Who is the greatest? And the whole concept is the worldly concept of the king. Everyone tries to sit on the highest seat.

Everyone tries to get to that position. And if he can get to that position. Then he can look down upon the others.

And the others have to serve him. Now that concept is very deep in the disciples. And again and again the Lord has to teach them.

Once in Matthew 18 you find they were again struggling and striving against each other. Who is the greatest? And the Lord take a child and show them. He said, unless you are converted and become like a little child.

You cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens. Who is the greatest in the kingdom? He that is humble as a little child. He is the greatest in the kingdom.

Now why is it? Because a little child. Have nothing. Know nothing.

He has to look up to. That's the spirit of a child. Now God wants us to be very childlike.

But don't be childish. And then you find in chapter 20 of Matthew again. You find when the Lord was going to Jerusalem for the last time.

All the disciples think, well that's the time that the king is to be crowned. And we will sit by his right and left. So here you find again the two disciples, the sons of Zebedees.

They came with a mother. And the mother you know, humanly speaking is the aunt of our Lord Jesus. And the word of an aunt has weight you know.

So the mother came with the two sons. And she seems to be very selfless. She is not thinking of herself, just of her sons.

So he came to the Lord Jesus and pray. That we want to ask you something. Promise.

You will grant it. They don't say what they want. Maybe they are too ashamed to say that.

They know something is not true, right? But they just present the Lord with a blank check and this is fine. And you know the Lord never signs a blank check. So the Lord says, what do you want? Come out.

Be honest. Don't be subtle. And the mother blurted out and said, Let my two sons, one sit on your right and one sit on your left in your kingdom.

That's the concept of a king, of a kingdom. Worldly concept. So the Lord Jesus said, Are you able to drink the cup that I am going to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with? And the two sons of Zebedees, you know, they thundered.

They didn't really know what the cup is or what the baptism means. But they want the right and left so much. They will do anything that is required of them.

They said, we will. And the Lord said, you must. But whether you sit on my right or left is not for me to give.

It is for my Heavenly Father to give. In other words, kingship is not in a position. Kingship is in drinking the cup and baptizing with the baptism.

That's where the kingly character reveals. What is the cup? The cup in the scripture here stands for the will of the Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane the Lord said, It is possible, let this cup be removed from me.

But not my will, thy will be done. And finally the Lord said, this is the cup that my Father has given me. The will of God.

Whether the will of God is bitter or sweet, it doesn't matter. It is the will of God. The baptism is the cross.

It is the cross that the Lord will be baptized with. So here you will find it is through doing the will of God and by taking up the cross that the kingly nature, the kingly character, the kingly power and energy is being raised. The Lord said in the Word, Those who are rulers, who are high up, they rule over people, they give command to people.

But in your midst it is different. In the kingdom of God it is different. He that is the greatest should be the smallest.

He that should be great should serve as a slave to the others. Dear brothers and sisters, here you will find our Lord Jesus is truly king. But what kind of king He is? What is His kingly character? How do we know He is king? You cannot judge Him by the human viewpoint.

If so you will be disappointed. You have to see Him from the divine viewpoint. Oh, see His humility.

See His meekness. See His purity. See His gentleness.

See His loneliness. See how He does the will of God. How He goes to the cross.

Brothers and sisters, in all these things He reveals Himself as the king. And no wonder, when He was crucified on the cross, you know Herod, not Herod, Pilate, Pilate actually wanted to mock the Jews. So he put over the cross the sentence, the crime.

And the crime said the king of the Jews. He used that as mocking the Jews, you know. And it was in three languages.

In Latin, Romans, in Greek and in Hebrew. That is for the whole world to know. And unknowingly He was doing God's will.

Because there on the cross, Christ is declared to the whole world that He truly is the king. There is no place that He make His kingship clearer than at the time when He was crucified. Dear brothers and sisters, look at the cross and you see the king.

How different it is from the world. Do you see the cross? If you see the cross, can you fail to see Christ Jesus as your king? Has He not conquered you with His love? Are you not being constrained by the love of Christ? Thinking that one dies for all that all die? And now you live, you live for Him who died and lived for you. Can you live for yourself anymore? Do you not recognize the king? You receive the cross, can you reject the king? If you receive the cross, you have to recognize the one who is crucified on the cross is your king.

He has a claim upon you. He has bought you with His price. You belong to Him.

And dear brothers and sisters, He is going to transform you. To make you a king. Because He is the King of kings.

He is to build His own character into your very life. The kingly character. Humility.

Meekness. Pure in heart. Loneliness.

Gentleness. Selflessness. Deny yourself.

Take up your cross. And follow Me, the Lord said. From the day of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven is to be seen by violins.

We don't like the word violins. Why? Because it has such a bad connotation today. But actually the word itself is neutral.

In other words, the word violins there simply means force. Take it by force. And the forceful sees upon it.

And what does it mean? It means that you do not do violins to other people. But you do violins to yourself. You deny yourself.

That's doing violins to yourself. You deny yourself. Take up the cross and follow the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, whenever we see the mark of the cross in a person, we know he is a king. Remember Paul. He said, do not bother me.

He told the Galatians, I have the mark upon me. The mark of the cross in his life. Do you have the mark of the cross in your life? What is the mark of the cross? A crucify.

That Christ may be all in your life. That is the mark. And finally you find our Lord Jesus raised from the dead.

He appeared to the disciples for the days. And before he left, in Matthew chapter 28, he said, all power in heaven and earth has been given to me. How does he come into all power? He comes into all power by the cross.

For emptying himself. By proving himself he is truly a king. Therefore he is fit.

He is qualified to handle all the power in heaven and the earth. Brothers and sisters, if a little power is given to you today, can you handle it? That is why you find power and authority having so much abuse and misuse in this world. How? Because people are not just fit, qualified to use the power and use authority.

But one day, here you find the Lord Jesus. All power given to him. Why? Because he has proven himself that he can handle it.

And he said, go to the nations. Disciple all nations. Remember dear brothers and sisters, the Great Commission is not evangelizing all nations.

It is more than that. Of course evangelizing is included. The Great Commission is disciple all nations.

Not only bring them to Christ that they may be saved, but bring them to Christ that they may submit their lives to Christ. Accept Christ not only as their savior, but also as their king. This is the Great Commission.

Disciple all nations. Bring all nations to Christ. That the kingdom of this world will one day become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.

And what do you do? Baptizing them. In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Why baptizing them? Baptism is just an outward testimony to an inward reality.

And that is everything in the past is dead and buried. From now on everything is new. Everything is Christ.

And teach them all things that I have taught you. That is building them up. And the Lord said, I will be with you to the completion of the age.

And this is the Gospel. Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank thee because thou dost present thy son to us as thy king. Yet how different he is from the kings and the concept of a king that we know.

O do change renew our mind that we may truly see Christ as king. That we may admire his kingly character. That we may give ourselves to him and let him disciple us and transform us and build that kingly character in us.

That truly one day we may rule and reign with Christ. Lord, we just ask that these may not be just words passing through our mind. But we ask that our Holy Spirit will open our spirit and reveal Christ to us.

That we may truly take him as our king and let him make us kings under him. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Amen.