"THE CROSS, THE CROOK & THE CROWN"
Pt. 3 - The Sovereign's Crown
Psalms 24:7-10
Psalms 24:7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
Introduction: Psalms 22-24 are Messianic in their content and are an appropriate study in light of how close we are to our celebration of the Lord's Passion. Each of these three Psalms has a different focus which we shall explore over the next three weeks. The first is entitled "The Savior's Cross; the second, "The Shepherd's Crook", and the third, The Sovereign's Crown!" Now we come to the third part of our study in this trilogy of Psalms, The Sovereign's Crown. Most of what I'm going to say this morning will be connected to the question in verse 8: "...Who is this king of glory?" We'll seek to provide an answer. First, the King of glory is:
I. HE'S A TRANSCENDANT KING
1 Timothy 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
ILL - At least once per year I like to quote Dr. S. M. Lockeridge's great narrative describing King Jesus so I'd like to do that for you this morning:
The Bible says He's a seven way king:
He's the King of the Jews
He's the King of Israel
He's the King of Righteousness
He's the King of the Ages
He's the King of Heaven
He's the King of Glory
He's the King of Kings and He is the Lord of Lords
Now that's my King!
David says: The Heavens declare the glory of God
And the firmament showeth His handiwork
No means of measure can define His limitless love
No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply
No barriers can hinder Him from pouring out His blessing
He's enduringly strong
He's entirely sincere
He's eternally steadfast
He's immortally graceful
He's imperially powerful
He's impartially merciful
That's my King!
He's God's Son
He's the sinners' Saviour
He's the centerpiece of civilization
He stands alone in Himself
He's august
He's unique
He's unparalleled
He's unprecedented
He's supreme
He's pre-eminent
He's the loftiest idea in literature
He's the highest personality in philosophy
He's the supreme problem in higher criticism
He's the fundamental doctrine in true theology
He's the cardinal necessity of spiritual religion
That's my King!
He's the miracle of the age
He's the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him
He's the only one able to supply all of our needs simultaneously
He supplies strength for the weak
He's available for the tempted and the tried
He sympathizes and He saves
He guards and He guides
He heals the sick
He cleansed the lepers
He forgives sinners
He discharges debtors
He delivers the captives
He defends the feeble
He blesses the young
He serves the unfortunate
He regards the age
He rewards the diligent, And He beautifies the meek
Do you know Him?
My King is the key of knowledge
He's the wellspring of wisdom
He's the doorway of deliverance
He's the pathway of peace
He's the roadway of righteousness
He's the highway of holiness
He's the gateway of glory
He's the master of the mighty
He's the captain of the conquerors
He's the head of the heroes
He's the leader of the legislators
He's the overseer of the overcomers
He's the governor of governors
He's the prince of princes
He's the King of Kings
And He's the Lord of Lords
That's my King!
His office is manifold
His promise is sure
His life is matchless
His goodness is limitless
His mercy is everlasting
His love never changes
His word is enough
His grace is sufficient
His reign is righteous
His yoke is easy and His burden is light
I wish I could describe Him to you,
He's indescribable
He's indestructible
He's incomprehensible
He's invincible
He's irresistible
I'm trying to tell you,
The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him
Let alone a man explain Him
You can't get Him out of your mind
You can't get Him off of your hands
You can't outlive Him
And you can't live without Him
The Pharisees couldn't stand Him
but they found out they couldn't stop Him
Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him
The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree
And Herod couldn't kill Him
Death couldn't handle Him
And the grave couldn't hold Him
That's my King!
He always has been
And He always will be
I'm talking about my king,
He had no predecessor
and He'll have no successor
There was nobody before Him and there'll be nobody after Him
You can't impeach Him and He's not going to resign
That's my King! Praise the Lord!
Thine is the Kingdom, And the power, And the glory
The glory is all His, Thine is the Kingdom, And the power, And the glory, Forever, And ever, And ever
And when you get through with all of the forevers
Then Amen!
My King is a sovereign King. No means of measure can define His limitless love. He's enduringly strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's imperially powerful. He's impartially merciful.
He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He strengthens and sustains. He guards and He guides. He heals the sick. He cleansed the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers the captive. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent. And He beautifies the meek.
II. HE'S A TRIUMPHANT KING
a. Over Death
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
b. Over the Devil & Hell
c. Over all Dominions
Ephesians 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
III. HE'S A TERRIBLE KING
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Acts 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
2 Timothy 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Conclusion: A young law school student was on his way to class on a cold, blustery day in January. As he was walking to class, he watched a young boy ice skating on a pond. To his amazement, the ice broke and the boy was drowning before his eyes. Without hesitating, the young law student ran to his rescue. He made his way with bravery to the edge of the hole and saved the boy from certain death.
Years went by and the law student became a very successful lawyer and was eventually promoted to judge. One day, a dirty, long-haired man was brought before him for committing some serious crimes. Right away the judge remembered the man as the boy he saved the day at the pond. He called for the man to approach the bench. When he did, the judge said, "one day a long time ago I was your savior, but now I have become your judge."
Author Unknown
In just a moment I'm going to ask our musicians and worship leader to come and we will sing an invitation hymn and you will have the opportunity to make a public response to the claims of Christ on your life. You must respond publically because according to what Jesus taught if you are ashamed to confess Him (publically) before men then He would be ashamed to confess you before His Father. You may need to come for some other type of decision but whatever God is dealing with you about you need to respond.
