King of Kings!
Revelation 19:11-16
Introduction: In fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophetic promise, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey”, Jesus rides into Jerusalem to the sound of praise from the people that had resounded in the ears of the kings of Israel in ancient times; “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest.” The people dreamed that this would be the triumphal entry of their Messiah-King who would save them from the Roman occupation. But the shouts of “Hosanna” would change to “Crucify Him” as they proved that they had never truly made Christ their King or made themselves loyal subjects of the King of Kings. This morning I ask you to behold your king and give Him the adoration He deserves, the attention He desires, and the allegiance He demands.
I. Give your King the Adoration He deserves
A. 1 Peter 2:17 – “Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”
B. 1 Chronicles 16:29 – “Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!”
C. Psalms 2:12 (NASB) – “Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish {in} the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”
D. John 12:12-13 – “On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
E. The homage of the crowd given to Christ as He entered Jerusalem was fickle. The praise that was being offered to Him was trivial and temporary. It was based on feelings and the material hopes and desire. There was no way that they were paying homage to Him as the Righteous Sovereign of Eternity.
F. 1 Timothy 1:17 – “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory.”
G. Revelation 5:11-14 – “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!" Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
H. Jesus, who died for thy sins, is worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. We can never ascribe too much to Jesus. But He is worthy also to be believed, in preference to Satan, unbelief, the world, or appearances; to be trusted with all, for all, before all; to be loved more than any other, in opposition to any that would rival Him;...to be followed, wherever He may lead us, through evil report or good report; to be preferred to ease, pleasure, wealth, health, to anything and everything. Jesus is worthy to be our example, our confidant, our king, and our all. He is worthy of all He requires, all we can give, all His people have done for Him or suffered in His cause. – James Smith, in Daily Remembrances.
II. Give your King the Attention He desires
A. Remember the commercial, "When E.F. Hutton speaks, everyone listens?"
B. When the King speaks His subjects are to listen.
C. Acts 3:22 – 23 “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ’The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”
D. 1 Samuel 3:10 (NASB) – “Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for Your servant is listening.’”
E. We are under duty bound to listen to the voice of the Lord and to follow Him.
F. John 2:5 – “His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it.”
G. Some of God’s children are so busy that they have no time to listen to the Lord in their daily lives and yet in times of crisis they want to know His will immediately.
H. If we fail to listen to the voice of conscience in our daily lives, we shall fail to hear the voice of the Spirit when seeking God’s guidance. Instant obedience to God whenever He speaks to us is one of the secrets of guidance.
I. A family was riding down the road one afternoon. Husband and child were both trying to talk to mom at the same time. Finally, the wife said, "I can’t listen to both of you at the same time!" The child replied, "I don’t see why not; you have two ears!" Often we try to "listen" both to God and to the world at the same time. Even though we do have two ears, such a feat of dual allegiance is not possible. – Source: Parent Life, July 1998, p. 44.
III. Give your King the Allegiance He demands
A. Philippians 3:20 – “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”
B. When you say “Jesus is Lord” do you understand the meaning? Absolute loyal allegiance and obedience.
C. Allegiance to Christ means that we are called to honor God in every aspect of our lives.
D. Luke 14:33 (NASB) – “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
E. Realize that the Lord doesn’t want the first place in your life, He wants all of your life.” Billy Graham said “Christ will not take 70% or 90% or even 99%. He wants our all.” - copied
F. Matthew 7:21 – “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
G. Just saying or singing “I pledge allegiance to the Lamb” makes you no more a faithful subject of the kingdom of Heaven than saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States makes you a good American citizen.
H. Think about what we just said, when you call Jesus Lord, you are declaring your absolute allegiance; you are claiming to be a faithful follower, a surrendered servant, an obedient one to the King of kings, Lord of lords.
I. Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
J. On the tombstone of an old Cavalier soldier who lost his life and property in battle for the royalist cause: "He served King Charles with a constant, dangerous and expensive loyalty." – B. Larsen, Luke, p. 59.
K. “Moreover, the Christian soldier not only acknowledges Jesus to be his King, but his heart is full of loving devotion to Him as such. Nothing can make his heart leap like the mention of that august, that more than royal name. He remembers who Jesus is, the Son of God, “the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God.” He remembers what Jesus did, how He loved him, and gave Himself for him. He looks to the Cross and remembers the streams of blood whereby the elect were redeemed, even when they were enemies of God. He remembers Christ in Heaven, enthroned at the right hand of the Father. He loves Him there, and it ravishes his heart to think that God has highly exalted the once-despised and rejected One, and given Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. He pants for the time when the Crucified shall come in His Glory, and rule the nations as their liege Lord. He loves Jesus so that he feels he belongs to Him altogether, bought with His blood, re-deemed by His power, and comforted by His Presence. He delights to know that he is not his own, for he is bought with a price. And since he loves his King, and loves Him with an ardor unquenchable—for many waters cannot drown his love, neither can the floods quench it—he loves all the King’s Brethren and servants for the King’s sake. He hails his Brethren in arms with hearty affection. He loves the grand old banner of the Gospel. He prays for the wind of the Holy Spirit to expand its furls, that all eyes may behold its beauties. He is steadfast in the faith once delivered to the saints, and rejoices so much at every doctrine of the Gospel that he would gladly lay down his life to preserve it to the world. Above all, he loves the crown of his King, and the cause of his Master. Oh, could he set the Captain of his salvation higher among men; he would be content to die in the ditch of neglect and scorn! Could he but see the King come to His own, and the Heir of all things loyally acknowledged by His revolted provinces, he would be satisfied whatever might become of himself. His heart is more than loyal; it is full of personal affection for the Chief among ten thousand.” – C. H. Spurgeon, A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ, June 26, 1870
