1. Message of the King
1930 King George was to address the opening session of the Naval Conference in London. Radio was in its infancy, but through this media the king’s message was to be carried around the world. Just before the king was to go on the air, Walter Vivian, a young engineer of the Columbia Broadcasting Company, discovered a broken wire in the transmitter. There was no time for repairs with the world was waiting to hear the message of the king. The young engineer took a piece of broken wire in one hand, and a piece of broken wire in the other hand, and for fifteen minutes Walter Vivian took two hundred and fifty volts of electricity through his body so that the king’s message might go through.
The world is waiting to hear the message of the King, and the one way for that message to go through is as it is carried to a needy world through us who profess to be His disciples. Can the King’s message be transmitted through you?
2. Why did John the Baptist and Jesus preached the same message of the King of the Universe?
Matthew 3:2 and 4:17 – ““Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand [OR, “the kingdom of heaven has come near.”]
I. Jesus Identified with the Message
A. This is Always God’s Message to Us
1. John, Prophets, Apostles
2. This message is Jesus’ Message – John started it and Jesus picked it up
[Preachers sometimes use other preacher’s sermons – Isaiah 2/Micah 4; SermonCentral.com; a student’s memorizing NB Hardeman’s sermons to preach;
3. Incarnation of God’s Word/message
B. Jesus Came to Save the Lost (Luke 19:10)
1. Repentance is a necessity = Teshuvah/return
2. Repentance is always relevant
3. Begins with the mind and goes into actions – Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
4. Jonah’s displeasure at Nineveh – shallow repentance; God gives every chance
C. The KOH is here
1. Heaven = God
2. Within – Luke 17:21
a. Jesus in their midst
b. Spirit within us
3. Displayed outwardly
a. As: “On earth as it is in heaven”
b. Every obedient act = a display of the kingdom (rule) of God
II. Jesus Identified with the Messenger (John and Us)
A. Jesus Takes the Title, “Man of Sorrows” from Isaiah 53:3
1. Identifies with our sorrows (Wept at Lazarus’ grave)
2. John would be imprisoned by Herod and Jesus had compassion for him and told him truth – not getting out of jail.
B. There are Consequences to our Actions – Even Telling Truth – Galatians 4:16
[In 1950 Hot Springs, NM changed its name to, “Truth or Consequences” when Ralph Edwards, host of the radio show, “T or C,” offered to broadcast its 10th anniversary show in whatever town would change its name to the name of their show. Hot Springs did on March 31, 1950. Edwards and company broadcast from there the following evening.
T-or-C had some consequences to their move. Edwards visited the town the first weekend of May for the next fifty years. The event came to be known as “The Fiesta,” complete with parade, beauty contest, and a stage show. The Fiesta continues to this day. It’s a nice moneymaker for the small town.
1. We understand sowing and reaping – Galatians 6:7-10 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
2. We understand that sometimes we experience the consequences of evil, as Jesus and the cross, – but we will reap for what WE DO. Philippians 2:7-10 (ESV) 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
3. This is evidenced in the message and as messengers of God. – Hebrews 11:36-40 (ESV) 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
4. Who said doing God’s will was easy?
1. Jesus came to identify with us and to demonstrate faith for us – Philippians 2:8 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
2. John came to prepare the way by preaching about the coming kingdom (and its king) as well as God’s sacrifice (John 1:29)
3. In a recent Turning Point article, David Jeremiah related the following story:
Years ago when Brad Hathaway of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, was in his mid-fifties, his doctor suggested he start walking as a way to deal with his diabetes and heart problems. Hathaway took the advice seriously and determined to walk around the circumference of the earth—not literally, but in equivalent distance.
Day after day and year after year, Hathaway walked through rain and shine, anywhere from three to ten miles every day. Last fall, he finished mile number 24,901. To great local fanfare, he had walked the exact distance of the equator’s band around the earth. His current age is 88.
“As time went on, walking got a little harder,” he said. “I had a walking stick for a few years and now I have this walker to help me walk.” [Sam Read, “Massachusetts Man, 88 Will Have Walked About the Circumference of the World,” News Channel 19 ABC, September 11, 2020.]
It’s impossible to make progress in our Christian walk if we don’t make the effort to live with discipline, obedience, holiness, love, the input of truth, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We have to work on our Christian walk and sometimes we need to make course corrections. We’re God’s channels, but we’re not simply passive pipelines. We are onward-bound servants; God’s messengers on earth with His message.
