Who's The King?

John 6 (2)

Who’s the King?

Please turn in your Bibles to the book of John. John chapter 6. John chapter 6 and this morning we will begin in verse 14. John chapter 6 and verse 14.

What does one preach on at a time like this? What does one preach on, at your first drive in service, and hopefully, if all of the technical issues have been figured out, your first live-streaming service? What do you study when borders are being closed, people are being asked to stay home, businesses are closing, many restaurants are serving drive-through only, the stock market is in free fall, many stores now have “seniors-only” hours, water and toilet paper are hard to find, and healthcare, trucking, and first-responders appear to be the only jobs which are recession-proof?

You look at the next passage in the book you’ve been studying, because none of this is a surprise to the Lord. You look at the next passage in the book the Lord has led you to study because none of this is a surprise to the God Who sits in heaven. None of this has taken Him unaware. None of this has Him wringing His hands wondering what to do next.

You look at the next passage in the scripture He’s had you studying, because heaven is still beyond anything we can imagine, hell is still hellish, the Great Commission is still our assignment, people still need to know Jesus, and God is still on the throne.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could remember that all the time?

And so this morning we find ourselves in the 14th verse of the 6th chapter of John. Look there with me please.

- Read John 6:14-15

I have to admit, when I recently began studying these verses the first thing that came to mind was all of the debates we’ve seen on TV recently, where people are lined up side-by-side, debating and arguing, and spending countless millions of dollars advertising trying to become president, when in this passage we find people wanting to make Jesus king and instead of encouraging them or taking them up on the offer, He slips away to a mountain by Himself, to get away from the people.

My goodness, that’s no way to start a movement. That’s no way to change things. Jesus’ family and brothers were not political consultants, but even they knew better than that. In John, we read,

- John 7:2-4

But Jesus slipped away.

If there was ever anyone qualified to be king, it is Jesus.

John 1 tells us Jesus created all things. All things were made by Him and apart from Him was nothing made that was made. Who better qualified to be king than the One Who created it?

In John chapter 2, Jesus cleanses the Temple. He drove out the money changers and those selling animals. He knew that God has standards and what was going on in the temple did not meet those standards. Am I the only one here who wishes we had a king who had not only the desire but the ability to clean house, to hold people to godly standards?

In John chapter 3 we find Jesus’ mission and the Fathers love for us described. You remember the verse. Say it with me,

> John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but hath everlasting life.

In the same chapter we read of Nicodemus, a religious leader coming to Jesus in the night, and Jesus teaches the teacher. He explains what is necessary to be saved. He talks about being born again.

When so many of our politicians go into office poor and become wealthy. Jesus left the glories, the majesty, and the praise of heaven to come down here and be hungry, to be spat on, rejected and abused for us. Who better qualified to be king than One Who would leave the glories of heaven to come for us, and One Who is wiser than our instructors and Who knows the way to heaven?

In John chapter 4, we find Jesus encountering the woman at the well. She was the low of the low, married and divorced 5 times and now living with a man she wasn’t married to. Living on the edge. An outcast of society. One so despised by people that she would go get her water in the middle of the day, just to avoid them, their talk, and their judgmental stares. She’s the one “good people” would stare at and use as an example for their children, telling them, “You better shape up and change your life or you’re going to end up like her one day.” She’s the one we would see today, standing at the intersection or the off ramp holding a sign asking for handouts; the one we try to ignore, or not see because we do not understand, and yet, of all of the people in that town, she is the one Jesus chose to talk with and to work through to reach that whole community.