In the sermon 'Jesus Christ Our King' by Peter Allison, the focus is on understanding the kingship of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in John 18 and Revelation 11. The sermon explores the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, contrasting it with earthly kingdoms. Jesus's kingdom is not established through human means but is spiritual, ruling over the hearts of believers. The sermon notes that Christ's kingship was declared at His resurrection, and He reigns forever, subduing His enemies and exercising authority over all creation. Evidence of His rule is seen in historical changes like the decline of slavery and the widespread influence of the Scriptures. Believers are called to extend His kingdom through spiritual means, utilizing spiritual weapons like righteousness, peace, and the Word of God. The sermon emphasizes that Christ's victory is assured, and His kingdom will ultimately triumph over all earthly powers.

Well, please turn with me in the scriptures to John chapter 18. We will also read from Revelation chapter 11. If you can find Revelation 11 and put your finger there. I'd like to read these two passages Proclaiming the kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 18, Gospel of John, beginning at verse 33.

Hear God's word. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Are you speaking for yourself about this or did others tell you this concerning me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and chief priests have delivered you to me.

What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate therefore said to him, are you a king then?

Jesus answered, You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." And then Revelation chapter 11. My voice." And then Revelation 11. Verse 15.

Then the seventh angel sounded, Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations are angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servant, the prophets, and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. Thus far, in the reading of God's Word, may He add His blessing to it and write its truth upon our heart.

Almighty Heavenly Father, we lift up our hearts to you this morning. We bow before you, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We thank you that you are reigning and we ask that as we look into your word this morning, that you might subdue us to yourself, that you might speak to us with the voice of the King, that you would open our hearts to receive your word with meekness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

When we think of Christ our Savior, Christ our Redeemer, we probably first think about His work as our High Priest, that of offering of His own body a sacrifice for our sin. We may even think of His work as a prophet. But we're probably least likely, or at last, to think of Christ's work as our King when we think of Christ as our Savior. It's also probably somewhat confusing to Think of Christ as King, as receiving a kingdom. Hasn't He always been King?

We've looked at in prior weeks at Christ's pre-incarnate glory, the fact that He was the creator, the fact that he rules all things. Hasn't he always been this king, reigning? Nebuchadnezzar said of him that no one could question him or stay his hand, but that he ruled in heaven and earth. His Nebuchadnezzar recognized that his dominion was an everlasting dominion, that all the people of the earth were as nothing before him, that he does according to his will in the army of heaven. So It can be somewhat confusing to understand, well, in what sense has Christ now a King in a different way as our Savior?

In what new sense has Christ the God-man been given a kingdom? And so we want to look then this morning at Christ as our King. We want to look at specifically the establishment of Christ's rule. We want to look at the execution of Christ's rule. What does he do?

What work does he carry out as our King? We want to look at the evidence of Christ's rule and we want to look at the extent of Christ's rule as our King. Christ told Pilate very clearly that he was a king. He said even more strongly that he came into this world. You say rightly, He said, that I am a king, and for this cause I was born.

For this cause I have come into the world to testify to the truth. The truth in general, the whole of the gospel, the whole of God's counsel, every branch of the Word, He, as Christ came to testify to it, that's what He constantly preached in His life, it's what He confirmed in His death, but particularly, He tells Pilate, particularly to this truth, that I, Jesus, is King, and that he had a kingdom This was a Kingdom that he received not from the hands of men He wasn't established or made a king by an election. Wasn't made a king By conquest, human conquest, armies conquering lands, subjugating peoples with swords and horses or tanks. He wasn't made a king in any of those senses. Some of the Jews thought that's the way he would be a king.

And they were looking for that kind of a king, and they didn't recognize Christ when he came as king, Because he didn't come in those earthly and human ways. He didn't come riding on a great white horse in front of an army of thousands upon thousands of soldiers, with armor of steel. No, he was made a king in a very different way. He was made crowned at his resurrection in Acts. The apostles speak about Christ being given the kingdom at His resurrection.

So when they heard, they raised their voices to God with one accord, and they said, Lord God, you made the heaven and earth and the sea, and by the mouth of your servant David have said, Why did the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For truly your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. And Paul said that Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power in His resurrection. The Psalms and the Old Testament prophesied of this.

Psalm 132 tells us in verse 11 that the Lord swore that He would set upon David's throne the fruit of His own body. In Psalm 2, Christ declares that, or God declares, yet I have set my king upon my holy hill. Today I have begotten you. I have set my king upon my holy hill. David's Lord, Jesus brings this up in answering the Pharisees at one point.

He says, well, if Jesus is the son of David, how come David calls him his Lord? My Lord said to my Lord. The Lord said to my Lord. Jehovah said to my Lord Jesus Christ, Today I have begotten you. I have set my king upon my holy hill.

The Lord Jehovah sends forth from Zion your mighty power rule in the midst of your enemies. Psalm 110 says. Legal title to this kingdom was given when Christ arose from the dead. But it wasn't accomplished, in fact, until 70 AD. We see that in Revelation 11, which we can't cover the whole book of Revelation here, but this scene that we read of this trumpet, this seventh trumpet, is happening in time at 70 AD.

And the seventh angel sounds and there are loud voices in heaven saying that kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and He will reign. The kingdom of this world, some of your Bibles may say kingdoms, but the vast majority of New Testament texts, manuscripts read singular kingdom. And that's a very important point because this is the kingdom that belonged to Satan. It's not the kingdoms of this world in the sense of the United States and Russia, or the Medes and the Persians and the Babylonians and the Greeks but rather the kingdom of This world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he Must reign forever and ever seed Daniel prophesied about this kingdom that would come. Remember the great statue that was erected that that Daniel had, or Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, sorry it wasn't erected, but it was a dream that he had.

And this statue had these different elements in it. There was the head of gold and the breast of silver, and then bronze, and then you remember the legs were iron and the feet were iron and clay and Daniel interpreted that dream to Nebuchadnezzar as saying those that image represents and those different metals and different elements in your image represent different kingdoms. And he said, you, you are the head. That because of your kingdom, Babylon is this head of gold. And then there will be coming a kingdom after you and then another kingdom after that.

And then this fourth kingdom would come. And then it would have feet of iron and clay. The kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. And you saw the iron mixed with clay and so they will mingle the seed of men But they won't adhere to one another just as iron does not adhere to clay Many said that then Daniel says and in the days of these kings and we know and that is the Babylonian Kingdom the the Medo Persian Kingdom the bronze was the Greek kingdom under Alexander the Great and his four generals. And then after that, the iron and the iron and clay was the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire conquered many, many nations. They didn't amalgamate them all. They had many different nations that had kings or rulers over them underneath the Roman Emperor. But then Daniel says, and in the days of that king, there is going to arise another kingdom. And it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.

And it will stand forever. And as much as you saw, Nebuchadnezzar saw this stone that was cut without hands from a mountain that came down and that smashed this image in Nebuchadnezzar's mind, in this dream. And It smashed it and broke it in pieces. The iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold. The great God has made known to the king What will come to pass after this?

This other kingdom was going to come and utterly destroy, utterly defeat these great earthly kingdoms. This kingdom that Daniel was speaking about, this vision that Nebuchadnezzar had, was a vision of the kingdom of heaven, this kingdom that was given to Jesus Christ. Satan is called the God of this age in the New Testament. He's called the Prince of the power of the air. He's called the ruler of this world.

In fact, Satan offered to give this kingdom that he had, he stole it. It wasn't his by right, but he stole it because of Adam's sin. Satan stole a kingdom. And the scriptures acknowledge that Satan had this kingdom illegitimately, but he had it. In fact, he offered to give it to Christ if Christ would bow down and worship him.

You remember in the period of Christ's temptation by Satan in the wilderness. One of the temptations was, he took Jesus up and said, look, all these nations are mine. You bow down and worship me, I'll give it to you. Well, Jesus did not, because that would have been an illegitimate way of taking back that kingdom. Jesus did, though, take that kingdom from Satan.

And Satan is described in the New Testament as falling from heaven. Jesus said, I saw him fall like a bolt of lightning from heaven. Daniel even describes this as well. He talks about, he saw a vision later on in the book of Daniel. And in this vision, great specificity is given to who, which kingdoms are being spoken of in the vision that Belshazzar had that Daniel interpreted to him.

And In this vision Gabriel speaks to Daniel in Daniel chapter 7. He tells him, understand Daniel that this vision that you have seen refers to the time of the end. And the ram that you saw, you can read the story later on today in Daniel 7, we don't have time to go into it, but Daniel saw a ram that had two horns. This is interpreted to Daniel as the kings of Medea and Persia. And the male goat that came after is the kingdom of Greece.

And the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king. And as for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation." We know that Alexander the Great having conquered the world, he died. And his four generals, or the kingdom was divided into four. And then after that we read that when the transgressors have reached their fullness a king shall arise having fierce features who understand sinister schemes and his power shall be mighty. And the vision of the evening and the mornings, which was told is true, therefore Daniel was told to seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future.

And he receives then many detailed visions of the end of time, the end of the age, which was Christ receiving his kingdom, the end of what we would call the Old Testament age. Christ then is given this kingdom. He is a king, but he tells Pilate that this kingdom that he's been given, this mediatorial kingdom, is not a kingdom of this world. If his kingdom were of this world, then he wouldn't be willingly going to the cross. But my servants would fight.

Jesus told Peter in the garden that if he needed, if he asked, there would be legions of angels at his beck and call to defend him. But Peter was told to put up his sword and to not use it because his kingdom is not of this world. If it was, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here." See, Christ's kingdom is a heavenly kingdom. He rules in our hearts. In Romans 14, 17, the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink.

The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not an external thing that you can see directly, but it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The Kingdom of God is where this mediatorial kingdom that Christ has been given is where Christ rules in our hearts. It's a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Its weapons are spiritual.

In Ephesians, we are told about those weapons. We are told to put on the armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit. This is the armament of the Kingdom of Heaven. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare, Paul told the Corinthians, are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, for casting down every argument that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity through the obedience of Christ.

The weapons of this kingdom are spiritual weapons. We are told to put on the armor in Ephesians because we don't war against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities in the heavenly places, against spiritual powers. This is a spiritual kingdom that Christ has. Its weapons are spiritual, its riches are spiritual. Righteousness, joy in the Holy Ghost, peace of conscience, these are the riches of the kingdom.

Its powers are spiritual as well. The power of the kingdom is the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, which in many places, several places is pictured as a sword coming out of the mouth of Jesus Christ as he sits upon the white horse, conquering, going out to conquer, because he is a reigning king. Psalm 45 speaks of this king strapping on his sword at his side and going out to pierce the hearts of his enemies. But that's not a sword of steel that the psalmist is referring to in Psalm 45. It's the sword of the Spirit.

It's the Word of God. And so in the armor of God our feet are shod with the preparation, the gospel of peace. Because these are the weapons of this kingdom. These is its power. Its power is in the Holy Spirit.

And so we want to do all that we do in the power of the Holy Spirit and not in the power of the flesh because the power of this kingdom is not a fleshly power but it's a spiritual power through the Holy Spirit. The subjects of this kingdom are not of this world either. This kingdom is not of this world and the subjects aren't of this world. Jesus in his high priestly prayer in the previous chapter says in 17, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Christ was praying there for us.

He was praying for His disciples and He said, not only do I pray for these in front of me, but for all those who will come after them. He says, I kept them. The world has hated them, just like the world hated me, because they, Christ's disciples, the subjects of this spiritual kingdom are not of this world. Did you know that? You are not of this world, but you and I are certainly in this world.

Christ's kingdom is where God's rule is mediated through his Son Jesus Christ. Mediate is an idea of to go between. So Christ, the kingdom of God is, or the kingdom of heaven, those two terms are used synonymously in the New Testament, is where Christ, Where God's rule is mediated through Jesus Christ, his anointed, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the anointed. Christ rules in the hearts of his children. And so you could say that in one sense the kingdom is coterminous.

It means it's with the church the The boundary if you will of the kingdom is the church that doesn't That's not the limit of the influence of the kingdom. It's not the limit of the influence within somehow the institutional church, but it is his people. God's kingdom goes where his people go. His rule is extended. The influence of this kingdom is extended where the influence of Christians is extended.

And we see that that is everywhere. And we see that in everything. And so just as we are not of this world, but we are certainly in this world, we can say the same thing about this kingdom of Jesus Christ, His mediatorial kingdom. It is in this world. It is not of this world, but it is in this world.

And it is a spiritual kingdom, So you cannot see it in the same sense that we can see Washington DC and the seat of the American Kingdom but this kingdom We can is in this world and we can see its effect upon this world as we see the effect of the subjects of this kingdom in whose hearts Christ rules. As we in our offices, as parents, as business people, as teachers, as in some cases, civil rulers, if Christ is ruling in our heart, then what we do in this world will be through, led by the Spirit of God. It will be in obedience to the will of God, because Christ is ruling in our heart. So if we're a king, then we're going to rule in a way that brings glory to Jesus Christ. We're going to rule according to His Word.

If we're a parent, a father, a mother, a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, and Christ is ruling in our heart, then that will affect the way we carry out those duties. If we're a teacher, if we're a paramedic, if we're a plumber, If we're an engineer, if we're a scientist, and Christ is ruling in our heart, then that will affect the way we think about the problems that we are solving. It will affect the way we carry out our work, Because we are going to bring God's Word to bear on our work. That's why Jesus instructed his disciples in teaching them to pray. He said to pray in this way, pray that my will, the will of God, would be done on earth even as it is being done on heaven.

Pray that my kingdom would come. And how is Christ's will done on earth even as it is being done in heaven already? It is because Christ is ruling in the hearts of His subjects. It is because we are being led by the Spirit of God and the work that we do and the work of our hands and the thoughts, our thoughts are being brought into captivity to the Lord Jesus Christ. Bringing every thought into captivity, Paul told the Corinthians, to the obedience of Jesus Christ.

And so we are continually, we are those who pray without ceasing. We are those who meditate upon the Word of God. We are those who are walking in the Spirit. We are those in whom the Word of God is dwelling richly. See all these things then cause the work of our hands to glorify the Lord so that His will is increasingly done on earth as it is in heaven.

That's what we're taught to pray for. In praying for God's kingdom to come, we are praying that Christ's enemies would be defeated, that the gospel would go forward, that this world would be transformed, that our culture would be transformed and brought every thought, every action, be brought into captivity, be brought into the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That begins with our mind. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And then what's Paul going to talk about?

All the things that we do with that renewed mind that has been transformed by the Holy Spirit as Christ rules in our hearts. So he talks about governments, he talks about showing mercy, do it with cheerfulness, rule with diligence, and so on. That is how Christ's rule is mediated, or God's rule is mediated through Jesus Christ. So everywhere Christ's mediatorial rule extends, his kingdom extends. And that's the sense in which Christ rules in a different way than in his pre-incarnate rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He's the sovereign creator. He's now ruling in the hearts of His people. So what does Christ do as King? What is in the execution of Christ's rule? What are the things that he does?

He calls a people out of this world and subdues them to himself. Remember, we are said to be at enmity against God. We are those who hate God and now all of a sudden we love the Lord. What happened? Christ in his kingly office has subdued our rebel hearts to himself.

He has broken our willful rebellion against him and made us his subjects, his willing obedient subjects. And so he rules. He calls the people out of this world. Something that was prophesied in the Old Testament and announced in the New Testament. Indeed, Isaiah writes, Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and a commander for the people.

Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you because the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you." Nations that you do not know will run to you. God calls His people out of this world to be His disciples, as he makes us his willing subjects. He brings us to repentance and submission to his will. He brings us to the point of repenting and submitting us to his will. He as our King, he corrects us when we go astray.

And he has instituted rulers to be the instrument, to be the means, to be that earthly figure of this authority. In Acts chapter, in 1 Corinthians 5 when the man who was had his Who was sleeping with his stepmother? Is It is to be put out of the church. Paul says that when the church is gathered together in the name and with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, they were to carry out that sentence. So that was Christ as the King ruling, bringing correction, bringing chastening for Those who go astray.

Christ chastens those whom He loves. He does that as our King. He also subdues our enemies before us. All enemies will be placed under His feet. When Jesus sent His disciples out, they came back rejoicing that even the demons were made subject to them, that they had power over sicknesses.

They had power even over the demons. They could heal people. This is Christ exercising his kingly office. Christ stood up in the boat and spoke to the waves and the wind and they obeyed him Christ subdues all his enemies and all the all the forces of heaven and earth are Subject to his rule He also as a king brings God's wrath on his enemies. Psalm 2 talks about that.

You will rule them with a rod of iron. You will smash them in pieces like pottery. And in Thessalonians, Paul writes to them, to the Thessalonians to encourage them in the trials that they faced. I'm going to read that for you. He says, He thanks God for their patience in all their persecutions and tribulations that they endure, which has manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counter-worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire Taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." There's Christ as King triumphing over his enemies and bringing God's wrath upon them, taking vengeance in the flaming sword.

These are all the things that Christ does as our King. We see, but we can look around and see the evidence of Christ's rule. There are some striking things that are all around us. It's probably worth a sermon all on its own to go into some detail on the visible evidences of Christ's rule all around us. His kingdom is not of this world, it is a spiritual kingdom.

Its weapons are spiritual, its power is a spiritual power, its riches are spiritual, and yet there is very clear and direct evidence in the world around us of Christ's rule that he is reigning as the picture in Revelation is given. He has taken his authority and has begun to reign. I know I've mentioned this before several times, but how has time always been marked throughout the Bible and in history? Time is always marked in the year of the reigning king. How has time been marked since Christ's resurrection, since Christ's coming?

It's been marked in the year of our Lord, 2018. That's the year of His reign. You can look at the effect upon the world in something like slavery. Christ stood up in the synagogue in in in Israel and he said I have come to proclaim liberty To those who are in bondage He was quoting from Isaiah 61 and 62. That was simply looking back to the Jubilee, every 50, every 7 sevens, this liberty that was given to the captives.

And so If we look around in the Roman world, slavery was endemic. It was built into the very fabric of the culture worldwide. The culture was built upon people owning other people and commanding their labor and having an absolute authority over them, even to the point of being able to put them to death. Now that's not a biblical or right thing. The Old Testament gives very specific rules regarding slaves that wasn't right, But that's the way it was in that world.

It was a world that was built upon slavery. And we look around today and we see a world that in many ways has free of slaves, not entirely. There are many slaves still today, but it is not built into the fabric of our culture. It is something that has to happen in the closet and under cover because Christ has brought liberty to those who are enslaved. We can go around the world and in most countries, if not all, slavery in its blatant form is not lawful anymore.

That where slaves are being sold, it's under cover, it's against the law. That's a result of Christ's rule and his reign. Civil courts acknowledge God around the world. It would be interesting, I've done it before, I didn't do it for today, but you can go through the oath of office that the rulers of nations around the world take. There's some couple hundred nations, give or take a few.

A couple hundred nations in the world today. In the majority of those nations, in all the significant countries, When a ruler is installed into office, they take an oath of office. It was astounding to me when I went through country by country and looked at the oath that is taken by each of these kings, how many of them swear allegiance to the God of Heaven, to Jesus Christ. They recognize that their office and their rule comes from Jesus Christ. Just like Christ told Pilate, you would have no authority except I gave it to you.

Even today, around the world, when rulers, when presidents, when prime ministers, when kings take an oath of office, when they are put into office, they swear often on the Bible. In fact, in one case in Africa a few years ago, the lady who was being sworn into office did not kiss the Bible and it caused a constitutional crisis as to whether she was lawfully installed as the ruler of that land. Most of the, many, some of these oaths are Trinitarian oaths. Not just a reference to God, but to God the Father Son and Holy Spirit some of the British kingdoms And others It's amazing. Why is that?

Because Christ is it's a sign of Christ rule on this earth today That even though this kingdom is not of this world, it is in this world. It has an effect upon this world. The Roman Empire was conquered by the Church within the first two centuries. Rome became a Christian nation. It doesn't mean that everybody in Rome was a Christian.

It means that the Roman government acknowledged Christ as King. It means that Christianity was considered the religion, the dominant religion of that kingdom. And that was done without a sword. It was done by the power of the gospel. As Christ as King subdued people to himself and brought them to Repentance and submission to his will and ruled in their hearts The Roman Empire was brought to its knees and was conquered.

We can look at the universal knowledge of the scriptures today. There is almost no place you can go where people do not know the gospel in some sense, or have heard it in some sense. Yes, there are many individuals that have not, but everywhere you go, there are people that have heard the Gospel. One of the most astounding marks of the reign of Christ is the ubiquity of the Scriptures. Just go study this sometime.

Go Google it or something. The ubiquity of the Scriptures. It is by far and away the most sold book of all time in all history. And yet it's not even on the New York Times bestseller list. Why?

Because it would win every time forever. And it's acknowledged that there is nothing that even comes remotely close to selling as many volumes as the Bible sells. And so they just say, well, that's just we're not even in that league. We're not we can't even begin to compete. I'm talking billions of books of Bibles that are sold.

Millions and millions and millions of Bibles are sold every year. It's an order of magnitude greater than any other book sold on the planet worldwide. Why? Because Christ is King. That's a sign of His reign and of His rule.

That He is ruling over all the nations of the earth. Now atheists jump on this. And They say, yeah, but you know, all those books that people don't buy them, they're given away. And yeah, all these books that, you know, I don't know what the studies are, every house in America has three or four Bibles in it, the average home. Even the homes that aren't even Christian have Bibles in them.

And the atheists point out, yeah, well, these are Bibles that are sitting unused in drawers, in closets, forgotten in the bottom corner. These Bibles are in almost every hotel room you go in. There is a Bible there. So I have this to say to the Aesius. What other king has his enemies buying his word and giving it away?

What other king has his word strewn around his enemy's house? What other king has his enemies reading his word to discredit it the very fact that they are so concerned about disproving these facts just evidences the ubiquity of the Word of God. Its presence everywhere. The scriptures, the Word of God sells far more than even the Koran or any other religious book. Not even close.

It's not even close. It's astronomical. You've seen these models where you say, if this is the sun, and this little dot is the earth, then some star is the next block over. That's the way it is with the Bible and the number of Bibles that are sold versus any other book. That's why you don't see it on the New York Times bestseller list.

It's so far above the number one, you couldn't see it if the graphs were right to scale. It's off the charts. The ubiquity of God's Word, it covers the earth, is one of the most obvious and often overlooked signs, visible signs, visible, tangible signs of Christ's rule upon this earth. Christ's kingdom, the extent of Christ's kingdom is, we read in Revelation 11, the kingdom that lasts forever and ever. The kingdom of this world, Satan's kingdom that he stole away because of Adam's sin has Become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever I don't think I can say those words without echoing in my mind that glorious music of the Messiah that Handel wrote.

He shall reign forever and ever. There is no end to His reign. And The 24 elders who sat before God on their throne these 24 elders are Representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ 12 apostles there were 12 patriarchs The 12 tribes of Israel 24 elders representing the church sit before God on their thrones. Why? Because we reign with Christ.

Yes, we are the subjects of his kingdom, but we are also co-rulers with him. Paul told the Ephesians that we have been seated in the heavenlies with Christ. We as people have been seated in the heavens with Him. So these 24 elders are sitting before God upon their thrones. We read in verse 16, and they fell on their faces and they worshiped God saying, we give you thanks, oh Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reign.

The extent of Christ's kingdom is forever. There is no end. Isaiah 9, We read every year about this time of the increase of his government There is no end the increase of his government. There is no end The extent of his kingdom is forever, for eternity in time, but it is also an extent that is total in its victory. He will reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.

All enemies, Paul told the Corinthians. Then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom of God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and authority and power, for He must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. There is not going to be one enemy left standing. Now, not all are conquered in his grace.

Psalm 2 points out that there are some though who are conquered in his wrath But all are conquered All are conquered there is no enemy There is no enemy that will not be brought to acknowledge. Every knee will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. They're going to do that. They either do it willingly as being conquered in His grace, being brought to submission to repentance, or they'll do it unwillingly as objects of His wrath and His vengeance.

Remember, he's going to take vengeance in a flaming sword on those who do not obey. But they too, they too will be forced to acknowledge unwillingly with their mouth that he is the Lord. That he is the Lord. Christ's victory extends not only without end, and over every enemy, including Satan. Jesus said, I saw Satan fall.

Because Christ is the victorious King and we reign with him. We can be assured that if we resist Satan, he will flee from us. We can know with confidence that Satan cannot touch us, except so far as God gives permission and not one hair further. We can pray in confidence and With the authority that is given to us in Jesus' name, We can defeat Satan and the strongholds and the footholds that he may establish. Because Christ is King, we can have great boldness.

We can know that our salvation is sure, that there is no one that can take us out of the hand, the palm of Jesus Christ. Why? Because He is the King. There is no other power, authority, principality in heaven or earth now or ever in eternity that can overrule him, that can overpower him and take us where he has put us in the palm of his hand. That should be a cause of great comfort and of great hope.

There is no foe on earth that can withstand our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no power, there is no principality, there is no earthly institution or spiritual institution or spiritual power that can withstand the onslaught, the weapons, the spiritual weapons of Christ's Kingdom, that can withstand Jesus Christ the King. Every institution that sets itself up against Jesus Christ will be defeated. And we can come with the confidence that David stood before Goliath and said to the Lord, Lord this man has blasphemed your name. Grant me the victory.

We can come with that same boldness and pray to the Lord Jesus Christ that this King of Kings who has defeated all his enemies, who has conquered all, who reigns over all, can defeat that institution, that authority, that power. That authority, that power. That's a great cause for prayer and for perseverance in prayer. Because Christ has promised us the victory, because He is the King, above all other kings, there is no one that can stop Him. There is no one that can thwart His purpose.

There is no one that can defy Him. And that's why the disciples rejoiced at what they saw, these foes falling at their feet. That is the promise of our victory as well. Do you have a sin that is besetting you? Something that has you in its grip?

Christ is your King and as you reign with Him you have authority, you have Victory in Christ even over those sins, because He will reign until He has put all things under His feet. And we reign with Him. This should give us great boldness to pray and to act, to witness, to evangelize, knowing that there is no heart that can resist the power of our King, Jesus Christ, when He has determined to make that person a trophy of His grace. Praise the Lord, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Almighty Heavenly Father, we rejoice this morning, even as the 24 elders who got off of their thrones and bowed down before you to praise you, to ascribe unto you glory, all glory, all dominion and power, all rule and authority belongs unto you.

And we praise you this morning that you have taken that authority, that power and have begun to reign. And that you are reigning. And that you will reign. And that there is no end to your kingdom and to its rule. Father, may you give to us a sure and a certain hope in your complete victory over every enemy, both within and without, within us, over those sins that grieve us, that so often defeat us.

Father In Christ's name and in His victory, take authority over them and claim your victory over them and ask for your power to be shed abroad in us. We ask, Lord, for great boldness and confidence in prayer, that we may pray aggressively, that we may pray in the hope of your victory, knowing that your promises are yea and amen in Jesus Christ, and that these promises of your word are not mere empty words, idle, boasting, but they are the very truth that Christ came to testify. Father, may you encourage us this morning and give to us boldness, the boldness of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen.