The Ugly King — E.A. Johnston

The Allegory of the Ugly King

I have a message today, friends, about an ugly king. Many years ago, in the Valley of the King, there ruled a repulsive monarch. This king was so ugly that everyone looked away as he walked through the corridors of his palace.

And he was so mean that, when he appeared in public, in the village, his subjects ran and hid in the bushes. His facial features were so hideous that to behold them would turn your stomach. And this ugly king ruled his kingdom with an iron fist, and if anyone stood in his way, he would be arrested and then beheaded.

All in the kingdom feared the ugly king. Oh, one day, a handsome prince settled into the village, and because he loved the people so, the people flocked to hear him. Soon, the entire village was swayed in favor of the handsome prince.

The villagers would get together, and they plotted and decided to assassinate the ugly king and make the handsome prince their new ruler. This was swiftly done, and the new king was enthroned. Finally, there was peace in the Valley of the King.

Self Must Be Dethroned for Christ's Lordship

Well, there is a king that rules a person's life, and that king is self. When self holds sway, then, all else must yield to the king. A self-gratification will rule a person and eventually ruin a person.

When a person comes to Christ, then, self must be dethroned, and another enthroned there, the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be a battle every day, friends, as to who sits upon the throne of the heart.

It will either be the ugly king of self, or the lovely king, Jesus. And that's the title of my message today, friends, The Ugly King. When self exerts itself, it can get pretty ugly, especially if self has a temper.

Paul's Call to Bring the Body Into Subjection

My text can be found in 1 Corinthians 9. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in verse 27. And let me read us this verse, and I want you to listen to what the Apostle Paul has to say here in our text, because it should be applied to each of us every day as we serve King Jesus.

Here now is the word of God, and may the spirit of the Lord attend the reading of his holy word. I keep under my body. I will pause here, friends. Paul is speaking of a wrestler who has his opponent under him and has the advantage over him.

Keep that thought in mind as we proceed. I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. Let me pause again, friends. This speaks of a daily, continual process, a daily battle. My Bible says as believers, our enemies are the world, the flesh, and the devil.

I believe, friends, that of the three, our worst enemy is Satan, but I also believe the one we have more trouble with than any of the others is our flesh, King Selph. That's the real battle we face every day, and I don't mean just with flagrant sin.

The Daily Battle Against Self-Gratification

King Selph can exert himself any time over anything in any way and hold sway, especially when we least expect it. I remember Adrian Rogers telling me a story. He said he'd just been voted in the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and he was meeting some bigwigs from the convention at a local restaurant for breakfast in Memphis, and he got there early and found a back room that was kind of private, and he began to pull a table up to another table to accommodate his guests who were about to arrive any minute.

Just then, a waitress entered the room and asked him what he was doing. He explained he had some important guests meeting him there, and he had to make room for them to sit together. The waitress put her big foot down and put her hands on her hips and said, Leave those tables alone.

This is my room, and you cannot put tables together like that. Well, Adrian Rogers told me he felt like raising his voice and informing her that he was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and if he wanted to put two tables together, well, he just would.

But instead, he kept his mouth shut and submitted to her authority in that little restaurant. And I like that story, friends, because it clearly demonstrates the battle of King Selph that each of us face each day, whether we are an Adrian Rogers or just a nobody like me.

Dr. Rogers felt he had every right to do what he wanted by putting those two tables together to accommodate his friends and have more customers at that restaurant. But he died to Selph that day and submitted to another's authority.

And that's what the Christian life is, friends, as we live each day and die to Selph and submit to another's authority of King Jesus. You see, when Adrian Rogers felt he had the right to put those tables together, that's a good description of Selph.

Dying to Personal Rights

We feel we have rights, and our rights cannot be taken or hindered in any way. Most believers believe they have certain rights. But what we fail to understand is that when you become a blood-bought believer, you then no longer have any rights or claims on your life.

I want that to digest a while, because it's true, friends. The gospel has rights and claims on our life, and that's all. We don't have the right to assert Selph and its demands just because we feel like we're entitled to.

So in our text, the Apostle Paul is saying, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. That's what being a Christian is, when we bring Selph into subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he rules and reigns in all we say, all we think, and all we do.

Anytime Selph wants to assert itself and demand its way and stand on its rights to do so, we must turn that ugly king over to the handsome Prince of Peace and bring Selph into subjection to King Jesus to rule and reign.

The Lordship of Jesus Christ is a forgotten doctrine today, friends, and one you probably won't hear preached in many churches. And that's because most churches don't preach against sin, and their congregations feel they have every right to gratify their flesh, because they work hard for what they have.

And you better not take too long getting them their Starbucks after church, or you will hear about it. When the ugly king of Selph asserts himself, all must run for the bushes and hide, or face a confrontation that will get pretty ugly with this hideous monarch.

Living for Approval at Christ's Judgment Seat

Listen to the next part of the verse from our text from 1 Corinthians. I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

That word castaway is an interesting word in the Greek, adakimos, and it means disapproved, worthless, rejected, unworthy. Here the Apostle Paul is stating that the main reason he keeps his body under and brings it into subjection is because he does not want to stand before his Lord Jesus Christ disapproved.

That's his primary reason for being a Christian, so that when he stands at that bema seat, the judgment seat for believers, he won't be standing there disapproved by his master. That's the primary meaning of this passage.

The secondary meaning is that as an ambassador of Christ, he does not want to do anything or sin any way to hinder his usefulness for God, or to do anything that would render him useless to God. That's a scary thought, friend, that will keep you from sin, that we should live our lives in light of eternity in such a way as to live for that future bema seat and to keep under our body and bring it into subjection so as to never, ever be set aside by God as a useless thing to him.

The Warning of Becoming a Castaway

I remember a story told by the saintly F .B. Meyer in a book I read about him. He said that he kept an ink pen in its drawer and he no longer used it because when he did so, the pen would leak and get his hands dirty.

So he put it away as a useless thing and replaced it with a more dependable one and forgot about it. And F .B. Meyer said one day he opened up the drawer and there in his little desk drawer was that pen lying there.

And F .B. Meyer said it was as if God spoke to his heart and said, see that pen? You are like that pen. If you become useless to me through sin and get my hands dirty when I use you, I will make you a castaway as well.

Oh, friends, I hope this little message today will bring change where change is needed. To think of the great risk we face of becoming God's castaway, all because we allowed an ugly king to rule us in self-gratification and sin.

How we would shrink, how we should shrink from sinning to live for him. So we too will not be set aside as a useless thing to God. Let us get alone with God now in our thoughts and be still in our hearts before him as we ask his Holy Spirit to shine his holy spotlight on our lives to reveal anything that could render us useless to God and make us a documos, disapproved, a castaway.

Let us pray.