King Of All Kings (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

In Omaha, Nebraska, we don't have the DCU Center, we have the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Lots of good memories from the Omaha Civic Auditorium. My father would take me to Golden Glove boxing matches. He'd take me to indoor motorcycle races.

I can still smell the exhaust as I think about it. There'd be concerts there, but I remember going to the circus a lot, the Schreiner Circus and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, and all kinds of fun things that you could do.

Actually, one of my memories is, remember they would sell the little chameleons, they would sell geckos, green anoles I think is what they're technically called, and they would put a little pin through them and then you would pin them onto your lapel.

They'd at least last until the circus was over. They were called, the men who sold them, they were called bug men. I just remember having little chameleons, they'd be alive just on your shirt, couldn't go anywhere.

Lots of good memories. Wholesome Nebraska. The Three Ring Circus sometimes had three things going on at once, and you'd have the monkey riding the motorcycle in a circle over here, and you'd have somebody doing a juggling deal here, and then some acrobats over here.

And then the MC would get up and he would say, and I draw your attention now to the center ring. And this light would go out, and that light would go out, and then the main attraction was right there in the center.

Everything dimmed out so your eyes know right where to go. You know what I love about the book of Matthew? It does the exact same thing, portraying in the center ring, Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

The light of, oh he was just a good person, goes out. Well, he was kind, but he really wasn't fully God, goes out. Jesus is shown as a King. We need a King these days. The closest we have is, probably was FDR.

The King of all Kings, Matthew portrays. And so let's turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 5 to start, we'll be in 8, to take a look at this great King who has power, who has credentials, who has sovereignty, compassion.

He is the great King. Now we have finished Romans, finished 1 Corinthians, and then Romans, and I'm trying to figure out what to preach next. I have on my list Ruth, Jonah, Malachi, Jude, Hebrews, 1 Peter, just pretty much every book of the Bible.

I just don't know what to preach quite yet, but I'm captivated by Matthew chapter 8. I can't get out of it, and I'm a soldier, and I'm a soldier that says, you know, when you get done preaching one passage, you just pick up where you left off, and last week I was so fascinated by the Messiah, as he touches the leper, I will be cleansed.

The next one with the centurion is just as fascinating, and so for a few weeks, I think we'll be in Matthew, and then we'll pick one of these other books. But today, Jesus, the regal, royal, risen King of the universe.

Matthew 1 says that she'll bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, and he will save his people from their, what, sins. Everything about this King lends itself to, yes, sovereignty, yes, power, yes, authority, but also he's compassionate as he saves sinners.

It's bookended with royalty. Matthew 1, the son of David, and Matthew 27, the charge they put up over Jesus' head. This is the King of the Jews. What I love about Jesus as King is it not only motivates ladies to serve, but it also motivates men.

Why are most churches filled with ladies, 60 to 65 ladies? I don't know the real answer for that, but I do know is if you present Jesus as King and Lord as Matthew does, men are going to say, you know, Freemasonry, this kind of guy's religion, it's not as attractive.

The God of sports these days attracts a lot of masculinity, not that attractive. Islam, not that attractive. Where are the men these days in churches? Well, if you only give them a Jesus who's close and who's eminent and who's a friend who sticks closer than a brother, and I like all that, but if that's all you get and you don't get the transcendent glory of God as King, nobody will follow Jesus who's masculine.

If you take a look at a soldier and a soldier who's weathered, hard, rough, and he says, you know, when I see Jesus, I don't see kind of the effeminate Jesus, the feathered hair. I see somebody who has power, authority, and sovereignty.

He's the King of kings. That's exactly what we see in our passage today, and so I love to talk about Jesus, the King, because real men and women want to serve this King, herald for the King, honor the King.

I don't know about you, but even the language of, just think if you have a King, I have a personal relationship with the King. Well, that might be true. How about I'm in love with the King? No, maybe I'm just burying my soul here, but I'm not in love with Jesus.

I love Jesus, but I'm not in love with him. Maybe you talk that way. Maybe you don't talk that way. I better get back to my notes here before I get in trouble. What Matthew wants to do is he wants to make your heart and mind wrapped around Jesus, the King, so you sing with Robert Grant, oh, worship the King, all glorious above.

Oh, gratefully sing his power and his love, our shield and defender, the ancient of days, pavilioned in splendor and girded with what? Praise. There's nothing like Matthew to show Jesus as King. Jesus gives a sermon on the mount, if you look at Matthew chapter five, and he lays down how to get into his kingdom, and then once you're in, how to live, and it's important to see this before Matthew eight, because here we have this wonderful sermon, the sermon on the mount, and it begins with Matthew five, three, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs, and the Greek is, and theirs alone is the kingdom of heaven.

It's one thing to feel internally and subjectively happy. It's another thing to be outwardly approved, and that's the word here, blessed. It's not the feeling you have in your heart. It's when God sees you, he gives approval.

It's the opposite of the word woe. Instead of us saying we have a cursed relationship with God, we have a blessed one, and look at the one who is blessed, the poor in spirit. It means someone that's a beggar, it means someone who is so thin and emaciated you can see their ribs, but of course, as you know, this is a spiritual beggar, one crouching, one begging for food who doesn't want to look you in the eye, cowering.

We have no spiritual worth. We're not like the Pharisees. They're not the approved ones of God who think they have it going on. They think they're spiritually rich. Spiritual bankruptcy is approved in God's eyes.

There's an emotional side to it. Verse four, blessed are those who mourn. They're mourning over their sins for they shall be comforted. Nine words in the New Testament for sorrow and sadness and mourning, and this is the one that's used of when you bury your mom and your shoulders shake and you cry and you can't stop it no matter what.

This is the mourning for the dead type of grief. Mourning over our sins, knowing we have a need so that we realize we need the righteous one, that we need a physician, and that's how Jesus starts off the sermon, and look at how he ends it.

Take a look at chapter seven, verse 24, all leading up to Matthew eight. Hang in there with me. Jesus preaching. There's no preacher like Jesus. He is the prince of preachers. Somebody said, no, that's reserved for Charles Spurgeon.

No, Spurgeon would say Jesus is the prince of preachers, and when Jesus preaches, since I've got the circus deal on my mind, remember those knife throwers in circuses, and they would stand over there and throw knives, and then there would be some person standing here, and they intentionally miss, right?

They're throwing knives, and the goal is not to hit the person, to get close but not hit. Some people say modern preachers try to do the same thing. They preach in such a way that they never hit. When Jesus preaches, verse 24 of Matthew seven, everyone then of those who, everyone, excuse me then, who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, it's Matthew five, six, and seven, and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And look at the response of the people. You need to understand this to understand chapter eight.

When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. Jesus has authority. He has the credentials, and now Matthew says, let me show you some of these credentials.

It's one thing to say it. It's another thing to back up what you say with what you do. So first he gives the example of the leper and then the centurion. So this morning, let's look at Matthew eight, verses five through 13, the second demonstration of his authority, his credential as Messiah, the king of the universe, so that you might believe you might see the wonder of Jesus here and worship the king.

Matthew chapter eight, verses five and following, we'll go over the passage, and then we'll look at some lessons stemming from that at the end. Verse five, when he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.

Now when I see the word centurion, I don't really think of much. I would think to myself, if I was going to teach a kid, I'd say, how many pennies in a dollar? They'd say 100. What's a synonym for, what's another word for penny?

And they would say, what, cents. And so a centurion is a soldier who has 100 men under him, and then I wouldn't go any farther. But as I studied some of the military history of the day, listen to what historian Michael Grant said, these formidable men combine the functions and prestige of a modern company commander and sergeant major or top sergeant.

The lowest grade of centurion received nearly 17 times as much pay as the ordinary legionnaire. Sometimes up to 16 years or more it would take for him to serve before he would be a centurion. These men were the best of the military best, Gentiles.

Greek statesman and historian Polybius said, 200 years before Christ's birth, in choosing their centurions, the Romans looked not so much for daring, fire-eating type, but men who are natural leaders.

Not men who will open the battle and launch attacks, but those who will stand their ground even when hard pressed and will die in defense of their post. And it's interesting, when you read the New Testament, every centurion mentioned is mentioned in a positive light.

Truly, that's the son of man, the son of God, the centurion who stood by the cross. He was a battle-weathered man, a military man. Now keep your finger on Matthew 8 and I want you to go to Luke 7 because there's some details in what we call the Gospel according to Luke, another synoptic gospel, a lot of similarities between Matthew, Mark and Luke.

There's some information in Luke that you need to get because Matthew is a summary. Matthew condenses things because his point is Jesus has powerful credentials, he is the Messiah. But there's a couple things you need to know in Luke for your edification and for your knowledge of this.

Luke chapter 7, the same account with more data. We're going to see that what a person does through his agent is what he does through himself. What he does himself, rather. And he had finished all his sayings, Luke 7, in the hearing of the people he entered Capernaum.

It's the same account. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, we don't know what they were dying from, who was highly valued by him. That's even surprising in and of himself because these are just slave people, you don't have to value them if you're a typical Roman centurion, but this man does.

When the centurion, Luke 7, 3, heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews asking him to come and heal his servants. He's a man of authority and he sends the elders of the Jews, they go. He sends his servants, they go.

He's a man in command. So the elders of the Jews go, and then it says in verse 4, and when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, they the elders of the Jews, on behalf of the centurion, he is worthy to have you do this for him, that is the centurion, for he loves our nation and he is the one who built us our synagogue.

And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself. Now let's go back to Matthew chapter 8. What you do through someone is what you do for yourself.

When Pilate had Jesus scourged, did Pilate scourge Jesus? No he had people under him who would scourge Jesus, but it would be fair to say Pilate scourged Jesus. I teach at theological seminaries on occasion and I try to find a graduate student or a student at the top of the class and then I can have them give the test for me.

I step out for a double espresso Campana and all the students study away and they don't take the test. Eric Johanson is my latest helper and so I would say, Eric, give this test to the students, I'll be back in a half hour or so.

And the students would not take the test and say, Eric Johanson's test is easy today. They would say, Dr. Abendroth's test is very hard. Matthew is giving a briefer account saying that the centurion is directing all this.

It's from him and through him, but it's coming through the elders and through his friends. I still find it fascinating, as I said earlier, the centurion hears about Jesus and what does he hear about Jesus?

When a soldier hears about Jesus, what does he hear about? I'll tell you what he hears about. That's a man who has authority, strength, sovereignty, and power. Far cry from what the effeminate Jesus in the media looks like.

Paul wrote of Jesus, he himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. So Matthew 8, 7, the story goes on, and he, Jesus, said to him, the centurion through the messengers, says something very fascinating here.

Emphatically, I, I will come and heal him. I'm not going to send my posse out there, I'm not going to send my folks, I personally will go. And by the way, that was a major deal because Jews didn't go into Gentiles' houses.

It wasn't against Mosaic law, but it was against every sensibility in the world because Gentiles were A, Gentiles, and B, Gentiles did a lot of abortions right there in their house and there's been dead bodies in the house and you will certainly, if you go to a Gentile's house, it's as good as done that you're going to be defiled.

But Jesus, the one who can touch a leper and not be defiled, can walk into a Gentile's house as well. I'll come and heal him. I'll come and give him therapy, that's the word. I'll go to the Gentile house and heal the Gentile centurion's Gentile servant.

Verse 8, but the centurion replied, see he gets it, that's what the point is here. He gets that Jesus has authority. I'm not worthy, Lord, to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too, verse 9, am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I say to one, go, and he goes. I have the authority of the emperor backing me up and when I give an order, the emperor gives the order.

In 30 BC, the Roman Republic is over and now we have emperors and when the emperor says, do something through an agent, you do it. And if you defy them, the agent, you defy the emperor. I say, go, and he goes, and to another, verse 9, come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does that.

And here, the centurion, by the work of the spirit of God certainly, realizes that God's son is sent by God the Father. He has authority. He has authority to do these things. He's come from heaven. He's the Messiah.

And when God the Son says something, it's God the Father's good prerogative just as well. One man said, here was a man commissioned, a man authorized, and he looked upon Christ in the same manner, sent of God under divine authority with a heavenly commission.

The man says, I too am a man under authority. Even I have authority. I have less authority. I have the authority of only the emperor. But you have a greater authority from the lesser of the greater. You speak for God.

You are God. And why does he call him Lord there? Look at the text. People say, ah, that just means sir. Oh, it could mean sir in the original. But I think it means Lord. I know you can heal somebody without even showing up.

You've got to be God to heal somebody that's not even there. He realizes through the Messiah's, for the Spirit's work rather, that Jesus is a Messiah. Verse 10, when Jesus heard this, he said, don't talk to me.

I'm a Jew. You're a Gentile. When Jesus heard this, he marveled. Now, most every time that word is used, it's used of people who look at God and they see Jesus and they go, I'm out of my gourd. I can't get over this.

I'm astonished. But here, it's used for the incarnate God-man. He's marveled. And said to those who followed him, truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. And now he begins to think of the end messianic banquet.

The end times messianic banquet where not just Jews will be there, but Gentiles. And he says, I tell you, many will come from east and west, Gentiles, recline at the table at the messianic banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven while the sons of the kingdom, that is Jews, will be thrown into outer darkness in that place.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You think I have authority and you're right because I'm going to tell you this truth with my authority. I'm now thinking about, this is Jesus. Jesus is now thinking about end times, a view to the inclusion of Gentiles with the redeemed of Israel.

Matthew 10, it says, Jesus says, go not into the way of the Gentiles. Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15, I'm not sent but to the house of Israel. But eventually the Gentiles are going to glorify him for his mercy, Paul says in Romans.

I see the centurion's faith and I'm reminded about the end times where the Gentiles also believe. And look at verse 10 again. No one in Israel have I found such faith. This is amazing. No one has thought like this, believed like this, and Jesus just transported to the future as it were, thinking about the Messiah banquet.

I have a question. When you look at Mosaic law, what's the thing that separates Jew from Gentile the most? You say, well, it's clothes and it's worship. But on a day-to-day practical level, how are Jews and Gentiles separated the most?

And you can read Acts to find out and the answer is going to be what? Food. But at the end messianic banquet, there are going to be Jews and Gentiles eating together. And when this Gentile gets saved, Jesus is reminded of this, Isaiah 25, for instance, a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, a rich food full of marrow, of aged wine, well refined.

Jesus is thinking, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb, the end time messianic banquet, where Jews and Gentiles will recline at the table to eat together with the Lord.

Verse 13, now to the centurion, Jesus said, go and just say this little chant, go and here's a little bit of oil that you can rub on there. Oil, special rituals, magic, that's how people healed back in those days because it really wasn't real healing.

What Jesus just says is go, let it be done to you as you have believed. You believed I could do it and to the extent that you believed I could do it, which is complete full healing, it is done for you as you have believed.

And the servant was healed at that very moment. Jesus, Matthew's point is, is the Messiah. He is the King. He's the Son of God. He wants you, the listener, the reader, to believe that. Now let me give you the lessons, four practical lessons that grow out of this passage today.

Number one, I'll put them in the form of imperatives so that you personally have to deal with the questions or statements. Believe that hell is a grim reality. You must believe hell is a grim reality.

Now some Jews of course will be there at the end times banquet, some Gentiles, but take a look at verse 12. Here is the Lord of love. Here is Jesus, the Messiah, says while the sons of the kingdom, Jews, the unbelieving Jews, oh some will believe certainly, will be thrown into, and the Greek here is to make it bold, to make it underlined, thrown into the darkness, the outside.

And he does the same thing here with the next sentence. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. So you're horrified by the idea.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.