Christ's Offices and the Church | Sermon 11/28/21

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Christ is the final prophet, priest, and king. What are the implications for that as the church as a whole, but also as individual believers?

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What effect does that have on us besides the things that we already talked about, right?

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All the salvific things that Christ accomplished in those offices, but what does that do for us now in our everyday walks with Christ?

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And this of course will be kind of a shorter sermon since we're going to be having a good amount of time dedicated to baptism.

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So please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2. That's where we'll be starting today, 1

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Peter 2. The title of the sermon is

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Christ's Offices and the Church. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 9 through 10.

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Hear now the words of the living and true God. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

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For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You would not receive mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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Thus ending the reading of God's word, let's pray. Father, please be with us.

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Lord, speak through me. Let my words fall away and let your words and your scripture shine through it all.

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Lord, teach your people today. Lord, help us to know so much more deeply what

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Christ has accomplished and how that impacts us as believers. Lord, and God, let my message today,

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Lord, let it be clear and let it be helpful to your people and let it be true. Lord, thank you for this opportunity to proclaim your word.

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In Christ's name, amen. So in the Reformed Church, there is what's called the three forms of unity.

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The three forms of unity are comprised of three documents. Some of you may already even know what

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I'm about to say. These three documents in the Reformed Church are called the Belgic Confession, the

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Canons of Dort, and the Heidelberg Confession. These would be any great addition to your current library.

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So I recommend getting those. You can, in fact, get them all in one thing. The three forms of unity for the

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Reformed Church. And so, in fact, I think the Reformation Study Bible that Ligonier sells has all three of those along with the creeds in the back.

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I love the Reformation Study Bible. It really is a good quick reference. So yeah, definitely check that out.

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But I bring this up, I bring up these things because the Heidelberg Catechism has a question and answer that really summarizes our prophet, priest, and king series in Solus Christus.

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Question 31 says, Why is he, Jesus, called Christ, meaning anointed?

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And the answer says this. Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the

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Holy Spirit to be our one chief prophet and teacher who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our deliverance.

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Number two, our only high priest who has delivered us by the one sacrifice of his body and who continually pleads our cause with the

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Father. And number three, our eternal king who governs us by his word and spirit and who guards us and keeps us in the freedom he has won for us.

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You see, Christ alone carries out these offices and executes them flawlessly.

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Altogether, these three offices make him the absolute and perfect savior.

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He can and does save that which was lost because he is divinely prophet, priest, and king.

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And there is no doubt there's some overlapping in these roles as Jesus unifies them all now.

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They were separate in the Old Testament, but now in Christ, he unifies prophet, priest, and king, and he does them perfectly.

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Through them, he can unquestionably accomplish salvation and a new domain for his people.

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But what does it change right now for us? What are the implications for Christ's church, its mission, and divine directive by Christ's fulfillment of these roles?

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Again, how does that affect our individual walks? Let's consider some of that now. What is the prophetic ministry of the church?

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What is the prophetic ministry of the church? The Lord Jesus had promised the disciples that after his ascension would come the outpouring of the

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Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, he said, would come upon them and he says this, he will guide you in truth.

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He will teach you all things and bring to recollection in you all the things that I have taught,

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Jesus says. That's what he says the Holy Spirit will come and do. Teach you in all truth.

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Such a difference, right, compared to false churches who say the Holy Spirit has come upon them.

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You know, TBN type churches especially who has the

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Holy Spirit not guiding them in truth, not teaching them in all things, not reminding them of God's word, but actually doing things that we don't see in the

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Bible, like barking and laughing and holy laughter, all this stuff. Things that actually the

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Holy Spirit is supposed to point us to the truth of God's word, point us back to the word of the

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Lord. But in Acts chapter 2, it is the day of Pentecost and the

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Holy Spirit descends upon all the disciples. They were supernaturally speaking in languages, the text says, that were not their own, but of those who were witnessing the occurrence.

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Peter makes it clear that this event is a fulfillment of Joel chapter 2 when signs and wonders would be prolific, would be abounding before the coming day of the

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Lord, a day of judgment in which we know to have been the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

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All these signs and wonders, they're going to be everywhere because Jesus is about to come and destroy the temple and destroy

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Jerusalem as he promised in Matthew 24. The apostles laid the foundation for Christ's church in the first century and after the apostles' death, there was no more need for further prophetic revelation.

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The canon is closed, we talk about that in our Sola Scriptura series.

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What we see occur in the New Testament text is a transition of emphasis to this prophetic sort of direct revelation type thing to more of a prophecy in a way of preaching and teaching

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God's word. That is the new prophetic activity. The church is supposed to implement this role and they're supposed to do that today.

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In 1 Corinthians 11, I'm sorry, 12, 13, and 14, you will see a whole thorough discourse on the spiritual gifts of the church.

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It's actually quite a long discourse. It talks about tongues, prophecy, the spiritual gifts of apostles, evangelists, all these different things, chapters 12, 13, and 14.

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And first, we see there are apostles and we know that they've gone to be with the

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Lord. There are no more apostles today. Then we see that the church has been given prophets and teachers.

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And now I agree with many other pastors and theologians that Paul is defining prophecy in this context as preaching and teaching.

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Nowhere, listen to this, nowhere do we see a reference to direct revelation or futuristic foresight in these passages.

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In chapter 14, when he argues prophecy is far superior than tongues, he says in verse 2, but listen to this, but one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

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That sounds a lot like what happens on a Sunday, right? Like preaching and teaching.

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Later, he says tongues are for a sign for unbelievers, but prophecy is for the benefit of believers.

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He says that. And yet in verse 25, if an unbeliever enters into a worship service, okay, and a brother is prophesying, it says, that unbeliever can be convicted by the words spoken.

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It says he is called to account. So is an unbeliever convicted by a prophecy of the future?

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So an unbeliever walks in through these doors and all of a sudden he's convicted, and the people are exhorted by me saying on this date, so this such and such is going to happen, or these things are going to happen to you.

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No, that wouldn't make sense. Prophecy, it says here, benefits the whole body. That is exhortation, it's edification.

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And if an unbeliever walked in and were to hear a prophecy according to him, it wouldn't be the prophecy, you know, the prophetic activity that we think of when we hear that word.

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It would have been preaching and teaching. That's how he could have walked in and been convicted, because he heard the word of God expounded upon, okay?

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This is all 1 Corinthians 14. Check that out. Um, it also says, uh, in verse 31, that when one prophesies it is good for all, that this is it, direct quote, that all may learn and be exhorted.

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You may learn and be exhorted. Okay, such a difference. With all that said,

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I know we've barely scratched the surface on spiritual gifts, and I know one day we'll probably be able to get further into them.

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But the role of prophecy in the church after the apostles died, and even until now, is a role of preaching and teaching.

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Ephesians 4 says, to equip all the saints in ministry, the church was given apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors.

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And in Acts chapter 6, at the choosing of the seven deacons, the elders made it clear that they need to be focused on the ministry of the word and prayer.

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That's what they need to be focused on, word and prayer. In Acts chapter 20, Paul gives the example for us, that we are to teach, excuse me, and pass on the whole counsel of the word of God.

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He says, I didn't shrink back from doing that. I gave you the whole counsel of the word of God. I gave you everything.

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We are to do that too. Elders are to teach sound doctrine and refute those who contradict, according to Titus chapter 1.

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These are the elements of the church's prophetic ministry. Christ is the final prophet.

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This is how we carry out now the prophetic ministry of the church. We are to preach the whole counsel of the word of God.

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We are not to cherry pick. We are not to make things more palatable to the world.

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We aren't to tickle the ears of the people and give them what they want to hear.

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We are to give them the truth. We are not to teach false doctrines, but challenge those who do teach false doctrine.

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Do you hear that? We are, it's not just let them believe what they want to believe.

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Just leave them alone. Let them worship how they want to worship. No, it says, the word says to refute those who contradict, to challenge those who teach false doctrine.

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Of course, in a loving way. That's what we are to do. Because that's honestly how the church has failed in the

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West over the last century. The dereliction of duty to the preaching of the whole word of God.

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For almost two millennia, saints have prophetically spoken to magistrates, monarchs, false churches, and those with authority or influence.

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But somewhere along the lines, we stopped doing that. Or at least most of us did.

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We stopped being light. And the light comes through the preaching of the gospel.

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The salt comes when we stand for what is true, and what is right, and what is biblical. The salt is dispersed in seasoning and preserving the world around us by prophetic proclamation.

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And my prophetic role is to preach and teach you all God's word as your pastor.

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And we're to all, you know, measure that up against God's word as the standard. Your prophetic role is to study and apply

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God's word in every aspect of your life and family. That's your prophetic role.

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And together, we fight personal sin. And then we preach prophetically, even you, to a dying world who needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they might be saved.

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You proclaim that message. You give that message. It's a prophetic action.

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And we pray prayers of intercession like a prophet does. We pray prayers of intercession for the lost.

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We ask our gracious God for his merciful hand to touch those around us who don't believe.

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We do. I hope you do. I pray that you pray for the lost around you, for your lost relatives, for your lost friends.

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We beseech the final prophet, Christ. And that is how we carry out our prophetic ministry.

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What about the priestly role? Priestly role. Like priests and Levites, we come here to this building on the

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Lord's Day. And we know it's not God's temple. And it's not necessarily holy, right?

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But wherever we assemble together, it becomes that as he dwells in all of us, as the temple of Christ, of the

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Holy Spirit. So like the priests and Levites, we guard the saints inside of here.

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We watch out for each other. That's what we're called to do. We pull together on this day to set up the service.

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Just like how the Levites had to travel with the tabernacle. Put it up, put it down, you know, guard around it.

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Make sure it was good. Some of us have to have to do a lot of that work. And that was considered a gift and a privilege according to God.

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Amen. We perform songs. We do singing to the

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Lord. Like the priest did. They gave songs to the Lord. We do the same. Every Sunday, someone prepares the

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Lord's Supper. Kind of like the showbread and wine offerings in the temple.

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When the Word is proclaimed, we are working and keeping the temple. That is our body. When the

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Word is proclaimed, we are expelling out of ourselves the habits that seek to creep in and remove them.

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We maintain the body. Every Sunday, we rejoice in the work of the high priest,

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Jesus Christ, and his mediation, his propitiation, and his expiation. Pastors, of course, are not priests.

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We are not priests. But in a similar way, they guard God's people from those who seek to defile them.

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Those who seek to take God's sheep out of the sheepfold. There is a leading of a corporate confession to our merciful

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God, who is the only one who is able to give full assurance of forgiveness. Pastors lead prayers.

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Just like Aaron did, they pronounce benedictions over the people, blessings over the people.

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Like the priests, pastors go to the homes of the sick, and they care for those in the congregation, anointing them with oil and praying over them.

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Very similar. Individually, we sing songs and we respond to the word.

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Colossians 3 .16 -17 says, Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart to God.

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Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the

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Father. And now a few verses before ours in 1 Peter, it says that we are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

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We are not priests that sacrifice animals on an altar covered in bronze.

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We learned how that is no longer necessary through Christ's priesthood, but we do give spiritual sacrifices, the word says.

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How do we do that? We are to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses daily, and follow after him.

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Paul says our bodies are like temples, I just mentioned it earlier, to keep pure from all kinds of immoralities and especially sexual immorality.

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Paul told Timothy he was like a drink offering being poured out in service to God.

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I don't know why that always reminds me, some of you might never come back after I say this, that reminds me of like Lord of the

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Rings when Bilbo is like, I feel like butter scraped over too much bread, just worn thin, you know?

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Paul's a drink offering, he's just running over everything, he's just wearing thin.

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Anyways, can we say that of ourselves? Are you a drink offering?

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Have you poured yourself out in service to God? Hebrews chapter 13 verses 15 through 16 says, through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of the lips that give thanks to his name, and do not neglect doing good and sharing for such sacrifices

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God is pleased with. So through what you say and through what you do, we are to offer up righteous sacrifices to God and that is pleasing to him.

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How you speak, how you serve each other, is a spiritual and righteous sacrifice to God that he receives through Christ.

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You know, before the Reformation it was taught by the Roman Catholic Church that only priests and bishops have the calling, the vocation, to share the gospel and do the deeds that really matter.

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But now we properly understand this calling extends to all believers in any of their vocations.

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The doctor, the engineer, the welder, you know, the nurse, the garbage man, the one who works in restaurants, stay -at -home mom, you know, anything like that.

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All of it is from God and for God. You have the vocation now too. You in a way are, you know, a holy nation.

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You are a royal priesthood, he says, and you're in your jobs, you're extending that priestly duty.

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It changes how we work, right? It should. It should change how we work.

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It should change how we serve. Because in that way we're serving the Lord. Colossians says it, work as if you work for the

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Lord. We serve like Adam in the garden the way he should have. We serve like the

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Levites and priests in the tabernacle and temple. And yet ordinary everyday life is now transformed by God and is as an act of worship.

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Everyday life. Part of our first Peter passage comes from Exodus 19.

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The Lord tells the Israelites, you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

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And that carries a lot of weight. That carries a lot of weight. They were to be different than all other nations.

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Leviticus 20 verse 26 says, Thus you are to be holy to me, for I the

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Lord am holy, and I have set you apart from the peoples to be mine. In Deuteronomy 7 verse 6,

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For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

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The New Testament writers make it plain that these words originally given to ethnic

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Israel are now for us, spiritual Israel. That we are to be holy and set apart.

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That he has chosen us as his people. And we are now that holy nation, that royal priesthood.

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And what does this mean for us to be holy and set apart? It means that you don't love the things of the world the way that the world does.

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You don't love the way that the world does either. It means you might just look differently.

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You might talk differently. You might get your entertainment and joy from different sources than unbelievers.

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We don't worship the same way the pagans worship. Our conduct and the way we carry ourselves should be stark contrasts to the world.

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Now, I'm not saying we're supposed to walk around as these fuddy -duddies and with, I don't know, maybe robes on or I don't know how you would imagine it.

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But just, you know, being overly pious or whatever, right? We don't want this false piety. But at the same time, we are to be holy and set apart.

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We are to look different than that of the world because we have a living hope. We have a living hope.

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They don't. We have even different relationships. And of course, even saying these things can put the guard up.

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It's challenging our so -called liberties. You know how I know? Because it challenges me too.

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We can attempt to be defensive or rationalize. Paul says not to be unequally yoked to someone.

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You see, beasts of burden like mules or oxen would have these large wooden yokes over their heads and their necks, okay?

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And they were to go to task and plow a field as beasts of burden with these wooden yokes on their neck.

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And it's like as if you've been tasked with the work of Christ and His kingdom. And then you share that yoke of serving

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Christ. You share your yoke with someone who's opposite of that. You share your yoke with an unbeliever who's not been tasked with godly things, but someone who's in bondage to sin.

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Someone who's a slave to sin, it says. And you guys are on the same wooden yoke together.

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And what's going to happen when you go to plow, when you go to work? That person is just going to maybe eventually lose energy because you're a

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Christian and you endure and you persevere. That person may try to lead you off the cliff because you're sharing the same wooden yoke.

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They're trying to draw you away from the Lord's path. I don't know. That person may try to even knock you off out of the yoke or anything like that.

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That is the image of being unequally yoked under this wooden yoke as a beast of burden.

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Now, that doesn't mean you don't use your old friendships or your work relationships in such a way to get them the gospel, but it's an understanding, as Paul says again, that what hath

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Christ with Belial, what hath light with darkness, believer with unbeliever, they don't mix.

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They don't go together. What do they have to do with each other? He says, bad company corrupts good morals.

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That's not just a idiom or a saying that your grandma told you. That's from 1 Corinthians 15.

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Bad company corrupts good morals. We're to consider these things as a royal priesthood.

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And so, the question is, who are you yoking yourselves into right now?

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Who are you yoking yourselves to right now? Who is keeping you from having more victory in Christ?

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Who is keeping you from knowing Christ more and enjoying Christ more right now?

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The priests in the temple needed to sacrifice animals for their sin to be pure enough to even enter near the

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Lord. And we have a sacrifice for sins that is paid in full. We can approach the

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Lord now in Christ. However, beloved, that does not give us license to be in wanton sin and worldly pleasure.

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Because Christ is holy and He is holy for us, we get the privilege to be holy.

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You don't get to be holy so you could earn anything. You get to be holy because Christ is holy.

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Be holy as He is holy. That is how we carry out our priestly ministry in the church.

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How about our kingly role? How do we carry out our kingly role? As we learned last week, all authority has been given to Jesus.

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He went up to the Ancient of Days. He went before the Father and did not forget to ask for the nations as His inheritance, but to Him was given a crown, a kingdom, a dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

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He was given it all. He is King in heaven and over the whole earth. And even on the furthest star in the universe, it might as well have a flag staked in it that reads,

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Here, Christ is King. That's how much His kingship covers everything.

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And as believers in His body, we share in that victory. We share in that victory.

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We share in His kingship. The church is one of the modes used by God in which all things are being put into subjection to Christ as we share the gospel and reform every area of life.

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Like I read Gentry last week, familial, ecclesial, political, cultural, and so much more legislative.

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It is recognizing in every area of life Christ is King over it. Christ is

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King over it. Romans chapter 16, Paul says, The God of peace will soon crush

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Satan under your feet. Does he say that to Jesus? No, Paul says that to Roman believers.

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He says, The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. God allows us to be part of that process of everything being put into subjection to Him.

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The war is won, no doubt. The war is won. But a battle rages on to set more captives free from that old ruler, that devil,

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Satan. So we keep going over enemy lines. We grab more captives. We bring them over with the gospel.

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So what does the Bible liken us to? It often says that we are warriors, that the church is made up of soldiers, warriors for God.

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But we don't battle like the Israelites did in Joshua's conquest. We fight another way.

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I'm going to read Ephesians 6, 10 -18. You can follow along in your Bibles if you'd like.

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Ephesians 6, 10 -18. Let's look at that. How do we fight? I think it shows us how.

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It says in verse 10 of Ephesians 6, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

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Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

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For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

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Stop right there real quick. Your battle isn't against flesh and blood. Your battle isn't the guy in front of you.

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Your battle isn't against the road rager that you're being tempted to road rage against too. Your battle is not against your co -worker, your boss.

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Your battle is not against flesh and blood. Your battle is against spiritual forces in the heavenlies.

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These things are against the powers, the wickedness in high places.

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That's what we battle against. It says, therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day.

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And having done everything, stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth.

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You need truth to fight this battle. And having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

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Christ's righteousness. And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

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Be prepared with the gospel at all times. Shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

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In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

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You need that defensive shield of faith to guard against the fiery darts of the enemies.

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Because you know what happens? Those fiery darts come and we let that shield of faith down and we lose faith.

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We lose faith. We need to build that faith up. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

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You need the word to fight this battle. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit. And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

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You see, you couldn't stand firm before, but now under King Jesus, now you can be unmovable.

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Now you can be unmovable. You can stand firm through Christ. You can, by the defense mechanism of the king, now extinguish the flaming arrows of the enemy.

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Beforehand, you would have been pierced through by many of them, right, giving into the flesh.

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But now you are equipped for battle. We wield the sword of the word for the king, knowing he battles in like manner in things like Matthew chapter 4 and the temptation.

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He used the word, the sword of the word. But why do we always walk around so defeated as Christians?

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Why do we always walk around sometimes with our heads down? It's like as believers, we're thrust into the battle, and the captain of the

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Lord of hosts shows us, he shows us a vision maybe, that victory is sure, that the battle has been won, and the defeat of the enemy is certain.

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Let's say you're standing there, and you're about to go into battle, and the captain of the

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Lord of hosts shows you that. See this? Hey, we win. We win, so there's no problem.

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There's victory. So fight with that knowledge in mind, right?

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And then we go into the battle though with trepidation, faithlessness, and our arms are like noodles, so nervous we can barely even hold the sword of the word up with any strength.

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If anything, being shown the future victory should embolden us, like David.

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David knew by faith that God would have the victory with Goliath, and after he slayed

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Goliath, he didn't even know if the other Israelites were going to run after the Philistines with him.

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He didn't know, but he knew the battle was sure, and he ran ahead by himself. Then those men, the

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Israelites who were once cowards against Goliath, saw David run at full sprint, and they joined him.

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So we are to run this race. We are to run towards the battle with the knowledge that Christ has the victory.

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Christ has won it all. He's won your salvation. He's won the world, and there's nothing and no one that can thwart

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His plan at the consummation of all things. It'll be brought before the Father, and the last enemy to be defeated is death, and then we will be with Him forevermore.

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So we run towards the battle. We run with full assurance. We ought to be emboldened knowing the future victory, and that guarantee should cause us to give thanks to our

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Father, right? In the church, there are kingly roles expressed in each individual, and even in church leadership, like with elder overseers.

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1 Peter 5, verses 1 -5 says, Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.

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He says, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight. Elders are to exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, not yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be an example to the flock.

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And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

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He says, you younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.

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You see, the good shepherd calls for elders to under -shepherd

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God's people, to have, it says here, to have oversight over the flock, not to use their positions as a means of power or sinful gain, but to be an example to God's people.

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The people are to be, it says, subject to these elders as they are subject to God.

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In other passages, it says, elders who rule well, elders who rule well are worthy of double honor.

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This is not a no matter what kind of thing, but as long as the elders are faithful to the crown, to Jesus, they are to lead, protect the people, feed the people, and practice biblical church discipline when necessary.

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That is, in a way, a kingly role. Of course, under the king.

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And how do you guys have kingly roles? What are the implications of Christ's kingship for you?

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We are to strive against the adversary in his schemes. We also, as believers, are to rule over God's creation, carrying out the dominion mandate that Adam has failed to do.

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Christ did it perfectly, and we follow in his footsteps as he reigns from his throne.

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Listen to this observation from Belcher on an aspect of dominion over creation. It reads this,

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Proverbs 25 .2 says, It is the glory of God to conceal things, okay?

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But the glory of kings is to search things out. What God conceals includes his wisdom and his acts of creation.

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In contrast, the glory of kings is to search things out, an activity that should not be limited to judicial decisions or affairs of the state.

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Kings can investigate God's creation to, one, understand how it works, two, to assist others in that understanding by naming and explaining, and number three, by constructing things to show its beauty.

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Its beauty. Essentially, what Belcher is demonstrating is that part of the dominion mandate of Genesis 1 and 2 is to discover new things and to even master over them.

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It is a Christian principle, then, to discover new medicines or cures to diseases and use that power in a benevolent way, to use benevolent means for a benevolent end.

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We ought to discover new ways to use the earth's resources effectively without hypocrisy or greed behind it.

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Sometimes, you know, we need to be good stewards of this world, but sometimes I wonder about some of these going green things, you know?

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You look at some of these lithium factories, and I won't get into that. Stuff like that, right? It's interesting.

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We are to use the earth's resources in a way without hypocrisy, without greed in the way we do them.

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We ought to build new technologies to advance our society without building virtual towers of Babel.

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And not only that, but explore and find even new animals and new places and new things.

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And when scientists discover new animals, they don't even realize they're partaking in a dominion function when they name a new animal.

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That's what Adam was called to do. That's what we're called to do. When humans determined and defined mathematics, physics, philosophy, and much more, they did it, and we do it only because the

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Christian worldview is true, and God is a necessary precondition for all of those things.

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I think we can take Christ's words beyond just salvation and good fruit.

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When he says, apart from me, you can do nothing, in there, there is a realization that no one could do anything.

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You couldn't discover anything or have dominion over anything or build anything of beauty apart from the

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Creator, apart from Him. We operate on a loaned investment, and one day the terms will be up, and the

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Master will return to see who has brought a righteously accumulated return on that investment.

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The Master is coming. What have you done with the creation mandate? What have you done with dominion?

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What have you done with the Gospel? We've not only been entrusted with this creation as believers, we're entrusted with the

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Gospel. What have you done with that Gospel? The Master is going to come back. You could be

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Thomas Edison or any inventor. Think of any inventor. And you could invent revolutionary technologies to the benefit of humanity.

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But if it was not done to the glory of the King, then you will give an account for it and just know that men who have created many things, but they have not bowed the knee to Christ, Christians will simply get to take the spoils of war.

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We will get the benefit of even what evildoers have done. But ultimately, one of the biggest ways we take dominion, we practice our kingship is using the creation to help each other.

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We use the creation to help one another through food and medicine. We do these things to help one another.

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Brothers and sisters, the fact that Christ is

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King changes everything. Because He is King, we can speak to injustices of our day and tell the public, the

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King is going to be greatly displeased with what's been done here. We can say that because He is

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King. The King has prescribed another way. Presidents, leaders, world leaders, secretaries, legislators, school board leaders, corporate giants,

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CDC type organizations, again, political world leaders, and so on and so forth.

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Which rod would you like? Which rod would you like? Would you like the good shepherd's cane that gently leads his sheep?

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Or would you like the rod of iron that dashes to pieces like a potter's vessel? Which rod do you want?

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We read it last week in Psalm chapter 2. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned,

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O rulers of the earth. That's everyone. Kings, rulers of the earth, serve the

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Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled.

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So it's saying, pay homage to the Son, lest you get the rod of iron.

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We get the shepherd's cane that gently moves us when we go astray. That's what we get.

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Tell them that we aren't bluffing. Tell them that we aren't bluffing when we say this. We aren't. This is real.

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This is real. God's going to come one day. It's appointed for man to die once. Then comes the judgment. He's going to come one day, and He's going to judge the wicked and the good, and He's going to lay the books open, and He's going to judge according to every word and deed that's been said and done.

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Tell them we're not bluffing. This is real. This is going to happen. The King will return, and what will you say?

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You will be prostrate, naked on that day. You have nothing to offer the King.

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You have nothing to give Him, because it was always His righteousness. Your righteousness could merit nothing.

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It could give you nothing. You can't give the King anything from yourself. You need

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His righteousness. Tell them we're not bluffing. We too were once rebels destined to hell, and now we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ sent from the

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King to inform those who truly rules this world. That's what we get to tell them as ambassadors of Christ.

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I'm wrapping up. And that's just it. Solus Christus.

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By Christ alone. By Christ alone we are saved.

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By Christ alone we are able to proclaim like prophets. By Christ alone we are able to offer up spiritual sacrifices like priests.

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And by Christ alone we are able to make dominion and spread His kingdom like kings.

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This isn't a story in a book or some fable legend. This is your current reality if you are in Christ.

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Honor Him, brothers and sisters. We would receive none of this great inheritance if it weren't for our mighty

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Savior. We are adopted in, destined for an eternal inheritance earned by Christ alone, but He freely gives it.

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The Creator lets the creature taste the delicacies of His own possessions. The King lets us partake in the benefits of His throne.

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Do you realize that? You get to enjoy what

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Christ has died for. What He's worked for. What the King has done. You get to enjoy that.

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You don't get to be just a peasant. You don't get to be just the lowest of the low or the cup holder of the

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King. He says you get to exercise kingship too. Do you realize that?

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All by Christ's work. Unbelievable. Who are we now?

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Who are we now? It says in our passage, 1 Peter 2, 9 -10, it says this.

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But you are a chosen people, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

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Let us always proclaim His excellencies. Let's pray. Father, blessed be

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Your name. Be glorified, Lord, in the message. Please bless it, the message that went out,

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Lord. God, please let it impact Your people and impact myself too.

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Lord, we thank You for this. We thank You that Christ is everything, that Christ is all in all, that He is the

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Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. That Christ is the final prophet, the high priest, and the eternal

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King, and He lets us share in these great things, Lord. So we thank

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You, Jesus, for Your willingness, for Your humility. We thank

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You for Your exaltation and for the promise that You will return again and let us enjoy with You an eternal inheritance.