… In chapter 10, And when the Queen of Sheba heard the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bear spices and very much gold, with precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her about her questions. There was not anything hid from the king which she told her not. And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of the ministers and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his assent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy act and of thy wisdom, howbeit, I believe not the words, until I came and mine eyes had seen it, and, behold, the half was not told me. And verse 8 says, Happy are thy men. It's in that spirit that we'd like to have this conference. We would like to be occupied with the glories of the Lord Jesus, the true Solomon. Last year we looked at the glories of his work. Then there are also the glories of his person, his moral glories. Perhaps today we'll consider more of his official glories. But they're all part of the glories of the Lord Jesus. And the hope and aim and objective is that we have a Queen of Sheba attitude and experience, and that the occupation with this subject that we will have before us will prompt us to do the same thing as the Queen of Sheba, and just acknowledge the greatness and the beauties and the glories of the Lord Jesus. …

… Good morning. Yes, there is somebody there. This first session is to introduce Christ, the Lord. But before we go into the session itself, which by way of introduction is relatively short, I just wanted to say one or two words about the exercise itself. Christ the Lord, Christ the Head, and Christ the King. Our brother Michael has read to us from the first book of Kings, chapter 10. He has read to us concerning King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. And that brought to my mind a scripture in Titus, chapter 2. You remember that when the Queen of Sheba saw the order of Solomon's house and the going and the coming of his servants, there was no more spirit in her. Well, in Titus, chapter 2, there is an application of that to ourselves. At the end of verse 10, that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things. And the object of this conference is really to fit us as servants that we may be adorning the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things. Now, we began to think about this conference nearly a year ago, as soon as the last one finished. And two years ago, we had a conference on the subject of the epistle to the Ephesians. And arising out of that was the thought of Christ the Head. We began to think of what it means to hold the Head. But then, if he is Head, he is also Lord. And that is an individual matter. With Christ the Head, we think perhaps primarily of the assembly, not altogether, but primarily of the assembly. But Christ is Lord also, which came first. He is Lord, he is Head. And his Lordship affects each one of us individually. Christ is Lord. This is an individual matter, and we need to learn of it, each one, for ourselves. He is Head of the assembly. He is Head to the assembly. He is Head of all things. And we'll be looking into that in three sessions, after we have spoken of Christ the Lord, in five sessions. But then he is King. And we're going to look at that, too, in four sessions this evening and tomorrow, God willing. There are many other titles that he has, but to keep it within a manageable framework, so that we don't try to take too wide a sweep and lose everything, we have kept it to Christ the Lord, Christ the Head, Christ the King. There are other things which, if there is interest, and if there is perhaps the need, and if the Holy Spirit should direct, we could take up another time. For example, he is a priest. He is a priest. He's a high priest. He's a priest after the Order of Melchizedek. Now, we shall touch on that. Only touch on it this morning. But there are other things, too. He is Son of Man. He is Son of David. Each of these names, each of these titles, is worthy of exploration. But let's come to the subject, Christ the Lord. First of all, some definitions. Jehovah means the self-existent One, the One who is eternal. You see, we have one word in our Bibles, for the most part. We do have one or two others. But for the most part, we say the Lord. But in the Hebrew or in the Greek, there are different words that are used, and we're just going to look at a few of them. The main ones, and the main one, of course, is Jehovah, the self-existent One and the One who is eternal. But he also uses that term in connection with relationship with man. There was a time when he was not so known. And in the book of Exodus, chapter 6, verse 3, I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. So, besides meaning the self-existent One and the One who is eternal, it does have an application in relation to God's relation with Israel. Examples of when that term is used. Psalm 110, verse 1, the Lord Jehovah said unto my Lord. Genesis 2, verse 4, the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, made the earth and the heavens. But compare that with Genesis 1, verse 1, where God created. And again, Psalm 68, verse 4, sing unto God. Sing praises to his name, extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jehovah, and rejoice before him. You see that use of the name Jehovah in the psalm, relationship with the Israelites who would sing it. Then there is Adon. Adon means sovereign. Usually of God, not altogether. It can be human, it can be divine. Lord, master, owner. For example, we've just said the Lord Jehovah said to my Lord, that is Adon. That is David's Lord, David's controller, David's Lord, David's master. Isaiah 3, verse 1, for behold the Lord Adon. The Lord Jehovah of hosts doth take away the stay and the stop. You see the difference in the emphasis given by the different names. Adonai, an emphatic form of Adon. They're often used, these two, in connection with other names, as in the Lord God, which is a proper name, of course, of God only. Exodus 23, three times in the year, all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. And it's used in Psalm 110, which we're going to come to in a moment in verse 5. So we have three different names in Psalm 110, which we're going to come to shortly. Three different names for Lord, whereas we have one in our authorized versions. The Lord at thy right hand shall not be moved. Psalm 22, verse 30, a seed shall serve him, it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. Now we come to the New Testament. The most frequent word used is kurios. If Jehovah is the most common in the Old Testament, then kurios is certainly the most common in the New. And kurios means supreme in authority. It means controller, it means God, it means Lord or Master or Sir. You may wonder at the wide variety of meanings that each of these words has, but when you consider that in English we often try to make the one word Lord cover all these things, perhaps it's not surprising that in Greek kurios means those items at the top there under the number four. Examples, Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean. This is the leper, the one who's supreme in authority. Would he be willing to make that leper clean? And again, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, kurios, to the glory of God, theos, the Father. That is that day to which surely we must all look forward, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father. Just a word of warning at the bottom of the page there. In the two previous examples, the person referred to is obviously Jesus Christ. Lord if thou wilt, Jesus Christ. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, but sometimes it's not. Matthew 1.20, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph to tell him about what is to be born to Mary. That would surely be God himself. The one we now know as Father appeared to Joseph in a dream concerning the child to be born, and you may find others. You certainly will find others. Rabboni is perhaps a lesser word than kurios. It means a teacher. It's similar to rabbi. Lord, that I might receive my sight. Two of John's disciples in the first chapter of John, two of John the Baptist's disciples, Master, where dwellest thou? Rabboni. And again Mary in the garden when the Lord Jesus appeared to her after he had risen again, she turned herself and said to him, Master. It's also the case that the scribes, there's one occasion in Mark's Gospel where a scribe who didn't really want to give the Lord his place addressed him as Rabbi, Master. Then there is despotos, which means an absolute ruler, a despot if you like. Now I know the word despot has unfortunate connotations in English. It's looked at as something unacceptable in these democratic days, but an absolute ruler is perhaps the best translation for Lord or Master. This was the word used by Simeon. Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace. Despotes, absolute ruler. His life was in the hands of the Lord God. And now he was ready to go. Why? Because he'd seen the salvation of God. He had held that baby in his hands. Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace. An acknowledgement of the all-encompassing control of God. Life and death are in his hands. And then again, in the early days of the church, Lord, thou art God who has made heaven and earth the power of God. How long, O Lord, this is a future time not yet here. How long, O Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? The suffering remnant in the coming day are going to look to the one who is the absolute ruler to avenge them on the ones who are persecuting them. With a persecution perhaps not known right up to this time. Now we want to just give a little overview of Psalm 110. You say, why that psalm as opposed to any other? Well, it encompasses something of God's whole plan for this earth and I think sets the lordship of Christ in its context. In the first place, it is an answer to the psalm before it. Psalm 109 is the cry of the poor and needy man. He cries for deliverance and restitution and conviction of his enemies. But Jehovah is going to vindicate his own. That is Jesus, unnamed in this psalm. The Lord, Jehovah, said unto my Lord, Jesus. And for that one, David's Lord, in this psalm there is a throne, a footstool, a people, a priesthood, a day of wrath, judgment and death for the heathen. Refreshment in the way and his head is going to be lifted up. Let us read it before we say any more. Psalm 110, a psalm of David. In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way. Therefore shall he lift up the head. The first verse presents to us the Lord Jesus and it has, as we have said before, Jehovah said unto my Lord, that is David's Lord. This psalm presents perhaps in the first verse the vision that was given to the psalmist and then in verses 2-4 the prophet is speaking to Adon, Jesus. In verses 5-7 he's perhaps speaking to Jehovah, explaining how the Lord Jesus is going to possess himself of the kingdom. In the first verse it's there, God's appointment and God's timing. The Lordship here is given by God. And the timing of how that Lordship, well not how the Lordship is going to be entered into, but what it means, the timing is in the hand of God. The time when his enemies will be made his footstool. He is Lord even now. He is seated on the right hand of God even as we speak. And the next session is going to talk to us about his present Lordship. But his enemies are going to be put down and he's going to have a willing people in verse 3. The people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Contrast this with the time when the Lord Jesus was on earth. When he came to his own and his own received him not. But to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to those that believe on his name. But they were the minority. But the day is coming when his people, that is Israel, resurrected Israel, are going to be willing in the day of his power. And there is going to be perfect strength out of Zion. The seat of his power. He's going to be seen to have Melchizedek priesthood. Now that's a whole subject in itself. But if he occupies that place, the Lord is now in, as it were, in his sanctuary. And from that sanctuary he's going to occupy that function of priesthood. Therefore his is an anointed Lordship. He is anointed and it is an anointed Lordship. And he is there for his people. And his purpose is in blessing. Melchizedek priesthood is everything to do with blessing. Less to do with representation. That's ironic. Melchizedek priesthood is everything to do with blessing. And as Lord he's going to be there in blessing for his people in a coming day. He's going to strike through the kings in the day of his enemies. He's the sanctuary there for his people, but he's going to bring wrath and judgment on the enemies of God. And he's going to find refreshment by the way. What a contrast to when he was here before. When for him this world was a dry and thirsty land. When he had nowhere to lay his head. When he could say upon the cross, I thirst. They gave him vinegar to drink. But he will drink of the brook in the way. It speaks of abundance. It speaks of refreshment. But it speaks too of the assured place that he has. That he can pause in all his power and glory to drink of the brook by the way. The gall and the vinegar is finished. And for the Lord there is blessing for himself. There is blessing for his people. And that blessing that is illustrated here, which is going to be enjoyed by Israel in the coming day. That blessing he imparts to us now in a spiritual way. The Lord in his present lordship. So I will hand over at that point to Robert who's going to take us through the next session. …

… Thank you, Hugh. One of the things that we are all very much aware of is the fact that the Lord, whom we have been hearing has supreme authority, is the one who was rejected when he was here on earth. And there is scarce a chapter in any of the four Gospels, for example, where that rejection isn't apparent. When we read the Gospel of John in chapter one, we only get as far as verse ten, when we read that he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not. Now of the many scriptures that one could select in connection with his rejection, I've chosen three. And the first is a quotation from Psalm 110 verse one, which the Lord refers to in Matthew 22. I'm afraid the reference there to Matthew 23 is incorrect, it should be Matthew 22. And you may remember that in the course of that chapter, the leaders in the nation, one by one, went to the Lord Jesus with their contrived questions, and they sought to entangle him in his talk. They sought to make him look silly. But the Lord Jesus was able, of course, in each instance to show that they were in ignorance of the truth of scripture that they professed to know so well, and that in fact they were in error. And at the conclusion of this passage, at the end of Matthew chapter 22, the Lord Jesus turns the situation round completely by asking the Pharisees a question, referring to Psalm 110 verse one, when he says, how is it that David calls his own son Lord? When he writes in Psalm 110 verse one, Jehovah said to my Lord, sit thou there at my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. And they were unable to answer the Lord because they didn't recognize the Lord Jesus as David's Lord, as David's Adon, and they didn't recognize or submit to the Lord Jesus as their own Lord. Now this is really very significant because what we would say today about this group of people is that they were opinion makers. And what the Pharisees thought, what the leaders in the nation of Israel thought about the Lord influenced everybody around them. And the fact that the leaders didn't recognize him eventually led to his rejection in effect by the entire nation. We find his claims, all his claims were repudiated. And when he confessed in the council of the Jews that he was the Christ, the son of God, he was condemned to death for blasphemy. And we read in first Corinthians chapter two, verse eight, that if the princes of this world had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. So we can see what the opinion of the Jews and what the opinion of the nations was in relation to the Lord. They didn't want him and they would not accept his authority over them going so far as to put him to death. What is God's answer? God has completely reversed these human verdicts and established him as Lord and Christ now. And that's what Peter says when he addressed children of Israel in Acts chapter two, verse 36. One of the interesting things about this verse, if you look it up in Acts chapter two, you will find that immediately before he speaks these words, Peter quotes Psalm 110 verse one. Because what God has done in saying to the Lord Jesus when the world had done to him what it did, sit thou there at my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet, is to vouchsafe that the authority of the Lord Jesus will be acknowledged. That he will be, in God's own time scale, acknowledged by everyone as both Lord and Christ. Sorry? Escape. That's what I was going to say, a lot of speakers have that, you know. Thank you. Okay, okay. Um, it is sadly all too apparent today that there are many who occupy a place of public office who are unworthy of it. Personally, and morally, when they are installed in their office, their subsequent course shows that all they have done is to bring reproach upon the office that they fill. And what we are going to be occupied with now is the fact that the Lord Jesus is altogether worthy of the office that he fills. He is altogether worthy to be Lord and Christ. And we're going to consider the well-known verses in Philippians 2 in this connection. And we might notice, first of all, that these statements about the Lord Jesus are brought before us as part of an exhortation. That the mind that was in him when he came down might be the mind that is in us while we are in this sea. And it shows us, too, I think, that the way that this is achieved, the way that God accomplishes these things in us, is by occupying us with the person in whom these things were seen perfectly. And that is most important because what is subjective in us always and only flows from what is objective, from being occupied with the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. In an overview of Philippians 2, we see, first of all, that he had a mind to go down. He made himself of no reputation or emptied himself of his reputation. So that there was nothing that would shout out to everybody around him, I am God. I am the thrice holy God who has come down to dwell in the midst of my people. No. He veiled his glory. There was a mind to go down. There was a mind to serve and to take up our cause. To humble himself as man, to be obedient, to be obedient even unto death, to be obedient and that unto death and that the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. Well, we'll look at some of these statements carefully. First of all, he is personally worthy to be Lord. Angels have their being in the form of spirits. That's what Psalm 144 quoted in Hebrews 1 verse 7 tells us. That is their nature. We have our being in the form of tripartite creatures. We are body, soul and spirit, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 23. But the being of the Lord Jesus is and always has been in the form of God. Now, the English word form may perhaps be open to misunderstanding in that we might suppose it conveys the idea of the outward appearance of something, an outline, whilst lacking in a substance, in a reality. But the word for form, or the underlying word in the Greek that is translated by the English word form, includes the whole nature and essence of deity and is inseparable from it. W.E. Vine, his exposition of Bible words. And this word safeguards the full deity of the Lord Jesus because there are those in the Old Testament, angels and leaders in the nation of Israel, who are actually called gods. Where the word for God is used. And it was appropriate for them to be called gods because they were God's representatives. But the use of this word form shows us clearly that the Lord Jesus is not merely God's representative, but that he is God in the fullest sense of the word. If you read John's Gospel chapter 8, I think it's verse 35, where Fult was found with the Lord Jesus because he was claiming to be God. And he said to those that questioned this, well, there were those in the Old Testament who were called gods, who were only men, and you're quibbling with the one whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, that I say I am God. In other words, this name is applied in the Old Testament to creatures. And yet I, who am really God, and you're arguing that I claim to be God. Hence he thought it not robbery to be equal with God because he is equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And comment is usually made upon the fact that he did not regard it an object to be grasped at, to be equal with God. And the contrast there, the intended contrast, is with Adam and Eve who responded to the temptation of the devil when he said, ye shall be as gods. Disobey God and ye shall be as God. And they grasped at that. And they fell and became disobedient unto death. Whereas the Lord Jesus, who is equal with God, came down into this world, made himself of no reputation, availing his glory in becoming a servant. And took upon him the form of a servant. Now this is interesting because it's exactly the same word in the Greek that we have higher up for being in the form of God. And took upon him the form of a servant. And this shows us that he was truly, inwardly, as well as in outward expression, a servant. He was not pretending to be a servant. He was a real servant in inward attitude as well as outward expression. And then we have two statements made in connection with his humanity which carefully safeguard the truth of his person. The first, in the likeness of men, emphasises the fact that he is truly a man but that is not all he is. Because in becoming a man, in taking humanity, in becoming incarnate, he did not for a moment cease to be God. He did not cease to be what he had always been. And so it's important to bear this in mind. And secondly, he was found in fashion as a man. And this statement emphasises the reality of his humanity. He was body, soul and spirit. That is what was begotten in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit. And that is what is referred to in Psalm 2 when the Psalmist says, This day have I begotten thee. He was the Son. He ever was the Son. But a moment came in time when he was begotten. And Acts chapter 13 shows us unmistakably that this begetting was in connection with his being raised up according to promise in the midst of the nation of Israel. But in fashion as a man emphasises his human form, inward as well as outward, bearing language, action, mode of life. So we've seen that as God manifests in flesh, he is personally worthy to be Lord. Personally worthy to be entrusted with supreme divine authority. And in the next few verses in Philippians chapter 2, we are occupied with the fact that he is morally worthy to be entrusted with this authority. He humbled himself. He always took the lowest place. And it was a characteristic of his teaching, wasn't it, that he showed and taught the disciples that they should do likewise in this matter. He insisted upon it in relation even to the place where he and they were to sit. If they were bidden to a wedding, he says, you don't take the first place. You take the least place in relation to his service. He that would be chief, let him be servant of all. And we see that, of course, throughout our Lord's life in this world. I've just picked out the occasion when he girded himself with the linen towel and washed the disciples' feet and taught them that they should do likewise. He didn't force himself or his teaching on anyone. And it says in Isaiah, verse 42, verse 2, that this would be one of the characteristics of Jehovah's servant. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. That's the wording in Matthew 12, 19. The wording I've given you there is the actual wording in Isaiah 42, verse 2. And he accepted his rejection. He didn't kick against it for a moment. He actually thanked God, his Father, Lord of heaven and earth, the one in whose hands the disposal of all things is. He gives thanks to the Father because he knew that the ordering of his Father was wise and he became obedient. Ears were digged for him. This is the wording in Psalm 40, verse 6, in Hebrews 10, verse 5. It's translated a body thou hast prepared me. But these two things, ears digged, body prepared, show that the leading thought was that he would be one who heard and obeyed. This was the very principle that was to govern his life when he was here in this world. And we can go through the references. His ear was opened morning by morning. There was this constant hearing of the Father's voice and obedience to the Father. And he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. He learned what it was to obey God in a world that is so contrary to him. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And we can see what this cost him as we contemplate him in the Garden of Eden. Gethsemane. And we remember his strong crying and his tears there, praying that if it were possible, the cup might pass from him, but he was obedient. And we see in Romans 5, verse 19, and in many other places, that his one act of obedience had consequences for many, many others. And this course that he took and his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, were his moral glory. And that's what he's referring to when he says, now is the Son of Man glorified. Because his obedience had been fully tested, fully put to the proof. And his obedience was found to be perfect. And he was shown to be morally peerless, none that could be compared to him. So, his faithfulness to God has taken him into death. But God's faithfulness to Christ has brought him out from among the dead and highly exalted him, given him a name which is above every name. And this exaltation takes place because this is a constant divine principle that he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, the Lord said. God inevitably will intervene for those in subjection to him and in obedience to his word, go down and down and down. God in his own time will come in to lift such and one up. Selfish and perfect service has been completed. Isaiah 52 and 53 again show us how God comes in to answer the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus and his perfect service. And we've seen already that he was morally perfect and God has glorified him in himself, has exalted him, given him a name, a name of renown that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And this is an interesting statement because it embraces within it every responsible creature that has ever existed is going to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. We as Christians and the godly before the Christian era began on the day of Pentecost have always had that privilege of bowing to God, of bowing to the Son of God and of confessing that he is Lord. But of course there are those who refuse his claims as we have seen and they too are going to bow the knee and bow it to the name of Jesus. The name that he bore when he was here in this world. The name that was his in the time of his humiliation. The name by which he was known when he was rejected. The name that was on the superscription above the cross. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. At that name every knee is going to bow and in that way acknowledge his personal glory. And every tongue will also confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. There may be the idea that those who refuse to accept the Lord Jesus in their lifetimes will simply be compelled by divine power to bow the knee to him. But that isn't the idea at all underlying this word confess which is the outcome of deep conviction of facts. The outcome of inner conviction. And there isn't a creature that will not bow the knee to the Lord Jesus and confess him as Lord other than out of this deep inner conviction. One cannot then be in the presence of the Lord Jesus and not feel, not be convicted inwardly of the fact that he is worthy to be Lord. He is rightly made Lord by God the Father. I'll hand over to the next speaker. …

… It is my opportunity to speak a little on the Lordship of Christ, now as it affects each one of us. And in one way, I believe that this is the most important session of the whole weekend. When we talk about the Lord Jesus as the King, that is something which is universal and will come into effect in a future day when everyone will own Him King of Kings. When we speak of Him as the Head, that particularly refers to the Church and He is Head of the Church. But when we speak about the Lord Jesus as the Lord, it affects each one here as individuals. Every one of us here come under the Lordship of the Lord Jesus. There was a verse in John 13 when the disciples spoke to the Lord Jesus and they said, the Lord was quoting what they said, He said, you call me Master and Lord and so am I. Then the Lord Jesus turned it round, if I your Lord and Master. The disciples were quite happy to call the Lord Jesus their teacher. And perhaps we are happy to see the Lord Jesus as a great teacher, but He is also our Lord. He is the one that has absolute authority and rule in our lives. Now I've got three reasons, three reasons why we belong to Christ. It's three reasons why we should own the Lordship of Christ. The first one is a universal fact which we have already had. He is Lord of all. He is the one that is absolutely supreme because He is our Creator. And as a Creator, He is the one that is the ruler of everything. And so universally we can say He is Lord of all. And we find that of course in Genesis 1 where we see that the world was created and in Colossians 1 and verse 16, we find that all things were created by Him and for Him. He is the one that created us and therefore we own Him as our Lord. The second point is that He bought the world. Not often spoken on but in Matthew 13 44, we read there in the parable of the treasure that He found a treasure in the field and He bought the field. Previous to that we are told that the field is the world. And in 2 Peter 2 verse 1 we read there of those that denied the Lord that bought them. Every person in this world apart from the fact that they are created by the Lord Jesus, they have been bought by the Lord Jesus when He went to Calvary's cross and we own Him as our Lord because of that reason as well. But the third reason and perhaps the one that affects us most here is that He bought us or He redeemed us. And I hope that we take our time not just to look at the board but to open the scriptures because that is the only way in which we'll learn if we turn to the scriptures and look up these two verses that are on the screen. The first one in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 20. For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits which are God's. Here we have a positive thing that we should do. Because we have been bought, because we have been redeemed, it is our, not an option, it's not something that you can add to your Christianity. This is absolutely vital that because we are bought with a price we glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits. And then in chapter 7 we read a negative aspect of it. If in chapter 6 we have a positive outcome, in chapter 7 we have a negative one. Verse 23, ye are bought with a price, don't be servants of men. Now one of the problems with us as Christians is that we can agree with what we've already said and we can accept that the Lord Jesus is the one that we should have as our Lord. We acknowledge him as our Saviour. What a wonderful thing to know that our sins are completely forgiven. We love to acknowledge him as our Saviour. We love to acknowledge him as our Lord but I believe that some of us are like a stately home. If you've ever had, I may say privilege, for some of them it may be a bugbear, to be taken to a stately home, you will notice that everything is in order. The gardens are absolutely immaculate. The house itself is absolutely clean. There is nothing out of place. And very often we can lay like in our Christian lives. As far as I can see, looking at you here this afternoon, you are all as a stately home. There's nothing wrong with you. You are dressed well. You are presented well. You have your Bibles before you. You look as though you're interested. When I go around a stately home, or if I ever do, the one thing that intrigues me is not the beautiful furniture. I don't know the difference. It is not the wonderful paintings. It's every now and then you will see that. You will see a door which says this is private. And what I want to know is what is the other side of the door? Is there a room which is full of rubbish? Is there a place there, which obviously they don't want me to go, that they can do what they want? Can I go through that door and see those that own the house relaxing with their feet up on the tables? And you know, often us Christians are like that. There's a part of our life which we do not want the Lord to be in control of. It may be a very small part, but if there's a part of our lives that we say that is private, I want to speak to you at this moment. There ought not to be any part of your life that the Lord Jesus is not in control of. How many of you believe that you can, present day, you can put the computer on? You can go and find whatever rubbish you like on the computer. And those of you who are clever, you can also turn up at Mike's site, bible.org. And when your parents come in the room, you can press a button and up will come bible.org and you can carry on watching what you want as soon as they disappear from the room. There's a part of your life that the Lordship of Christ has not yet entered. And you know, that is where I want to challenge us all. Is there any part of our lives in which the Lord Jesus is not supreme? Now I see a wonderful picture in the Old Testament. And I think if Paul's here, he will be worried because he is going to give us a little talk on the Old Testament types and particularly David and Jonathan. But here is something, this is a foretaste of what we could be receiving tomorrow. I believe that David and Jonathan is a picture of somebody who, first of all, he knew that David was anointed King. He never had any doubt in his mind, as it says in 1 Samuel 23 17, that David would be King. He says it. He says, thou shalt be King. We know that David, he departed to the cave of Adullam. And in the cave of Adullam, there were those that came to him. 400 at the beginning. In the next chapter, we find there are 600. They never diminished. They always grew. They were safe with David. But the sad thing about Jonathan, as recorded in chapter 20, verse 42, is that Jonathan stayed in the city. He was not prepared to be identified with a rejected David. And if we are going to be identified, it is with a rejected Jesus. At this moment, he is not exalted. If we are going to be identified with him and own his lordship, we are owning his lordship with a rejected person. And I believe that when Jonathan stayed in the city, he loved all the pleasures that were connected with the city. We read of Moses, he forsook Egypt. But not only that, in the 23rd chapter, verse 18, we read of Jonathan, he went to his house. He also enjoyed the comfort of his own home. And perhaps we do not wish to acknowledge the lordship of Christ in the whole of our lives, either because of wordliness or because of laziness or because of our own comforts. And we see this in Jonathan. But the challenge is, who was with David when he became king? It was those that had been with him in his rejection. And it will be true to us. Those who are loyal to the Lord Jesus will be with him in his kingdom. Now we come to the lordship of Christ. What are the privileges and responsibilities with reference to him in this character? And I've got three points that we're going to look at. The first one, and we could no doubt have many more and perhaps you can make many more. The first one is in relation to our worship. The second in relation to our service. And third, in relation to our practical lives down here. So as far as our worship is concerned, and it's in the Psalm 45, verse 11, we read, he is thy Lord and worship thou him. Because the Lord Jesus is absolutely supreme, and because as we've already heard, that the Lord Jesus is God, he is equal with God, John 5, 23 says that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father. Therefore, the Lord Jesus is the one that we should worship. And in relation to this, let us be very careful that in our lives we do not treat the Lord Jesus anything less than what he is, the eternal Son of God. We know, and it is a wonderful fact, that the Lord Jesus is a wonderful friend. We know that he is a wonderful Saviour. We know that he is one that we can speak to at any time. But throughout it all, he is the eternal God, and he deserves our total respect, and he deserves our total worship. Because he is Lord, we worship him. And I believe this is the first thing, if we want to understand what it means, is that he is the one that is absolutely supreme. When we break it down, we find that we can pray to him for our needs. The Apostle Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, he prayed that a certain problem that he had, the thorn in the flesh, would be taken away. And so we can pray to the Lord Jesus because every one of us has needs. Not only can we pray for him for our needs, we can praise him for what he has done. And when we consider what the Lord Jesus has done, why it would be accomplished in itself. His death upon Calvary's cross, his work even now as the Advocate, his work as the High Priest, the work that the Lord Jesus has done, what a wonderful thing that we can praise him for that. But also we can worship him for who he is, the Son, the one that came into this world in order that he might meet our needs. The second point we had was our service. Now the first words, as far as I could gather, are recorded in Acts 22, verse 8. This is the first words historically said to the Apostle Paul. Well, the Apostle Paul said to the Lord was, who art thou, Lord? I believe it is important that before we can do any service for the Lord Jesus, we have to appreciate who he is. And if we appreciate who the Lord Jesus is, well then our service will be according to the person of the Lord Jesus. Now the first thing that we know about the Lord Jesus is that he is absolutely holy. He is absolutely righteous. And therefore I would suggest that any service that we do for him has to be holy and righteous. It has to be aboveboard. It has to be irreproachable. Because when the Lord Jesus was here, every service that he did for his Father, we could say, was marked by holiness and righteousness. And so as we serve the Lord, it's got to be marked by holiness and righteousness. A second feature that we see of the Lord Jesus when he was here was love. And we can say, can we not, every time we follow the Lord Jesus through the Gospels, we see him marked by love. In all his service towards the people, it was love. And in our service for the Lord Jesus, not only does it have to be marked by holiness and righteousness, but it also has to be marked by love. And you know, this is a great challenge to each one of us, I'm sure, when we are doing a work for the Lord. Do we really believe that we're doing it out of love for him? Are we got love for those people that we are speaking to? And so if we're going to serve the Lord, the characters that we've seen in the Lord Jesus must also be seen in our service. The third point that I have is we should be humble. We've already mentioned that the Lord Jesus, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. As we go out in the service of the Gospel, as we go out in any other service for the Lord Jesus, we have to realise that we are nothing more than sinners saved by grace. And the very fact that we may see people who are less fortunate than us doesn't mean that they are less valued before the throne of grace. And so we ought, in our service for the Lord Jesus, realise that we are nothing. And that particularly applies if we do service in public speaking. We have to realise that we are nothing and the only one that needs to be and the only one that wants to be put forward is the Lord Jesus. He is the one that is supreme. But also, and for this I'm going to read Colossians 3, verse 23. Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. The fourth point that I think of the Lord Jesus as he moves through this scene, and again Robert mentioned it when he was speaking of those verses in Matthew's chapter 11, is it when he could say, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes, was that joy that the Lord Jesus had as he walked through this scene. He had that constant joy because he was doing his Father's will. And so if in our service for the Lord we're going to be holy, we need to have that love, we need to be humble, but we also need to have that joy which others would see and be able to want to follow. The second words that Peter, that Paul said was, what shall I do, Lord? And again this is so important that if he is Lord, as one has said, if he is Lord at all, he is Lord of all, and therefore in our service it is not a question basically of what I want to do, it is a question of what will the Lord have me to do. And so we need to be much before the Lord that he would show us what he would do, what we should do. In Matthew 25 where we read of the the parable of the talents, every person is given a talent according to his several abilities, and there is of course our natural abilities which the Lord can use. As his servants down here, he can use our abilities that we have. And so we ought to be much before the Lord that he would show us exactly what we should do. Practical. You know as I'm sitting listening to the other speakers speaking about the Lord Jesus in all his glories and all his greatness, I'm sure that we can all sit back and nod our heads and say yes, what a wonderful person the Lord Jesus is. But when we start to talk about practical things that affect our lives, perhaps some of us will get edgy, perhaps some of us will think I wish he would get down. But unless our Lordship has a practical effect upon us, I do not believe it will do any good to us. And so the Lordship of Christ has to have a practical effect in our lives. And whatever sphere of life it is, the Lordship of Christ must apply. Now I put down three things here which the Lordship of Christ has to apply. The first one, marriage, is for our life. Every one of us here knows that marriage is till death does us do part or the Lord comes. And so marriage is probably the longest period of these three. Our jobs, well they may last 40 years but not until we die or the Lord comes. Our holidays again are much smaller, perhaps they only last for three or four weeks. But in each one of these spheres, we have to apply the Lordship of Christ. And any idea that we can take a week out is foreign to Scripture. Any idea that we can spend a week without the Lordship of Christ applying is not according to the Word of God. And so first of all, and very simple, I have three things which I think are absolutely vital if there is to be marriage. There are young people here and I want to warn you and I want to tell you so that you cannot say in 10 years time, I never knew. I believe that you all know these things but I'm going to repeat them because Scripture says so. I'm quoting there Peter when he wrote to in the first epistle he says, though you know these things already. The first one, the first thing about marriage is 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 39. Write it down, look it up, it says only in the Lord. The Lordship of Christ should affect every part of our lives as we've said and as far as our partner, as far as our wife, as far as our husband to be, it has to be only in the Lord. To put it into basic English, it has to be a believer, someone who knows the Lord Jesus as their own personal Savior. The second point is 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 6 and here it says the Apostle Paul speaks of the Thessalonians and he says, you became followers of us and of the Lord. You may think I'm on dodgy ground but I will say that if we are going to marry, let us make sure that we marry someone who believes in the same principles of gathering as we do and the Apostle Paul can say of those Thessalonians, you followed us, you followed the teaching that we gave. Good thing it is when we marry those that are within our own fellowship and we can have joy and comfort together over the things of the Lord. And the third point and I'll just quote this point, I believe it is vital that we also apply Song of Solomon chapter 6 and verse 4 because if this is not true, I believe the rest will fail in our marriage and I'll leave you to look up those verses Song of Solomon 6 and verse 4. As far as our jobs are concerned, I think that is clear again that we should be much before the Lord as to our jobs. I know we live in a time where it is pretty difficult for many young people to find jobs and we certainly, those who have found jobs or who are past the age of working, should spend our time praying for the young people that at this present moment are finding it difficult to find work in this country or in any other country. And thirdly, the question of our holidays. I don't know whether you have a computer and you look up on the screen and you think to yourself, let's go on holiday. For two weeks of the year, I'm going to have one of the greatest times of the year. And so you think the first thing ingredients I need for a holiday is the sun. Okay, if you live in parts of this country, you may want to go where the sun is and I don't complain about that. And so you look for a place where the sun, there may be some who delight in shopping and you say, I want to go somewhere where I can shop. Some may love sport and you look for a place where you can have plenty of sport and you go on the computer and you look and you find, yes, this particular place has plenty of sun. It also has the opportunities to go shopping and plenty of nice restaurants. It also has an opportunity to have to play sports and there's two swimming pools and you sign up and it says, click here and you click. And the next thing you think about is where is the nearest meeting? And I believe this is a grave danger that we have, that we are using just two weeks of the year for our own pleasure and we forget the lordship of Christ. What an encouragement it is. I can speak from experience going on holiday where there isn't an assembly is a disaster, but what a great privilege it is when you go on holiday, where there's an assembly, where you can gather with the Lord's people and it's a great encouragement to them and it's a great encouragement to you. And so we need to realize in all of these things, the lordship of Christ affects me. It affects each one of us as individuals. I'm going to finish. I'm going to finish with a short story that I was told. A young girl went to see her pastor and said to him, all of my life I've wanted to do certain things. All of my life I've been looking forward to the day when I could afford to do this thing. But she says, I've been praying about it and I feel that the Lord is saying no. The pastor read to her a few verses from Acts. It's a question of the apostle Peter when he saw the vision from heaven and he said, not so Lord. I've never eaten anything like that. And the pastor simply wrote on a piece of paper, not so Lord. And he gave it to her and he said, I want you to go away and I want you to rub out or cross out one line because if you admit the lordship of Christ, you cannot say not so to the Lord. She came back the next day with just the word Lord. And I think this is a lesson that each one of us should remember. If he is Lord of our lives, he should be Lord of all our lives. …

… The subject that we have before us now is the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper and I'm convinced that there is a great deal of woolly thinking in connection with this subject. Many use these terms interchangeably. How often have we seen a letter of commendation and it says that we such-and-such a brother or sister are in fellowship with us at the Lord's Table. Where is such an expression in the scriptures? The most that is said is that we are partakers of the Lord's Table and in its strict literality it would mean partaking of the bread because we partake of the cup in verse 21 of chapter 10 as we shall see and then it carries on after partaking of the cup it goes on to say you cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table in its strict literality then partaking of the Lord's Table is actually partaking of the bread. So I want to say first of all that the emphasis is distinct the bearing of the subject is distinct in chapter 10 from that which is in chapter 11. Chapter 10 deals with the Lord's Table and chapter 11 deals with the Lord's Supper. Now of course it's the same cup and the same bread or the same loaf that's in view as a brother once said Paul was not setting a theological conundrum when he mentioned these things as if he was talking about something different in chapter 10 and in chapter 11 but nevertheless the significance is somewhat different. We have this statement here we need to apprehend the true character of the table before we can properly enter into the blessing of the supper. Well worth considering and just in case anybody is wondering where it comes from it was something that Harry Ironside wrote. So first Corinthians 10 I would suggest that this is not the actual meeting for the breaking of bread. Why? Because in chapter 10 the cup comes before the loaf. First Corinthians 10 and verse 16 it's a reverse order to what we practice when we come together. When we come together on a Lord's Day we don't give thanks or bless the cup before we break the bread. It's the other way around in our actual assembly meetings and also in chapter 10 the assembly is not yet come together. The meeting of the assembly as such comes in in chapter 11 and verse 20 where it says when ye come together therefore into one place and we have it earlier in verse 18 when you come together in the assembly. So I think that's an important thing to notice that there's the reverse order the blood is put first surely there's a reason there's a significance for that in chapter 10 and it's not the natural order when we come to the actual breaking of bread and also a the view in chapter 10 is much wider because the assembly is not yet come together so that there are contrasts in the way in which the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper is presented and we've referred to those and we're going to look now at the assembly not as come together in first Corinthians 10 and the assembly has come together and first Corinthians 11. One gives the outward look the other is the inward look. One has the context of the world in view the other has to do with what we are occupied with when together and that is the Lord. One is external and the other is internal. I'll explain a little bit what what I mean by that. In chapter 10 we have three spheres of fellowship. Three classes of association living association here in this world. I think verse 32 brings that into view give none offense neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God or the assembly of God. There we have Jews, Gentiles or Greeks and the assembly of God. The three classes of mankind which are found side by side here in this world today. In connection with the Jews we're told in verse 18 behold Israel after the flesh are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar. Now Israel were not always literally at the altar and Israel were not always literally partaking of probably in this instance the peace offering in which they but their living association their fellowship was determined by that particular act. At certain times yes they ate of the altar and yet this is said as something which characterized them. That was their association the Jewish altar. In regard to the Gentiles or the nations their association was really with demons with devils and the things they sacrificed to in verse 20 they sacrificed to these demons and not to God. Therefore their living associations were bound up with the character of demon worship which was what they did when they came together at their temple. What they did in their temple determined their lifestyle and their living associations. So it is in regard to the Christian company it says that we partake of the Lord's table. We do indeed partake of the loaf. We do indeed give thanks or bless the cup and we do indeed give thanks for the loaf. Those are done on those particular occasions when we are together. But what we are doing when we come together is an indication or an expression of the fellowship to which we belong. That's why I say in chapter 10 with the outward look we've got the contrast of what should characterize the Christian company with that which characterizes Judaism and heathenism. In chapter 10 it's outward. In chapter 11 it's inward. In chapter 10 it's really our bearing our place here in the world. In chapter 11 it's what we do when we come into the Lord's presence this do in remembrance of me. And it is the Lord's Supper. One speaks of what is external the other of what is internal. In regard to this expression the Lord's Supper and the Lord's table there is a slight difference in the word and happily it's given for us in the note. You'll see that under the section on the Lord's Supper it says Kyriakos verse 20. There is a particular word that is used here in regard to the Lord's Supper which is different from the adjective that comes from the name Lord. It's not the usual word for Lords which is found elsewhere. It means that which is peculiarly the possession of the Lord or what belongs in a special way to him. It's the Dominical Supper. Some have said the Lordly Supper that may not even give the proper sense but it's a word here that is only used for the Lord's Supper. It's the only time that it is used by the Apostle Paul. And I believe the other mention of it is by John in the Revelation. In Revelation 1 verse 10 where he speaks of the Lord's Day. The Dominical Day and the Dominical Supper. This day that is pre-eminently and particularly the Lord's in a special sense and what do we do on that day on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread. So there is a special term, a special Greek adjective that is used in regard to the Supper and that is used in regard to the Lord's Day which is not used anywhere else in the scriptures and not used in regard to the Lord's table. And the subject we're considering this morning is the Lordship of Christ. And just as an aside we've heard about the Lord's authority over us individually but it's also very important to understand the claims of Christ's Lordship collectively in the local assembly. First Corinthians is the epistle dealing with local assembly matters. Dealing with the assembly coming together in a particular place. And the very definition of a Christian given in it is one that calls on the name of the Lord. That's what a Christian is. Someone who calls on the name of the Lord. With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Indeed the fellowship that we're called to is known as the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lordship of Christ is brought in I believe in every chapter to regulate difficulties and dissension and division. In regard to putting away someone and often we talk about putting away from the Lord's table or receiving at the Lord's table. Whereas that expression in scripture it says to put away from among yourselves that wicked person. And the authority to receive into fellowship and the authority to put away from fellowship is an authority that is vested in the local assembly. It's not a matter for a committee or for a national brothers meeting or for a collectivity of brethren. The Lord has placed his authority in the local assembly where the two or three are gathered together onto his name. They have authority to bind and loose. And here it speaks in chapter five of the power of the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ in the matter not here of reception but in the matter of putting away of the matter of discipline. So once again the Lordship is seen in chapter seven in regard to the domestic sphere as we've heard and in regard to marriage. In regard to the upbringing of our children they have to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. When we come to Corinthians chapter eight there's very important truth about the person of Christ because it tells us there is none other God but one. One God in three persons. But in regard to this one God then we're told there's one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him. In regard to this one God there's God the Father the one God and there's the one Lord Jesus Christ. He's put there on an absolute equality with the Father as we've been hearing from Philippians chapter two. He felt it not robbery to be on an equality with God. And so we could go on through these chapters. Chapter 10 the Lord's Table. Chapter 11 the Lord's Supper. In regard to spiritual manifestations there are differences of administrations but the same Lord or distinctions of services and they all come under the same Lordship of Christ. That's chapters 12 through to 40. So in the local assembly the Lordship of Christ is paramount and we often say he's not Lord of the assembly but he is Lord in the assembly. And we see that in connection with the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper. And we've been pointing out these contrasts the difference of emphasis shall we say in each chapter and how in the Lord's Table we're thought of what is bound up with our living associations and the fact in chapter 10 is that the blood comes first as the very basis of the fellowship that we have together with one another. The very spear that pierced his side drew forth the blood to save. Where should we be? Where would we be brethren without the precious blood of Christ? We're redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ. And in regard to the fellowship the blood of Christ is placed first in chapter 10. So the Lord's Table then stresses fellowship and responsibility. Whereas in the Lord's Supper we think of remembrance and we think of privilege. I know brethren sometimes we put these things the wrong way around and sometimes we seek to have the one without the other. We like the privilege of being together of remembering the Lord Jesus of giving place to him but we don't think of the corresponding responsibility as to the matter of our fellowship. And that comes out in what we have here in your notes. It says you cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table and the tables of demons. Physically it might have been possible but what Paul is saying it's a moral impossibility. If you understand the truth of the Lord's Table there are things that you will not be happy and that you will not be prepared to do. And so the Lord's Table then is the responsibility of the bread breakers and it's a truth which should govern our behavior every day of the week. Whereas in the Lord's Supper we come together on the first day of the week. And so where is the question? Are we being true to the claims of the fellowship, of the blood of Christ, of the body of the Christ? It's been raised already in regard to what we see on our computers. I've known brethren from non-television households and they've got all the latest movie blockbusters and all the latest television series pirated and loaded illegally on their computers. You know if you're watching the football or whatever else it might be on the Saturday night you're not going to have much appetite for the things of the Lord to remember the Lord on the Lord's Day. If things domestically in your household are in a state of chaos in relationships you're not going to be in a suited you know that's not going to help you to be in a suited state to come out and remember the Lord. And there's so many aspects of this in our everyday lives. We need to think about the claims of Christ upon us because I referred to chapter one, the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord, that's the person. But here it's the fellowship of his death. He died to redeem us. He died to deliver us from this present evil world. He died in order to take us out if we were Jews from Judaism and as Gentiles from all the idolatry and all the worldly surroundings in which we were formerly found. Because John's exhortation in his epistle was little children keep yourselves from idols. And I don't think he had in view stocks and stones and things that we carve out with our hands. An idol is anything and everything that displaces Christ in our hearts. In all things he should have the preeminence and if he is not Lord of all he is not Lord at all. We had it very nicely not so Lord one or the other or as someone else as it was said elsewhere in the gospels even so Lord for it seemed good in thy side. So this question of participation in the death of Christ in the blood of Christ and in the body of the Christ when we come together and break bread on a Lord's day it's a wonderful privilege but we should also be thinking of the responsibility that devolves on us to be true to the fellowship. As the old brothers used to say you know we take the brothers with us where we go through the week. And then here's another question arising from chapter 11. Do you remember the Lord in the breaking of bread? Is there anyone here who has not availed themselves of this privilege? On the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread. This is something that we do in remembrance of the Lord. This is an announcement we make. We announce the Lord's death until he comes. And then something from an old letter of Belet of Dublin. And this I find very challenging. The Lord's Supper is the thing for the Lord's day. And if we abandon the supper for a sermon or a large congregation with its singing and its other activities and attractions we have apostatized so far. Belet was one of the sweetest writers. Very mild. Mild writer. Mild temperament. Beloved brother to those who knew him. And after he was called home someone said to Wink Wigger what are you going to do now that your sweet singing bird is gone? And yet in regard to this matter he used strong language. He says if you abandon the Lord's Supper for a sermon or a family service or a large congregation with its singing and other activities and attractions we have apostatized so far. We have apostatized so far. We have deserted the house of God in its divinely appointed order and service. Well it's been my privilege to maybe suggest some thoughts that might help us think a little bit more. Think through this matter of the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper in their distinct bearings. And the title of the session was Lordship in Connection with the Lord's Table and Supper. I want to pose a question in closing. Does the truth of headship come in in connection with the Lord's Supper? I know we're dealing with the Lordship of Christ and we'll be moving on to the headship of Christ and then the kingship of Christ. And I know that there was great disorder at Corinth and therefore the Lordship of Christ was emphasized. And it is the Lord's Supper and we own his authority and when we view him as Lord we're looking outside of ourselves. We're looking from the manward side Godwards and we're thinking of him as the object before us. No doubt the object of worship. Thomas in the upper room bowed down in the upper room bowed down before him in an assembly setting and he directed worship immediately to the Lord. He said my Lord and my God. So in that sense he is before us as Lord and he is before us as the object of our worship and I would not lay that aside for one moment. But does the truth of headship have a bearing on us when we come together at the Lord's Supper? Are there occasions when he takes his place so to speak as man? He takes his place on our side and directs and leads our hearts out and worship and praise and thanksgiving to his God and Father. Is there a proper occasion for that? Are there moments when he would be in our midst and be active in that sense in directing our worship to his God and Father? I leave that with you as a consideration also. Is there the matter of headship also in connection with the Lord's Supper? …

… ...which has been given to this session is the joy of willing recognition of his lordship. And what links the things that we're going to cover in this session together is that they demonstrate that every believer comes under the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ upon conversion. This is something which should have substantive impacts on every believer's life. We've already noted some of these things. But in addition, there are very good reasons to place ourselves willingly under the authority of our Lord. And also that being under his lordship is a matter of joy and of response to the grace that he has shown to us. Firstly on the cross and the grace that he continues to show to us and the grace that he will show to us in a future day. And so to that end, we're going to consider the things that are summarised on this slide. We'll look at willing recognition of the Lord's lordship as demonstrated in some scenes from the Bible. Then we'll consider some applications from those scenes. We'll also look briefly at the role of the Holy Spirit in recognising and demonstrating the lordship of the Lord Jesus. And we will finish with some other reasons from the scriptures to recognise and rejoice in his lordship. I trust it's evident to us already and that it was evident to us even before we came to this conference that lordship or Lord is more than a mere descriptive title that's given to the Lord Jesus. And that learning about lordship is more than just coming to understand what lordship might mean as a matter of lifeless doctrine. There's much more to it than that. On our part, again as we've already noted, there is submission to the Lord's authority as Lord. But at the same time, there is also on the part of our Lord, great love and grace towards us. It's a very different relationship between a Lord and one under his authority than you would ever find in that sort of relationship on this earth. Now our first scene from the Bible takes us somewhere that we've already been to and that is the road to Damascus. And our characters in this scene are Saul and his companions and they are on the way to Damascus to arrest more Christians there and to bring them back to Jerusalem. But we're focusing on Saul in particular. Saul, the one who was still breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples. Saul, the great persecutor of Christians. Saul, the one who hated the name of Jesus Christ. Saul is on this mission but he is arrested partway along the road by a light that is brighter than the sun. And he hears these words, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? His response, Acts 22 verse 10, what shall I do, Lord? These two words teach us at least two things. Firstly, that Lordship starts at the beginning, the very beginning of the Christian pathway for every repentant and convicted sinner. And we can look at that from various perspectives. It means that we go from being slaves of sin and of Satan to being servants of our Lord. It means that we go from doing our own thing to doing the thing that our Lord would have us to do. But it also teaches us that while we see from God's word that there is progression in the Christian pathway, that growing in an understanding and appreciation of God's counsels is a lifelong occupation for a Christian. That doesn't apply to Lordship. There are no degrees of Lordship. It's not something that one gets initiated into. Lordship is something that applies from the very beginning of the Christian pathway, from the moment of conversion. So there's no probation period where we get used to the idea of having the Lord Jesus as our Lord and he is our Lord from conversion. At the same time, there's also no qualification period either. That's perhaps one of the lovely things that we see from this scene involving Saul, one who was literally the chief of sinners. Yet from the moment of his conversion, the Lord Jesus was pleased to have him under his authority. And that is something that applies to us as well. The second thing we can take from these words of Saul, what shall I do, Lord, is that they represent the suitable and proper response to the grace that had been shown to him. C.E. Stuart described it as being morally impossible for Paul to do aught else, to do anything else, in connection with the grace that had been shown to him, again, the chief of sinners. And grace that had been shown in such a miraculous way with the Lord's appearing on the road to Damascus. For him to submit to his Lord's authority and ask what he could do for his Lord was the proper response to what the Lord had demonstrated towards him. For our second scene, we are going to an upper room in Jerusalem. The doors are shut and there is an atmosphere of fear. We're in this scene in the upper room where the disciples were assembled together in fear of the Jews who had just crucified the Lord Jesus. And this one, Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was to have redeemed Israel, has been taken away from them and been put to death. What happens to them in this time of terror, this time of loneliness, this time of hopelessness? Suddenly, the Lord Jesus appears in the midst. And their response? The disciples rejoiced, therefore, having seen the Lord. Although rejected by the world and, in fact, put to death by the world, the Lord Jesus was the disciples' Lord. Something that I think has been remarked on already, but just to repeat the point, this applies to us today. Although in Western countries we don't live in the same fear that the disciples were under in the incident that we've been considering, yet we live in a world that has rejected Christ. And while the general attitude of men and women that we come into contact with might be more indifference to Christ than open hostility, yet that indifference is a rejection of him. But the path for us is still to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as Lord. But also wonderful to see from this incident that the Lord's presence has such a great effect. It can immediately turn the most despairing sorrow of the disciples into the sweetest joy when they see the Lord in their midst. Our third scene, I'll just mention briefly because time is already against us. This is the scene on the Sea of Tiberias. What's interesting about this scene is that the disciples have been out all night fishing, doing their best to earn their livelihood, but they've been able to catch absolutely nothing. But yet there's someone on the shore who directs them as to where they should cast their net. And when they follow his instructions, immediately the nets are full. Now John, the disciple who it would seem loved the Lord the most, immediately recognises who this man on the shore is and he can say, it is the Lord. One of the things I think this scene teaches us is that when we try to do things in our own efforts, the result of our work is going to be nothing. But when the Lord directs the work, then it will be blessed. The next scene from Acts chapter 11 is perhaps one that at least those of us who have been speaking today and who will be speaking over the next day as well can identify with. Barnabas has been sent to Antioch to help the great number of newly converted Christians there. What is the best instruction that he can give to them? Acts 11.23 gives us the answer, that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord. I think this perhaps encapsulates what lordship should be in practice, in reality, in a day-by-day and moment-by-moment sense. As I said before, the relationship between the Lord Jesus and us as his subjects is very different from the relationship of a lord and subject in this world. It is a relationship of closeness and so we can cleave to the Lord. To use perhaps a slightly clearer word in today's language, we can cling to the Lord. This is something that we should do in every aspect of our lives. This is something that will help us, just as it helped these newly converted Christians at Antioch, to be sustained amidst all of the disbelief and persecution of their hour. It was also how they were going to grow in the Lord by abiding in him. It's perhaps worth noting also that the instruction was to cleave to the Lord, to cling to him, to abide in him. The instruction was not to keep the law. The relationship of lordship that we enter into is something very different from legality. Considering these scenes, for me they give rise to serious and searching questions as to whether I truly acknowledge the Lord Jesus as Lord and place myself under his lordship. The next few slides are intended to reinforce that again the lordship of our Lord Jesus is something which should have meaning for us and should be a reality for us, not a mere theory or a form. I don't want to be prescriptive in the applications that we can take from the scriptures that we've looked at, but these are just some ones that occurred to me. Firstly, to take Acts 22.10 again and the scene on the road to Damascus. The words of Saul, what shall I do, Lord, are equally applicable to us and the appropriate response for each of us to make to the grace that has been shown to us. Have you said this to your Lord? What shall I do, Lord? Or are you too afraid to say it? Or if you have said it, have you been faithful to your word? At the end of his life, Paul could honestly say, and this was to King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Paul was someone who knew what lordship was and submitted himself to it. And again, as has already been noted, lordship is not a half-hearted thing. It's not something that we can choose to apply at times that appeal to us and not at other times. It's a full and complete submission to his lordship. And it's not just in connection with what we do either. It's connection with what we think, our whole beings, everything about us. I thought the verse in Romans chapter 12 was quite appropriate because it sets the standard really. Paul says that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Our bodies, there's nothing that we can exclude from the application of that verse and there's nothing that we can exclude from the authority of our Lord Jesus as Lord. If this suggests that lordship is a whole of life thing, then the verse that we looked at from Acts chapter 11 perhaps reminds us that it is a daily thing also. And we can ask similar questions of ourselves in connection with this verse. Can I honestly say that I cleave to the Lord Jesus and do I really abide in him? I have every reason to do so. The Lord is my shepherd, as it says in Psalm 23. I think we can legitimately apply that to the Lord Jesus. Every reason to submit to his lordship and to cling to him day by day. And again, this is something about our whole beings with purpose of heart. I think that's really what that expression is getting at. It's not just talking about affections or emotions, but our whole being is dedicated to cleaving to the Lord Jesus. Psalm 21.7, just mention briefly again, because I think I touched on the main points. The Lord is always with us and the Lord is the one who blesses our service when we submit to his direction. We shouldn't just think about doing something for the Lord. We should think instead of doing what the Lord directs us to do. When we do that, there will be a blessing from it. And we should also acknowledge the source of that blessing, that it's not from ourselves, but it is the Lord. And perhaps an application for our meetings from John chapter 20, because that scene in the upper room does give us a picture of sorts of an assembly meeting, because the disciples were gathered there and the Lord Jesus was in their midst. We often talk about gathering to the name of the Lord Jesus, and I hope that's something that we don't use simply as a mere form of words, but it is something that we genuinely mean. And that we also do appreciate the consequence of gathering to the name of the Lord Jesus, which is that the Lord Jesus is in the midst. And what that means is that every meeting where we are gathered to the Lord's name should be special, because he is in the midst. And just as the immediate response of the disciples when the Lord Jesus appeared in their midst was to rejoice, that should be the character of our meetings as well. The authorised version in rendering John 20, verse 20 says, then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. I'm not sure if that really captures the full force of their reaction, because one can be glad about something and merely smile. But the way that the JN Darby translation puts it is that the disciples rejoiced. Rejoicing is something that has an outward manifestation. It's not simply a matter of sitting in one seat with a smile on one's face. One can't imagine the disciples doing that in the upper room. I'm sure their joy had an outward manifestation and particularly a verbal manifestation in praise and worship. And we can and probably should ask the question as to whether this is reflected in our meetings. Rejoicing because the Lord is in the midst. We're going to move to something a bit different now, which is the role of the Holy Spirit in connection with the Lordship of the Lord Jesus. First Corinthians 12, verse 3 says in part that no one can say Lord Jesus unless in the power of the Holy Spirit. The immediate context of this verse is manifestations of spiritual power. In the time when Paul was writing, there might have been manifestations in quite a variety of forms. But when there is such a manifestation, there's an important question to be asked, which is what is the source of that spiritual manifestation or that spiritual power? And the answer is found, the answer as to whether it is a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, is found by asking whether that manifestation acknowledges the Lordship of Christ and the Lord Jesus' proper place. Someone who accepts the Lord Jesus as Lord will want to acknowledge these things. And the Holy Spirit, whose role is to glorify Christ, will make Christ's Lordship manifest where he is operative. Now, probably the most immediate circumstance where this is going to apply to us today is in connection with meetings and the preaching of the word during those meetings. And so there is an important question to ask, which is whether the message that is being given acknowledges the Lord Jesus as Lord or is consistent with his Lordship. And if it's not, then there are serious concerns about it. But something which is according to the Spirit will acknowledge Christ's Lordship and the things which are consistent with that. I think more generally, we can take from this verse that the Holy Spirit, in addition to speaking of the Lord Jesus, would seek that his proper place as Lord is acknowledged and that we submit to his authority. We're going to finish with some other reasons to rejoice in the Lordship of our Lord Jesus. Some of the things that we enjoy because he is Lord. The first one comes from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where it says, The Lord himself, with an assembling shout, shall descend from heaven, and then we shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Not sure that I really need to add much to these lovely words that we have, but they bring before us the fact that the Lord himself is coming for us, coming for every believer, not his angels. He is coming in real and bodily form. He is coming personally. Interestingly, the way in which this event of the Lord's coming or the rapture is presented in these verses is, I think, quite unique because it is making use of this concept of the Lord as Lord. The word that is translated shout is a word that means the call of a commander to the people who are under his authority, and in the context that is to us. I think that's important because it emphasises a point that I made earlier, that Lordship isn't just a matter of a lifeless doctrine, but it's something that is very real and something that is very unique and demonstrates the Lord's love for us. He is going to come for us as Lord. As we well know, this event is going to be very wonderful for us. Verse 17 of the same chapter says that we will be ever with the Lord. Philippians chapter 3 verse 21 says that our bodies will be transformed into bodies like his body of glory. Luke chapter 12, the verses mentioned there, state that the Lord will serve us after we are taken to be with him. So we have wonderful encouragement to watch for the coming of our Lord. And following this, there is that time when we will be rewarded at his appearing. Second Timothy chapter 4 states that there is laid up for me, as Paul is speaking, a crown of righteousness which the Lord shall give me at that day. That's something that applies to all of us. As we maintain the interests of our Lord now, he will reward us with this crown at his appearing. And wonderfully, there's great reward from our Lord for even the smallest service. It says in Matthew 25, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. It's the prerogative of Christ as Lord to assign rewards. And he will have the true measure of what has been done for him. There's a positive and a negative to that. The positive side is that we don't have to worry about whether men see what we are doing because the Lord sees what we do for him. And really that's all that should matter. The negative side is though that the Lord will see perhaps how little we have done for him. But in any event, the reward that we will receive will be great. He will be sharing his joy with us. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. So there are great reasons to serve our Lord. Further in the same passage, Paul could say, the Lord stood with me and gave me power. The Lord shall deliver me and shall preserve me for his heavenly kingdom. No matter what the difficulty we face in this world now, the Lord stands with those who are under his lordship. He's not a distant Lord, but a Lord who stands with his own. And the greater the difficulty that we go through, the greater the evidence of the Lord's care for us. So great encouragement to be faithful to him. And lastly, association and recognition. Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints. That's referring to us there, that expression, ten thousands of his saints. Our Lord loves us and values us so much that in the day of his appearing, the day of his glory, he will share that with us. He will publicly associate us with himself. And while, again, we may suffer ridicule and difficulty now, in that future day, we will be associated with our Lord in his day of triumph. So to conclude, again, Lord is not a mere title. It's something much more than that. The Lord Jesus is our Lord from the moment of our conversion. And recognition of his lordship is essential to every single part of our pathways, individually and collectively. The Holy Spirit wants us to acknowledge his lordship and will draw us to do that. And where we submit to the Spirit's leading, then the lordship of the Lord Jesus will be manifest. But lastly, none of this is legality. There are many reasons to own with joy the Lord Jesus as Lord. And so in finishing this topic of lordship, I trust that these things, together with what we've heard before, will encourage us and help us to give the Lord Jesus his due place in our lives as we await his assembling shout. …

… Well, it's my privilege to change the topic on, and we've been considering the Lord Jesus as Lord, and we've been rightly reflecting on the fact that that should be a practical matter in our lives. And I'm sure, as we've heard our brother speak to us, we've been challenged about that. But I wonder how much we think of the Lord Jesus as head. I don't think it's an expression, when we think of the Lord Jesus as head, that should really trouble us too much. When we think of our heads, well, for most of us, indeed, I think all of us, they're on the top of our heads, the top of our bodies. They contain the organs, the eyes, ears and mouth with which we relate to the world around us, the brain by which we control ourselves, and the mouth by which we take in food. That already gives you some clues to the thought of the Lord Jesus as head. And we use the word metaphorically in everyday life, for the person or the thing at the top, head of state, for instance, head man in a village, head of industry, corporate head, head teacher, head of department, head line, head stove. All these are ways in which we use the word head, and they indicate to us someone or something that's prominent. But what does head mean in the Bible? Well, the Hebrew word means head, top, summit, upper part, chief, choices, best, total, some, height, front, beginning. I got all those from Strong's. And the Greek New Testament word, the one we're going to be referring most of all, is again used for anything supreme, chief, prominent. But I think we're going to see that the word head, when used of the Lord Jesus, has deeper meanings even than these. Here are two examples. One from the Old Testament. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine, thine is the kingdom, O Lord, O Lord. We've been thinking of the Lord. And thou art exalted as head over all. One Chronicles 29 11. God is head, in an absolute sense, because he is God. But one from the New Testament, speaking of God, hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. Ephesians 1 22. We're going to come back to this verse later on. God has committed headship to man. And of course, that man is the Lord Jesus Christ, the head. Now, in what ways is the Lord Jesus head? Well, there are seven, at least seven mentions of the Lord Jesus as head in the scripture. Head of the heathen, headstone of the corner, head of every man, head over all things to the church we've just mentioned, the head from whom the whole body maketh increase, head of the church, head of all principality and power. The Lord Jesus could also be called head of a new race. And this is sometimes said, if you look in certain commentaries, you'll see the Lord Jesus referred to as head of a new race, in the sense that Christians come under him, instead of their previous head, Adam. That transfer from the headship of Adam to the headship of Christ happened when we each believed, of course, it's in Romans chapter five, the second half of that chapter. But the Bible does not use the word head in this connection. So I'm not going to speak of that as being one of the headships of the Lord Jesus. I'm going to confine myself to the cases in scripture where the Lord Jesus is referred to as the head and the words we looked at from the Old Testament and New Testament for head are actually used by the Holy Spirit. Head of every man. I'm going to change the order slightly from the order that we just followed in that list, which is the order in which the references to the Lord Jesus as the head occur in scripture. I'm going to use a different order now, which might help us to progress through the subject. And the first few, I'm going to deal with fairly promptly to allow myself enough time to deal with the other references that I think we need to take into consideration very much. First of all, the Lord Jesus is the head of every man. That's in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 3. And as we were reminded earlier on in our session, we should turn to the scriptures. But I would have, you know, the apostle Paul says that the head of every man, and that's the word for male. In these gender sensitive days, we often forget that in the scripture, most often the word used for man refers to man as mankind, that is man and woman. But there are occasions in scripture where the Holy Spirit makes a difference and he uses the word for man, which means male. And this is one of those cases in scripture. So I'll read it again, but I would have you know that the head of every man, every male, is Christ. And the head of the woman, female, is the man, the male. The head of Christ is God. This is God's creation order. I'm sorry we haven't got enough time to look at all the references, but if you've got a chance to note them down, you can take account of these and hopefully they'll come up on biblecenter.org in due course and you can have a look at them there as well if you haven't been able to note them down. But right at the beginning, God established an order and the order was man. And then he provided a complement, a counterpart, someone with whom man could enjoy life in this world with him and help him to do what he should do for the glory of God and for the benefit of creation. That was woman. And the head of the woman is the man. Now we live in a world where this is denied today, where this is laughed at and scorned. But we should remember that we see this order practically in the Lord Jesus. When he came here into this world, he displayed his obedience to God's order. We've already had this verse from Isaiah 50 mentioned. Every morning the Lord Jesus listened to the directions of his father. It's there in Isaiah 50. It's a prophetic word about the life of the Lord Jesus. He was dependent upon his God so that he could impart to men and women and young people as he went through this world, the wonderful grace and truth of God. And even when the Lord Jesus has the highest place in this world in the kingdom and maintains it for God's glory for a thousand years, we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that he will commit it back to the one who entrusted him with it, that God may be all in all. So in these verses, in these references, we see the Lord Jesus subscribing to this order in creation and we should do so too. We should put it into practice in our lives. There are many practical ways in which we should do that. Brothers, men should take active responsibility, public responsibility for the testimony of God's truth here in this world. And sisters should observe their particular role, which is to show by the way in which they deport themselves, they conduct themselves, the wonderful way in which God has moved in their lives too. I can't say more than that. I know that for some, this is a very sensitive matter. But for example, one issue is that sisters wear head coverings when praying and prophesying. And whenever we're in a meeting, we should be in an attitude of prayer. So we should be wearing a head covering. Not to do so is flagrant disobedience of God's word in this passage. And yet we see it all around us. In Christian circles today, this has been discarded. But where among people in this world are we going to see God's order but among those who believe on the Lord Jesus? The unbeliever is not going to observe God's order. God should be able to see his order maintained among his people. So it's very important if we believe the Lord Jesus is the head of every man, that we take up our responsibilities as brothers and sisters in that creation order. Because we're still in the first creation. We're not yet in heaven where there will be neither male nor female. Headstone of the corner. The stone which the builders refused has become the head of the corner. It says in Psalm 118, this is the Lord's doing. It's marvelous in our eyes. He's got the highest place. And because of that, we can look to him as the one who came into this world, was rejected, crucified, but there on the cross he gave his life for us. And coming to him as the living stone, chosen of God and precious, we are built up as living stones. A spiritual house, a holy priesthood, able to worship God, able to be witnesses as a royal priesthood to those around us. In the coming day, this rejection of the Lord Jesus, which primarily happened among his earthly people, it was the religious people of Israel who denied him his rights. They will appoint themselves one head. He will have the place he should have among them. But now among the church, the Lord Jesus should be acknowledged as the headstone of the corner. The cornerstone idea in scripture is the one who is at the base securing the foundation. The headstone thought is the one who's displayed in his rightful glory. And he should have that place amongst us. The Lord Jesus is head of the nations. Psalm 18 verse 43. In this psalm, David seems to speak of himself, but there are verses in the psalm which you can hardly apply to David because he did fail in his life. They could only really apply to the Lord Jesus. He was rejected by Jew and Gentile. We've heard about the inscription that was put above his head when he hung upon the cross. But when he comes into this world the second time, he will be given his rightful place. He will be head of the nations in that 1,000 year kingdom. And men, women, from every people will acknowledge the Lord Jesus as we heard earlier on. Head of the nations, the one in control, bestowing God's blessing, maintaining peace and equity in this world such as it has never known in any era. The head of all principality and power, my next two slides. Principality and power, they refer to the position and authority of angelic beings, higher than anything in this world, higher than the nations, used by God in the government of creation. If you read in Daniel 10 verses 4 to 14, you will see something about these higher beings, such as Michael, who were involved in the government of this world. They're referred to as well in the New Testament in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 20 to 21. Let's just have a look at those two verses. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 20 to 21. Speaking about the power which God is making available to us to be for him in this world, the apostle Paul draws attention to the fact that that power has been displayed in a very visible way in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And it says halfway through that verse, and set him at his own right hand in the heavens or heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. Now that doesn't mean principalities like Luxembourg and Lichtenstein far be the thought, or even great countries like America or China. It means every seat of power in the universe, in regions that we don't understand, where God's government of creation take place. The Lord Jesus is in the highest place. He's head of all principality and power. And in Colossians chapter 2 verses 9 to 10, we're told that the fullness of the Godhead, think of that, is in the Lord Jesus, the man in heaven today. Says bodily, reminding us that he's a man in heaven. But all the fullness of the Godhead is in him, and it's towards us who believe on him as our saviour. He's able to give us everything that we need, and he is superior to the highest created beings, whatever their responsibility and power. Let's just turn to those verses in Colossians which refer to this. Verse 9 of chapter 2, for in him, the Lord Jesus, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him. We're going to hear a little bit more about this later on. I must be careful not to go on to the practical side of things and take away from what somebody else is going to say. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Really the apostle Paul is saying, don't be drawn in by those around you who say you need more than the Lord Jesus. You've got to have something in addition to him to really be fulfilled, to really be what God wants you to be. He says that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in the Lord Jesus, and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. The highest beings in creation are subject to the Lord Jesus. Nothing apart from the Lord Jesus can bring us spiritual blessing, and actually it will actually deprive us of blessing if we submit to it, regardless of how impressive it may seem. We're constantly bombarded with what scientists say they found, and what pseudoscientists say they found out about this world and about the way in which we behave and our genetics and all the rest of it. I'm not saying it's all rubbish, don't get me wrong, but very often what man has discovered he's using in a wrong way because he's not subject to the Lord Jesus. And similarly in the religious world too, attempts are made to deprive us of our spiritual blessings in Christ by what appears, if you read these verses at the end of Colossians chapter 2, you'll see this made very clear, that there are those who appear to be holy, appear to be very devoted, appear to be very mystical and spiritual. Have you ever heard the word spiritual used so much today as it is when it's talked about in regard to the new age movement and other things? But these things are completely at variance with God's word and with what is available to us in the Lord Jesus. Don't get taken in, the apostle Paul argues, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. I'll say a bit more about Colossians as we go through this subject. The Lord Jesus is also head over all things. Paul prays among other things that his readers will know how great God's power is towards them and says this has been demonstrated in the resurrection and exaltation of the Lord Jesus. We had that earlier on in what we read in Ephesians chapter 1. He adds that God has put all things under his feet and we don't see this yet do we? This has already been mentioned in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 8 it says we don't see everything yet put under his feet but in God's purpose it has been put under his feet. God has said it and therefore it's good as done and we've got to hold that in our hearts as well as in our minds and it's particularly important for us who are Christians who are members one of another who make up the church members of his body because he's given the Lord Jesus to be head over all things to the church not of the church but to the church which is his body. We're going to say a lot more about this body aspect in a moment it may not come out very clearly on the screen but it's to the church. Now let's just read this verse from Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22 follows on from the two verses we read earlier from this chapter when we looked at the matter of the resurrection evidence of the power of God towards us the fact the Lord Jesus is far above all principality and power and then he says and have put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him that filleth all in all to the church means that this is what the Lord Jesus is to her she sees him as the supreme provider of everything that's how we should relate to the Lord Jesus this is what God has made him if we may say it in those words and that's how we should regard him the supreme provider do we do that the one who gives everything we need be in his body she is the one through whom he fills everything to perfection my head what I think what I want to do is put into practice by my body how I actually go about things where I go what do I do with my hands that's the church's wonderful role she is the one through whom the Lord Jesus acts today and the fruition of this the completion of this will be in the future when she shares glory with him in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 21 it says unto God be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end that's eternity it's going to be glory to God through the church throughout all ages world without end by Christ Jesus this really brings us back to that relationship between Adam and Eve Eve the complement of the Lord Jesus Eve the complement of Adam we are the complement of the Lord Jesus being his church being his bride being his wife we'll come on to that in a bit more detail in the moment and it's pictured really for us by Adam and Eve in those verses from Genesis chapter 1. Now so far what we've been speaking of really has been reflecting the fact the Lord Jesus is in the highest place supreme his excellence that he's been given that place having come here and suffered and died and he's the provider the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily this is really a presentation of the Lord Jesus as a man but now we come to something that's more intimate even than what we've been saying the Lord Jesus is head of the church he baptized us into one body by the Holy Spirit and became our head on the day of Pentecost those verses refer to that refer to the day of Pentecost refer to what the apostle Paul refer to the day of Pentecost refer to what the apostle Paul said about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13. Baptism of the Holy Spirit isn't a kind of special experience which happens to believers when they get down the road a little no as soon as you've believed on the Lord Jesus you've been included in this baptism which occurred on the day of Pentecost whereby which the Lord Jesus baptized us as John the Baptist said he would although he didn't say it in these exact terms it's what he referred to baptizing with by the Holy Spirit and fire of course the fire aspect hasn't occurred yet that's another matter but at the day of Pentecost by the Holy Spirit the church became one body with the Lord Jesus he is head we are his body and he and we are in one vital link or union of love i prefer these words he and we are one in a vital indissoluble way of love one it's vital it's a living oneness and it will never be broken that's what indissoluble means and in fact in the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul calls Christians and Christ that Christ we're identified with him so much so that we're called the Christ in fact in Genesis chapter 5 Adam and Eve are called Adam and that's just a little picture of this ones that exists and we were referring to the Damascus road earlier on and didn't that come across in the words of the Lord Jesus to Saul so so why persecute is thou the Christians in Damascus or the Christians in Jerusalem no he didn't say that he said why persecute is now me hey me you're persecuting me because they're my body I'm their head you're persecuting me personally I'm so connected with them that when you lay your hand on them you lay your hand on me why persecute is thou me that's what the Lord Jesus said to Paul on the road to Damascus what a change that had we've already thought about what Paul said to the Lord Jesus in regard to him as Lord but doesn't this bring before us the beauty of the headship of the Lord Jesus and um older writers have called it by this term we hear so much today organic it's an organic link between the Lord Jesus and those who trusted him as their savior do we really believe this every believer is a member of Christ's body united to him as head as well as to each other more from Ephesians 4 on this subject as head the Lord Jesus directs let's just read these verses chapter 4 verse 13 I'm going to run out of time I think till we all come that's direction that's the direction the Lord Jesus wants us to go in he nourishes sorry he controls first of all I'm jumping ahead of myself verse 14 there's a tendency when we're left to ourselves to be carried away by every wind of direction every wind of doctrine but the Lord Jesus doesn't want that to be the case he controls us and he nourishes us we get that in verse 15 and on into verse 16 do we realize this this is something that brings before us the greatness of Christianity that we're not just the Lord's people but that we're one with him and this is done through gifts and joints of supply if you don't think you're a gift to the church and I assure you you are but you might not be one who teaches or you might not be one who prophesies but you're a joint of supply at any rate I am all of us are we should be supplying the grace of God to one another and what's the purpose to grow up into him in all things which is the head to display him in the world where once he declared the father we need all the members of the body to do this sadly the divisions of Christendom which go completely against the Lord Jesus as being the head have marred the practical display of the Lord Jesus in this world by his people but that should not discourage us from working out those principles as individual members of his body and as gatherings of his people look at Colossians 2 to increase with the increase of God in Ephesians 4 we get the increase of the body but in Ephesians chapter in Colossians chapter 2 we're told this is the increase of God we need to be holding the head more is going to be said about this so I'll move on quickly drawing on the nourishment he gives then we shall live for God as we should in view of the day of display enjoy the peace of Christ together and respond to the father by him you'll find that in Colossians chapter 3 and it's the answer to Andrew's question is there headship in the Lord's supper absolutely there is because the Lord Jesus desires to lead us in worship to his father and perhaps of all gatherings certainly it's true of the open ministry meeting but it should also be true of the breaking of bread we should see the facts the realities of the headship of Christ being worked out amongst his people as in assembly they gather to the name of the Lord Jesus and seek to respond to him and to his father headship is something we enjoy together lordship is more a matter of individual responsibility notice I said more a matter it's not simply a matter of individual responsibility people often ask the question what's the difference between headship and lordship here's a few examples as we've seen key words for headship are control direction nourishment key words for lordship are supremacy authority administration although they're also connected with headship we cannot really enjoy Jesus's head if we do not really follow him as lord headship in Christianity is always vital lordship may be acknowledged in a lifeless way the foolish virgins they called the Lord Jesus Lord headship goes on into eternity lordship is a matter for time where persons and things can and do go against God but headship will go on into eternity head of the church this aspect of the head of headship is closely linked to the last one but is more to do with the union of a man and a woman than the oneness of a head of head and body the church is derived from Christ who died that she might be his just as that rib was taken from Adam's side and God used it to build Eve so we through the death of the Lord Jesus have been formed as a compliment for him as a man in this world united to him forever and even now brought into subjection to him and what are his activities for us in this aspect of his headship well let's read them in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 well let's just read from verse 23 for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church this is the aspect we're looking at now he is the savior of the body therefore as the church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that's the past he loved the church and he gave himself for it that was at the cross then what is he doing now that's in the next verse that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that's his care for the church now and then in the future that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but it should be holy and without blemish the first allusion to headship in scripture is Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 to 27 and it's also the aspect that we read about at its close revelation 21 the last but one chapter in the bible and which goes on to eternity goes on into eternity did i read that verse from revelation 1 verse 1 to 2 i must just read it sorry i i'm i'm closing now but i'm not sure i did read these verses so i'll quickly read them and i saw a new heaven and a new earth and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea and i john saw the holy city new jerusalem that's the church coming down from god out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband so at the beginning in adam and eve and at the end in what we see john declared to us we see some aspect of headship which should bring home to us its importance in the thoughts of god it brings before us the love of the lord jesus for his church may we be subject to our head the one who controls sorry the one who directs who controls and nourishes us as his body while we wait for him to take us to be with himself in heaven may these things be real to us …

… When it comes to the truth of Scripture, there's much that is practical, but before we can take up in a practical way the applications of truth, we must first learn it, we might say intellectually, we must have it in our minds and our hearts and then we're able to put it into practice. And we've had much before us already in regard to truth for our minds and our hearts. And this session, it poses the question practically how does the head direct the body? And inevitably, in order to answer that question in half an hour this afternoon, we will be occupied primarily with the truth. And it's for us later on to go away and to put it into practice. I trust that when we see what it entails, we will understand that we are already, we have been putting these things into practice. Firstly, we really ought to read some verses together. My intention is not to go through them verse by verse in great detail, but we really ought to read these verses together. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and commencing at verse 12. For as the body is one and has many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member but many. If the foot shall say because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. First I want to emphasise one verse which we read together, and I'm very thankful for what our earlier speakers have brought out, and it's this verse, for by one spirit we have all been baptised into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bondmen or free, and have all been given to drink of one spirit. That's verse 13 of the passage we read together. Our brother Simon has already emphasised this, that this being baptised into one body is something that has taken place. It's not something which is an ongoing process in the sense that God once and once for all established the assembly, and he did that, we can read a bit in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit came upon the believers and one body was formed. The church, the assembly, was inaugurated then, and subsequently every believer that trusts in Christ has been added to that one body. It's not something that you've done, it's not something that I have done, it's a work of God. And that's very important, it's a vital matter to grasp hold of at the very beginning, that the oneness of the body and our part of it is a work of Christ. And having accepted that, we have then some practical responsibility to follow on. So this doesn't take place, for instance, when we become a member of a church or a denomination, it's not something that we sign up for, it doesn't take place when we're baptised, it's something that God has done. We have been baptised into one body, and that's important that we grasp that. This is where we have this intellectual truth, we must grasp this first before we can work it out in a practical way. Now, this is a very well-known image. I believe it was first seen about September 1914, I wasn't around at the time, but I understand that in what we now refer to as the First World War, then it was known as the Great War. They thought that it was such an extensive war as the war to end all wars. Sadly, we know that wasn't the case. Here is Lord Kitchener, and this was a recruitment poster, and at the top of it, it said, Britons, your country needs you. And it was a very successful recruitment campaign, because what it did, when young men saw this poster, they weren't able to think of the next person, it was their responsibility to enlist. They could see that Lord Kitchener was pointing to them, and them alone. Well, if we can denationalise it a little, and remove your country needs you, the question has been posed in this session, how does the head practically direct the body? And the simple answer, and I want you to remember this, when you see this image, I want you to remember the answer to that question is it's you, you and me. How does the head direct the body? The answer is you. That's how. Now, let's just be clear. In the grand scheme of things, ultimately, God doesn't need you or me. He could establish all things by himself. The Lord Jesus could act on his own. He doesn't need to use you and me. But in grace, in the counsel of God, he has established certain things, certain arrangements, certain order of things, that he is pleased to use us. And in so far that he has purpose to use us, in so far as we take that caveat, it's right to say, I believe, it's not speaking irreverently to say the Lord Jesus needs you in order to accomplish his will. I'm talking about in a practical responsibility. God is sovereign. He could accomplish things without us. But in wonderful grace, he's brought us into fellowship with himself, and he's established a certain order of things that he might use us. And so, in a practical way, the answer to this question is, how does the head direct the body? The answer is you. He needs you to fulfil the responsibilities which he has given you. He needs you, he needs me, to respond and to fulfil that sphere of service which he has set before us. Now, if you take any company, any firm, any organisation in this world, indeed, regrettably and sadly, we can say, if you take most denominations, most churches, so called, and you draw a diagram of the order, the hierarchy, you'll come up with something like this. At the top, you have the chief executive officer, the CEO. Under him, under the head, the chief, you'll have various managers. They may be called different names. And under them, sub-managers. And under them, maybe some more managers, or heads of department. And ultimately, there'd be lots of layers, and ultimately, there'd be the workers. And this is certainly true of most, if not all, organisations in this world. Now, this is not a scriptural order. This is not a diagram of how God has been pleased to arrange the church, or his body, practically, on earth. Very sadly, if we look at many churches, we'd find, instead of a CEO, we may have a Pope, or an Archbishop, and under him, a Bishop, and under him, well, the titles will change, but there's layers and layers in this hierarchy. Each one reporting above, and he reports to someone above, and so on, and ultimately, there's one at the top. Well, we don't want to be occupied with the way this world is organised. This diagram better illustrates the arrangement in regard to the Lord Jesus Christ as head. Now, it's not perfect. We're going to see that in the next slide. But this is a better, more true representation. You know, each one of us, through the grace of God, is directly and individually linked to the Lord. Each of us, we've had this brought before us already, we can say, each one, he is my saviour, he is my Lord. We don't have to go through any other. We're not on some lower level. We can say, Christ the head, and each member of his body, we have a direct and personal link with our Lord and saviour, in regard to headship. That's a wonderful working out of grace. You won't find this arrangement in the systems of men. You won't find this arrangement in the companies and the firms of this world. What grace is shown in the way in which the Lord deals and directs the members of his body. A better representation would be this. That there's a circle which represents the church, the assembly, or in the aspect we're looking now, the body. Now, I would suggest that one way of thinking of this is that the church universally comprises every believer who's ever lived, from Pentecost to the rapture. And certainly we can view the church, the assembly, in that way. But the way we want to look at it today is in its body sense. And the body comprises every true believer alive on earth at any one moment. And that's a slightly different definition, but it's the way in which we must look at the church because of the verses we've had before us. And those that are asleep in Jesus are not practically part of the body. They're still part of the church, the assembly, of course. But they're not practically of the body in the way in which we're viewing it today. But the body, in a diagram, would be best represented by this circle. And we can say every body, there's one body comprised of every true believer. Every true believer is a member of this one body. And the centre of this body is Christ. Christ, the centre. Now the thing about a circle, of course, is you can't actually see the centre. It's just a point. And we must be very careful now. I'm not suggesting in any way that Christ is insignificant. Of course, he is the most important aspect of the body. But in regard to what the world sees, the world doesn't see the one it's rejected. The world doesn't see Christ. It doesn't see him as Lord, let alone as head. But what it does see is Christ's body. It sees every member of the body. It sees you and me. And that's all it can see. And that's why it's a very testing matter for us as to exactly what does the world see when it observes the body aspect of the church. Well, we can be thankful that when we come to Scripture, in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, we don't get a picture of any of these diagrams. Paul didn't use this as an illustration of the body. Nor did he use this as an illustration of the body. Nor this. But he used the illustration of a body. Here it is, a head, a labelled body, eye, head, mouth, ear, wrist, elbow and so on. We're familiar with our own bodies. What a wonderful illustration. You know, we need to get things the right way round. When God made man, he didn't some years later think, well actually a man, a body, that's a good example, a good illustration of the truth of the body. I'll use that. I'm quite certain that actually in making man, God made man in such a way that it was a reflection of that which was in God's heart in regard to the church, the assembly and its body aspect. God had in mind what the body was and he created man to be a reflection of this wonderful truth. So we can look at the body and we can understand something of the mind of God in bringing about the body of Christ. Well, the body of Christ we've read in our passage that God has given gifts to his body and we read a list of gifts and they're not, it's not a complete list. If we want to understand the gifts of God, there are three passages and we've looked at one of them already. The passage in Ephesians gives some of the gifts and we have another passage in Romans. And just by the way, those three passages represent the giver in a different aspect. In Ephesians, the giver of the gifts is the risen Christ. In Romans, the giver of the gifts is God. You might say God the father. But here in Corinthians, they're spiritual gifts. They're the gift of the spirit. So now when we think of gifts, we all like to get gifts. We may have some thoughts in our mind, some lovely well-wrapped parcels and we all like to receive gifts. When we get them, we wonder what's inside. Well, the children will be very happy to find something like this, I'm sure. But you know, the thing is, the gifts that God has given us, the gift that Christ has given us, they're not toys. They're not to be played with. They're not for our entertainment or our amusement. And regrettably, at the end of the passage, the apostle, he lists some of these gifts and he says, first, God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, and after that, miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. And it seems that in Corinth, the saints there, they were glad to have these gifts, but they didn't understand what the purpose of them was for. They treated them like toys. They were showing off, I've got a better bicycle than you, my gift's better than yours. This was the sorry state of Corinth and we need to avoid using the gifts of God in this way. Now, you may say, well, of course, we're mature, we're grown men and women, we don't use gifts like this. We've outgrown childish things. Well, I wonder, there are toys for grownups as well, aren't there? Maybe some of these are things that you have, you enjoy. Just an illustration of the fact that in this world, toys are not only the domain of children. We adults, we grownups, we can have things that we can play with, instead of using them in the way in which they were intended. But, you know, really, a better picture, a better illustration of the gifts of God, the gifts of Christ, wouldn't be those things, the skateboards, the toys in the trains, or even the grownup toys, the phones, the computers, the cars, the clothes. Here we have illustrations of building materials and tools. And that is a better way, really, of looking at the gifts that God has given the church, his body. Because the purpose of spiritual gifts, the purpose of the gifts of a risen Christ, the purpose of the gifts from God are that there might be a building up of the assembly. Building up of believers individually, that believers might be encouraged, comforted, instructed, guided, and as a result that the house of God, that living structure, the church of God might be built up. And so each of us have a gift. And I was very thankful that a brother has already made it clear that each of us has a gift. You don't think you've got a gift? You have. You have a spiritual gift. And God has given you that gift. He's given you to the assembly in order that he might use you for his own glory and for the blessing of others. Now, it's a question for you to discover what that gift is and to use it. But a few practical suggestions. One is none of us wakes up one morning with a light bulb moment to think, I know I have a gift for this or for that. I don't think that's how God operates. It's already been suggested that we have natural abilities. God doesn't give us natural abilities without purpose. He doesn't give us natural abilities by accident that we might perhaps later on discover that they're useful. When he made us, he made us in a certain way with certain capabilities and talents that we might use them for his glory. And so firstly, we must recognize that what God has given us naturally should be at his disposal in spiritual things. But spiritual gifts are not the same as natural talents. I want to be clear about that. But certainly God uses what he has given us naturally for his own purpose and will. But he has given us, each one, a spiritual gift or gifts. And he has given us gifts that are not natural and I believe that he nurtures that gift. We use our gifts in a sphere of service and we discover over time that actually we have a capability in this sphere and God gives us encouragement and guidance. He will give others the discernment that we have this gift and opportunities will be presented to us to work in that sphere. It's not an overnight experience. It's something that we must be occupied with. So on a practical note, I would say you do serve where you can. You see a need and it's something that you can answer, you go and fill that need. It will be apparent in due course whether you have a particular aptitude in that way, a particular aptitude in that line of things. Some of us are often on the platform. For some of us, our voices are heard. Our names might be noticed at the bottom of articles. And for others, it may seem that that's the only opportunity, the only sphere for service. Believe you me, those of us that are in the public eye are perhaps the least important in regard to spiritual gifts. Sisters, you may feel there's less scope for you in regard to the exercise of gifts than the brothers. It's not so. Many years ago, over about 20 years ago, I was speaking to an older brother in New Zealand and he asked me after the little gathering in Tunbridge Wells. At the time I was the youngest in fellowship and now I'm the oldest. But I explained, well, there's just two brothers, myself and an older brother, and the rest are elderly sisters, 70-something sisters and 80s, and a dozen or so sisters and two brothers. And this brother, he said to me, if you're in a meeting with godly sisters, you'll be fine. And I thought that was a very wonderfully encouraging comment to make. Because outwardly, there's everything to discourage. As a young person, we seem to be preoccupied with youth and numbers. But this brother, he had his eye on the truth. And in practice, I can say he's absolutely right. The spiritual quality of a local gathering is as a result of the spiritual state of the sisters. And in a practical way, it's the gifts and the service of the sisters primarily that has the most influence. It may seem like I'm emphasising to an extreme a certain aspect, but I think very often what is often before us is what is prominent. And we need just to redress the balance a little. And so, the answer to the question, how does the head practically direct the body? Well, he's given gifts. Each of us is linked personally to the head, the Lord Jesus. We can call him Lord and Saviour. And I'm very thankful for what has been brought before us already. Because if we grasp firstly the truth of our individual Lordship, then the headship aspect will follow. Unless we acknowledge practically the Lord as Lord, then there can be no practical outworking of the headship aspect. So all that has gone before is vital. But then we must realise that the body is all that the world can see. The head is in heaven and he has on earth a body. If we go back to this illustration which is a scriptural illustration, we have here the head. Now the head, as our brother Simon has brought out, the head has the brain, the mind, the eyes, the ears, the mouth. And Christ, nothing escapes Christ. He sees all and he takes account of all. But what is left here on earth is his body. And each of you is vital. I want to stress that. Each of you is vital. God has chosen you, he's given himself for you, you've been baptised into one body, you've been sealed by the spirit, he's given you a spiritual gift. And your sphere of service, where he has set you, is vital. How does God direct the body on earth? He uses you. And so it's a wonderful matter of grace. But I want to encourage us each one, especially the sisters, but I don't want to overlook the brothers, the younger brothers. There's so much. You know in the list of gifts, there are some are foundational. Apostles, prophets and so on. They're the foundations of the building. We don't see those anymore, but what we do see is the superstructure. And you know one of the descriptions of gifts is helps. Helps. A very wide application. Maybe you think, maybe you recognise that all you can do is help. Don't think of it like that. Don't say, well all I can do is help. You know sometimes we say, well we can't really help in this situation, but the least we can do is pray. No, the best thing you can do is pray. And if your gift is the gift of help, you don't think of it that, well at least I can help. The best thing you can do is to help. Why? Because Christ has made you a helper. And if you have a more prominent gift, well that's already something that's on display. So let's be encouraged, dear Christian friends, dear brethren, what grace Christ has given you a gift. He's brought us into one body because he needs you. That's how he's established things. He needs you and he directs the body by our individual attachment to him. We recognise him as Lord and together, when we come together, we're able to put that into practice and the head is acknowledged and the head operates down here. The world can see what Christ is in his absence. The world sees Christ through his own. …

… We're now coming to the third and last session on Christ the Head. And the title for this session is The Importance of Holding the Head. Now let's start by reading the passage in Colossians 2, the only passage in the New Testament where this expression, holding or holding fast the head, occurs. I'm reading from Colossians 2, starting verse 16. Let none therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in matter of feast, or new moon, or sabbaths, which are a show of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no one fraudulently deprive you of your prize, doing his own will in humility and worship of angels, entering into things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding fast the head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God. Holding fast the head. I believe this was the only session of the twelve for which no brother volunteered. I also believe it's not the easiest verse, so there may be a reason, but I do believe it is an extremely important verse. Let's start off with some questions. First of all, this concept seems a little strange. Have you ever seen anyone holding his head, or feeling that this is something you need to do? Then you note that the verse actually speaks about not holding, or not holding fast the head. So some questions. Who is referred to here in the first instance? Who was doing this, or not doing this? And what exactly was he doing, or for that matter, what was he not doing? And then we come to the application. What can we learn from this today? Now the answer to difficult questions, whenever you come across a difficult verse in the Bible, I dare say, the best place to look for an answer is in the context. And this is the case here. The first thing to realize is that this expression, holding fast the head, does not occur in Romans, and not in Corinthians, and not in Ephesians, it occurs only in Colossians. So that's the first hint. It must have something to do with what was going on in the assembly there in Colossae. Now, the Colossians had many features that were very commendable. Paul could speak to them as to holy and faithful brethren in Christ. He doesn't say that in all epistles. He could speak of their love towards all the saints. And they had not only received the gospel, but he could say that the gospel was actually bearing fruit among them. He could speak of their love in the Spirit, of their order, and of their firmness of faith in Christ. And you might say, what an assembly. This was a good assembly. And it was a good assembly. And yet, it was not without problems. There was a danger that the Apostle Paul saw on the horizon. And this danger had to do with what I would call admixtures, with substances or things that were being offered and presented to the Colossians, basically saying, you have accepted Christ, that's good. You need Christ. But also, you need a few other things. You need Christ plus. Christ plus a few things we'll tell you about, and then you'll not only be Christians, you'll be model Christians, you will be superior Christians. And so this assembly was under attack. And by the way, we shouldn't be surprised about this. If there is an assembly where the Lord has worked and it's going well, there are encouraging things, don't be surprised if such an assembly comes under attack. Now here, the enemy attacked in a special way. And the Apostle Paul uses four pictures that describe this danger. And the first picture is that of a delusion. The second picture is the picture of an abduction. Come back to that in a moment to be less cryptic. The third picture is that of judgment. And the fourth picture is that of a scam, a fraud. Now let's just look at where the Apostle speaks about these things. And when we get a little bit of an understanding for what the threat was in Colossae, perhaps it helps us to understand what the encouragement means to hold the head. As to the delusion, he speaks about this in chapter 2, verse 4, that no one may delude you. Then in verse 8, he speaks about the abduction, and he says, let there be no one who shall lead you away as a prey. In verse 16, he says, let none therefore judge you in meat or in drink, etc. And in verse 19, he comes to the scam, comes to the fraud, and he says, let no one fraudulently deprive you of your prize. This is what the Colossians were up against, perhaps unsuspecting, perhaps not aware of the dangers that were there. But this is why Paul writes to them and warns them. Now delusion, point number one. A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. So basically, and you can see this from the picture, this man has the eyes closed and can't take anything in. He is deluded. And the delusion offer was that believers need Christ, but they need other things as well, and then there will be better believers. And the technique or the means used was persuasive speech, language, argument, rhetorics, and so forth. Now the abduction, you might say, is the next step. If somebody is deluded, that's happening in his mind, but here the feet get involved and Paul sees the danger that even these faithful believers in Colossae might be led astray. And the features of these teachings are they are teachings of men according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ. Judgment. Let therefore no man judge you. Now anything would go for judgment. It could be some Jewish rules or it could be any other rules. It could be mysticism, it could be asceticism, saying this is what you can eat and this is what you can't eat, and these are all the things you must do, and then you will be top class Christians. And then you come to the scam. I don't know whether you ever get these emails sent to you saying we're so pleased for you, you've just inherited $5 million, and just send us your bank details and your passport number and the money will start flowing in. Well, that is a scam. Don't answer. Now Paul says, beware, don't let them con you. This is a scam. Now what exactly was the scam? And this is where the expression comes in, not holding fast the head. He speaks of a possibility more than an actual person who was already there, but he warns of this. He says, let no one fraudulently deprive you of your prize. And he gives these six features, the last of which is that such a person would not be holding the head. Now they're marked by self-will, doing his own will. Humility you might say is a good thing, but I'm sure this was an outward show of humility. Worship, the word is reverence of angels, that sounded very humble as well. Oh, don't speak directly to the Lord, reverence some angels. Now this was putting something in between the believers and Christ the head, and we've just learned that we are directly linked with Christ the head. There was also speculation entering into things which he has not seen. There was pride, vainly puffed up by the mind of the flesh. And then this final point, not holding fast the head. Now let's pause here for a moment before we continue on the subject of not holding fast the head. The question is, what is the remedy? And perhaps you just think for a moment about what you would have done. Perhaps write them a letter, tell them how wrong they are. With the first line, dear Colossians, I hear that you accept all these false teachings or they are being brought to you, and this is completely wrong. You are going off track. Well, perhaps you noticed that all the four pictures, all the four warnings we spoke about occurred in chapter two of that letter. Now why? Why not in chapter one? That is because Paul starts by presenting the remedy. Really skillfully, you might say step by step, he works himself forward. He presents the truth positively, but you can see if you have read the rest of the epistle how he prepares the ground for the warnings he wants to give later on. Now the remedy he presents is Christ, and it is Christ in a very special way. It is remarkable that in Colossians, and this has been touched on, there are three references to Christ as the head. In chapter one it says, and he is the head of the body, the church. In two verse ten, the head of all principality and authority. And then here in two verse nineteen, the matter of holding fast the head. And what Paul does is he presents the Lord Jesus in his personal glory as head to the Colossians before saying anything about the dangers they faced. Now let us think about this, one is almost a little reluctant to even try and do this in the time we have, but just to perhaps start you off in the contemplation of these glories of Christ as the head. There are two times seven glories presented of the Lord Jesus, first as head in the first creation and then as head in the new creation. And if we want to benefit from the practical exhortations about the head, we need to first take in something of the greatness of this head. He is the image of the invisible God. Adam was made in the image of God and made. Christ was the image of God because he was true God himself. He was the only full and true representation of God, the firstborn of all creation. As man he entered the ranks of creation, but in rank he was the highest. He wasn't the first man, that was Adam, but he was the firstborn, the highest. And then it says that by him were created all things, all things have been created by him and for him. Now this is not mere repetition. There are three different prepositions used, en, or in, dia, or through, and eis, or for, unto, direction. And this tells us that the Lord Jesus is not only the one in whom the creation originated and in whose power the creation was brought about, but he was also the instrument who executed the plan and he is the ultimate purpose. Have you ever thought why God felt it good to create our solar system in a galaxy that extends over about a billion of light years? Why he felt it good to create about a billion, or more than a billion, of galaxies so remote that man will never reach them? There's one purpose. It's for him. It's to show the greatness of our head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all things subsist together by him, whether it's the movement of planets, whether it's the breathing of your body even when you sleep. All things subsist together by him. But this is not all the glory presented here. Then there are seven features of Christ the head in the new creation. And the emphasis here is on the word he. It's this one that we've just considered in those seven features, and he is the head of the body, the assembly. It's not a pastor, it's not a bishop, it's not a pope, and it's not a queen. He is the head of the church who is the beginning. The new creation starts beyond death in resurrection, and it starts there with Christ. He is also the firstborn from among the dead. And this is very important in connection with Christ's headship of the assembly. When Christ created the world, he could say, let there be. Let there be light, and there was light. But to make the church, he could not say, let there be a church, and I'll be the head. In order for the church to come about, he had to go into death and redeem us. That he might have the first place in all things, the absolute preeminence. For in him, all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. And by him to reconcile all things, not all beings, but all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of his cross. Now each one of those is worthy of spending time on to dig deeper and to enjoy. But my point is this. The remedy for the Colossians was the presentation of the greatness of Christ as the head. And if they only got back to appreciating fully the greatness of their head, then they would be equipped against these dangers that were looming. And the question is, to what extent are we taken up by the glory of Christ? Have these features starting to become great for us? Have we started seeing something of this glory of Christ that really transcends all and everything? Now let us see how this remedy is now applied to those four dangers. Where it speaks about the delusion, Paul says, he speaks about the full knowledge of the mystery of God in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If I had asked someone to read this, probably, maybe not, but perhaps one or two would have read, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. But the point is all. The message for the Colossians is, wake up, there is nothing outside him. If you want wisdom, don't listen to the philosophers, because all the wisdom and all the treasures of knowledge are in him. Then it says in verse 9, and again you have the word all, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. No need to speculate, no need to look for something else. Now what about those rules? Paul says you don't need these, you are already complete in him who is the head of all principality and authority, and you are identified with him in his death and in his resurrection. And if Christ has died to the world and you have died with him, then why do you want to subject yourself to these elements of the world? That means man-made rules. And then the scam. The thing to realise is, he is the head. And if they realised this, they would be on safe ground and they would not fall for this fraud. Now what does it involve then to hold fast the head practically? We have to deduce this from the negative features of the person who was not holding the head. It means that we recognise the glories of the head first of all, and that we receive nourishment from him and that we follow his directions. So there is no room for the pride, for example, we heard about, there is no room for self-exaltation, no room for putting something between the believers and Christ. And what are the results? If we read on into the next verse, it says that the whole body is ministered to, is united together by the joints and bands, and the result is increase. And it's not just increase in some man-made way, but it is growth with the increase of God. That is increase that comes directly from the head. Now this poses some practical challenges of course, and I'm convinced we need to do both. We need to be occupied with the doctrine, the glories of Christ as they are presented, but then we need to translate this into what does it mean for us on a day-to-day basis. Now the first one perhaps goes without saying now, that the idea of some man-made denomination is really in direct contradiction to the truth of the headship of Christ. Because what a denomination does is it separates out some believers, typically gives them a new head, and they are separated from those they should be united with, and express that they are united with them in one body. It's not a new idea, the idea of a denomination is very old, surfaced already in Corinth where they said, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, and so forth. Now if we are clear in this, then we are safe, aren't we? Well perhaps it's not quite that easy. If we are walking together as assembly, we're seeking to express the unity of the body of Christ, we need to be conscious of the headship of Christ, and how will it show itself. It's beautiful to see how in the early days of the church, assemblies already walked together in unity even before the doctrine was given on the assembly. If you look at Acts 11 and Acts 8, you find examples for this. We also seek to express the unity of the body of Christ in the breaking of bread. We heard about this already. The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Why can't we take part of the bread? Because we are members of the body of Christ, not of denominations. Recognizing assembly decisions, it was the Lord himself who said, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. If it's bound in heaven, it's certainly also bound in a neighboring meeting, or in a meeting anywhere else on the earth, for that matter. And even Paul said to the Corinthians, to whom you forgive anything, I forgive also. If we forget about such things, can we then claim that we are conscious of the headship of Christ and seeking to practice this? The result will be harmony. Paul made the point repeatedly in 1 Corinthians that his instructions were not just for them, but they were for all the churches, for all believers. And if we hold fast the head, we will be directed by him. We will walk in harmony. What would you think if my right hand took this glass, and the next thing my left hand did was to basically beat it and throw it away? You would say those two hands are not directed by the same head, are they? Otherwise they would work together in harmony. And this is important for our testimony as assemblies. We should express this. Paul says to the Corinthians, ye are body of Christ. Not their body, but you have this character, ye are body of Christ. The members should be seen and should be working together in harmony, linked to one another and directed by the same head. Now lastly, the point of order. Perhaps you would connect this more with lordship. However, it might be worth mentioning that if we recognize the headship of Christ, I'm sure there will also be order, as things are well ordered in a human body that is directed by a head. And you find this in 1 Corinthians 14, emphasized that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. Now, having thought about these things, what can we take away about this subject, holding fast the head? The root problem in Colossae was that at mixtures were offered, things were brought in between Christ and themselves. And they were presented as valuable additions. And I think that's why they were so dangerous, because these people didn't say, we'll take something away. They just said, we offer something in addition. The remedy was the presentation of the personal glories of Christ the head. And I sometimes wish for myself, I could learn something of this art of the Apostle Paul or this skill as directed by the Holy Spirit to reach the hearts. I'm sure that if he had started his epistle with chapter 2, the Colossians probably wouldn't have listened. But he first reached the heart. He warmed the hearts for the greatness of Christ the head. And when the ground was prepared, he had open ears. Then he could give the practical exhortations that were needed. So let us consider the personal glory of Christ the head. Let us be conscious of the vital connection that we have with him, receiving nourishment and direction from him, being joined together, growing and increasing with the increase of God. And I'm sure that the more, this is the case, the more we are taken up with the glory of our head, the easier we will find it to walk together in harmony. The brother mentioned something and I'll close with that in the next 30 seconds, I promise. There was a meeting and on a Lord's Day morning, there were some visitors coming. And a brother from the local meeting was at the door and said, oh, good morning. It's nice to see you here. What takes you here? And I said, oh, we'd like to break bread here today. You know, we've been having trouble in our whole meeting. We'd like to break bread here today. And this brother said, oh, that's very nice of you to come here. You're very welcome to break bread with us. But please, before you do, go back to your whole meeting and sort out your troubles. I think this brother had understood something of the headship of Christ. He had understood something of what it meant for believers and for assemblies to walk together in harmony. And may the Lord help us to do this for the glory of the Lord. …

… I'd like to preface my remarks upon the accompanying slides by reading a verse from John 15. John 15, verse 15. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. We've been occupied thus far in our time together today with Jesus as Lord, and we've been left with no misapprehension. We recognise that he is the Lord of every Christian. We've been occupied with the Lord Jesus as Head, and we've been left in no doubt that he is the Head of every Christian. But now we come to the subject of the Lord Jesus as King. And let me say, emphatically, as we launch upon this study, that the Lord Jesus is not the King of the Christian. You may ask me, why then should we as Christians spend time occupying ourselves with Christ as King? And it is for this reason that I read verse 15 in John's Gospel, chapter 15. In its context, the Lord Jesus is referring to those heavenly things that have been shown to him by the Father. Those things that are brought before us in the course of the Gospel of John. But in principle, what the Lord Jesus said there is capable of a much broader application. And that is that he counts us as his friends. He counts the Christian as one who has an interest in him, the Lord. He counts upon the Christian as his friends who will be delighted to be occupied with the fact that the Lord Jesus is King. And that he is to take up his station as King in this world at God's appointed time. I was pleased to see Nick's slide of those lovely parcels, those lovely presents. And it reminded me of my children when they were little. And Christmastime could be a little bit fraught because they each had to have the same number of parcels. And broadly speaking, the parcels had to be about the same size as each of the parcels of the other. And the point I'm making is that all they were interested in was what was for them. And that's a characteristic of immaturity. As we get older, we take delight in what is for others. And this can also be a characteristic of an immature Christian. Where the only thing that the immature Christian is interested in in the Bible is what's for them. And that's so sad. Because they're putting themselves at the centre. And we as believers are not at the centre. Christ is at the centre. And it is our immense privilege to be occupied with the glories that are his, the offices that he is going to fill, the offices and functions that are his now as Lord and Head, and the office that he will fill as King when he comes. First of all, we should notice that God has appointed that the Lord Jesus should be King. And already in his purpose, he has set his King upon his holy hill of Zion. And there is no power in heaven, on earth or under the earth that can overthrow this divine purpose. And yet we know from the psalm from which this quotation is taken, that it shows that Jehovah and his King, God and the Lord Jesus are opposed by the nations in relation to this very matter. Backtracking just for a moment, I ought to mention that Psalms 1 and 2 are critical. They form a preface to the whole collection of Psalms. And they bring before us themes that we find taken up and developed right through the other Psalms. In Psalm 1, what we have brought before us essentially are that in Israel there are godly and there are ungodly. These are Jews on earth. And we're talking about a time that will begin once we the church have been taken up to be with the Lord and God will begin again to work with his earthly people Israel. Psalm 1 notices that within Israel there are godly and there are ungodly. And the ungodly are dealt with by divine judgment. That's how God liberates his earthly people, the godly in Israel. He delivers them by executing judgment upon their enemies, the ungodly in the nation of Israel. In Psalm 2, we have the introduction of Jehovah's King, the Lord Jesus. And as we read down in that Psalm, we learn that his king is his son and that he begets the humanity of the Lord Jesus in time, which the Lord Jesus takes. And as we've said already, Jehovah and his king are opposed, but he who is altogether above them, he that sitteth in the heavens and looks down upon the poverty and pretension of those nations that oppose his purpose, he laughs at them. As I've said, in his purpose he has already installed his king in his holy hill of Zion. And just as he will deliver the godly in Israel by the judgment of their enemies, so also he will make way for his king, the Lord Jesus, by the execution of judgment upon the kings and rulers of the earth. So in Psalm 1, we talk about the godly and the ungodly in Israel. Here in Psalm 2, the subject is the heathen, those who are of the nations. The way for his king is made by the execution of judgment. We then move on to Psalm 24, and the Psalm is anticipating the coming of the king. And there is this verse twice repeated in verses 7 and 9, lift up your heads, O ye gates, be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in. And as we read on in the Psalm, it shows us the basis on which the Lord Jesus takes the kingdom. And in many respects, just as we were occupied with the basis on which Jesus is Lord in Philippians chapter 2, and we saw there that there was a personal basis on which he could take the place of Lord, and a moral basis on which he could take the place of Lord. We have a similar situation presented to us here in Psalm 24. First of all, the Psalm opens by emphasizing, as we shall see later on in the Psalm, that the king is actually Jehovah himself, and he is the creator. There is also a moral qualification. Qualification. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who has the right to take this place of king and to rule? Only he that has clean hands and a pure heart. The clean hands are connected with righteousness in outward dealings, and the pure heart is connected with inward holiness. Furthermore, there is now a people that seek unto him. There were a people that sought unto him when he was here, they were a remnant of the Jews, a small portion of the nation as a whole, and that group of believers on the day of Pentecost formed the nucleus of the church. But now the church is gone, the Lord has come for his own, we have been translated, and we are with the Lord Jesus in heaven, but God has now another people on earth with whom he is working again, and the first characteristic of this believing remnant is that they seek unto Jehovah. And you remember that the Lord Jesus said to the Jews, well you won't see me again until you say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah. And now there are such a people, and to such a people he returns. And he suddenly comes to his temple, we'll consider more about this as we proceed, he is mighty in battle because he's the one who executes this divine judgment on all those that oppose, he's Jehovah. He is Jehovah of hosts, the king of glory. And it's remarkable that in Hebrews 1 we were talking this afternoon, this morning, about the fact that the Lord Jesus is called God, we shall see that in Psalm 45 too. The Lord Jesus is called God, but there were others in the Old Testament who were called gods, who were creatures, who were acting as representatives of God. But there is a name of God in the Old Testament that is never ever used, of anyone but God, and that is the name Jehovah. And were we to turn to Hebrews chapter 1, we should find there that the Lord Jesus is shown to be Jehovah and thou, Jehovah in the beginning. It's laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy fingers. I don't think I'm quoting it correctly, but as we see by one of the earlier points, the king is Jehovah, he is the creator and he is the king of glory. He's the Lord of glory and he's the king of glory. And then we come to Psalm 45, which has a great deal more to tell us about the king. But before we get into some of the detail in Psalm 45, I want to consider the psalm in its context in the second book of Psalms, because actually there are five books of Psalms that together make up the collection of 150 Psalms. And as a matter of fact, there are not 66 books in the Bible, there are 70, which is a number I much prefer to 66. But Psalm 45 in its context, the second book of Psalms begins with Psalm 42. And Psalm 42, just like Psalm 1, because we've come to the beginning of another book and we have the same principles laid down, if you like, at the beginning of the second book, as we have had brought before us at the beginning of the first book in Psalms 1 and 2. Psalm 42 therefore distinguishes a godly Jewish remnant. The remnant of the Jews will know nothing of the Christian blessing that we enjoy. And it's a mistake for Christians to go back to the Old Testament and to read about believers there and to think that they enjoyed all the blessings that we as Christians know. That won't be the case at all. But here in Psalm 42, we are going to be occupied with some of the things that they do know. That they do know. And the first thing they know is that they are no longer in covenant relationship with Jehovah. They are not yet in the good or under the blessing of the new covenant. All they know is that they've broken the first covenant, the covenant of the law. And they know that because they've broken the law, they've lost everything that, properly speaking, they could claim as the earthly people of God. They're reproached by their enemies, the unbelieving Jews all around them, to ask them, where is thy God? And they panteth after thirst for hope in and remember God. But they are not in the enjoyment of a settled relationship with him. Their consciences are deeply affected by the fact that they know that they have broken the law. They don't enjoy justification by faith as we enjoy it. They don't have that blessing at this point in time. And then in Psalm 43, they seek deliverance. And as well as the ungodly in Psalm 43 in verse 1, there's reference to the deceitful and unjust man, a reference to the antichrist, the man who will be the religious head in the nation of Israel under whose leadership the unbelieving Jews will arrange themselves. In Psalm 43, they seek deliverance from the ungodly and antichrist desire to be led to his holy hill, tabernacle and altar. In Psalm 44, we come to the subject of the nations again. Psalm 43, it's the ungodly in Israel and the antichrist. Psalm 44, it's the heathen again, from whom they desire to be delivered and certain other positive statements are made about them, particularly in verses 17 to 22, where they plead their integrity. What that means is that they take the place of being completely consistent with the truth that they know. It makes me hang my head in shame when we've been thinking about the Lord as our Lord and the Lord as our head. They can plead integrity. And then we come to Psalm 45. And in Psalm 45, we breathe a completely different atmosphere because the king has come. And all those things that troubled them have been taken away. They are liberated. And they're no longer occupied with themselves or with their enemies. They sing a song of the beloved. Now their eyes are fastened upon the Lord Jesus. They are liberated, heart and tongue set free. They celebrate his perfections. The grace that is poured into his lips and what they are celebrating is that in grace, he has now spoken to them on the occasion of the giving of the law. We know that it was accompanied by thunder and lightning and thunder and lightning and it was accompanied by thunder and lightning, lots of things that pointed to the opposite of grace. But they rejoice in the grace that is poured into his lips because in that grace, he has now spoken to them and relieved them of every burden that formerly they carried. They call upon him to gird his sword upon his thigh. I'm going to run out of time, Michael. Can I carry on? Good, thank you. We noticed in the previous psalm that twice over, there was reference to the gates being lift up, that the king of glory might come in and there is a reason for that. There is a reason why here, they speak about his majesty and might because the Lord Jesus will already have come in the way that Revelation chapter 19 shows us. This is the first time that the king of glory has come in. This is the first aspect, the first part of the appearing of the Lord Jesus. He comes from heaven and he destroys the armies of the west under the leadership of the beast, the head of the revived Roman empire. And as we read at the end of Revelation chapter 19, the beast and the false prophet, the antichrist are both cast alive into the lake of fire. So he's already displayed. By the time he appears in Jerusalem, he has already displayed his majesty and might. And after those western powers have been destroyed, then his feet shall come down upon the Mount of Olives as we read in Zechariah chapter 14 and he shall enter in. The king of glory, he shall enter in. But his dealings with his enemies are not over in a flash. It's not like the rapture at all. Because there are other enemies that are to be dealt with. And we know from other scriptures, for example, that there will be the Assyrian power supported by the forces of the east. We read of them in the latter verses of Daniel chapter 11 and in Zechariah chapter 14. And the Lord Jesus will deal with these foes too. In Psalm 46, the remnant are in trouble again. The king has come. But they say, God is our refuge and strength, the very present help in trouble. Why are they in trouble? They are in trouble because the forces of the Assyrian have already passed through Jerusalem once and sacked half the city. And now they're coming back again. Daniel 11 makes this abundantly clear. And so the Lord Jesus will destroy that enemy too. His throne and fitness to reign, he is addressed as God. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. His kingdom is never going to be superseded by another kingdom. And the scepter of his kingdom is a right scepter, a scepter of righteousness, which represents the principle according to which he will govern. He will govern in absolute righteousness. And he's owned as already having loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. And we know that he died on the cross in order to establish the one. Righteousness and to put away the other wickedness. He has shown how much righteousness means to him. And he is therefore the one who is fit to wield the scepter of righteousness. And therefore, God, his God has anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows. His joy will be greater than the joy of any of the remnant. All his garments smell of myrrh. And those three references are references to the occasions in the New Testament when we read of the Lord Jesus weeping. Aloes, we can see here was something brought forward on the occasion of the Lord's death. And these garments show that here in this world, when he first came, he was a man of sorrows, one acquainted with grief. Cassia, and this is beautiful because Cassia was used in the holy anointing oil of the priest. And we know that the Lord Jesus will not only be king, but he will also be a priest upon his throne so that he not only maintains righteousness in his kingdom, but he also maintains the connection with God. Those two things obviously go together. And he has a queen. And here in Psalm 45, the queen isn't the assembly. He has a consul on earth. We are used to the idea of the assembly, the bride of Christ, being presented to us in scripture, also under the figure of a city, the new Jerusalem. There it is above the centre of divine of divine administration in the heavens. And that city, that new Jerusalem is his heavenly consul. Just so, his earthly consul is an earthly city. It is Jerusalem, which will be the centre of divine administration on the earth. And it's referred to in Matthew 5, verse 35, as the city of the great king. It stands in gold of Ophir, which I understand means gold from India. And gold all through scripture is a figure of divine righteousness. And in order that that city might stand in divine righteousness, that divine righteousness had to be brought from a very long way away. And we think again about the Lord Jesus coming from heaven, down into this world in order to suffer for us upon the cross in those three hours of darkness, being made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And now, now the city of Jerusalem will stand in the same righteousness. And there is wrought gold, which signifies that this righteousness, just as it should be seen practically in the life of the Christian every day of his sojourn here on earth. So this divine righteousness will be seen in the life and practice of this city. This is the name wherewith Jerusalem shall be called Jehovah our righteousness. His name will be remembered to all generations. And what I've done is to refer to some of the references at the end of Psalm 22, where the vista is opened out, and we see the blessing just rolling on and rolling on and rolling on around the earth. And through the generations that are to come, so that his name will be remembered in Israel, the great congregation in the nations, and those who are born during the millennium, too, will remember his name. Now I end where I began. And I hope you young people aren't disappointed to hear that Christ isn't your king. Because if I may come back to the parcels, the presents, your present is the biggest present. Your present is the best present. The blessing of the Christian is the greatest possible blessing. And the blessing of the Jewish remnant and that of the nations on earth in the world to come is tiny in comparison with your blessing now. You've got it. You've got it all. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ now. Now all God says is, you know, when I give my children their presents, enjoy it. Enjoy it. Unwrap it. Enjoy it. And that's what God wants us to do now. And we've been seeing how we get to that point by practically acknowledging the Lord Jesus as Lord and head. I was struck by the fact when I looked up the references to the Lord Jesus as king outside of the four Gospels, that there are how many? Any offers? No, I'm sorry. It's easy. No, nobody wants to be made to look silly, do they? Now there's a man who knows his scriptures. He's almost right. He said two, but it's actually three. There are only three references to Christ as king outside of the four Gospels. When you compare that to the number of references to him as Lord, it is self-evident that our relationship with him as Christians is as Lord and not as king. They are the references. Two of them are in the latter chapters of the book of Revelation. And there are two references, sorry, there are, oh, we've got a preview. Is it the up button? Top right. Page up. There we are. There are three other references where God is referred to as king. I'll conclude by saying, don't be afraid of prophetic scripture, but don't approach Old Testament scripture in a selfish, self-appropriating way. Even when my children were little, and they were only interested in what was for them, they never stooped to the point where they were pinching the other one's parcels. Now that's what immature Christians do when they go to the Old Testament and they rob the Jews of their portion and they say, that's mine too. Sorry, David. But the Lord would encourage us, I am sure, and the Spirit would encourage us in everything to be occupied with Christ, to have Christ before us, whether we're reading the Old Testament or the New Testament, we read that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus, who's in the middle of the picture. When we read prophetic scripture, it is Christ, more often than not Christ as king, rejected or coming or reigning. And may the Lord help and encourage us to study his precious word in its totality and to benefit from it. …

… The first question is, what is the significance of the footstool in Psalm 110, verse 1? Just to re-read the verse, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. I think we will have understood from what we have heard so far today something of what the throne represents. But the footstool we haven't really covered. And I'm grateful for this question because it gives me an opportunity to fill out something that I forgot to say this morning. The footstool. Why are his enemies to be made his footstool? The Lord is sitting here at the right hand of Jehovah, and he has a footstool. Now, if we express this verse in New Testament terms, we read at the end of Revelation chapter 3, that to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne. So there again is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ after his victory being seated with his Father on the throne. There is no mention in the New Testament in that verse of the footstool. The footstool is future. The throne is present. The Lord Jesus took his place on that throne when he ascended into heaven after he has risen from among the dead. So again, we come back to what is the footstool. To understand it, I think we have to turn first of all to the book of Joshua. And in chapter 10, Joshua is fighting against five kings who were occupying Israel at that time and who God commanded Joshua to drive out. The iniquity of the Amorites and indeed of all those nations was full and God was declaring judgment on them. Now, in verse 24 of Joshua chapter 10, it says, And it came to pass when they brought out those kings unto Joshua that Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near and put their feet upon the necks of them. Victorious in war, the victors put their feet upon the necks of the kings of the nations whom they had conquered, a sign of victory, enemies put under the feet. Now, the Lord Jesus, his enemies are going to be put under his feet in a coming day. And indeed, we are told even more. If we turn, we need to link that scripture in Joshua with a scripture at the end of Romans, Romans 16 verse 20, And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. So great is the victory that the Lord Jesus Christ has won that we share in that victory with him. The God of peace is going to bruise Satan under your feet. We do not have to take action against the enemies of the people of God ourselves. God is going to see to that. The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Why? Because he is going to put the enemies of Christ under his feet as he sits upon the throne. And we are so united with Christ that we share in that victory. And therefore, the apostle is able to promise that victory to the Romans who were suffering from those who were opposing their faith. What a verse this is. Whoever would have thought that it would be true of ourselves that the God of peace is going to bruise Satan under our feet shortly, that will be on the day of Christ. But he it is that will occupy the throne. We are told in Revelation that we will occupy the throne with him. But we need to hold on to the fact that he has conquered and he is the one whose enemies will be beneath his feet. There's a very lovely verse of a hymn by Mr. J.N. Darby. You all know it. Number 235. Soon shalt thou take thy throne, thy foes thy footstool made, and take us with thee for thine own in glory love displayed. I trust that goes some way to answering the question. The question is as follows. It was said that Christ is not the Lord of the assembly, but he is the Lord in the assembly. Could this be illustrated by scriptures? And the difference this makes practically be explained. And the questioner has added, thank you, very politely, indicating that a response is expected. In saying that Christ is not Lord of the assembly, but Lord in the assembly, my point was that I'm not aware of a direct scripture which says that Christ is the Lord of the assembly. Whereas there are scriptures that say that he is head of the assembly. I'm thinking of Ephesians 1, verse 22, where we read that God has given him to be head over all things to the assembly. There he is head over all things, but head to the assembly. And in the other scripture, which was read, Colossians 2, verse 19, we learn that Christ is the head from whom all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knitted together, increases with the increase of God. So there we see that he is the head of the assembly. He's directly referred to as such. But we do acknowledge his lordship. And the scripture in mind in the statement that he is Lord in the assembly is 1 Corinthians 12, verse 5, where we read that there are differences of administrations or we might read it distinctions of operations, but the same Lord. So that we see that in assembly activities we come under the lordship of Christ. So these two truths go together and there's no question that lordship leads out to and prepares the way for headship. Lordship implies authority, headship, impulse, guidance, direction. Some of these distinctions are somewhat intuitive and we need to take into consideration a good deal of what has been said throughout these meetings as to form an idea of the relative proportion of one to the other. In terms of lordship, we go somewhat wider than headship because lordship includes profession. There are those who say, Lord, Lord, have we not done certain things in thy name and the Lord will have to say to them, depart from me, I never knew you. In Ephesians 4, we read that there's one Lord and one faith and one baptism. There are many who acknowledge the authority of the Lord Jesus. There are many adherents of the Christian faith, so-called. Many who have submitted outwardly to Christian baptism, baptism in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And yet sadly, there's no reality in their lives in regard to these matters and the lordship really is one of profession. It does not need to be only profession because lordship applies also to possession and applies to that which is real. But when we come to headship, it's a matter of vital union and it can only take in that which is real and dynamic and vital. If we put the slightest difference between the head and the body, the thinness of a gold leaf or of a sheet of paper or any minute division, well then there's no living and vital contact. But when the Lord Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He didn't say, why are you persecuting the disciples or the followers of the way or these believers? He said, why persecutest thou me? And this shows the vital organic unity between the head and the body that when we speak of the headship of Christ, we're concerned with that which is real and vital. Also in regard to lordship, it refers also to that which is individual. Individually, we own the lordship of Christ but when we come to headship, we come to the collective exercises of the saints of God and it is indeed when we are together in assembly that the headship of Christ is exercised and we enjoy those impulses and that guidance and direction from the head. So these are some of the differences and distinctions that we would make practically between headship and lordship. So much as to question one. The next question concerns 1 Corinthians 11 verses 27 to 29 and I'll just read those verses. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation or as we might read it eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body. And so the questioner says we heard that the Lord's table is connected with responsibility and the Lord's supper with privilege. And then in view of this scripture the questioner asks is not the Lord's supper also connected with responsibility? Well, I would have to say yes having read the scripture. Generalizations sometimes can be dangerous things and generalizations are good and they're helpful in settling things in our mind but we always want to have the balance of truth and so I accept exactly what has been said here. In chapter 10 we have something very similar actually because it says do we provoke the Lord to jealousy that our conduct can be such in relation to divine things that God will deal with us because he is a jealous God. But I would just say this in chapter 10 in connection with the Lord's table the sphere of our responsibility it's more our behavior our external behavior out before the world and what we're identifying with on an everyday basis. The eating and drinking unworthily it seems to be the actual conduct of the believers when they were together that they were doing things in an unworthy manner that is to say they were having a love feast at the same time as they were having the Lord's supper and they had all the nice food out behind the plantain and the chicken or whatever it was on that particular day but some were just it was bring your own food and some were having a big nausea some were having a first class meal and they weren't giving anything to their other brethren and they were not having any food. Worse still on such an occasion seems quite unthinkable if we hadn't known of brothers arriving intoxicated for the breaking of bread it seems unthinkable that they were actually coming together and they were abusing their privilege to such an extent that they were getting drunk. So this eating and drinking unworthily seems to in an unworthy manner it seems to be the actual practical conduct of the believers here at Corinth when they actually came together to break bread. They came together and they were coming together in an unworthy way. We may not be exposed to the same dangers I don't suppose we're going to try and get inebriated at the Lord's supper. We've separated from a common love feast agape or common meal together. But is it not possible that in our thoughts in our attitudes in where our minds are in what we do that we can still be there together in an unworthy way? But the answer to it you see, it's not don't do it it's not you're unworthy a lot of people take it from this scripture in their life and they're not quite fit to break bread. And so they stay away. But it's not to do with things in the past week it's to do with conduct when they actually come together. And the answer to the dilemma the answer to the problem is not to to refrain from the breaking of bread the answer it says let a man examine himself or bring himself into self-judgment and so let him eat. The point is that when we come together we should come together in a way that is worthy of the Lord and that there should be suited behaviour and reverence reverence great lack of reverence today I'm sorry to say in the things of God in our attitude in our deportment when a brother prays do we close our eyes? Do we realise we're speaking to God? Or are we writing in our notebooks? Or doing other things? It's extraordinary the things that so called Christians do when they come together in Christian meetings. I made a remark to some young people on the other side of the pond in a young people's meeting and a young brother came up to me afterwards and he said thank you for that. He says because many of the young people were sending messages sending messages when we were seeking to address God. When a brother prays I speak particularly to the younger ones whether it's electronic devices or whether it's pen or pencil and paper are we consciously in the conscious realisation that we are in the presence of God and do we show due and proper reverence? Because this is what was in view here they were doing things in an unworthy manner when they came together. And this is a solemn thing for us and for our families because it says that they were bringing judgement upon themselves because they didn't distinguish the Lord's body, they didn't distinguish the holiness of the occasion they didn't distinguish that what was in view was the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this questioner has a point in connection with the Lord's Supper being connected with responsibility but I would suggest that it's our responsibility and our attitude one and all when we come together rather than our responsibility during the week that has proceeded. So it's good to be challenged sometimes about what you say and to try and keep the balance of truth. Well, if Andrew is in the hot seat, what shall I say? Wish to kindle love as did Paul. That's in brackets and then it says what has the head given to the body to rekindle our love? Now fortunately the brother who asked the question explained it to me a little bit more in the break and apparently I said something like this I wish I could do a little bit of what the Apostle did in presenting Christ to believers in such a way that their hearts are connected with him, taken up with him so that it is easier to address their problems. And the question is, well, how can this be done? What has the head given to the body in order for that to occur? Well, my answer would be he has given us Christ objectively to look at and to help us doing that he has given us gifts and he has given us the Holy Spirit. And I'll just try and give you some examples where this has happened. These are examples where Paul, for example, tries to address a specific problem and he does that by presenting the Lord Jesus to the believers concerned. Now my first example would be 1 Corinthians 1 and there was the problem of division or the seeds of denominationalism. I am of Paul, I am of Apollos. Now how does Paul approach that problem? He presents Christ. He says, is the Christ divided? Has Paul died for you? So he directs them to Christ and by considering Christ it becomes clear to the Corinthians that this can't be the way to go to form such schools and parties. In chapter 5, 1 Corinthians there was another problem that was to do with immorality. Now how does Paul approach that? He presents Christ. He says, Christ, our Passover has been slain. In chapter 10 we heard about today, there was the problem of being associated with idolatry. Now Paul starts off in that passage by saying beloved, flee from idolatry. Now what does he present to them? And Andrew mentioned this, he first of all presents the blood of Christ. And he says, you know, this blood was shed for you. You express communion with this blood. How can you be associated with idolatry? Chapter 15, 1 Corinthians, Paul's doctrine about our bodies, about resurrection. Now what does Paul do? Paul presents Christ. He explains what resurrection has to do with Christ. He says, you know, if there's no resurrection of the body, then Christ is not risen. You've all believed a fairy tale, a fable. Your faith is in vain. Now in Colossians, we saw the problem was being attracted by philosophy, by rule making, and that sort of thing. Now again, Paul presents Christ. He presents these glories. Now if you remember that slide, there was a slide which had two lists of seven glories of Christ. And it's very difficult to try and say something about those in such a short time. But even if one had more time, it's difficult. But you know, when I pressed the button, there was this sun, this rising sun that started as a faint picture and then became sort of a fuller and fuller picture in full colours. Now that's the sort of effect I'm talking about. How to make it alive. How to present Christ in a way that there's actually a resonance in the hearts. It's not just, yeah, yeah, yeah, he went down that passage again. But the hearts are affected and that brings about a change in the walk. You could think of Peter. He wanted to encourage the believers in their sufferings. What does he do? He talks about Christ. How he suffered and how he left us an example. You could think of Hebrews. How does Paul wean the Hebrews who had become Christians from the temptation of going back to the old system? Well, he presents the better things in Christ. He presents how Christ is better and as you give a nice toy to a child, he will drop the knife and forget about it. And so Paul presents what is better and the Hebrews are in this way encouraged to let go of what was hindering them. So that's what I was trying to say. What has the head given to the body to rekindle our love, to get us back onto the right course? Well, the remedy is Christ when there's a problem and the temptation for us when we try and address a problem is to go head on at least if you're German head towards the problem and address it and try and sort it out. And, you know, Paul doesn't skirt around the problems. He doesn't ignore them but nor does he start with them. He first prepares the ground by presenting the Lord Jesus. So what has the head given? Well, he has given the gifts Ephesians 4 and he has given the Holy Spirit because at the end of the day the Holy Spirit must work in the hearts to make the Scriptures alive so that Christ dwells in our hearts and fills our vision. …

… David and Solomon So if we could begin with Saul. Just to explain what a type is, in the Old Testament we have many accounts of men and women, and the accounts given of them often illustrate in a form of a picture, an illustration of truth and doctrine that we learn in God's Word. So we have the doctrine, and then in the types we have an illustration of the doctrine to help us understand it more clearly. And as we proceed through Romans, at the beginning of Romans, we learn that man has sinned and fallen short of God's glory. And by the time we've reached chapter 7, chapter 8, we learn that it's not only a matter of him having sinned, but that his very nature is morally corrupt. Paul calls it the flesh. And that he is a sinner, not only by his actions, but by his very constitution. He can do nothing but sin. And in Saul, King Saul, we get this illustration of man as he is after the flesh. So the people, they wanted a king. And in wanting a king, they rebelled against God, because God was their king, and the heart of God was grieved, as well as angry against his people that they had turned away from him in this way. But he would give them a king. We read that he gave them a king in his anger. And in doing so, he would set a test before them. And we read of that trial, that test, in 1 Samuel chapter 12. Now therefore, behold, the king whom ye have chosen, whom ye have desired, and behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God. If ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers. So Israel and their king are on trial. And so we have an illustration of man after the flesh, on trial before God, to see if there's any good in him. And God doesn't give them the worst king that he could, he gives them the best king. We read of Saul, he was in 1 Samuel chapter 9, at the beginning, there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zerah, the son of Bekarath, the son of Ephiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. So that's the family that Saul came from. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice young man and a goodly. And there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders and upward, he was higher than any of the people. So Saul was the man whom the people would have chosen for themselves. And indeed, later on, God would refer to Saul as the one that they had chosen. Not only was he the best that Israel could produce, but also God gave him everything that he could need to be a success. We read in 1 Samuel 10, 6, that God gave him another heart. That doesn't mean that God gave him a new heart, but he gave him the natural abilities that he would need to be a successful king over his people. He also gave him loyal men. We read that there was a company of men who cleaved to Saul whose heart the Lord had touched. So he gave him loyal men, loyal supporters. And also, by implication, the Lord gave him the help of his spirit. Because we read in 1 Samuel chapter 16 that the spirit of the Lord left Saul and came upon David. And also, of course, there was Samuel to give him guidance. So Saul had everything that he could possibly need. And yet, under testing, Saul reveals the true nature of his heart. Everything went very well for Saul until he came under pressure. And when something is squeezed, when it is brought under pressure, it's then that we see what's inside it. What's inside it comes out, and it did with Saul. The first instance was when the Philistines gathered their armies against Israel. And Saul, he was told to wait for Samuel in Gilgal. That's what he was told to do. Now, the heart that has put its trust in God, it says this. Lamentations chapter 3 verse 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. This is the heart that does not trust in the flesh, but trusts in God. But Saul knew nothing of that. He trusted in the flesh. His confidence was in the flesh. He did not believe in God, and therefore he took matters into his own hands. And with a cloak of piety, he offers up a burnt offering to the Lord. He sees his men all drifting away from him. And there's thousands of these Philistines. And he's thinking, what shall I do? What shall I do? Jonathan later on, he will say, it's a small thing with the Lord, whether he saves with many or with few. Jonathan was a man of faith. But Saul, he did not have that belief in God. He trusted in the flesh. And so he took matters into his own hands. And he was in Gilgal. And that was the place where God had ordered his people to be circumcised. And that symbolically speaks of the cutting off of the flesh, the judgment of the flesh by God. Taking it away, as it were, from his people. They could have no confidence in the flesh. He'd cut it off. Saul knew nothing of that. He did not know, as the Apostle Paul would say in Philippians chapter 3, verse 3, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So the disobedience of Saul in the first instance shows itself in unbelief. He takes matters into his own hands without waiting upon God. And then another time in Saul's life, he's brought under pressure. This time it's the Amalekites. Well, he's commanded to slay all the Amalekites and all their possessions as well. But he spares the king. He spares Agag. And he spares the best of the cattle that the Amalekites have. And Samuel comes to him again out of Gilgal. And he says to Saul, what are the bleatings of these sheep? And Saul makes some excuse for why he hasn't done what God commanded him to do. And Samuel says to him that rebellion, he says, is as the sin of witchcraft. Disobedience is as idolatry. And Saul, he admits that he has sinned. And yet, even admitting he's sinned, he says, honour me. Honour me before the people. He says, I've sinned in 1 Samuel 15.30. I've sinned, yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people and before Israel. And turn again with me that I may worship the Lord thy God. And Saul is in effect saying, I've sinned, but nevertheless, give me that chief place. I want that chief place. He was rather like Cain. And we read in Colossians 2, verse 18, of the fleshly mind. We read that it's vainly puffed up. It's swollen with pride. Saul wanted that place, even though he had to admit his sin before God. And then finally, we read of that fleshly mind in Romans 8, verse 7. The fleshly mind is at enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And Saul displays this enmity against God when it says of Saul in regard to David. Saul was yet the more afraid of David. And Saul became David's enemy continually. He was at enmity against the Lord's anointed. Therefore, he was at enmity against God. And therefore, the flesh is displayed in Saul. He is the man after the flesh. And God says of Saul, I've rejected him. I've rejected him. Saul was put away. And the Lord says to Samuel, how long will thou mourn for Saul, seeing I've rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil and go. And I will send thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite. For I have provided me a king among his sons. So Saul was the man whom Israel chose. But David was the one whom God had provided for himself, a king. And what marks David particularly as a type of Christ is that he is Jehovah's servant. I counted 23 times where David is called the servant of the Lord, my faithful servant David. Again and again it's repeated of David that he is the servant of the Lord. And the verse in Isaiah chapter 42 speaks of the Lord Jesus. Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. In other words, the faithful servant of the Lord, he would not be like the politician who stands on a soapbox and shouts his cause out so that he can get support and so that he can bring about what he desires to achieve. No, the Lord trusted in his guard, just as David trusted in his guard. He's a lovely type of the Lord as a faithful servant. And there were times when David had the opportunity to take the kingdom for himself by killing Saul. But he would not do it. In 1 Samuel chapter 26 verse 10 he says, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed. David would not take matters into his own hands because he was a man of faith. And he trusted in his God and he would receive the kingdom from the hands of his God, not through his own efforts. And the Lord Jesus, when he was upon earth, there were times when the people would have made him a king, but he would not have it. No, he would only take the kingdom from his God. Satan, remember, said to him, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And he said, these all belong to me. He says, I will give them to you if you bow down and worship me. But the Lord, in faithfulness, claimed to the word of God. And he would not receive the kingdom, the kingdom from Satan. And he would worship only his God. And the obedience of David would bring him into suffering. And we learned yesterday, didn't we, how the Lord Jesus, he learned obedience through the things that he suffered. And so David in Psalm 132 could say, Lord, remember David and all his afflictions. And then that Psalm, it goes on to relate his faithfulness. And his obedience and his one desire that his God should be glorified. And in Isaiah 50, we read of the Lord, the perfect servant. The Lord hath opened mine ear. I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. And just as a little side issue maybe, perhaps we could say, I'd like to look at those who associated with David in his approach, in his reproach. And there were those who gathered unto David in a cave called a Dullam. A Dullam, according to Jackson in his book of Bible names, has the meaning of testimony. And we read of them, everyone that was in distress, everyone that was in debt, everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him. And he became a captain over them. And in the cave of a Dullam, we're reminded of a company who in gathering unto him, they owned David's lordship. Each one individually in his heart owns the lordship of David. He was the anointed of the Lord and they gathered unto him. And then we read that he became a captain over them. They owned his headship. Not only did they gather unto him individually, their hearts owning his lordship, but collectively he became a captain over them. He became a chief over them, a head over them. And so we learn of his headship. And in this picture of a Dullam, we have illustrated the truth that we've had already before us of the fellowship of God's son. We could call a Dullam the fellowship of David. He presided over that fellowship. And in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 9, we have a fellowship over which the son of God presides. And it's a fellowship to which all believers are called. We're all called to that fellowship. And in that fellowship, we gather unto him. And we own him as our lord. And we give him the rights because he is lord. And we own him collectively as our head, as the one who orders all things according to his own purpose. Well, David was also a victorious warrior. Abigail says of him in 1 Samuel 25 verse 28, My lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. We're looking at David as a type of the Lord. We're not looking at his failures, his personal failures. As a type of the Lord, Abigail could say, evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. And we had before us yesterday, didn't we, how the king, how he conquers all his enemies, the nations that rise up against Israel in the coming day will be conquered by the Lord appearing in glory. And we read of that deceitful man of unrighteousness, the Antichrist. And there's a picture of him in Absalom who deceived the people. He won their hearts through lies. And they made him the king. And he was defeated under David also. But perhaps the most notable victory of David's is his victory against Goliath, who is a picture of Satan himself. And David, he destroyed Goliath in two stages. He slew Goliath in two stages. The first, 1 Samuel chapter 17 verse 49, David put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and slung it and smote the Philistine in his forehead. And the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the earth. That's the first stage. And that would remind us of when the Lord was tempted of Satan in the wilderness. And just as David had five stones in his shepherd's bag, the Lord Jesus had as it were at his disposal the five books of the law. And David puts his hand into his bag and he takes out one stone. And the Lord met every temptation of the devil with the one stone, the book of Deuteronomy. And with that, he defeated Satan in cleaving to the word of God and not departing from it. And Satan then, he was a defeated foe. He, as it were, fell to the ground. He'd met one who was mightier than himself. And then David, it says, he ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheath thereof and slew him, and literally it means slew him completely and cut off his head therewith. And in that we're reminded of the cross. The Lord went on to the cross and he took the sword of Goliath, as it were, death. And by death, he slew him who had the power of death, even the devil. And he delivered them who through all their lifetime through fear of death were subject to bondage. So we get David, the victorious warrior. And we move on to Solomon. Because with David, we have that which prepared the way for Solomon. If we are to understand, if we are to get a complete picture of the Lord, we must put David and Solomon together. David suffered reproach. Reproach because of his obedience. He suffered affliction because he was faithful in his pursuit of God's will. And in David, we get the sufferings of Christ. But in Solomon, we get the glory that is to follow. In David, we get the servant laboring for his God. In Solomon, we get the rest that is ushered in on account of the work of David. And so the Lord, before he can bring in the rest of God, he must first of all do the work upon which that rest is established. But first of all, Solomon speaks of glory. That's really just as David would set forth the servanthood of the Lord. Solomon sets forth the glory, a personal glory. Because we read of Solomon, God says, He shall be to me. I shall be to him for father. Let's read the whole. 2 Samuel 7, verse 13. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. In Solomon, we have portrayed the king in his beauty, as Isaiah has it. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty. It's a public display of the glory of Christ in the kingdom. We had the Queen of Sheba brought before us, didn't we? And she says, Howbeit, I believe not the words that she'd heard of the fame of Solomon until I came, and mine eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. So her eyes beheld the king in his beauty. And we read of the Lord Jesus in Revelation 1, verse 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. So Solomon speaks of a displayed glory that every eye shall see. And this is the glory that permeates the kingdom. The kingdom gets its glory from the king. And what is the glory of the king? It is this. He is God's son. He is his beloved son. The glory which we've seen in the coming day was seen by faith, by those who took account of the Lord when he was rejected upon earth, when he was disowned, when his sonship was refused by men. His disciples, it could be said of them, we beheld his glory. We beheld his glory, his personal glory, as of an only begotten son with a father. That's the glory of Christ. It's the glory of a relationship. And so that's why God says of Solomon, I shall be to him for father, and he shall be to me for son. And that scripture is quoted in Hebrews 1, and it's referred to the Lord, where the glory of his name, the excellency of his name is brought before us. And everything in Hebrews is established on that excellency of his name, the excellency of the person. He is so much better than the angels, because he hath by inheritance a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels saith he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And so the Lord's sonship is the glory seen in the kingdom, and everything rests upon that. This was the glory that Peter saw, wasn't it, upon the mountain. His face shone like the sun. It wasn't a glory that was given him. Every other king gets his glory from his office. Take away his office and he's nothing. But the Lord Jesus, the glory shone from the inside out. He shone like the sun. And his garments were as bright as the light. It was a glory from within. It was a personal glory. It was his essential glory, because God says from heaven, this is my beloved son. Hear him. And that will be fulfilled in the kingdom. The whole earth will see him and will hear him. It also says of Solomon that he is a man of rest. First Chronicles chapter 22 verse 9. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, David, who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies round about, for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. So Solomon is described as a man of rest. And he ushers in the rest of God. He's a picture of the Lord who will bring in the rest of God. The Lord Jesus will deliver the groaning earth from its bondage of corruption. We thought yesterday of Colossians chapter 1 verse 20 that by the blood of his cross, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. The Lord Jesus will reconcile all things to himself in heaven and in earth. All will be in accord with the glory of God, because the Lord Jesus has satisfied that glory. He satisfied the claims of that glory upon the cross. He paid the full price. And so in Ephesians, the purchased possession, the world to come, it's spoken of as being bought, it's purchased, but it is yet to be redeemed. And in the millennium, in the reign of Christ, it will be redeemed. It will be brought out of its captivity and brought into the liberty of the glorious sons of God. All is in accord with God. Christ brings everything into accord with his glory and with his love. And so we read of Solomon, of the Lord, that he will rest in his glory. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 10. In that day shall be a root of Jesse, which will stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And we also read in the book of Zephaniah that he shall rest in his love. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. So all is in accord with God. And the Lord Jesus bringing in that rest, he himself can enter into that rest, resting in glory, resting in love. And finally, Solomon, we read, was the one who completed the temple. And again, the temple would speak. If the Dalam spoke of a people associated with David in his reproach, and it would set forth a picture of those who bear the reproach of Christ in a day in which he is rejected, then the temple would be a picture of a company associated with Christ in his glory. It is the place of God's rest. We've read of the glorious rest of God. And he said, didn't he? Or rather, Stephen said, the heaven is my throne. He says of God, the heaven is my throne and the earth, the footstool of my feet. What house will you build me, saith the Lord? Or where is the place of my rest? Stephen knew that God did not dwell in houses, temples made with hands. God says, what place will you build me that I may rest in? Well, man cannot build him a place to rest in. But God has built himself a house that he will rest in. And that's company we read of in Ephesians. Chapter two, verse 20. The Lord himself is the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God by the Spirit. And so the temple that we see completed by Solomon, it sets forth the church. Every wit of it uttereth glory, we read in Psalm 29, verse nine. It testifies to the glory of the one who fills it because God finds his rest in Christ and Christ finds his rest in the midst of his own. We read of the ark being put into that temple and the staves were taken off it and put to one side because it had found its eternal abode and it speaks of the Lord finding his eternal dwelling place in the midst of his assembly and God rests in him. And his people, his people, we, his people, we find our rest in him. I'd just like to finish on a scripture in Peter. Sorry, a scripture in Romans. Romans 8, verse 17. If children, the apostle says, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together. The Lord Jesus, at his glorious appearing, he will identify us with himself. We shall share in that glory. We shall share in his inheritance. Everything that he has won, he will share with us. As we read at the end of the psalm, it says that he will divide the spoil with the strong. The Lord will divide the spoil with his people. David had his mighty men, didn't he? And when David came into the kingdom, his mighty men shared with him a place in the kingdom. And so the Lord will share his inheritance with the assembly, his church, his people. And that being so, in a future day, we will share in his glory. But we have the opportunity now of sharing in his reproach, in his rejection. We won't have that opportunity in eternity. We have it for a short while, while we're upon this earth, to own his lordship, to be identified with him in this day in which he is rejected, to bear his cross, to know his shame. And that will have a coming answer in the day of glory. …

… Well, I'm delighted that we have the children with us and I would just ask the children whether they're 12 years old or 11 years old or 10 years old or 9 years old or 8 years old anyway and perhaps even younger, if they try and listen, yeah, focus on what we've got to say here because this really is a story, it's a narrative, it's an important story, a vital story, a key story. So try and concentrate, try and listen, try and burn, I see we're off to a good start. This is an account of events in history, primarily. Now I'm afraid there are no pictures, no clip art, no photographs, it's just words, okay? And on reflection, prayerful reflection, I decided that the best way to deal with this subject was actually to present the words of scripture on the screen and just comment on them. So that's what we've got, it's mostly words of scripture, a few comments by myself. Now we've learnt that God promised to send his king, the son of David. His king would rule in righteousness, his rule would be unending. As we look through the Old Testament, we learn a lot about this one that God was going to send, a king, yes, a king, but a lot more than that. And the term used for him, or one term used for him, is Messiah or Christ, same word, different language, which means anointed one. Now when we think of someone being anointed, we think of a monarch, a king, a queen. Our queen was anointed, anointed with oil. But the term Messiah encompasses a lot more than that, it includes his offices of prophet and priest as well. But it's him as king that we want to look at today. Just over 2,000 years ago, the angel Gabriel spoke to a young lady in Nazareth and told her incredible news. You will have a baby, and who is this baby going to be? He will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. The king that God promised, this is it, this is the one. Here is the one who'd be the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. We noted some of them yesterday, Robert told us about Psalm 2, for example, and Psalm 45, and there are many other prophecies of God's king. He came, Jesus was born. The king, the king who'd be given the throne of his father David, and where was he born? Not in a palace, but in a stable. The Bible presents two genealogies in the New Testament. One in Matthew, and one in Luke, but different. The genealogy in Luke, we understand to be his line through his mother Mary, and this shows that biologically he was descended from David, the son of David. Here is part of the genealogy from Matthew. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Now where I've put dot, dot, dot there means I've left some names out, it's not these people are unimportant, but they're not necessary for what we're going to say here. We go on to Jesse, Jesse begot David the king, David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah, Solomon begot Rehoboam, and then we go down the line of the kings, Abijah and Aser and Jehoshaphat, till we get to Josiah, Josiah begot Jeconah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon, and then again we miss a lot of names out, and Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. This is Jesus' genealogy through Joseph, his legal father, though not his biological father of course. It shows him to be legally in the line of the kings through David, Solomon, Rehoboam and so on down to Josiah and Jeconiah and then the kingdom ended as they were carried away to Babylon. Well perhaps a year after he was born, wise men from many miles away came to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, the place where God had set his name, wanting to know where was the one who was born king of the Jews. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he who's been born king of the Jews? For we've seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. Where was he? Well he wasn't in the palace. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And when he gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said, in Bethlehem of Judea. He was born in a stable. The wise men found him not in the palace, but in a house in Bethlehem. Notice who came to worship the king. It was foreign wise men. Notice the views of the religious leaders. They knew where the king was going to be born, but they ignored him. Notice that the people were troubled. They were troubled, but that's all. They didn't do anything about it. They were just troubled. And the ruler of the land tried to assassinate him. So the king came, unrecognized by Israel in general, unwelcomed, ignored by many, violently opposed by some. And if we knew nothing further of the life of the Lord Jesus, if we were coming to this with fresh eyes, it would give us a clue. It would give us an indication of what would happen in the future. The king isn't wanted by his people. So the king grew up in a despised village called Nazareth. And we move on to when he's about 30 years old. Before the Lord Jesus started his public ministry, we read about John the Baptist. We read in those days, John the Baptist, his forerunner, came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So this is John the Baptist. The king is ready. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. You need to repent. We read of the Lord Jesus at the start of his public ministry in Matthew 4. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So this is the Lord Jesus. The king is ready. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. You need to repent. And a little while later, after choosing his 12 disciples, the 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them saying, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And whoever will not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. So here we have the 12 disciples and their messages. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The king is ready. And those hearing it needed to receive. The king in person was there and he was ready to establish his kingdom and he was expecting from his subjects repentance and a welcome for those who are proclaiming the gospel. A few recognized him. We read of Nathanael in John 1.49. He recognized that Jesus was son of God and king of Israel, but it was only a few. And Paul referred to this situation earlier. After feeding of the 5,000, the people wanted to make him king. We read, therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone. They were fickle. He knew them. They liked the miracles, but there was no repentance, there was no change of heart. There was no acceptance of him. The Lord Jesus knew that. In reality, they rejected him. And the Lord Jesus spoke to one of the towns where he performed most of his miracles. He began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works have been done because they did not repent. If the mighty works which were done in you, this was Capernaum, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. But I say to you, it would be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. And the Lord speaks of other towns in a similar vein. The crimes of Sodom had been appalling and God had destroyed the town. But it would be more tolerable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for Capernaum, where he performed so many of his miracles, where everybody knew him, where he'd spent so much time. So what had they done that was so awful? He says it would be more tolerable for Sodom on the day of judgment, that vile place, than for them. What had they done that was so awful? Well, they'd seen him and they didn't want him. You know, we should take this in, this should be a message for us, particularly for any who haven't accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour. You know, we're so privileged, we know so much about him. But privilege brings responsibility. If we don't accept him, then we are responsible. The Lord Jesus was rejected. And when he was rejected as Messiah, he was rejected in his whole person, completely. Not just as king, but he was specifically rejected as king, in fact. He performed his miracles, he taught God-given truths, and he did present himself to them specifically as their king. Five hundred years before, Zechariah had prophesied, daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Matthew 21, we read, now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite you and immediately you'll find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet saying, tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. So this was done in fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy. So the disciples went and Jesus, and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them and set him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road, others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out saying, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. Perhaps they'd had a change of heart at last. They seemed to be welcoming their king, but in less than a week, they were screaming away with him, crucify him. Now, of course, the Lord Jesus knew this would happen and recorded in Luke 19 is a parable which he told. He spoke another parable because he was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. Therefore, he said a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. And that was the Jews' terrible attitude to their true king. We will not have this man to reign over us. And the Jews dragged Jesus before the Roman authorities. And the Jewish leaders accused Jesus to the Roman governor Pilate. And what's their accusation? We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. And on the next slide is just a small part of the extraordinary and appalling dialogue that took place between the Jewish leaders and Pilate. I've just extracted a few bits from it. In all the Gospels. Pilate, I find no fault in him. Do you want me to release the king of the Jews? The Jewish leaders. Not this man, but Barabbas. Barabbas was a murderer. A little later, Pilate, I find no fault whatever. Jewish leaders crucify him. A little later, Jewish leaders, if you release this man, you're not a friend to Caesar. Caesar, the emperor, of course. Everyone making himself a king speaks against Caesar. Pilate, behold your king. Jewish leaders crucify him. Pilate says, shall I crucify your king? Jewish leaders, we have no king but Caesar. What an extraordinary statement that is, isn't it? We have no king but Caesar. I doubt whether Jews could possibly think of any other circumstances where they'd make such a statement. But they hated their own king so much that they preferred the authority of a cruel and oppressive Roman emperor. And then we see in Mark 15, the soldiers, Roman soldiers, Gentiles, mock him and his kingship. Then the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. They clothed him with purple. They twisted a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and began to salute him. Hail, king of the Jews. And they struck him on the head with a reed and spat on him. And bad than me, they worshipped him, not in a true way, of course, a mocking way. And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. A disgusting and degrading spectacle. And Pilate is defeated by the Jewish leaders. He wanted to release Jesus, but he felt forced to give in to them and have Jesus crucified. Then they crucified him and divided his garments, casting lots that might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them, and from my clothing they cast lots. Sitting down, they kept watch over him there. And Pilate, not because he believed, but to annoy the Jews. And they put up over his head the accusation written against him. This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. A true statement for all passing by to see. This showed not only who Jesus truly was, but also from where the notice was located on his cross, what Jew and Gentile thought of him. And so they completely and utterly reject their king. The king came to his people, they didn't want him. And John writes, he was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. They had him killed. And here's just one quote, from 2 Samuel 7. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever, and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. That's God speaking to David. And here's just one quote, from 2 Samuel 7. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever, and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. And as we noted earlier, it had been confirmed to Mary, the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And as his kingdom, there'll be no end. A clear and unequivocal statement. So now we seem to have a problem. The people don't want their king, they execute him. So, God has sent his king. He promised to do so. And the people say, no, we will not have this man to reign over us. So what happens next? Does God abandon his promises? Well, many, it seems, take the view that God sort of changes his promises. He abandons Israel as a nation and replaces it with the church. But the promises God made to Israel find their complete fulfillment in the church. The blessings promised to Israel have been transferred to the church. And I don't believe this is the way God works, and it doesn't fit with scripture. Now, in those dark moments, after the Lord Jesus was executed, how God would fulfill his promises was a problem for his followers. They'd been relying on him to liberate the country and free them from the Romans. And this is what one of the Lord Jesus' followers says. He's shocked by the sudden arrest and execution of Jesus, Cleopas. We were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. They expected him to liberate the country and rule them as king. Now, Cleopas didn't realize it, but he was actually speaking to the Lord Jesus in person. Lord Jesus risen from the dead. And what's the Lord's answer to them? You should have understood. He said to them, oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expanded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. They should have had some understanding from the scriptures. Now, of course, within a few days, the disciples had met with the risen Lord and they understood better. But there was still this issue that puzzled them. The Lord Jesus hadn't brought in the kingdom. They knew that he was God's Messiah. They knew what God had promised. They knew he would reign. They didn't have any doubt that God would do what he said. But when? And this is the very last question they ask of the Lord Jesus before his return to heaven. So before he went back to heaven, the disciples asked him whether he would at this time whether he would at this time restore the kingdom to Israel. And he said to them, it's not for you to know the times or seasons which the father has put into his own authority. It will happen. But time is in God's hands and that's where we stand now. The Lord Jesus is not recognized in practice as David's son, as king, but he will be. And what happens in the meantime? What does the Lord say about now, between his ascension and his coming to Rome? I think actually it's helpful. I appreciate time has gone beyond, but I'll go through this quickly. I think it's helpful just to see a few highlights from Matthew's gospel. In Matthew chapter one, we have the genealogy of the king. In chapter two, the wise men say, where is he who's born king of the Jews? In chapter three, John the Baptist announces the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In chapter four, as Paul was telling us, Satan offered the Lord Jesus the kingdoms of the world. Of course, of course, the Lord Jesus could not accept. Of course not. In chapter four, the Lord Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In chapter five to seven, he sets out the principles and standards of the kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount. Essentially, he offers himself to them in chapter eight to 11 as their Messiah. The disciples during this time announce the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus is rejected. The Messiah is rejected. And we see in Matthew 11 to 12 an appeal to individuals. He says, come to me, all you that labor in the heavy land. I will give you rest. And in chapter 13, we see seven parables of the kingdom, the kingdom in mystery form. Chapter 16, the Lord Jesus says on this rock, I will build my church. The rock, of course, being himself, who he is. He speaks of his death and resurrection. He begins to speak of that. Officially, he offers himself as king in chapter 21. Chapter 27, they're screaming, crucify him. And in chapter 28, of course, he rises again from the dead. Once he's rejected by the people, things change. The Lord Jesus starts telling his disciples, not everybody else, but his followers, new things. So in Matthew 13, he talks about things that will happen between his return to heaven and his coming back again. We have the seven parables that are the mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of heaven. They're mysteries. They are things that were hidden in Old Testament times, but revealed to his disciples. There are seven of them. I'll go through them incredibly quickly. In the parable of the sower, God's word is proclaimed. Some accept, some don't. The second parable is the parable of the wheat and tares. And we see that Satan is active. There are those who pretend to be genuine, but aren't. In the parable of the mustard seed, we see great growth, but the birds of the air are there and they are not. But the birds of the air are there and they are a picture of Satan. In the parable of leaven, we see a mixture of good and evil. We see the parable of the hidden treasure. Christ sells all he has to buy the field with the treasure. Parable of the pearl of great price. Christ sells all he has to buy the pearl. And that's truly wonderful, isn't it? Because that is us. Those of us who trust in the Lord Jesus, he gave up everything in order to buy us. And the last parable was the parable of the dragnet. At the end, the wicked will be judged. And the kingdom in mystery form ends with the sorting of the good from the bad. So we're part of this sort of hidden form of the kingdom, the secret form. It's not identical to the church. The kingdom in mystery form, the church, just a couple of points. The kingdom mystery form is a mixture. The church is only believers. The kingdom ends in judgment. The church ends with the rapture. And we notice in Romans 11 that through their fall, through the rejection of their Messiah, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles. Of course, the rejection of Christ wasn't a surprise to God. Of course not. And salvation for Gentiles was always in God's plan. So what of our relationship with the Lord Jesus? Well, we learned yesterday of the lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ and that he is the head. We know him as Lord. We know him as head. We know him as saviour. We know him intimately and personally. Each of us who's been saved by him have that intimate and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. His role of king is an important topic and it's brought out in scripture. But he's been rejected and doesn't rule as king over the earth. And our focus individually as believers and corporately as his body is not on his being king, as we indicated yesterday, but on our closer relationships as saviour, Lord and head. And I'm out of time, so here's a brief summary. The king was promised to Israel. Mary was told that her son Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy. Wise men from the east recognized that Jesus was king of the Jews. Although told of his arrival, his own people were troubled, but generally ignored him. As an adult, he presented himself to Israel as their king. They rejected him totally. They had him executed. During his ministry, the Lord Jesus presents the kingdom in mystery or hidden form for this age. All are welcome. And he will return after he's taken his church and he will rule as king. …

… A wonderful topic before us this weekend. Christ the Lord, the Head, and the King. And our last session concerns the Lord Jesus Christ as the King of Glory. The King of Glory. This person as the King. The King of Glory. And we've had just painted for us a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world. How that he came unto his own and his own received him not. How they rejected him. How they disowned him. What an incredible thing that during the days in which we live, the day of grace, that God has waited up to 2,000 years, over 2,000 years, before he vindicates his Son. Before the whole world will see the Son in his glory and he comes to reign and he comes to put all his enemies under his feet. What a God of grace that has waited all this time before he brings forth his Son and that everyone shall see him as King. I'd like to just go back to a psalm very quickly that Robert brought before us. Because he asked this question and we need to be absolutely sure as to who we're talking about. Who is this King of Glory? And the Scriptures give us the answer. The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates. Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors. The King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. Why does our Lord Jesus Christ have that rightful position as King of Glory? It is because of his intrinsic perfection. That he in his very nature as being absolutely perfect. The psalm says, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. He is rightfully the King of Glory because he is perfect in every single thing that he does and he thinks. He is absolutely perfect. He is the Creator. He created the earth. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein. The world, the earth is the Lord's. He is the rightful owner. He is the Creator. He made it in the first place. He has bought it with a price. And he is the King of Glory because of his work at the cross. He is strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. The Lord has gone to the cross and he has met the foe. And he has defeated Satan once and for all. And he has won that great victory over death and the devil. And he is the King of Glory. If we look at the timetable of events to make sure, perhaps for the younger ones, that we know what we're talking about. But we are thinking about coming things, as the title suggests, the rapture. When the Lord will take out of this world those that love him, those that have put their trust in the Lord Jesus. In the twinkling of an eye we shall be changed. It's the event we're looking for when we will be taken out of this world. Do we thank the Lord enough for the fact that he takes us out of this world before he judges it? This world is in an awful mess. Appalling things are happening in this world. We think of Sodom and Gomorrah. Awful things happening in this world. But how we can thank the Lord that he is going to take us out of this world before he comes in judgment. That we will be in heaven. We will be with him and like him forever. That after we've gone to be in heaven, Satan is cast out of heaven. The great dragon was cast out, called the devil. But on this earth there will be that time of the great tribulation. It is the time of Jacob's trouble. It is a time of trouble for the Jews, when they will be persecuted far beyond anything that we've seen in this world so far. It will be a terrible time for the Jews here upon this earth. That Babylon is fallen. We think of Babylon as Christendom, that religious harlot. Great Babylon the Great is fallen. And then we think of the king of glory appearing. The time of Armageddon, when the nations, the armies of this earth are brought together into that place. When the Jews are being attacked on every side and they cry out to the Lord and the king of glory appears for his people. That he comes and he delivers Israel. All Israel shall be saved. The mighty power that causes that to happen. And then the nations, the living nations are judged. And we're told that the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all the nations. And the first topic we've got on the sheet, just before the Millennium is brought in, is that the Lord is there and he judges the living. He judges the living nations. What will be the situation at that time? Matthew 25 goes through the events, the dialogue of that time. And it talks about the nations being gathered before him as the sheep on his right. And they will be brought into life eternal. But the goats on the left, masses of people be sent to everlasting punishment. What makes the difference? Who is in those that go to life eternal? Who is in those that will suffer everlasting punishment? We have these words, others as well, but I was a stranger and you took me in. Seems strange to us. Why is it that the destiny of these peoples will depend on how they reacted to the stranger? Whether they took him in, whether they gave him water to drink, whether they fed the stranger. But those, the goats on the left, were those that didn't feed these strangers, those that didn't give them food to eat, those that didn't offer hospitality. It's speaking of a time during that great tribulation, isn't it? Where those that are living on the earth, how do they treat the messengers? The messengers that go out throughout the world, telling the gospel of the kingdom. Not the gospel that we preach, the gospel of God's grace, most Sunday evenings and thankfully a number of places. But the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel that proclaims the King is coming. And there will be people living on this earth who will respond to those with that message. They will welcome them, they will bring them in, they will look after them, they will be persecuted, the messengers will be persecuted by the beast, it will be taking their lives in their hands. But they will respond positively to these proclaimers of the gospel of the kingdom. They will go into the millennial kingdom. But those who refuse them, those who don't look after them, don't give them hospitality, they will be sent into eternal punishment. The Lord will come as king of glory and he will judge the people at that time and there will be a division. Some will go to life eternal, some into everlasting punishment. But our next topic looks at the characteristics of the king. And I must admit, these passages of scripture, and there must be hundreds of them, the Old Testament in particular abounds with descriptions of what it will be like for the Jews, the earthly people of God at that time. It's what they're looking forward to, it's what they're waiting for, the messiah coming to defeat their enemies and to rule and be their messiah, their king. But here we have this verse, this well-known verse, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and the branch shall grow out of his roots. Why does it say a rod out of the stem of Jesse? We've heard this earlier this afternoon about Saul and David and Solomon, why does it mention Jesse? Perhaps because of the humble roots of Jesse. There will come one who will come forth out of the stem of Jesse and the branch seems to signify that there will be fruitfulness, that out of his roots, the roots are usually hidden on a plant, they'll become forth someone who's been hidden and that branch will bring forth much fruit. We can only look at a few of these scriptures and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding. This time that the Lord will bring in will be a most marvellous, wonderful, amazing, fantastic time that the world has ever known. We as the Lord's people like to think of a time when we go to meet the Lord and we will be in heaven and we will be with him and like him forever and that's truly wonderful. But we live here in this world, we live here amongst men and women and we see the mess that the world is in, we see the sinfulness, we see the wickedness, we see things out of control, we see politicians running helter and skelter, not a clue what to do and yet we know of a man who will come and he will put things right. A man who will come and put things right, what a great day that will be. It tells us that the Lord, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom. If we compare it with our present times, how the world is crying out for a man with wisdom, somebody who knows, somebody who can put the finger on the problem, somebody who can sort things out, who can take the right action at the right time, our Lord Jesus Christ will be able to do that. Understanding, he can act wisely because he's, simply speaking, he understands things. He understands how the universe works, he understands about the physics of the attar, he understands about the light years, he understands about men and women, he has understanding, he can put things right, the theories of economics, the theories of how people live, he understands everything and can put everything into practice. The spirit of counsel and might, he has the wisdom, he has the understanding, but the spirit of counsel and might, he has the power, he has the authority to put things right, to do the right things. In many occasions there are people who know what's the right thing to do, know what's the right thing to do, but they're impotent, they cannot put it into practice. The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, there's a man who is coming to rule and put things right, who has the spirit of the fear of the Lord, who has a right relationship with God, who with reverence and with fear obeys God and who puts his plans into action here upon this world. We look further down Isaiah 11 and to think and to meditate what these verses are telling us, they are quite incredible, that here upon this earth, we know these scriptures I'm sure, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the cow and the bear shall feed, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the lion shall eat straw like the ox and this picture which is a well-known picture and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them. We know these scriptures, we know these things will be brought to pass by the King of Glory, but can we appreciate the power, the might, the control, not just of people, not just of events, but of creation itself, that the Lord Jesus exercised and that there will be a world where the Lord reigns and these things will be happening. It's unthinkable for our tiny minds, but the Word of God has revealed it to us. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, my holy mountain, that on earth scenes like this will be seen. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. It gives an impression that the people everywhere will know about the Lord Jesus. What a contrast to what the situation is like now. We bemoan the fact how there is so little understanding of the scriptures, how a little appreciation of the Lord Jesus, how little care and concern about spiritual things and their destiny, but there will come a time when the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. There will be an overabundance. And if we move into Isaiah 32, a word that kept leaping out from the pages of scripture as we look and read about what will happen during this time is the word righteousness. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness. We're crying out for righteousness. Many of you here live in this big city. There's going to be one who will come and he will reign and he will do it righteously. There won't be scandals in the newspaper of people who've been committed to jail or being punished because they've done something wrong and they haven't. The Lord will do it righteously. Some of you here who've had positions where you've had to make a judgment about something. You've not known whether a youngster in the school has done this crime, has done something wrong, or it's somebody else. They're all accusing each other. It's a muddle. You don't know what's really happened. But there is one who will know everything and he will reign in righteousness. And further on, the next verse, that same chapter, and a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and if we break this verse down, it tells us a man shall be a hiding place from the wind. He will protect them from all oppression. We think of the way in which millions of people throughout this world are oppressed. Millions go without the basic necessities of life. But there will be one, a man, who will protect from all oppression. There's rivers of water and a dry place. He will provide all with the necessary resources. We think of how the resources are spread unevenly. How many, not living too far away from here, have got millions and others have got hardly anything at all. But he will provide for all, with all resources, that there's going to be one man who is going to come and reign and he's going to reign in such a way that all will be provided for. That he will be a shadow of a great rock in a weary land. It's a wonderful picture. Just the shadow, the shadow of a great rock. He will preserve them from all harm. He will look after them. The verses in Isaiah and other places abound with references to the poor, to the oppressed, to the meek and to the lowly. But there will be one who will come and he'll preserve them. We read of scriptures in chapter 5 of Isaiah, and we see and read of the desert. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. They're particularly referring to Israel in those desert places. Even, I was trying to reckon up, I think nearly 30 years ago, my wife and I made our only trip to Israel and we took a plane from Jerusalem down to the Gulf of Aqaba. And it was only a small plane, it flew low over the desert. But as you passed over the desert, you saw the places of green, suddenly a square kilometre, the kibbutzes and the other places that were bringing forth food mainly, but flowering. And we can see something of what that place would be like. It's already, in fact, in some measure beginning to happen. And then Isaiah goes on to tell us, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. What a great day that will be. All of the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. How absolutely tremendous that all the flesh shall see it. Why? Because the Lord, the mouth of the Lord, hath spoken it. And we move on to Psalm 72. He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. We know that verse, but what a tremendous verse, that the Lord Jesus Christ shall have dominion. He shall have power everywhere, the whole face of the earth, that there'll be one man who will rule it all, the seven billion plus people that are on this world at the moment. But the Lord Jesus will rule and he will have dominion. That the people living in the jungles of the Amazon will know that he has dominion. The peoples in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, that every single person will know that the Lord is king and that he reigns. He reigns. The psalm goes on and these are just a few fragments of what this psalm bursts forth to describe. Blessed be the Lord God who only doeth wondrous things. The Lord is going to come and he's going to put everything right. Every single thing. Everything will be in harmony. Satan will be thrown into the bottomless pit for the thousand years. He'll be released, we know, at the end of that. But he does wondrous things on this earth and he takes complete control. His name shall endure forever. There'll be abundance of peace. Some have suggested that's not just absence of war, but it brings in the whole thought of resources, that things are available for everyone. Think of righteousness again. There won't just be righteousness, there will be righteous flourish. Daily shall he be praised. That is truly amazing, isn't it? When we think of this world, when he seems to spend, feels that I've spent 30 years of my life trying to persuade youngsters not to use the Lord's name in vain. The terrible things that are said. We've only got to walk along the street. But here, the world, it's saying daily shall he be praised. That's a wonderful thing to be able to see. All the nations shall serve him and call him blessed. If we look into the scriptures, when the Lord comes, it seems to give an impression that not all the nations of the earth will immediately bow down and offer him tribute. There seems to be some sort of staged process whereby there's a group of nations that immediately own him as king. There will be some others that come after a time and there'll be some that will have to be forced and made to own him as king. That the Lord will have to deal with them, sending them famine if they don't bring tribute to him and own him as the king. But the says let the whole earth be filled with his glory. It's certainly a day that we're waiting to see. It's certainly a day that we can look forward to. He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. He will reign. He will be omnipotent. I remember somebody saying to me as a young lad that the Lord will be a dictator and I was completely thrown by that. He said a benevolent dictator. But I begin to understand it now. Think of all the vagaries of government and the time that's wasted. Again not too far up the road here in committees and discussions and all the things that going on amongst the leaders of the world trying to sort this out and that out. But one man is going to take charge and what he says will go and he will do it perfectly. And so Psalm 145 can break out. All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Because we think of that glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus. Those four phrases that are used to describe something of him and it's a person that we're thinking of. We think of the events and we think of the happenings and wander over them but our attention must be drawn to the King of glory. The one who is able to bring all these mighty things to happen. He's called in revelation there faithful and true. This is the one who's going to come. Every act of judgment is righteous. Every act righteous. A name that no man knows but in himself. There is something in this person. Something that surpasses all apprehension. No one knoweth the son but the father. There is something about him that we just don't know. His name is called the word of God. But as we think of him as the word of God. God will be made known in righteous and holy judgments. The communication of God. He will reveal God. God will be made known. God will be glorified here upon this earth because of the acts of this wonderful man. And then we can think of him with that appellation. Name on his vesture. Name on his thigh. King of kings and Lord of lords. That he will be the ruler. He will be this omnipotent one. He will be the one who is in charge. He will rule this earth with a rod of iron. That those who do wrong things, the roves that take wrong actions because men and women will still have that sinful nature, those living on the earth. That he will rule them. He will take action. That as we think of that glorious appearing and it tells us the armies which were in heaven. The armies. We think of them, the glorified saints. Those that have been raptured to heaven. That we're in heaven. We're in heaven. It'll be us. We will form part of that army of the Lord. They followed him upon white horses and clothed, would be clothed in fine linen, white and clean. A few verses earlier, it tells us about the marriage of the Lamb. And it identifies us with the wife of the Lamb. I was trying to think of an analogy to help us understand this and appreciate this. And the only thing I can come up with is something that's some ways faint and feeble and I feel a little bit reluctant to suggest it. But I think there is an analogy of something that's happened in this earth 60 years ago. And I think it does us good to realize it. Most of us weren't living here at that time, some were. But we remember that time when this country was an island where it had suffered greatly. But in 1944, and before that, they looked out and they saw Europe. And they saw Europe dominated by an evil man. They'd heard of stories of how six million Jews were being gassed in gas chambers. They heard of the actions of the Nazi troops as they took control and ordered those countries. They heard the people living there crying out to be liberated. And again, not too far away from here, there were men, June 1944, on the beaches. There were men waiting to go. I believe there was a great deal of prayer at that time. But at that time, as those men, what were those men thinking of as they went forth? And they went forth as liberators. We're told that the vast majority of them had a purpose, a mission. They understood fully what they were doing. There was a cause, there was a rightness. There was a cause, there was a rightness. Now I think in some way, we can think of ourselves as in heaven, part of the armies of heaven, following the Lord Jesus, going into battle, liberating this world in a far greater and more profound way. From the tyranny of Satan, from the famines, from the earthquakes, from the actions of the beast and the Antichrist, from those that were persecuting those messengers of the kingdom, that we will go with the Lord Jesus. And we can perhaps think it's not just as the men would have worried about their lives and what was going to happen on the other side of the channel. Here, we're followers. There is one who's going ahead and he is going to defeat Satan and he is going to take control and we will just be followers. We will be with him. How fantastic will that be? That we go forth with him, that he will come to rule, that he will appear in glory and he will defeat all the enemies, the battle of Armageddon. And then we have these two verses, amongst others, where it tells us that we shall be made unto our God, kings and priests, and they shall reign over the earth. That we shall reign over the earth. We think of what's happened. The forces went into Europe, liberated Europe. Is Europe any better? It did get better, I think we'd all agree, but it's still in a mess. Things are still out of control. But we will reign with the Lord Jesus. We will reign with him over the earth. We will have positions of responsibility, dependent upon how we've been faithful and served the Lord and how we've used the talents that the Lord has given us. We will reign over the earth and there shall be no night there and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and forever. There is a thought that we will reign with the Lord Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth. So as we contemplate these glorious things, our eyes surely are attracted to our Lord Jesus Christ, the King, the one who will receive his rightful due, the one who will come and put everything right. I wonder whether living on this earth now, that we, even living in a united kingdom, where there is a monarch and we know something, albeit very, very, very weakly, of what a monarch or a king or a queen will be like. But as we read the scriptures, we begin to see something of the power and the majesty and the glory and the wonder of this person who can come and put everything right and who will rule from the river to the ends of the earth. May it be that these things cause us to give thanks and look forward to and encourage us to remain faithful while we live for him here below. …

… Now, summary. This is not going to be a rerun of 256 slides. You'll be relieved to hear. And actually, I try to summarize, I say, try and draw out some key points from these sessions, but I'll need to rely a little bit on your help. And especially with the first slide here, I'd like to know whether anybody can tell me, also a check of whether you're still awake, whether anybody can tell me what this is. You don't understand the question. Well, what does this stand for? Let's do it one by one. The first picture shows a Bible. Very good. Excellent. I'm relieved. Now, the second picture is perhaps a little bit more difficult, but it shows foundation, basis. Very good. And the third picture shows a crowd, people. That's a conference. So this is the Bible Basics Conference 2011. Now, you know about the importance of the Bible. It's also important to be reminded of how important a foundation is, a good foundation. In our local meeting, we have a brother who is a builder and who occasionally reminds us of this, that you can have the best building in the world. If the foundation is no good, then the building won't stand. Now, that's what the speakers on this conference and previous conferences have been trying to do, to draw out things that are basic in the sense of foundational. It doesn't mean that only things are said that everybody knew already. Actually, quite a few have said, we've learned something, and that's a good thing. Actually, some of the speakers have said, we've learned something in preparing and in listening to others. So what did we learn at this conference? Our subject was, and I dare say again, the Lord Jesus. At one point, there was a suggestion to call the title Lordship, Headship, Kingship. But what we ended up with, I think, is better because it shows that it was meant to be, and I dare say it was Christ-centered. Christ the Lord, Christ the Head, and Christ the King. It's a beautiful theme to consider the glories of Christ. We touched on personal glories. We touched on moral glories. Actually, we also mentioned some of the glories to do with his work, and we focused on his official glories. Not that these are all of them, but these are three important ones. Now, let's start with the first one. What did we learn about Christ the Lord? And before I come to this, there's one picture that I had forgotten about, just picking up on a comment that actually more than one have made. And they said, this conference was a real eye-opener to me. I heard that at least three people came to one or more of the speakers and made the comment that they had actually never heard about the headship of Christ. Perhaps they had heard the word, but they had never heard ministry on the headship of Christ. And they said, this conference on Christ the Lord, Head, and King was a real eye-opener to us, and I trust that's the case. Now, trying to summarize a few points from the first part about lordship. Brother Hugh spoke to us in the first session and showed that the subject of lordship is a very vast subject. It's not only that the word occurs very frequently, but there are different words used in the Old Testament, Jehovah, Adon, Adonai, and also in the New Testament, curious, the normal word for Lord, Rabboni, the word for master or teacher, and despotis, the word for, in a good sense, absolute ruler. And the first three of these used in Psalm 110, which we looked at in an overview. And our brother spoke to us about the throne that the Lord will occupy and the other picture here, the footstool, that the Lord will, so to speak, set his foot on the neck or head of the enemies. As it says, his enemies will be made his footstool. I'm sorry if I can't say all the many good things that the speaker said. This is only the trailer version, I think the young people call it. For the full version, you'll have to go to the website. Now, Christ as Lord universally, and brother Robert spoke to us about this, and you see these two arrows here, the first one going down to illustrate that the Lord Jesus, the first step for him was the humiliation. When he became man, he became a servant, and he humbled himself even unto death, the death of the cross. And it was a consequence of this humiliation that God says, this man I want to exalt. And he has given him a name above every name, and he will make sure that the day will come when he will be confessed as Lord. And brother Robert brought out the perfect suitability of the Lord as Lord. He was personally, he had the personal dignity. He was personally qualified, morally qualified, and he was qualified because he first humbled himself. Now that takes us to the more practical subject, Rusty and the stately home, and the closed door, private. And we've been challenged as to whether such a thing exists in our life, that there is a facade that looks nice, but there is also a part that is cordoned off, and where it says private, don't enter here, just leave this to me. And our brother challenged us that we should allow the Lord to actually exercise his lordship in our lives. And he spoke in particular about three spheres, our worship, our service, and our practical lives. I was just afraid brother Andrew might be shocked by the picture. But it does say, there was no picture in Andrew's slide, so I allowed myself to choose one. But it does say underneath, the Lord's table speaks of fellowship, not of a wooden table. So I hope that's a relief. The subject of this session was the lordship of Christ in connection with the Lord's table and the Lord's supper. And brother Andrew brought before us the fact that the two are not identical, that there are differences between 1 Corinthians 10 and 1 Corinthians 11. He spoke about the thought of fellowship and responsibility, and the matter of partaking of the Lord's table, and the fact that this has an implication on everything we do in the rest of the week. And on the other hand, there is the Lord's supper. Pardon me. So much for confusion of the two chapters. On the other hand, there is the Lord's supper. And here the main thought is it is for remembrance. It describes the situation where the assembly has come together, and how these meetings are conducted. And he brought out later on the personal responsibility connected with that. And what is perhaps something that we haven't always noticed is how often the word Lord occurs in this context. In 1 Corinthians 10, it speaks of the Lord's cup, the Lord's table, and do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? In 1 Corinthians 11, Andrew spoke about this, the special expression, the Lord's or dominical supper. Paul mentions that it was the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was delivered up, who made this request. And then perhaps the most surprising is that it speaks of the death of the Lord, the cup of the Lord, and the blood of the Lord. I think we are much more familiar with the term the blood of Christ, and it is a scriptural term. But in connection with the Lord's supper here, again and again you find that it is also related to the Lordship of Christ. And we've been challenged and encouraged to bear this in mind when we remember the Lord. That is not to say that we have, you know, that Christians lead a life in some fear because of a Lord whose authority they dread, not at all. A Christian knows that there is such a thing as the joy of willing recognition of his Lordship. And Mark spoke about some examples. We saw on Damascus Road how the recognition of Lordship started right in the beginning. What shall I do, Lord? We saw in John 20 that it didn't say, and the disciples were frightened when they saw the Lord. It says, and the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Also John chapter 1, they had caught nothing, but then they met the Lord. Acts 11, young Christians in Antioch, what did Barnabas say? Cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. We mentioned Acts 22, the practical application, what wilt thou have me do, Lord? And then the application in connection with meetings. When we come together in meeting, it is really to meet the Lord. And again, an area where it brings joy to recognize his Lordship. We've also seen his Lordship as a test for spiritual manifestations. Is it spiritual? Is it from the Holy Spirit? Or is Christ confessed as Lord? An extremely important test today. And then finally, even with the rapture, we normally think about it in terms of bride, bridegroom. But in 1 Thessalonians 4, Mark pointed out, there is the shout of a commander. It is the Lord who appears in order to lead those home who have served him here. So this is to bring out the positive aspect and especially the aspect of joy as connected with the Lordship of Christ. Headship. Not the same thing. In the first lecture, Simon actually mentioned some of the differences between headship and Lordship. He told us that headship is something more organic. It is more to do with a vital link. It is more to do with nourishment and direction in love. Lordship is more to do with authority and supremacy. Now, we were given a list of seven aspects of the Lordship of Christ. And I think this one was certainly an eye-opener for many to find that there are so many facets to this glory of the Lord as head. Head of the nations, head of the corner or chief cornerstone, head of every man, head of all things, head from whom the whole body makes its increase, head of the church, head of all principality and power. Then there was a practical question in connection with headship, namely, how does the head direct the body? And Nick spoke to us about the matter of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, pointing out that these are tools, not toys. The question then is, how do we use these tools or gifts in connection with the headship of Christ? Well, we are not going off as independent freelancers doing what we think is good, but the use of gifts is connected with the picture of the body. Now, in the body you have two things. You have unity and diversity, all different but working together in unity. And this is how the gifts are used. Not that everybody has the same gift, that's diversity, but they are used for the same purpose and in harmony with one another, and that is unity. Lord Kitchener, this was the personal appeal. It is a matter for everyone, the headship of Christ, it is for you, it is for me. Not to say individual, it is for everyone and it is something we would like to do jointly because Christ is the head of the body. The importance of holding the head. Now, here I am a little stuck. One brother came to me after the presentation and said, could I have the slides please? I thought he might say it was really interesting and he said, I didn't get anything. Another brother came and said, I really struggled. By the time I had translated holding the head into my mother tongue, the presentation was already half gone. So I'll try once again, holding fast the head. What had happened was that there was a danger in Colossae. People arrived who said, yes, you have accepted Christ, you need Christ, but you need other things in addition to that and you will be a better Christian if you observe those things as well. And those people are characterized, they are described, they are described as being puffed up and proud. They are described as encouraging others to worship angels instead of the Lord directly. And they are described as not holding fast the head. They do not want to recognize that there is a head in heaven. Now, that's what happened then and that's how the expression is used. By implication, it means that we should be holding fast the head. It is something that we have to do practically. And to put it simply, it means we have not only to know that Christ is head, but we have to recognize it, we have to practice it. And we look at some ways in which this can be done. The verse continues to say that the result is that the whole body is joined together. There are the joints of supply and there are the bands keeping the body together. And the result is increase. And it means that if we practically respect and recognize the Lord as head, then the Lord can give this increase. And what the Apostle did in order to wean the Colossians away from these dangers, was that he presented to them the glory of the Lord Jesus as head in chapter one, before he spoke about the difficulties that followed. Now, Christ the King. I'll need your help again here. Every letter on this slide stands for something to do with Christ the King. And I hope it helps us a little bit. Christ the King. And I hope it helps us a little bit. This is pulling out things that Brother said in various sessions on Christ the King. The first one, I'll perhaps tell you to start you off and then you'll have to do the other ones, please. The first one is the letter P that stands for prophecy. The first thing that happened is that Christ the King was announced by the prophets. Then the letter A is for... What happened? Yeah, angel. Very good. It's not what I meant, but it fits. The angel came and announced that the King was going to be born. And then actually the King arrived. And then what happened is... R for rejection. Exactly. The King was rejected. And what happened after the rejection? The kingdom took a new form and it was a mysterious form. It was the kingdom of heaven because the King has been rejected. And therefore something comes in, now in between. That's a different colour. And this starts with P for... Pentecost. Followed by CH for... Church. Concluded by R for... Rapture. Very good. And after the rapture we go back from the colour blue to the earth colour. And now we have an A again for... Sorry? Armies? It could be. Sorry? Appearance. Yes, appearance. Very good. After the rapture there will be the appearance. After the tribulation period. After the tribulation period. And then there will be... The millennium. M for millennium. The thousand year reign of Christ. And after that there will be... The eternal state. Very good. Excellent. I can move on. Now, this was presented to us in the form of a sequence of Bible verses telling the story that we've just illustrated with the letters from the prophecy to the time when the kingdom is actually set up and Christ rules. Brother Jeffrey spoke to us about what that will be like, this M, this millennium time when Christ will actually rule on this earth. There will be justice, peace, abundance, his name will be known and the earth filled with his glory. Now, you may have noticed that on one or two slides there was a picture like this and it shows actually, you will recognise here, South America and North America. It shows the planet we are on. Now that is very, very important. Christ will reign literally on this earth. And the prophecies about his kingdom that have not yet been fulfilled will be fulfilled literally and here. They will not be replaced by a spiritual blessing or reinterpreted into something else. Now, why is this so important? Well, watch this. This planet is the place where the cross of Christ stood. It is the place where he was rejected and crucified. And God will make sure that this will be the place where Christ will reign. So, if anybody tells you there isn't going to be a literal reign of Christ, don't listen and don't think it's not important. It is. And this has been illustrated to us already through Old Testament pictures. And Brother Paul spoke about this, how the first three kings of Israel, Saul, David and Solomon tell the story. Saul illustrating natural man, pleasing to the people, one head higher than the rest and all those good things and yet a complete failure when it came to it. Saul is followed by David. And David is the man after God's heart. And the strange thing is, you don't often have that with kings, that David was anointed and he lived in the wilderness and he had to flee. He was rejected and chased around. Now, that is a picture of Christ. Christ is the one who has already been chosen. The decree is there that he will be king, but he is still rejected at this point in time. And after David, there is Solomon. And there you see the splendor and the greatness of the king in his reign. Now, this is Robert. Remember what he said about this, about these parcels? He said, having presented and having considered the greatness of Christ as king, the question is, given that we have said he is our Lord and he is our head, is he our king? And he said, he is not our king, he is our head and our Lord. And he spoke about his children who wanted to make sure that they certainly got a present as big as the other one. And he reassured us that we actually had got the biggest present of all. There is blessing for Israel, there will be blessing for the nations, but nothing like the blessing that we have got. Perhaps we can link this actually with one question that has come in. And it said, Saturday, last session, Christ the King for the remnant shall be just as much as Christ the Lord. Christ the King for the remnant should be just as much as Christ the Lord for us as it is Christ anyway. Why do we have a better position? So somebody is challenging this and says, did we actually get a bigger present? Well, I'm just thinking of a lady called Kate Middleton. And she got married to Prince William. And one day, perhaps, Prince William will become king. And I'm sure if that happens, it will be a great day for his wife. But her link with him is a link as husband and wife. She will be so much closer to him than anyone in the United Kingdom. How can you say she hasn't got more than the rest? How can anybody say the relationship into which we have been brought with Christ as our head, as our Lord, as our saviour, that this is not more, as our bridegroom, that this is not more than the blessing of being subjects in his righteous kingdom. So I think upon consideration, we would side with Robert on this one, that it actually is a great blessing. Now, on the matter of gifts, this picture was actually stolen from Nick's slides. There was another question, which was, how can we ensure that we make the most of our talents with reference to the parables of the talents, Luke 19? Well, the talents were mentioned from Matthew 25, and there is a similar parable in Luke 19, which speaks about the pounds. And we heard that there is a difference between the talents and the natural abilities. The talents were distributed based on the natural abilities, but they are not the same thing. They are a picture of a spiritual gift that the Lord gives. Now, how can we make the most of this? Well, I would go back to this slide. How can we make the most of the talent? Well, by using the gift in dependence on the head, in the way that the members are used in the body, diversity, unity, and by bearing in mind the fact that this is a personal responsibility for us. The chapter actually warns about some dangers. One is to want to be something that I am not, like the food says, I want to be I, and if I'm not I, then I'm doing nothing. And the other danger is, perhaps with those who have a bit more self-confidence, they would say, well, my gift is so great, I don't need anyone else. And those are the two things where we can go wrong. If you do that, you don't make the most of your talents. In order to make the most of your talents, you have to use what the Lord has given you. Not by wondering for a long time what it might be, but when the Lord shows you something to do, do it, and he will lead on to the next step. Did you want to add anything to this, Nick? Perhaps just to suggest that the power of the talents is a wider application than spiritual gifts. I say that because we observe the Lord's response to the laziest or the wickedest servant who simply buries his talents and returns them to the Lord. And that percentage is very severe. And I don't think we can apply that to a leader whose security rests not on our responsibility, but on the work of the Lord Jesus. I do think that we have to understand that when God made everybody, he's given every man and woman various natural abilities and opportunities. And everyone will be held to account. I'm talking about the unbeliever. The unbeliever will be held to account as to how they have used what God gave them, whether to get on in this world or for the furtherance of the purposes of God. Obviously, in the case of an unbeliever, that will result in judgment. But certainly in application, when God made us and gave us natural abilities, he did so in view of what Christ would do in us. And I'm quite sure that spiritual gifts that each of us has been given, has been given with our views of what power God made us. So there's some similarity and overlap. I think what you've said is right, but we have some wider application. Basically, everybody is responsible to use what God has given us for his glory and not for our own. Yes, very good. And finally, the other thing we get out of the comparison of the two chapters, Matthew 25, Luke 19, is that reward is not for the greatness of gift. You know, where one has more talents than the other, they get the same reward. But in Luke 19, where everybody has one pound, but they have different amounts of profit, there you get different amounts of reward. Which means reward is for faithfulness, not for gift. Now perhaps we could sing the rest of the hymn we started earlier. And then if somebody else has a hymn or a prayer, that would be good. So this is hymn number 109, starting from verse 2. …