The Lord’s Message:  The Gospel Makes the Difference:  Jesus is King!

The Lord’s Message:  The Gospel Makes the Difference:  Jesus is King!
Date:  November 24, 2024
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  1 John 5:1-12

            Today is the end of the year, the church year.  The church year begins with Advent, with the birth of Jesus and ends with the celebration of Jesus as king.  When a person embraces the Gospel in their life, the evidence is that Jesus is king of their life.  What kind of king is Jesus compared to the earthly kings and rulers?

            Let us pray.

            First, for Jesus to be king of your life, you have to believe that Jesus is God’s son.  The Apostle John says in 1 John 5:1a, that a new birth must take place in order for you to come to believe in Jesus as God’s son. This is what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:1-8.  God’s Holy Spirit must be allowed to enter into our hearts for us to be able to believe Jesus is God’s Son, the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Kings.  In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul refers to a new life in Christ.  This is not as a result of force, but of love.  Earthly kings and rulers rule over people with force.  God rules over us with love.  We explored this love of God earlier in 1 John 3:1.   This lavish love of God is displayed to us in human form in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

John goes on to say in verses 1b & 2 the reciprocal action of those who have received the lavish love of God whose lives have been reborn or changed is to love Jesus and obey God’s commandments.  Subjects obey the commandments of earthly kings and rulers out of fear.  Now obeying the commandments of God is something that we do, not out of fear, but out of love and thankfulness, because of what God and Jesus have done for us.  Therefore, as it says in verse 3, obedience to God’s commandments is not a burden on us.  Jesus confirms this in Matthew 11:28-30.  The opposite is the case of earthly kings’ and rulers’ commands. They burden and weigh people down.

In verses 4 & 5, believers in Christ receive a victory over the world.  Some people may be afraid to talk about their faith, because of repercussions.  Believers in Christ are victorious.  All the earthly kingdoms are going to come to an end.  All the kings and rulers will be gone. God says in Revelation 21:1-8, there will be a new heaven and a new earth and those that do not believe, who do not confess their sins and ask God’s forgiveness will be gone.  It is only because of our faith in what Jesus did on the cross that allow us to enter into this new heaven and earth.  Why should we fear what others will say or what others might do to us?  Jesus said in Matthew 10:28. We should not fear anything in this world, but we should fear God.  In Acts 4:7, Peter and John were questioned by the rulers and elders and teachers of the law after healing a cripple, by what power or what name did you do this?  In Acts 4:8-12 is their response.  When told to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, in verse 19, they said, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.”  Believers in Christ have won the victory.  We have passed from death to life.  This victory is not because we made a one-time confession of faith, but this victory is ongoing.  It is daily abiding with God.  It is daily surrendering our life to Jesus.  It is an abiding faith.  Jesus rules victorious in the life of the believer forever. 

Earthly kings and rulers like to live in grand palaces away from their subjects.  In verses 6-8, the Apostle John says that Jesus instead became one of us. Jesus gave up Heaven to be one of us.  He was born as one of us in a stable.   He died on the cross as a criminal, the lowest form, as one of us.  When Jesus died it was the water and blood that flowed out of Him when the sword pierced Him, just like one of us, John 19:34.  The water and blood testify that He was fully human.  The Holy Spirit testifies that He was fully divine.  In John 19:35, all three of these testify to the love that Jesus has for us to confirm to us that He is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. 

Earthly kings and rulers will pay people or coerce them to testify about them.  Look around the world at the staged gatherings of people proclaiming their king or ruler as the greatest.  In verse 9, Jesus does not need man’s testimony, because He has God’s testimony.  In Luke 3:21-22 at Jesus’ baptism, God said to all the people in the form of the Holy Spirit that looked like a dove.  In verse 11-12, God testimony is that those that believe in Jesus will have eternal life.   In verse 10, it is a sad fact about God’s testimony about Jesus, that people would rather call God a liar and believe in some flawed human being’s testimony. 

Earthly kings and rulers cannot provide eternal life for their subjects.  God provides eternal life through His Son to all who believe in Jesus.  He who has the Son has life. 

Let us look at the comparisons.  Earthly kings and rulers rule by force.  Jesus rules by love.  Subjects obey the earthly kings and rulers out of fear.  Believers in Jesus obey His commandments out of love and thankfulness of what He has done for them.  The kingdoms of earthly kings and rulers will all be gone, only the kingdom of God will remain.  Earthly kings and rulers live in grand palaces away from their subjects.  Jesus leaves Heaven to become one of us.  Earthly kings and rulers pay people or coerce them to testify about them.  God testifies about His Son.  Last, earthly kings and rulers cannot provide eternal life.  God gives eternal life to all those that believe in Jesus. 

With all the data from the comparisons of earthly kings and rulers to Jesus, who do you choose as your king?  The Gospel makes the difference:  Jesus is King.  This is how we grow together in faith.  Amen.