The King of Kings and Prince of Peace

we've had some issues trying to get the uh mic working for us this morning so we'll uh take it a little bit at a time at this time we'll go ahead and dismiss our kiddos to their class and for the rest of us uh we're going to be bouncing around a little bit in verses and scriptures um so don't turn anywhere yet and uh and I'll tell you where to go in a little bit um but as we kick off if you're joining us for the first time during Advent we are in an advent series that I've titled alien Advent um specifically because of the

stranger in the manger the baby uh that's not from this world but rather as he has declared himself um he has come to this world and so he was not from here but came to us and he came to us for a specific reason and we wanted to look at that and just look at who this baby is what this baby is and at the same time why this baby came came and why for the last 2,000 years has it become such um a celebrated and also controversial movement and moment in time and so the first week what we looked at was the angel Gabriel

and the message that he gave to Joseph and Mary was that this baby would be or is the son of the most high and so that is in contradiction to other world religions that believe that Jesus was a created being or that he was just merely a man who was a good teacher but when he's referenced as the son of the most high that talks about his deity it talks about his eternal existence before the manger and and really lands him at being the second person of the Holy Trinity that we believe in God the Father God the son and God the Holy Spirit and

so that was the first week the second week we looked at the name it's really important when you have a baby you name the baby and so uh they needed to figure out what are we going to name the baby well Joseph and Mary uh regardless of Jewish Customs at the time did not get a chance to name the baby because God named the baby the true father named the son and so he said when he was looking at all the names to pick out what we walked through was four different names that were mentioned in the Old Testament scriptures all being the same name

the name Yeshua which translated in English is Joshua that's the Hebrew origin when it's translated into Greek becomes eus which is where we get Jesus from and so that's the name that they gave him and it specifically meant one thing Jehovah saves yahwe saves so not only does it give him the title of who he is his Essence he is God he is Jehovah but it also gives the mission that he came to this earth to seek and to do and to execute which was to save that which was lost to save Sinners to forgive us of our sins and so those two key components

in those first two weeks ultimately lead to why Jesus was murdered why he was crucified because he claimed to be God and he claimed to forgive sins so literally the name that was given to him is the reason why he ultimately was crucified and there were so many components that that came into that not only did they crucify him for being God or claiming to be God and claiming to be able to forgive sins but he also was crucified because of that God sent God in order to be the perfect sacrifice for us so that he could save us from our sins so all of

that was wrapped up into the name and then what we wanted to look at last week was how everyone tries to debunk the Divinity of Jesus or the story of Christianity because of the uniqueness of the Virgin birth and so we walked through just how did this happened not only how did it happen but why did it happen and we looked at the how in the role of the Holy Spirit over shading Eve and that wasn't some kind of similar thing that happened with like Greek mythology where Zeus you know kind of um um falsely disguised himself as um a husband and then gave birth

to Hercules like that's not what was going on here where God came down and like disguised himself to be Joseph and then you know two and two things happen and that's not what's going on here but rather the overshadowing that's used is the same language that the Holy Spirit used used in Genesis 1 when the Earth the heavens and the Earth were created and the Holy Spirit was hovering over he was overshadowing so he was ready to form into being everything that is in existence today also another place that this was used was at the Transfiguration where the Holy Spirit overshadowed the mountain and Jesus

is there before God and God um Out of Heaven speaks down and says this is my beloved Son and then transforms him transfigures him into the Glorious position or look that he possessed when he came off the mountain and people were like who is he like he looks different than what we remember him looking like the overshadowing is the holy spirit doing this forming this work and that's exactly what he did with Eve he overshadowed he'd enveloped her in a way that he then took and and kind of like what God did with Adam in the garden he took dust and formed into it a

man and then breathed his life into it except with e what he did was he overshadowed her he took of woman substance Earth and then formed Jesus in the womb and then he didn't necessarily breathe life into it like he did with Adam but rather just continued the holy or continued the spirit of Christ into this now formed physical human and that's when he then became the God man and he will always for the rest of Eternity be this now God man for all of existence and so that's what we looked at in those first three weeks and what we wanted to look at today

was specifically another kind of role that Jesus um establishes and as Ezra my son just read him becoming the wonderful counselor the almighty God uh the Everlasting father the Prince of Peace other ways and even the songs we just sang talks about him being the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and so my job and what my my lofty goal that I have for this message today is to explain to you how the world works and why Jesus matters and so that's what we're going to tackle in in all of our human history how the world works and why Jesus matters specifically in

regards to him being a king because I just think it's so so important for us as it talks about when he comes he will establish a kingdom and as we've read throughout in Luke 1 and 26-33 that his kingdom that is of the Throne of David his kingdom there will be no end what kind of kingdom are we talking about that Jesus is bringing and what kind of King is Jesus ultimately going to be or is for that matter and to be honest there have been hundreds uh if not thousands of rulers Kings Emperors Governors leaders throughout all of the kingdoms nations in our human

history there have been so many of them but not any of them were like the kind of King that Jesus is and so the best way to show you the kind of King Jesus is is and this is where I'm bringing in the idea of how the world works is I want to contrast the types of kings that we've had and the types of leaders that we have and the reason why the world is the weary world that eventually rejoices the reason why we have anxiety and we have have lack of confidence in leaders and and those who rule over us and so forth so

that it builds Our Hope for the kind of King that we will inherit with Jesus just to give you a little bit of history in ancient Egypt there were around 170 pharaohs there were approximately 70 different Emperors of Rome during the span of the Roman Empire the oldest continuous monarchy belongs to Japan which traces more than 126 Emperors from the current Nar hu all the way back to the ancestor emperor jimu in 660 BC which to me is just crazy so that's almost 26 2700 years that they bloodline are able to actually Trace their Emperors in Jewish history what we're kind of reading throughout the

scriptures there's been 42 Kings and one Queen bringing it into more kind of medieval and modern times there have been 63 monarchs in a span of 12200 years in England and Great Britain and in American history we've had how many presidents does anyone know I knew Bryce would get it 46 yeah 46 presidents in human history so human history is Not absent from the idea of having a ruler or someone who's leading someone who's governing us very rarely do you ever have a time in history where a nation or a people are without some type of leader a ruler when there have been moments in

our history where Nations peoples have gone without a ruler or without a leader um honestly it hasn't gone that well for them now you can also make the argument it hasn't gone that well with them either um but I want to show you an example of what happens when we don't have a leader and how actually this is the way God set the world up he set the world up to where people groups have leaders they have heads they have um those who Rule and those who govern and there's a way that you can rule and govern that is Godlike and there's a way that

you can rule and govern that's not and that's kind of what we want to look at today but in Judges chapter 2 verses 7-10 it says the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel now if you don't know who Joshua is Joshua is the leader of Israel following Moses and so Moses becomes one of the first great leaders um of Israel when he is bringing them out of their enslavement to the Egyptians so when you thinking um the the plagues

in Egypt when you're thinking the crossing of the Red Sea wandering in the desert and having a people leading them for 40 years there that's Moses and he does that for 40 years Joshua is then the successor to Moses and so obviously they eventually get to the promised land and and again because regardless of how great of a leader he was Moses was still sin and so the punishment that Moses gets because of his own sin is he doesn't get to go into the promised land which is crazy but it's also just a reality all right there's still consequences to sin so he doesn't get

to go into the promised land but then Joshua takes over the leadership and leads the people in so Joshua then leads for about 40 years and it says down in verse eight Joshua the son of nun the servant of the Lord died at the age of 110 years and all that Generation all also were gathered to their fathers that's just another way of saying that the generation that was with Joshua they died they were all GA gathered to their fathers and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel and just to kind

of let you know when it says knowing the Lord and then knowing all the work that is done for them we're talking about passing down the story of God doing the plagues in Egypt God bringing them out of that bringing them to the Red Sea parting the Red Sea having them pass through on dry ground having then the enemy following after them and then the waters crashing over them getting them across the other side being in the desert seeing the cloud by day and the fire by night having the Mana fall from Heaven I mean having miraculous Deeds being done for them this is the

work that they're referencing so when they know the Lord and then they know all that he's done this is the stories that they are passing down and sharing with one another so with Moses and Joshua they knew it but when it comes to this next Generation that follows them they don't know the Lord and they don't know the work that he has done it's as if they've literally forgotten everything which is just crazy that would be like us right now like having no understanding or or uh um memory of any of the world wars like they just never happened like that's kind of what we're

talking about from a generational standpoint here and so then it says down in judges 2 11-2 what do the people do when they don't have a leader now Joshua dies at the age of0 years old now what did the people do the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and they served the baales and they abandoned the Lord the god of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt they went after other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed down to them and they provoked the Lord to anger

when you get to the end of Judges it says in those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes and you say well I mean that sounds exactly what our world preaches right now like do what's right in your own eyes do what feels good like that sounds like a good thing right except Proverbs 14:12 warns us that there's a way that seems right to a man and its end is the way to death so like there's a way that seems right to us that makes sense to us that that feels like it's on the right

side of history or that feels like this would be what leads to flourishing in society and what he's saying is if we are left to our own devices without a leader that is pointing us to God and to the work of God and the mighty works of God and the truth about God and the truth about his design and his lifestyle and and how he wants us to live if we don't have that and we're left to our own um origin or we're left to our own uh creating of our own ideas of how things should go it never goes well for us it never

goes well for us and that's exactly what was happening here how how long does it take for you to forget God and not know him anymore apparently just one generation which is why again family discipleship is so important because that's how we pass down the truth about who God is and the work that he has done and also just kind of a side note if you ever want to know like just abiding in Jesus and what that looks like it's those two components like knowing god and then knowing the work that he is doing so it's knowing god how do I know God like just

get in his word like the word reveals who he is to us and so how do we know him we get in his word we read it we study it we meditate on it we memorize it because it represents him it speaks of him it is the word of God the Living Word of God that's how we know him and then at the same time Journal Journal about the work God is doing in your life and if and if you're like well I don't know if this work is what he's doing in my life cross reference it with the scripture if you're saying God's doing

something in your life and in scripture God's saying I will never do that then he's probably not doing that thing in your life so that's where scripture grounds us it anchors us to be able to see what God is actually doing in our lives that's just side note and for free but I want you to see something interesting in this story even though there was no king in Israel no King to lead the people and be a vice Roy between them and God it does not mean that the people did not serve or worship someone or something as their king or their Lord because we

are designed this way like even though they were left to their own devices even though they wanted to live however they wanted to live and whatever they thought was seemed right in their own eyes does not mean that they did not give of themselves to something it does not mean that they did not worship something again what did it say the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and they served the Bales they abandoned the Lord the god of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt they went after other gods from among the gods

of the peoples who were around them and bowed down to them like that's worship like they were continuing to worship they just weren't worshiping the true God anymore and so the people turned from the true God they turn from their lord and they started serving these Bales which are false gods which were counterfeit Gods to deceive humanity and keep them from ultimately just knowing the true God and the reason why I bring this up is because this helps to explain how human history has unfolded how it's unfolded from from the very beginning you have God who is Creator mankind as his creation like that's how

he started that's how the whole thing was set up we are designed to submit to this God in joyful obedience we are designed to serve him as Lord we are designed to worship him as Creator we are designed to enjoy him as a benevolent King like that's how we were created and if we're doing that if there's joyful obedience again that's why I always believe that's the reason for the tree in the garden he as a benevolent King what were the rules enjoy to the fullest anything and everything that is possible just don't do this one thing one rule which just shows joyful obedience to

receive the command to go and enjoy eat and drink your fill you lovers do whatever you want joyful obedience is is partaking of that while also being obedient to not partaking of the one thing to which now we've had kind of Flip Flip It where there's so many things that you should not do because of sin entering into the world that sometimes it's even hard to find what can we partake of what can we enjoy here and now which there's a lot do it in a w wise way but what's the first commandment Exodus 20: 2 through3 I am the Lord your God who brought

you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery you shall have no other gods before for me so here God tells us there's one true God and it's me and also he's telling us there's a reality that there are plural other gods now these other gods are not actual entities like God but they are imaginary created counterfeit ideas that honestly and if you dive into this from a demonology standpoint they are fallen angels that are masquerading and presenting themselves to people in order to masquerade as a false attribute of God because they know how we're wired we're wired to serve the

true God so if they masquerade themselves as something completely opposite and contrary well then we're not going to want that so what they do instead is they look at attributes of God and then convince us to worship the attribute rather than the true God so for example an attribute of God could be the fact that he provides reain just simply an attribute is that he created all of creation and he created the idea of sun he create created the idea of rain and that he sends those in order to provide crops for us and to be able to you know provide food for us and

so forth like we need rain and so I believe and again many theologians believe is that these Fallen Angels and we probably don't have enough time to dive into that necessarily but these Fallen Angels sometime between Genesis 1 and 2 there's this Mass rebellion in heaven Satan tries to take the throne you don't pick a fight with God doesn't work for him he then convinces a third of the angels and they fall to heaven with him like they're that that's their punishment is you're you're going to Earth so they come to Earth and they're now wandering until their judgment eventually in their wandering the thing

they hate is God we as Humanity bear the the image of God in the way that he created us this is Genesis 1 and 2 sometime between Genesis 1 and 2 that happened they're here they go into the garden and they start with the deception they go and the first thing they tell Adam and Eve is you can be like a god you can worship essentially yourself as a God you don't need to have the true God to do that you can become it he wants that for you they didn't come in and say you can be a Satan you can be a demon you

can be an evil no he came in and said you can be like the good thing that you worship and so he deceived them brought them down they fell into it and they began worshiping that then you start getting all of this is where I believe again Greek mythology comes from World other world religions all that have fragments of the truth kind of creation story woven into it you just get all of the plurality of the gods that are out there is because they're just Satan and the demons running the same play over and over and over to convince us to lower the glory of

the true God to creation and begin worshiping and giving glory to something created an image and then we ascribe all of that we give we go all in for it and it's missing the Mark it's sinful and that's all sin is it's just missing the mark and so we miss the mark and we begin worshiping the created thing for example when it says they started serving the Bales well Bells is just another term for false god but there was one of the false gods that was specifically referred to as Bell that was the name given to him and he was given or his attributes was

the god of fertility and the god of rain the god of rain and so again they're just driving home where do babies come from well babies come from God well pray to this God and you'll get to have a child pray to this God and you need rain in order to have crops grow and so instead of praying to the true God they made us believe that we can pray to these other false gods and that they'll answer us and that we can actually go to something that's physical and so they convinced us to start creating these these literally Idols so you start carving them

into wood place it on your um place it on your dresser or in your living room and whenever you need it to rain just go to the god of Reign and pray to it and so we're no longer praying to the true God who brings it but we're praying to these false gods and that's what the people were doing that's what they have been doing from Genesis 3 to today we just mask it in different ways like they're still running the same play over and over and over and this is what Satan has been doing is creating these Fabrications of the attributes of the true

God and so what we do because sin makes you dumb is we are designed to ascribe glory to God we ascribe the glory to these false gods instead and we actually never get it to the true God and I believe this is so important because to bow down to the true King Jesus we need to also know when we are being deceived as a culture to bow down to false gods again leaders false Lords Of Our Lives that seem right in our own sight or our own way it feels right in the Bible there are somewhere between 30 to 40 false gods mentioned by name

due to certain spelling variations there are many more that were not given titles but rather we're kind of gods of our flesh and so for example in the New Testament you'll see in Philippians 3 I believe which says they were they serve the god of their belly and so it's like literally just saying like you um you're struggling in life and so you're turning to comfort food and you're serving the god of your B belly and therefore gluttony is your act of worship or it talks about serving the god of money and so greed becomes our act of worship we just again are repackaging the

whole thing but the true Pro or the two prominent false gods mentioned in scripture were baale and Molech that garnered the most worship and evil deception among the people Bale is actually later received or um later talked about as Satan himself or at least his Graven image or status was attached to Satan we actually talked about that a few um couple of months ago when we talked about beob in u the study of Luke and that actually dates it brings it all the way back to it actually be Satan that they were worshiping and again he's the god of rain Molech was the god of

the ammonites and the Phoenicians also the Canaanites it's where the Philistines come from they were the people who possessed the land the promised land before they got there Mo was the god of child sacrifice essentially and so they would sacrif I their children to appease the wrath of mooch and again that was just their way of of um appeasing the wrath of God but not dealing with the true God so there's this other false god angry at you and the only way to appease his wrath in order for you to have a convenient health and communal life is if you sacrifice a child he'll hold

off now again think about it and how it's been repackaged in today's world when it comes to abortion and I know it's a Hot Topic but I'm going to go there I believe 100% abortion is just the continued worship of the demon god mik because again what their whole thing was was you sacrifice a child so that you can continue living a life of health wealth and prosperity of of of of communal living where there's nothing bad that's going to happen you there's nothing that's going to impend on you anything that would um take away from your quality of life and 99% of abortions have

to do with convenience and quality of life I don't want this baby because it's going to change my world again appeasing in that way um quality of life so I think it's just repackaged and continue to so be sold to us as this is a good thing but what about Baal baale was the false god of the Canaanites Who was the of again fertility and rain literally they belied he controlled the weather and this is where I want to reain this in here's here's what's been happening since the beginning of time God sets up leaders of the people we know that that's Romans 13 so

every and this is sometimes hard to believe especially when you see people in leadership but every leader that has ever ruled and reigned over a people group is there because God appointed it now there are going to be times where they're not godly and they're not good but there's no leader that gets the role of that office apart from God's sovereignty okay he is Sovereign over all of it now you can read that in Romans 13 and essentially it says like there's good ones there's bad ones regardless you were to still submit to them you to still submit to them in a way until it

goes against ultimately God's word and then and then you rebel against them that's okay um but they're there those leaders have the opportunity to either serve the Lord and the people will flourish or they can serve the false gods and the people will perish that's how the world Works those who are in your life in positions of leadership and Authority are either leading you to serve the Lord or they are leading you to Serve Yourself a way that seems right and so one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament where I believe this kind of culminates and I believe is a again a typology

it's a shadow of the great king to come is the story of Elijah in scripture and this is where I do want you to turn with me to First Kings chapter 16 First Kings chapter 16 we're going to look uh we're going to start in verse 29 but Elijah was one of the prophets of God um at a time when King Ahab was the king of Israel and this was in or around 900 BC and we want to look at what kind of King was Ahab and so we're going to find out first Kings 16 starting verse 29 in the 38th year of Asa king

of Judah Ahab the son of Omri began to Reign Over Israel and if you're thinking like what's the difference between Judah and Israel Israel was split into two kingdoms kind of a civil war going on and so there was a king of Judah which was one half and then there was a king of isra Israel which was the other and ABAB the the son of om did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him all right so what kind of King was he not a very good one to begin with not not a great introduction for for our guy

here and as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroham the son of nabat he took for his wife Jezebel now Jezebel literally you probably heard that term Jezebel and in in kind of modern day culture we refer to a jezebel as like a mistress or like a an evil type of woman well it gets its root in this Jezebel literally means Bell is husband to which you could translate that as as Satan's mistress essentially and she's the daughter of Ethel the king of the sidonians and so after he married her he then went and served Baal

and worshiped him he created or erected an altar for Baal in the house of B which he built in Samaria so so he's all in Ahab made an ashra which was also a wife for a spouse to bail now you got to remember these are just graven images there's no legit entity that he's actually referring to Satan attaches himself to this entity but there's no actual entity it's just a Graven image and then he created another Graven image and he's like this is his spouse um named Ashera and the people were all in on this Ahab did more to provoke the Lord the god of

Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him so for starters he was not a good king um he hitched his wagon to a woman his wife Jezebel and her first order in becoming Queen was ordering the killing of all of the prophets of God so that's like a woman marrying a mega church pastor and then saying let's kill all the other pastors like like that's the first thing that we're going to do not a good not a good option here there was one Prophet though Obadiah during that time who took a hundred of God's prophets and he actually hid them

in caves um by the 50s and so that's just amazing I just always love that kind of side snippet while that's happening Ahab is overseeing the re the rebuilding of Jericho literally at the cost of children being sacrificed there are even stories in archaeological discoveries where they found infants used as Foundation blocks in the walls of buildings and homes um during this time to appease again mooch we're talking very very dark times during this period so in that context you have Elijah who is the prophet of God during the time of King Ahab God told Elijah to tell Ahab that there was going to be

no rain for three years now I Elijah is one of my favorite prophets because I think he's the prophet that just loves to mock the stupidity of the world and our belief in false gods who is Baal the god of reign as though you have Elijah coming to the king who's all in on baale he's erected a temple for him he's built an altar for him he's created he he's he's then brought in 450 prophets for Baal and then another 400 prophets for the for the spouse of Baal Asher like he's all in and Elijah just shows up to King Ahab and goes hey by

the way no rain for three years see what your God will do about that so we continue on that that that kind of and well then that obviously upsets Ahab so once to have him killed God then tells Elijah hey let's let's go out let's hide for a little bit lay low for a little bit so he goes out and and just to show you the difference between Elijah and his God versus Ahab and and his false gods while they're sacrificing children at the rebuilding of Jericho uh you have Elijah out in the wilderness essentially finding a woman who's a widow and then is actually

bringing back to life her dead son so just a little of contrast there of of the heart of God and what's going on so that's at the end of first Kings 17 what I want to show you is uh the Coliseum here kind of the Super Bowl of what I believe the world lashing when it comes to the false gods and their prophets and the true God and His prophet and who actually holds power when it comes to the world so picking up in First Kings 18:17 through 41 Elijah returns to the king Ahab and he essentially says let's have a challenge let's see who

the true God Is So when Ahab saw Elijah Ahab said to him is it you you troubler of Israel again Ahab does not like Elijah Elijah is stirring up truth and that's troubling Ahab and so he answered I have not troubled at Israel but you have and your father's house because you have abandoned the Commandments of the Lord and you followed the Bales now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of ashra who eat at Jezebel's table so he's saying let's let's have a showdown go get go get all of the

people go get all of Israel bring them to Mount Carmel go get all the 450 prophets of Baal go and get all the 400 prophets of his spouse bring them as well and then I'm just going to show up so all of that versed me that that's kind of he's he's setting the roster for this situation that he's about to do verse 20 so Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel and Elijah came near to all the people and said how long so Elijah is now addressing them he says how long will you go limping and

that's just another way of saying kind of hesitating or skipping along the this this idea between two different opinions if the Lord is God follow him but if Baal then follow him and the people did not answer him a word so then Elijah said to the people I even only I am the or am left a prophet of the Lord but baal's prophets are 450 men so he's saying one verse 450 then Elijah said to the people or I'm sorry let two bulls be given to us and let them choose one bll for themselves and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood

but put no fire to it and I will prepare the other Bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it and then you call upon the name of your God and I will call upon the name of my Lord and The God Who Answers by fire he is God and all the people answered it is well spoken like deal let's do this you're 450 and I'll even let you choose the bull go get two bulls bring them you guys choose the first one so like this is like a magic trick he's like pick a card I'm not going to pick it

don't show it to me like you choose the bull I didn't rig the Bulls like one doesn't have Dynamite inside it he said saying you choose which one and so they all say it's it's well spoken this is good so then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal choose for yourselves one Bull and prepare it first for you are many and call upon the name of the Lord your God but put no fire to it so they took the bull that was given them and they prepared it and they called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon saying oh Baal answer us but

there was no voice and no one answered and they limped around the altar that they had made and at noon Elijah mocked them saying I just I just love this cry louder for he is a God either he is musing or maybe he's relieving himself or maybe he's on a journey or perhaps he is asleep and he must be awakened and so they cried louder and then they cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them now just think about that according to their Customs so like these false demons who are presenting these ideas of false gods even

taught them that the way to get the gods to respond to you is by harming yourself again this goes all the way back to Satan and his hatred of the image of God I mean when you think about the demon possessed man who's across the water and Jesus goes across the water to get to the demon possessed man there's the storm that's going on and he calms the storm and he eventually gets there what does it say of this demon-possessed man he was cutting himself on the Rocks I mean that's what we're talking about the same thing is what's being awoken here amongst these people

and so the blood gushing out just shows you how de pray their practice his word and as midday passed they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation that's like like the time has come it's two- minute warning here but there was no voice no one answered no one paid attention so then Elijah said to the to all the people come near to me he's kind like come closer closer closer I want you to see this and all the people came near to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down apparently like they were sore losers

so they like destroyed the whole thing on their way out he then repairs it but he even repairs it in kind of presenting a story to them Elijah took 12 Stones according to the number of the 12 tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord came saying Israel shall be your name and with the stones he built built an altar in the name of the Lord and he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two Seas of seed and I'll explain that in a minute and he put the wood in order and he cut the B

the bowl in full or in pieces and laid it on the wood and then he said and I I just I love this fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood and then he said do it a second time and then he said do it a third time and they did it a third time and the water ran around the Altar and then filled the trenches also with water so what he's saying like like how am I going to win this thing it's supposed to catch on fire right why don't you just douse the whole thing with

water like get it so soaked with water that it then no longer can absorb but it runs off and it fills this trench that can fit two Seas of of seed which is about three gallons so think about some of the imagery here Jesus being placed on the Altar and then in the ground for three days you've got three times this thing being drenched you've got three gallons filling up with water that is spread out I mean the imagery Around Jesus being the ultimate sacrifice for us at the altar is just so intrinsic here in this In this passage and at the time of the

offering of the oblation two-minute warning like now is your time they've had all day to call on them God now it's just one moment Elijah the prophet came near and said oh Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and that I have done all these things at your word answer me oh Lord answer me that this people may know that you oh Lord are God and that you have turned their hearts back then the fire of the Lord fell and it consumed the burnt offering and the wood

and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench like Fire doesn't do that but his does and then when all the people saw it they fell on their faces and they said the Lord he is God the Lord he is God and Elijah said to them seize the prophets of Baal let not one of them escape and They seized them and Elijah brought them down to the brook kashan and he slaughtered them there consequences but then he does something interesting with Ahab he doesn't do that to Ahab Elijah said to Ahab go up eat and drink and

and again I I love this it's like oh do you hear that for there's a sound of the rushing of rain coming like what a story the people are guilty of breaking the first commandment of God they were guilty of idolatry worship anything other than the true God and God intervened in order to remind them of his power and who he is and I say all that to say this God sending Jesus to Earth is the ultimate reminder of who he is and the great works that he has done that points to the kind of King he will be God is the one true God

and we have no other false gods before him God has set up Kings on Earth To Rule and Reign and lead us to know the one true God some did it well and some didn't and there are going to be so many um options out there of kings that do it well leaders that do it well and others that don't and what he's ultimately doing for us is he's allowing us to see that there's going to come a king like you have Earthly Kings but you don't have to put all of your confidence in your Earthly Kings I'm going to send one who will be

the King of Kings and the Lord of lords he will be the Prince of Peace he will be the wonderful counselor that you can hope in that you can have confidence in that you can trust and Le and that he will lead you according to a gallet poll conducted in 2022 u based on the confidence of americaas in our confidence of America in our major institutions it shows we we have no confidence at all in all honesty with 100% being perfect confidence and zero being no confidence this is what the gallet poll revealed we have 25% confidence in the Supreme Court 23% confidence in the

president and that was even like not just who the president is but but the office of President 11% confidence in the media and 7% confidence in Congress like we have a leadership issue in our country and it's led to a lack of confidence and a rise in anxiety and honestly I think this is why so so much of Christianity gets attached to this because we connect the two like we view well if if our governmental political and secular leaders can't lead us well then no institution can and so then we we have issues with whether Jesus can lead in this way whether pastors can lead

in this way but what God is ultimately saying is is you were designed to submit to a leader like it's in your DNA you will either submit to false gods and false leaders and and World Views and Society and you will give of yourself to that but it's going to be the what leads to death it's going to be what leads to like Ahab where uh his world and his Dominion was just creating nothing but turmoil and famine anxiety cutting of themselves I mean nothing good nothing good but then you get a leader who comes in and says look to the true God and then

the Reigns come and forgiveness comes and peace comes is that not what we're ultimately after that's why Isaiah 9 1-3 says I want to just I'm I'm going to read for you just straight passages that speak of this King that we have in Jesus that is in contrary to any other king that has ever lived in any imp like Imperial Guard or Nation or people group or whatever you want to look at there's not been one king that's been talked about longed for fulfilled looked back on and continued to abide in like this King Jesus Isaiah 9 looking at verse one says but there will

be no Gloom for her who who was in anguish in the former time he brought into contempt the land of zebulun and the land of Neftali but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea the land beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Nations the people who walked in darkness they have seen a great light those who dwelt in a Land of deep Darkness on them has a light shown you have multiplied the nation you have increased the joy they Rejoice before you as with joy at the Harvest as they are glad when they divide the spoil I mean we're talking

talking about a land that was dark and in deep darkness and all of a sudden now because of the promise of a king their Spirits are beginning to lift a light is being Shone upon them and what is it for to us is born a child to us a son is given the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name Shall be Called wonderful counselor Mighty God Everlasting father Prince of Peace of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with Justice and with

righteousness from this time forth and forever more the Zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this I mean he's giving them something to Hope in is that not what we want we want something to Hope in Jeremiah 23 5-6 following the the leading of Isaiah as the Prophet Jeremiah says behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up for David A righteous Branch I mean we're talking about our judicial branches of government here he's saying like I'm I'm just telling you there's going to be one it's a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and he will deal wisely

and he shall execute Justice and righteousness in the land in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and this is the name by which he will be called the Lord is our righteousness Daniel 7:13-14 says I saw on the night visions and behold with the Clouds Of Heaven There came one like a son of man and he came to the Ancient of Days and he was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and the kingdom that all peoples Nations and languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away in his kingdom

one that shall not be destroyed like go right now and have a conversation with a Caesar you can't because the great Empire of our known history ceased his will not Luke 130-33 and the angel said to her do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive in your womb and you will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus he will be great and he will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the Throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob

forever and all of his kingdom there will be no end Luke 1: 46-55 Mary after she's received this news and she's gone to visit her um cousin Elizabeth and her uh also sort of a miraculous birth because she was Barren now it wasn't an overshadowing like the Holy Spirit her and Zechariah did have fun and they had a baby and and it's John the Baptist but he was an old age and she was Barren and and they had a child so she went to go visit Elizabeth when she walked in Elizabeth the baby in her womb John the Baptist filled with the spirit Le for

Joy like when Jesus enters a the room when he enters a life it's a lifting of Joy it's out of Darkness light lifts you and your spirit changes it's a good thing that happens when he comes he is not a king that comes and just like desolates places and like takes from you in order to have all the taxes so that he can live lavishly in a kingdom it's the complete opposite he empties himself of everything that he has in order to go and be a humble servant to us in order to die at a cross so that he can invite us ultimately to his

eternal Kingdom and give us a seat at the table and so this baby filled with the Holy Spirit leaps for joy in Elizabeth's womb and Mary as she's in this moment processing what's going on with Elizabeth she then just responds out of the out of just this this Spirit-filled heart and she sings and this is called The Magnificat and it comes from Mary in Luke 1: 46-55 Mary said my soul magnifi eyes the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant for behold from now on all generations will call me blessed for he

who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name and his where he talks about just this type of son this child that she will have his Mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation he has shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts he has brought down the mighty from their Thrones and exalted those of humble estate he has filled the Hungry with good things and that's why I just love the imagery of what we have in the back of the room here just being like Jesus and the rich

he has sent away empty he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his Mercy he has spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his offspring forever that's the Jesus that she's talking about and then in Matthew 21 5-11 Matthew or is quoting from an actual prophecy in Zechariah Chapter 9:9 where he says to the daughter of Zion behold your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey on a cult the full of a beast of burden and then it says and this is at the triumphal entry at the later years of of jesus' Life the disciples went and did as

Jesus had directed them they bought the donkey and the colat and they put on them their Co cloaks and he sat on them and then most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road and the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting hosana hosan to the son of David blessed is he who comes in the name name of the Lord hosana in the highest and when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was stirred up saying who is this and the crowd said this is the prophet Jesus from

Nazareth of Galilee we do have a true king one who has come from the Ancient of Days we have a true king whose kingdom has no end we have a true king who is the wonderful counselor we have a true king whose authority is Sovereign and we have a true king of whom Revelation 17:14 says they will make war on the lamb and the lamb will conquer them we have a king who does not lose for he is the Lord of lords and the king of kings and those with him are called and chosen and faithful we have a king of kings and a Lord

of lords and it says when he conquers and is Victorious over those who try to make war on him there is some who are with him who are also Victorious and it is us who are called and chosen and faithful and the last thing we know of this King that we are now in a second Advent longing and looking forward to is the day when it says in Revelation 19 11-16 heaven will open and behold a wide horse the one sitting on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and he makes War his his eyes are like a flame of fire

and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written that no one knows but himself he is clothed in a robe dipped in Blood and the name by which he is called is the word of God and the armies of Heaven arrayed in fine linen white and pure were following him on white horses from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the Nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron he will tread The Wine Press of the fury of the wrath of God the almighty on his robe and on his thigh he has a name

written king of kings and Lord of lords in that day he's essentially going to do what Elijah did he entered in he presented the true God they have an opportunity choose one or the other you choose the true God guess what you're not going to go and be slaughtered like what he did to the prophets of Baal but instead you'll get to have the sound of rushing rain coming the sound of the lavish of Grace flowing to you the floodgates of Heaven open to us but that's where we're at right now in our human history and how the world works is we either serve the

false gods or the true God by looking to the God the King of Kings the Lord of lords Jesus and we either trust him and believe him for who he is or we continue to trust what we seem or think is right and that's the message that we communicate and that's what we tell people man there's a way that that might seem right to you but let's be honest you look pretty anxious it doesn't seem to be going that well for you you're continuing to have to empty yourself but what Jesus does is he comes and he lifts that spirit and he fills you with

his spirit that satisfies the soul that longs for that and he makes you full satisfied because he is our God that's who we serve and as I kind of mentioned we serve him because he did something very unique in how he came to serve Jesus was not is not and will not be the malevolent Kings our world has known but is a benevolent King that gives of himself he gives of himself to the point of death on a cross by breaking his body and shedding his blood like he gives the one thing that we were supposed to give for an eternity in death in hell

in receiving the wrath of God and he saysi so love you and I am such a benevolent King that I'm going to give that I'm going to take that and then I'm going to give you my righteousness that's what we celebrate every single time when we come to this table and we look at the the the the tasteless wafer and the juice we remember the broken body of Jesus and the shed blood of Jesus that allows him to be Jesus Yahweh who saves God who forgives us of our sins this is the means he used in order to make that payment happen we are not

coming to him like what they were trying to do in offering sacrifices in order for him to make a payment for us in order him to receive it I don't have to give him my firstborn he gave his son to be the sacrifice for us and we receive it as a gift it's Grace it's undeserved we receive it as a gift and we just say thank you Jesus for what you have done so if you will stand with me if you believe that message then I invite you to come down front grab the elements and bring them back to your seats and we will partake