(Rev 1:5b-6) Who is the absolutist in your life?

The 1600s many countries followed what is called the divine right of kings, a political belief that said that Monarch had absolute and unconditional authority.

King Louis XIV (14th), also known as the sun king, perhaps one of the most famous of those monarchs.

Now as Americans,

the idea of absolute monarchy is one of the craziest ideas we ever heard.

Today I warn you about an absolute monarch in a town near you.

What king in a free society do we have to worry about?

It is way too easy, for each one of us, to live as absolute monarchs in our life.

By definition

– an absolute monarch demand that everything happened according to his way.

>>>>Whatever he thinks goes.<<<<

- What is sad is that can define most Americans.

We live in the wealthiest country.

We live in freest country.

We live in age with the greatest medical care in the history of the world.

And it is easy to live like a king.

- And what is even sadder is that often can define many Christians.

Our text this morning reminds us that we are not the king of our lives, but Jesus is.

Open your bibles to Revelation 1:4-6.

We will be looking at v. 5-6, but we will start by reading at v. 4.

Revelation 1:4–6 ESV

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

From this passage today,

Jesus ought to be the king that we worship.

And this text will give us 2 reasons why Jesus deserves to be our king.

ILLUSTRATION:

If I was to tell you that I have a petition today that I want each of you to sign,

I might catch your interest.

But if I told you that petition was to establish an absolute monarchy over the United States,

I think I would grab your attention.

I want you to consider what Scripture tells us.

To be a Christian, you must have signed the petition making Jesus your king.

Who is Jesus that any free-person would make him their King?

What has Jesus done for you and me - that should make him an absolute monarch in our lives?

First, Jesus ought to be the king we worship because

1) Jesus freed us from our sin.(Rev 1:5b)

Revelation 1:5 ESV

5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Let me be honest - none of us are truly free.

We may live under political freedom.

The First Amendment may protect our right of free speech, and therefore our right to worship.

The second amendment may guarantee your right to bear arms.

But I challenge you – are you really free?

America was founded with the freedom to choose.

But if our bodies are already slaves - then are we truly free?

Political freedom to a person,

in bondage of sin,

is the right to freely bury them self in greater sin.

It is not true freedom, it is just political freedom.

But according to this text - Jesus freed us from our sin by his blood.

The word, “freed” in our ESV’s has the idea of loosing or releasing something.

But we have to remember the object were being released from.

We are being released from our sin.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{I believe this to be a broad description of what Christ did for you and for me. }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

a) We are freed from our sin.

(1) Freedom means we are free from the penalty of sin. (Rom 6:23, Col 2:14-15)

ILLUSTRATION:

Breaking the laws of our land, has a penalty.

Murder has a punishment.

Theft has a punishment.

Just like breaking human law,

breaking God’s law has penalties.

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Colossians 2:13–15 ESV

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

But not only are we free from the penalty of sin -

(2) Freedom means we are free from the power of sin. (Rom 6:6, 19)

Romans 6:6 ESV

6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Romans 6:19 ESV

19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Jesus freed us from the penalty and power of sin.

I hope this truth never becomes old for you.

Because it’s the truth we ought to wake up and remember every single day of our life.

This is why we can seeing amazing grace 20 times .... And still want to see you next Sunday.

It is why victory in Jesus is one of our favorite songs to sing.

not only should we may Jesus kingdom our lives because he freed us,

but we should make Jesus king of our lives because he did it by his blood.

ILLUSTRATION:

This weekend is Memorial weekend.

People who give their lives for someone else is one of the most honored sacrifices in our society.

Even in a society consumed with selfishness,

we stop to give honor to those who died for our country.

And we ought to

But why?

Because spilling your blood for someone else,

giving your life for someone else

- is the greatest sacrifice a person can give.

On Wednesday we looked at Psalm 49 - and what it does say about the cost of death.

Psalm 49:7–8 ESV

7 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, 8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,

In other words, you can’t buy your life back.

Consider how we are freed from our sins.

b) We are freed by his blood.

Jesus gave his blood.

Jesus gave the ultimate price.

If we can honor our veterans for giving their lives for our political freedom,

How much more should we give honor to the one who gave his life to make us free from sin.

The first reason we should worship Jesus as our king-

because he freed us from our sins.

The second reason we should make Jesus king of our lives - is because

2) He made you a priest in his kingdom. (Rev 1:6)

ILLUSTRATION:

If we were to draw a line in the sand,

about what is sufficient of a sacrifice to deserve to be our king.

What would it take?

Wouldn’t Jesus freeing us from our sin cross threshold?

We can say Jesus freed us from our sin by his blood,

and that would be enough that the right, good, and thankful response would be

- to make him king and absolute ruler of our lives.

But that’s not all that Jesus did.

Jesus has done so much more for us than just savings us from our sins.

And according to this text,

Jesus not only freed us from our sins,

but he made his priests in his kingdom.

Look at –

Revelation 1:6 ESV

6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

a) He made you a priest.

The priest is someone who is chosen to worship God.

The priest is not simply someone who stands in the crowd with commoners,

but as someone who has full and unmediated access to the temple and presence of God.

They are the ones who are set apart to

declare the wisdom of God,

and to proclaim the praises of God.

In the Old Testament the only person who could be a priest was someone who was a direct descendent of the tribe of Levi.

if you are from the tribe of Benjamin, sorry you can’t be a priest

if you were born a Gentile, you couldn’t even enter the inner court.

Never mind if you were to develop a leprosy, have touched someone dead, and a host of other things that made you ceremonially unclean.

The only person on the day of atonement who can walk in and make prayer and sacrifice for the nation, was a priest.

______________________________________________________________

I don’t care how spiritual and devoted and sincere you were

- most people in the Old Testament could not be priests.

_____________________________________________________________

Yet,

the Scripture tells us that Jesus freed us from our sin and made his priests in his kingdom.

Some have translated this section,

a kingdom of priests.

We should make Jesus the absolute monarch of our lives,

because he give us the privilege of being the priest.

But further - he should be the absolute monarch or your lives because -

b) You are a member of his kingdom and he is your king.

Let me be honest here.

This passage gives us every reason why Jesus should be our king.

Not because were forced to have them as our king,

but because he rightfully deserves to be our king.

His sacrifice on the cross should make him a landslide candidate to be the absolute monarch of our life.

If there was a election today, he should be our vote without question.

Yet, as I say that - he ought to be our king because we are members of his kingdom.

ILLUSTRATION:

For most of us, we don’t get to choose what government were under.

We are born into a society, and inherit the government of that society.

If I am born in China, the Chinese government is my government.

If I am born in Iran, the Iranian government becomes my government.

And if I’m born in American, the American government becomes my government.

Jesus’s work on the cross, made us a kingdom, and he is the King of that kingdom.

At the most basic level,

he ought to be the absolute monarch in our lives because he is our king and we are in his kingdom.

He was already the creator and ruler of heaven and earth - and therefore deserve to be our key.

Revelation 1:5 ESV

5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

But in a special sense,

believers become part of his kingdom,

and therefore we naturally have an obligation to submit to him as our king.

We ought to worship Jesus as King of our lives because he made as a priest in his kingdom.

CONCLUSION:

So I ask you,

Who is the absolutist in your life?

Who is the absolute monarchy in your world?

The presence of a sin nature in our lives

makes it really easy for us to be the absolute monarch of our lives.

How do you know if you are the absolute monarch of your life or if Jesus is the absolute monarch of your life?

It starts with our heart and the sin that flows out of it.

Do I get mad and angry when people don’t listen to me?

We get mad and angry when God allows suffering and setbacks and futility in my life?

Do I have compassion on the ones around me or am I self absorbed by my own wants?

Could I be called a servant to others or would others call me a compassionate dictator?

And our relationships will reveal this more than anywhere else.

ILLUSTRATION:

My wife and I have been watching the parenting seminar that the church is offering.

>>>>The seminar we are offering on parenting and marriage is well worth your time. <<<<

And in the parenting seminar this year,

Paul Tripp talked about exactly why we get so overwhelmed and upset with our kids at times.

Myself included.

Because we have established our household kingdoms,

and we are upset that someone would dare to defy our absolute monarchy.

But that is not just a reality for parents.

It is a reality in every relationship we have.

The conditions of all the various relationships of our lives reveal far more about who rules us, then what we confess on Sunday.

One of the things that I think we forget if we are out of church too long,

is that I’m not king, but Jesus is.

Not only that,

But we have to remember the nature of the kingdom wherein.

There is one day when Jesus’s kingdom will become visible on earth.

Revelation 20:1-6 talks about that thousand year reign of Christ.

But till then - We are more like sojourning priestly ambassador’s of Christ.

- I challenge us to live as though we are sojourning in this world.

In other words, this is not our home.

We are foreigners in a foreign land.

- I challenge you to live as though you are God’s priest.

Let being a living sacrifice be the national anthem of your life.

- And I challenge you to be an ambassador.

Not an absolute monarch that demands that the world be there way,

but an ambassador who shares the greatest news that could ever be certain shared.

A servant of the kingdom, of which you are a part of.

I challenge us to worship Jesus as the absolute monarch of your life.

Response:

a) Why should Jesus be your absolute monarch? How do you commit treason against your king?

b) How do we act like absolute monarchs? How do our relationships and sin reveal our true loyalties?

c) Why can our present role in God’s kingdom be described as sojourning priestly ambassadors of Christ? What implications does this have in our lives? List at least three.

Related Media

Related Sermons