Kings and Priests, Part 1

Okay, as you can see from the...your announcements, or bulletin, the title of today's sermon is Kings and Priests. Kings and Priests. Today, we will actually cover the first aspect of that. Next week, we will cover the priests part. But today, I'd like to cover what the Bible contains about kings. And we know, hopefully everyone in here knows who the King of Kings is. Should be pretty simple, right? But he's a king of...what kings? We're going to talk a little bit about that today and talk about our place. Because it is very important what the Bible says about kings and how that applies to us. Perhaps you've had a job or a career that you've spent quite a bit of time and experience in. But I don't think many of us, when we were very young, wrote down on a piece of paper that we wanted to be a king or a queen. Don't think that happened. And for most people, it's like it would be a fairy tale, as you've seen in storybooks. But I want us to understand that that is not only a career that you would not necessarily look at, but it is defined by something else. It happens to be a destiny. A destiny. Now many of you might say, well, that's a little high for me. I don't think I can reach that high. Perhaps you would like to know, perhaps, what it requires to have one of the top three jobs in America.

Because you'll see that it requires not only study, but experience. Education. To have one of the top three jobs in the United States. I'm not talking about billionaires. I'm talking about people who work for a company. I'm talking about CEOs of some of the top companies.

What would it require to be the CEO of Oracle Corporation, which is one of the largest computer firms in the world? I think their assets are $111 or $114 billion. They bring in $30 billion every year. To be the CEO of Oracle, the one who has it now, she has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. But there's more than just your education. There's experience required. She was in banking for years and served as Senior Vice President for 11 years. Then she served 18 years in the corporate world. So she had decades of experience. Her compensation for 2011 was $51 million. $695,747. I didn't put any cents on there. I think that's enough. Most of us could not think about, wait a minute, they're going to give me stock options and everything that comes with her compensation of $51 million? How about the CEO of JC Penney? Everybody knows who JC Penney is. What would it require? Well, Ronald Johnson did the job. He was hired in 2011. He had a bachelor's from Stanford University and a master's from Harvard Business School. He had 25 years experience as a business executive, working for companies like Target and Apple. Mr. Johnson was paid for his job in 2011, $53,281,505. But in 2012, the stock dropped 22 percent and he was fired. Not that you will feel sorry for him. I doubt I would, but he was actually fired the next year. But the top paid person in the United States is named Tim Cook. Most of you know the name. He's the CEO of Apple. And he had a bachelor's, actually his engineering degree from Auburn University. But he got his master's from Duke and he spent over 20 years in the business world and the computer world and so forth, at which he was hired and he was actually paid then $102 million, $108,263. Paid over $100 million. Now most of us say, yeah, you know, I'd like that. I'd like to do that. If I got that job, I'd probably only work a year. How about you?

I'd say I worked enough. I'd ride off into the sunset. I'd jump out of that plane with the golden parachute. You bet! And we would all look at that and say, hmm, wow. Well, the pages of your Bible actually tell us that God doesn't expect us to do that. He expects more. That's a piddly job compared to what God has called us to do. Because Tim Cook runs Apple, one of the biggest companies in this world.

God says, I'm not limited into this world. We're going beyond this world to the entire universe. And to do that, he needs people. Or whether I should say that or not. He doesn't need any of us, does he? But he wants to share this incredible job, career, destiny, opportunity with many besides his son. Do you have the criteria for the job that he's wanting us to do?

I guess to be proper in English now, they actually are tearing that word down. It's criterion because it's actually more than just one thing. Do you possess that? Are you looking at that? And what would be the criterion for a king? Criteria is basically the standard by which something can be judged or decided. I'd like you to turn with me to 1 Peter. First verse today, 1 Peter. 1 Peter 2.

Verse 9, many of you know that. Memory scripture for me. It says, but you are a chosen generation. What does it mean to be chosen? Whole sermon by itself. We should know. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. Whoa, there's royalty in there. You realize that? A royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people.

Pretty big stuff. Not like you turn a few pages over in your Bible because I'm reading from the New King James. Like you turn to Revelation 5. Revelation 5. It's also said here, we won't break this down. We did a study a couple years ago through these verses in Revelation, so I will just touch on this one and move on. But in Revelation 5, it says in verse 10, it says, and you have made, you can see that there's a note in your Bible, it's not us, but you have made them kings and priests to our God.

And they shall reign on...where? Earth. Earth. That's a big job. That's a big career. That's a big destiny. You're gonna reign on Earth, but then we find out later we can look into that, that it's beyond just this Earth. So how do you prepare to be a king? Really, think about it. Our queen, how did Queen Elizabeth, what did she go through? What about the queens and kings? What do they do to prepare?

Netherlands. You have royalty there, right? Who is the king and queen? I heard that one time. William. Okay. Yes. And that's considered...I mean, I've seen the pictures when I was in Aruba of that, and they put big displays and so forth, billboards of their...because they're considered what? A colony of...yes, for Netherlands. Yes. Yes. You know one thing you haven't got? Most kings have been students of history. If you've read about many kings, you realize that they are students of history.

Why? Why is it important for those kings to know who came before them? What came before them? Their country's history. The other countries that border their history. You see, the Bible. The Bible is our history book. It is our owner's manual, as I like to say. It's something that God has given us to know our history or the history of the world in which we will reign. Do we realize that? Pretty big stuff. Yeah, it's interesting the NFL is getting ready in another month. They'll have the Super Bowl, and one of the things that you do at the Super Bowl, then there's a draft for next year, and then you enter training camp.

And one thing they do when you enter training camp, they call it in NFL circles, the Bible. Their Bible. I had a young man that worked for me one time in my previous life that actually went and he was on, made it in a training camp. And he stressed to me, he got cut at the very end of camp, so he never made it. His dream rose in the NFL.

Well, yes, he did. He went up for a year and played in Canada, and so he did there. But he was stressing to me that the one thing they gave him, they gave him a book like this, a notebook like this, and it was the team's playbook. And he was to look and read and know this inside. Now, they told him, anything you needed to know about your future is in this book. And it was a playbook. And it's very important because everyone knew you didn't lose your playbook.

It was that important. Brethren, we have a playbook just like the NFL. It's called the Bible. And we should make sure that we don't lose ours. And he said they would actually have teammates play jokes on you because the older veterans would actually take and steal their playbook and hold it for 24 hours and the new rookies would be, you know, sweating it out and not wanting to tell the coaches that they lost their playbook.

Very, very important. So, as we look at this Bible, we look at this history book, we see God's instructions to kings. So, what did God expect from a king? Let's go back and look. If you will go with me to Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy 17.

I'd like you to join me in verse 14. Now, you have to remember, this is written a few hundred years before Saul became the first king of Israel. This is when they were still in the wilderness. They hadn't even thought about a king yet. Yet, God knew they would want one. And so, here's what he said in Deuteronomy 17 verse 14. I read from the new king James. He said, When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it, and dwell in it, and say, this is what they're going to say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me. You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you. You may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother. But he, this king, shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. For the Lord has said to you, you shall not return that way again. Not going back! And then he says in verse 17, Neither shall he multiply wives for himself. Boy, they missed that one, didn't they? Oh, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. Missed that one too, didn't it? Okay, any lesson learned so far here? Because this is what this is about. And also, it shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests and the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord as God, and be careful to observe all the words of these law and these statutes. And look at something else. When you become king, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren. Hmm, seen any kings that show that humility? Not many, right? Is there a reason Jesus Christ came as a humble servant? He said, I came to serve. Kind of a good example for the king of kings, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, and prolong his days of his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. So here we had, he was to write and read the law, the instructions of this book. And we also see that he will also lead his nation into battle. We'll find out later. And you see another example of the kings. He shall serve as a judge. Remember Solomon when the two prostitutes came forward with one baby? What are we going to do? Oh, well, mine! Split it down the middle.

And not only will he serve as judge, but it also must know your lineage. It has and always has been big to God. It's big to him now. It's big to those who are training to be kings.

Know who the lost ten tribes are? Most of the world does not. But the royalty of God should. It's interesting. Know the lineage. I read a...it's probably been 10, 15 years ago. I read a article, and at that time, Prince William and Prince Harry of England, they were all in the news. And one of the things that was brought out about them growing up was that every king in Britain, over Britain, they were supposed to know where they came from and who came before them. And so before you were able to actually become 21 years of age, you were instructed on every king and every queen who had ever reigned from 1053. A-C-E. And you should be able to name them, tell something about their reign, all the way up to you today. And to do this, they said that the royal family, the servants and their instructors, would actually quiz them from the time they were five or six years old. And so they would actually be doing something, or running through, or playing, or whatever, and one of their instructors or family members would come up and ask them, the year is 1623, who was king? And it was their job to know that. Trained! So that they know the history. We! We! Are we biblically literate on the royalty in this book? How do you fare? Do you know? Do you know there were 42 kings, actually 41, one queen, in the history of Israel? Do you know who they were? And you know how many were good, how many were bad? You know, we went through a story last year. We talked about Hezekiah, we talked about Josiah, we talked just about King David, we talked about Solomon, that we just finished the book of Ecclesiastes, and so we saw something about them. How important is it? Do we realize the good ones and the bad ones? Do we realize that when the nation split and became the north and the southern kingdoms, that Israel never had a good king? Everyone was bad! Some really bad. And with Judah, you had good kings, you had bad kings. Does everybody know all the bad kings of Judah? You know the good kings of Judah? You know there was at least eight? Yes. Peter, do you mind helping me with worries? Now you will know! There's no reason for you not to know. Take that, please. Take that, please. And those out to the royalty sitting out here in the room today.

Something for you to know. Who were the good, the bad? Who was the worst of the worst of Israel? Who was the worst king in all of Judah? Because you see, kings were set apart as a consecrated ruler. They were actually anointed with oil. They were put in that position. And as we know from Nebuchadnezzar, explaining in Daniel that he then began to realize that there's no one that rules over anything of the earth that God doesn't put there.

And you see, God had these kings over Judah and Israel, and they served his purpose for over 500 years. 500 years!

I'd like you to join me now as you look at that thing. I hope you can take that home. Study it. It's a quick reference to the kings. But I'd like you to join me before a very quick trip. I'm going to look at my watch. A very quick trip as we go back to 1 Kings. I want you to look with me as we look at some of these kings. And we will go through Abisham, Asa, Asa, Nadab, B'ahasha, Ahab, Amaziah. You have all these names. But I'd like you to read this because I'll just give a short version over each one, just a few scriptures of each one, showing what God was looking for. But also, I'd like you to use it because I'd like you to assess yourself. You remember Saul? Everybody remembers the story of Saul, hopefully. If not, you will read it. He was the very first king before the nation was divided. He was the very first king, except he's very moody.

You might, some would say today, he might be bipolar.

But he was very moody. He was just like, fits of anger. How about you? And God really couldn't use Saul very long because he wasn't a good ruler.

It didn't take long while he still had the job that God found a replacement for him. You remember the story of David, right? And David was considered one of the good kings, and he was. God was happy with him, except he did have some issues and problems, which we've covered before. But David also was an impetuous individual. He numbered Israel. He would just get something and, ah, there we go! Let me go do this without really getting counsel and studying. How about you? 1 Kings 15 verse 1. In the 18th year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abhijah became king over Judah. They had already split, of course, by this time. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. Whoo! That's a short time, isn't it? Only three years. His mother's name was Makah, the granddaughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father, not good, which he had done before him. His heart was not loyal to the Lord, his God, as was the heart of his forefather, David. Nevertheless, for David's sake, the Lord, his God, gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem. Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not turned aside from anything he commanded him all the days of his life except the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

Verse 9. In the 20th year of Jeroboam, the king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah, and he reigned 41 years. Pretty long time there. His grandmother's name was Makah, right? Same as the other and the granddaughter of Abishalom. Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David. And he banished the perverted persons from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made, and he removed Makah. Did you see that? He removed his grandmother from being queen mother. That couldn't be an easy thing to do, but who said reigning was easy? Who said training for royalty was going to be easy? He removed because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. One of those wood-carved phallic symbols is what she did. And this was the queen, not something that God wanted to happen. And Asa cut down her obscene image, and he burned it in the brook-kidron. But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was loyal to the Lord all his days. Now go down to verse 25. Now Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, the second king over Israel in the second year of Asa, the king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel, what? Two years. Pretty short reign. And he did what? He did evil in the sight of the Lord, walked in the way of his father and in his sin, by which he had made Israel sin. Like you turn to verse 33. Verse 33, chapter 15, in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Ba'asha, the son of Adashah, became king over all of Israel and Tizra, and reigned Tizah, and reigned 24 years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin, by which he had made Israel sin. Okay, so we have a few examples of kings there. But I'd like you to go to 1st King 16, next chapter, verse 29. As we get the worst king during his time, 16, verse 29. In the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, the son of Amri, became king over Israel and Ahab, the son of Amri, reigned over Israel in Samaria 22 years. Now, Ahab, the son of Amri, did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him. This was one evil king. And he doubled that by marrying an evil woman. Right? And it came to pass as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebuch, that he took as wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethebal, king of the Sidonians. Well, guess what? He was not only king, he was also priest. So he was a Baal priest and king.

Kind of bad lineage there, isn't it? To have her as a queen. And he went and served Baal and worshipped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings who were before him. Hmm. Was a wicked guy.

I'd like you to consider the statement, if you read all these kings and you have the, you have the notes there in front of you that you can take and use. We won't go through that. I'm not going to burn the time when you can just read it also. But look at what is the difference between a good and a bad king. Easily laid out. God himself defines. It's a pure line of demarcation between a king who is a good king and one who is evil. And it's so simple because it says, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. What about you? What about you? Are you training and doing what's right in the sight of the Lord? Are you training your children? Are you training your neighbors by your example? Are you training your mate? Are you training your grandfather, your grandmother by the example you set?

And then look at the other turn. It's so simple because he said, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. And it isn't just that someone sinned because we all know David sinned, right? About Uriah, about number in Israel, some of the other things he might have done. But the difference is it's not one thing, it's not five things, it's a way of life. That is what difference a good king and a bad king, between a sinful person and a righteous person. We all sin, but let's be hopeful. We are not sinners. That we see it and we repent and we work on it. These kings who were evil, they were evil night and day, week after week, month after month. Simple? It goes back to the question, what about you? What about me? What am I doing? I'm being trained to be a king.

So are you.

See, somebody thinks that's funny. I'd like you to go with me to 2 Kings. 2 Kings. 2 Kings 18.

Because here we had, and I'm doing a sermon on it, one of my favorite characters in the entire Bible. One of my favorite kings was King Hezekiah. That incredible story that's there about that Isaiah relates to us and so forth. But here, Hezekiah in chapter 18 and verse 3, as he is king, he was 25 years old when he was made king. And in verse 3, it said, He did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done. He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden images. You remember those obscene images that were everywhere? And broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Neshitan, which was actually serpent. Hard to believe they would worship it, but they did.

And verse 5, he trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any who were before him. Pretty good resume. Isn't it? For he held fast to the Lord, he did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord God had commanded Moses. What about us? What about the Ten Commandments? What about our way of life? I met with an individual who called me this week. He will be coming next week. We met, and I was trying to explain as he was trying to understand our church. I said, it's not a religion. You must understand. It is a way of life. It's not just something you show up, and you keep 24 hours holy. That's part of it, but that's not it. It is a way of life that we live. And I tell you that so that you'll understand that from the beginning. And why I'm in my sermons. Why I am passionate, because we're talking eternal life, not something to play around with. And I've seen people who came, and they were baptized. They felt like it was it, and the next thing you know, they just didn't think it was important to come. Oh, it just comes every now and then. It doesn't cut it. It's not what God's looking for, as we gave the sermon a couple weeks ago about integrity of what it requires. So all these kind of follow in the same direction. So here we see Hezekiah and why God called him really a wonderful king. But look what happened. You would think he's 25 years old. He becomes king. He has children. I actually, if I remember my history, don't quote me on this, but it seems like I remember the history when he was actually 17, 18 years old. He, Hezekiah actually had a son. So he was very young when he married, had a son, had a bunch of children. If I remember my history right, what I found interesting was here, he was righteous during his entire reign. And he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. But something went wrong. Something went off the tracks because of his son. Because as good as Hezekiah was, his son was evil that much and more. How could that happen?

Go with me to 2 Kings 21. 2 Kings 21. Verse 1 through 7. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. Uh-oh! There's a young guy. Shouldn't he be an influence by his father? What about all those guys? What about Isaiah hanging around there? And he became king and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hefseboth. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations who the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. For he rebuilt. His father went down and tore up all these high places. He tore up those altars. He tore up everything, those idols. Tore down. Spent his whole life doing that. Here his son takes over at 12 and guess what he did? Wow! Let's go rebuild those. You think that that young, he came up with those ideas himself? Don't think so. How about people that influence you?

For he rebuilt the high places where Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He raised up altars for Baal and made a wooden image as Ahab king of Israel had done. And he worshiped all the hosts of heaven and he served them. Astrology! Ah!

The son, the moon, worshiped them. Okay? Verse 4. He also built altars in the house of the Lord, which the Lord had said, in Jerusalem, I will put my name. So He actually built altars inside the temple.

And He built altars for all the hosts of the heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. Also, He made His son pass through the fire.

Sounds huh. You mean, wait a minute, He had a little fire there and He made him pass through it and jump over it? Ow! No! Human sacrifice! He burnt His son to death! As part of worshiping each other gods. Can you imagine that child screaming as the flames melt his skin off his body and his father says, ahh! How evil must that man been?

Then He practiced Sothane, used witchcraft and consulted spirits and mediums. I went by yesterday, or day before, I went by where our tax guy has his office right there and he's rented part of the building, he's rented it to this terror reader. It's a medium. And when I went there to drop some off, the terror person, the the the spiritist, wasn't there and it had a sign. It says, if you need a tarot card reading, call and I will be here in five minutes. And I'm like, if you're that good, you should know people are standing there.

Mmm. Let's finish this. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke God to anger. He even set a carved image of Asheroth that He had made in the house of God. He made it and He set it in the temple right there by God's throne, which the Lord had said to David in this house in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out, I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. I will put my name forever.

Brethren, kings and royalty are held to a higher standard than regular people. It's historical. It's everywhere. We are held to a higher standard, aren't we? That's what our history book says. Followers of God, followers of Christ, you're held to higher standards. Don't set your mind on the things of this earth. Set your mind on the things of above. How many other scriptures do you know?

We're training. We're being raised, reared for a higher purpose. It's royalty.

We need to read about the saints who came before us. Not only the kings, but the saints, those who possess His Holy Spirit, that that is filled with these men, these women who came before us. Priscilla and Aquila, do you know who they are? You should! You're going to be serving eternity with them. Look what they did. Look at that passion that they had for God and His work and His people. So, royalty in God's kingdom. That's what you're studying, is about royalty. Because you see, today's saints are the princes and princes in the kingdom, in the royal family, as we are preparing to rule.

Are you? Are you preparing to rule? As we wrap this up today, like you turn to Revelation 20, as we...a couple more verses.

Revelation 20, verse 6, said, blessed and holy is who there is part in the first resurrection. That's royalty.

Over such a second death has no power, because they're going to live for eternity. Romans 6, 23, right? They shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall do what? What is it? Rain. Rain, rule. Rain, rule with Him a thousand years. And then some. And then some. Like you look over on my...same thing on...same page on my...in my Bible, Revelation 19. Revelation 19, verse 7, talks about the marriage supper. And says, let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be or ate in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Royalty. But then, after...after that, in verse 11, the wedding supper, then all of a sudden it's our call. It's our call to battle. It's our call as royalty to follow the King of Kings. As it says in verse 11, then I...then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, and he who sat on it was named Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like the flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except him. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. The armies of heaven clothed in what? That same white linen. White and clean followed him on white horses. The first act of the New Kingdom is war. We will follow the King just like previously they followed their King into battle.

Do we possess the criteria to rule? This is no temp job. This isn't something you go, three years, okay, done. Do we possess a criteria to rule and reign in the kingdom of God?

Because in Revelation 21, you can look over there, it's on my same page, Revelation 21, verse 7. It says, he who overcomes shall inherit... what, just a few things.

You're going to get a horse, and you're going to get a crown, and I'll give you that linen robe. No. What does this say? He shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. That's our Father. We will inherit everything.

Men and women.

Humans have proved in the last 6,000 years they are incapable of ruling this world. Only the king of kings is qualified. Only he is qualified to rule this world, and he is the king of many kings.

Because as the question is asked to him earlier about what will happen, and he said, don't you know that there will be neither male nor female? So that's why this word king is used, because we're going to be like him. We will be kings over the universe under the king of kings. Scriptures. That's what he says. I want to leave you with a quote from a very good...he was a good friend of mine. Thought a lot of him. He died just before the Feast of Tabernacles, I believe, or just after. I can't remember. He's from Tennessee. Quiet guy, but knew the Bible, studied it, knew it, believed it, and he will reign with Christ. No doubt in my mind there. His name was Don Todd. He was a quiet individual. But if I had a question about the Bible or anything, he was solid. And I had actually started working on a sermon about ruling in kingdoms and reigning way back then, 10 years ago. And I went to him and I said, what's your thoughts on this?

Because I said, you know, how many of us are ready to rule? And he said, that's not really a fair question. And then he told me this, and I have it written down, but I've known it all the years, because he told me something so profound, I couldn't get it out of my head. Because he said, the big thing is, in order for one to rule over others, they must first be able to rule over themselves. Okay? I want to say that again, because I do. In order for one to rule over others, they must first be able to rule over themselves. So profound are we. Are we?

Being a king is not a job. It's not a career, but a destiny. The time to prepare is now.