September 24, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of the Legacy Bible Podcast, we reflect on Proverbs and the powerful imagery of kingship throughout Scripture. Earthly kings wielded absolute authority—sometimes for good, sometimes for evil. But what do these ancient truths reveal about the ultimate King, Jesus Christ?
From Proverbs to Revelation, this message explores God’s absolute authority, His throne established in righteousness and mercy, and the hope of eternal life through Christ’s sacrifice. Whether facing the fearsome authority of a lion-like king or the tender mercy of the Lamb, we are reminded that Jesus reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords—and He desires to reign in our daily lives today.
📝 Shownotes
- Scripture Focus: Proverbs 16, 20, 25, Revelation 4–5, Philippians 2, John 3 & 5, 1 Thessalonians 4
- The authority of earthly kings vs. the authority of God.
- How Proverbs illustrates both the fear and the hope of standing before a king.
- God’s throne: upheld by righteousness and mercy.
- Revelation’s vision of the Lamb on the throne—power and meekness united.
- Why Jesus is the only King who offers both judgment and salvation.
- The importance of surrendering to Christ’s kingship daily.
Key Takeaway: Earthly rulers may command temporary power, but only Christ reigns with eternal authority, perfect righteousness, and boundless mercy. Will you surrender to His kingship today?
Thanks for listening and please subscribe. if you have any comments or questions please send them to legacybiblepodcast@gmail.com you can check out the website at www.legacybiblepodcast.com Fellowship Bible Church website is at wwwfbcjoliet.com please come back every week for another legacy lesson from the bible by the Re. Chuck Rains.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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This is the Legacy Bible Podcast, the home of legacy audio from the Tape Archives of
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the Fellowship Bible Church of Joliet, Illinois.
Now here's our host, Marcus ONate.
Hello, friends, and welcome.
Oh, welcome back.
We're bringing to you another from our massive Tape Archive over here at the Fellowship
Bible Church.
Let's see.
Today is from March 24, 1991, and it's titled, The King of Kings Wisdom from Proverbs.
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Oh, okay.
Proverbs.
That sounds a good one.
So let's just get right into it.
We'll listen to that, and I'll talk to you on the other side of it.
Go back to the book of Proverbs.
The book of wisdom that the Lord has given to us in our scriptures.
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In the book of Proverbs, there are many things that are said about a king.
I want to read some of the scriptures.
Some words of wisdom about kings.
Verse 16 of Proverbs.
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Every nation has important people in it.
It's true we don't have a king, but we have a government and we have heads of state.
We have a president.
We have senators.
We have congressmen.
We have governors.
We have state officials.
We even have city officials.
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And we even have township officials.
We even have dog catchers.
You have some level at which you have some official, somebody that's important around
you.
In the last instance, the dogs at least think that there's somebody important around them.
You might think that you don't really have freedom in the presence of those officials.
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Or maybe you've shaken the hand of the mayor or maybe a state senator.
Maybe even of a US representative.
Maybe you went to a political rally once.
What a word, brief word or a handshake with some important person or a candidate.
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Most of us haven't talked to the president.
Most of us haven't sat down with him and told him how we thought he ought to do things.
Most of us would have the sense not to do that if we had the opportunity.
How would you behave in the presence of a king?
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Some wise words in Proverbs.
In Proverbs 16 verse 10, it says, King James, the divine sentence is in the lips of the
king, his mouth transgresses not in judgment.
One has given to the governments of this world the responsibility for governing.
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Romans 13 is one of the sections that goes into that and tells us that we ought to submit
to their authority.
But there's something about giving somebody power or authority.
That is that they can use it for good or for evil.
A king was ahead of state that had in a sense absolute authority.
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If he spoke a word, it was law.
Do you remember the way that the government of the Medes and the Persians operated?
When the king made a statement, when he made an edict, when he pronounced an edict, he
couldn't change it.
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It went out with absolute authority and not even the king could change it.
We're glad today that the laws may go out from our government that they sometimes can
rethink them and change them, but not in those days.
Not in some of the empires.
They pushed this truth to its absolute extreme, that when the king speaks, he speaks with complete
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authority.
It's unchangeable.
It's unalterable.
They actually put him in the place of God because that's how God speaks.
When God says it is so, brother, it is so.
The king that you see in Proverbs 16, 10 is a king that is speaking in the place of absolute
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authority.
When the king's word goes out, it goes out as an ultimate statement of fact, of the law.
If he dares to make such a statement in bad judgment, it's going to work awful, awful
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consequences.
So a king, when he speaks, ought to speak, he ought to speak in good judgment.
Well, down in verse 14, it says, the wrath of a king is as messengers of death, but a wise
man will pacify you.
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If you're on the other hand, are in the presence of a king and he's angry, you're in trouble.
Because if the king, one of absolute power, is going to direct that at you, you're going
to be undone.
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So the counsel from the book of Proverbs is, don't stand against absolute authority.
Find out what it will take to make peace with the king and do it.
Don't be stubborn.
Don't resist absolute authority.
Don't resist absolute power.
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If someone's in absolute authority, you're going to have to make peace with them.
Every time we see this picture of a king over and over in absolute authority, I wish you
would see God.
See the Lord himself.
If God is God, you are not going to argue with him.
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You are not going to overcome his word.
You are not going to have greater power than his.
You had better find out what it is that would make him peaceful.
What would pacify you?
What would make him to be at peace with you?
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Isn't it wonderful that the scriptures tell us?
In the same 16th chapter, next verse, it says 15th verse, in the light of the king's
countenance is life and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain.
They have rainy periods, do have rainy periods in Israel.
And the latter rain was the rain toward the end of the growing season that was needed as
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the last rain for the crops.
It was just a wonderful rain that sustained the ground, the growing things, and finished
off the preparation for the final crop, for the final harvest.
If he didn't have those latter rains, of course, you would lose the crop.
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So one would go through the growing season, and as the season would grow drier and drier,
one could look with hope toward the latter rains.
When you're before a king, somebody that's very powerful, somebody very high in authority,
one in fact that they have absolute authority, you start to become aware of how dry your situation
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is, how needy you are.
When you start looking for some indication that things will go well with you, some little
hint, maybe a little smile on the king's face, just a little smile, maybe not a soft
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word, but at least not a shout, not anger, maybe a normal tone, some little indication
that things are going to go well.
So it would be with a cloud of the latter rain, a little indication that the rains might
come.
There was hope.
And it says here that in the light of the king's countenance is life and his favor is
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as a cloud of the latter rain.
If the king would show favor on you, there's hope.
In the light of his countenance, and that really means in his favor, there's life.
No man facing eternal death will ever want to stand before God.
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Yet all men who have turned their hearts away from him will still have to stand in the presence
of God.
They need him as their savior, but if they don't trust him as their savior, they're going
to meet him as their judge.
But all if they could just have life, they could stand in the king's presence in peace
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with no fear, even in the presence of absolute power, absolute authority, they could have
peace, no fear.
By verse 20, turn over there at verse 2, the fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion
who so provoked him to anger, sinned against his own soul.
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You're standing in the presence of an absolutely powerful king.
It's like standing in the presence of a roaring lion.
He could tear you to pieces.
If you're not careful in the presence of such a person, if you tried to stir them up,
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you could find yourself in trouble.
There you are.
You went to the circus.
You had a ticket for a good seat.
You went down the wrong aisle and you ended up in the lion cage.
There was one chair in there.
You thought it was for you.
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This proverb is saying, you better sit down and be quiet.
Whatever you do, don't start running at the lion and shouting at the lion and thrusting
yourself at the lion.
That is not wise.
You're going to stir him up and he's going to be angry and he'll have an early lunch.
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You come into the presence of a king, the way to deal with a king is not to stir up his
anger, but come into the presence of a king, tender-spirited, fearing him.
You need to respond because if you stir him up, you're wronging your own soul.
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You know that last verse of Proverbs 8, I think of it, all they that hate me love death.
All they that hate me love death.
Don't be your own enemy by not dealing with the king.
Now here in chapter 28, verse 26, the wise king scottereth the wicked and bringeth the
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wheel over them.
The wheel is kind of like the wheel that crushes them.
A king that is wise, in other words, tuned to God, tuned to righteousness, that king
doesn't allow unrighteous people to have their way.
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He uses his authority, he uses his power for good.
Chapter 26 of Proverbs, I'm sorry, verse 26 of chapter 20, I'll stay in the same verse,
is of course a verse of judgment.
I want to go on to verse 28, though after that, which he says, another truth about a
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king.
Mercy and truth preserve the king and his throne is upholding by mercy, upholding or
established or the foundation of the throne of a good king.
This verse says is mercy.
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When you come into the presence of somebody with absolute power and when you know what
you really are like, maybe you're honest enough to see in yourself as you stand before
God that you're not perfect.
God would hope so, he wants you to see that, but he is an absolute king.
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He does have absolute power.
So the Scripture wants you to know this, that even though God has absolute power, what you
will find in his presence, isn't just absolute power, absolute authority, but also mercy.
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When you come into God's presence as a sinner, you're going to be very, very aware that you
don't have strength to stand against God.
You don't have an argument against God's righteousness and you're going to cry out for
mercy.
Because by the way, the story of the Word of God is this, that has to be done during this
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life.
It is appointed unto man once to die and after that's the judgment.
If you want to approach God and know his mercy, you're going to have to know it now.
Now is the accepted time.
Now is the day of salvation.
You cannot wait until eternity because if you're called before God and eternity and you have
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not known his mercy before then, you will not know it in eternity.
It's too late.
Our eternity is sealed when we die, when we pass from this life.
That's the declaration of Scripture.
And so God calls to us lovingly and faithfully through his word to deal with him right now
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because he is a God of mercy.
He is a king of mercy.
He is absolute in power, absolute in righteousness.
It's true.
In fact, in this 25th chapter of Proverbs, we see that his throne is established in righteousness,
not only in mercy.
These two things go hand in hand.
Chapter 25 verse 5, take away the wicked from before the king and his throne shall be
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established in righteousness.
Every time an earthly king does something that is right, it supports him in his position.
We've just seen that recently by our president having the courage to stand against wrong
and the international sphere, stand against a man that is out of touch, I would say, with
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the realities around him, even though in his self will and his determination, his leader
in Iraq was determined to be supreme, have his will supreme and his area of influence,
he stretched it too far.
I thank the Lord that our president had courage and stood on principle.
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I don't mean to suggest that our president is absolutely good and all of his decisions
are right, but in this case, I thank God for a man that would stand on principle and it
would seek to bring together the international community and stand on principle of right
and wrong.
Sure these issues are clouded at times.
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Yes, the demonstration started to grow in the streets in America.
Many of us that have lived through the days of Vietnam were wondering, my, are we going
to see a repeat of this?
Is it going to mushroom to large scale?
And some of the leaders of those movements already in the streets were saying, now you'll
see something, you'll see a tenfold increase of demonstration across this country.
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But I thank God and the way things were handled that a quick resolve was brought to that matter.
And the president's stature was increased because he did that which was right.
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His went out and people were really surprised that for a time, maybe for a brief time, but
for a time 80% of the people that were polled supported the president.
And some of the pollsters were really amazed.
And so they spread the polls a little farther around the country and they made sure that
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they were sampling many kinds of communities, both the rural, the urban and east and the
west.
They wanted to be sure and lo and behold, the answer was really there.
His stature had grown because people could respect him for doing that which was right
with his position of power and authority.
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In Psalm 51, David recognizes fully that the Lord is God.
He knows he is sinned and he says this against the and the only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight.
And then he goes on to say that thou might as be justified when thou judged.
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He knows that if God should speak against him and his sin, God would not be wrong.
He gives honor to God that God speaks in truth in righteousness.
And it brings him to an end of himself to cry out for mercy.
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And God in his greatness of mercy and there is no end to his mercy, his loving kindness
was never fail.
Lamentations chapter 3 says, there is no end to his mercy.
He heard that dear man's prayer and he extended mercy.
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You see, the throne is established in mercy and in righteousness.
They have to go together.
And the king will be honored.
Who does that?
Well, what kind of king is Jesus?
Revelation chapter 4 tells us about the king, the Lord Jesus.
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Chapter 4, Revelation chapter 4 verse 2 and 3 tells you about the throne, tells you about
the Lord on his throne.
And immediately I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was said in heaven and one sat on
the throne.
And he that sat on sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone and there was
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a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald.
This green brilliant globe around the throne and around the Lord sitting on the throne.
And over in chapter 5 verse 6, and I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne and of the
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four beasts and in the midst of the elders to the Lamb, as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
We see a lamb on the throne, kind of a mixture.
Lamb is meek.
A lamb doesn't make you think of a great powerful lion at all.
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A lamb makes you think of the weakest of animals.
And here's a lamb on the throne.
But the lamb has these seven eyes, which we have an interpretation for.
Speak of the sevenfold spirit of God.
You want a further interpretation read Isaiah 11.
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Those of all the qualities of the Holy Spirit of God, there are seven in number listed there.
This is a, and seven of course, being a perfect number, speaks of that perfectness of the
Spirit of God in harmony with the one on the throne and doing his work out through the
earth really on behalf of this one on the throne, that harmony between the Holy Spirit
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of God and the Son of God.
This lamb on the throne is seen.
Now chapter five verse nine, and they sung a new song saying, now, we're worthy to take
the book and to open the seals are out for thou works was slain.
This is the lamb was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood.
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That's why it was slain.
That's why he died on the cross that he might pay the redemption price.
It's really the price of a slave that he might pay the price that was owed for our
freedom from sin out of every kindred and tongue and people in nation.
He did it for all men and has made us unto our God.
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What are we now?
Kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth.
It's wonderful to know that your redemption through the blood of Christ brings you not
just into his presence so there can be peace, but even allows you to look forward to reigning
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with him.
His authority is not going to come down on your head.
His power is not going to come down against you in judgment if you have trusted Christ
as your Savior, but in fact, you will have the privilege under his authority, under his
power of being one to operate there to have some authority.
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We don't know where or how quite in the earth for that thousand year reign, perhaps of Christ
in the earth seems that every saint will have some place of service, some place of authority,
not their own authority, but his authority, not their own power, his power, because they're
in harmony with him.
They have known his mercy, they have known his righteousness.
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Now they get to enjoy the flow of his power.
That's the king that we see.
Verse 11 and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and
the beasts and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of
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thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy as the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches.
Men would use riches to get their will.
That's fine.
He has all power.
He has all riches because he does all that he does in righteousness.
We needn't fear that at all.
It's wonderful for him to have all power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
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and glory and blessing.
Every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are
in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power
beyond to him that sit at the pond of throne and unto the lamb forever and ever.
And the forebeest said, Amen.
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And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him to live it forever and ever.
He is a king that deserves worship.
He's a king that serves an absolute authority and power and glory.
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And when we have been redeemed by his blood, we are in such harmony with him that that
power and authority can be worked out through us.
Yet he still must have all of our worship.
We must not claim any of that power, any of that authority, any of that glory for ourselves,
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as unto ourselves or from ourselves, but all from him.
He deserves it because he's the unchanging, glorious, God in Revelation six, next chapter.
At verse 15.
And the kings of the earth and the great.
This is during the tribulation.
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What's going on during tribulation?
Well, people are coming under the judgment of God and so they want to hide.
Don't want this judgment to come upon them.
And so at verse 15 of chapter six, it says, and the kings of the earth.
Now we're talking about those that ought not to have to hide, right?
They have the greatest amount of power and authority.
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Well, the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains
and the mighty men and every bondmen, boy, you go from kings down to slaves and every
free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.
There isn't any power, any authority in all this earth from the highest to the lowest
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that would ever put one on a par with God or make one able to stand in his presence.
If they don't know him as their savior and sent to the mountains and the rocks fallen
us in highness from the face of him that siteth on the throne and from the wrath of the
Lamb.
For the great day of his wrath is common, who shall be able to stand?
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Well, the answer to that is no one is able to stand against the wrath of the land.
Unless they have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.
No one.
What kind of king is he?
In John's gospel, the Lord Jesus says it of himself, John chapter three.
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First, these words of John writing about the Lord, John chapter three verse 35.
The father loveth the son and have given all things into his hand.
He that believeth on the son have everlasting life and he that believeth not the son shall
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not see life but the wrath of God abideth on in.
There it is.
All things are given into the son's hand.
What things?
Chapter five.
Now here's where the Lord is speaking himself at verse 21.
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For as the father raises up the dead and quicken it them, even so the son quicken it to me
will for the father judgeeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son.
In same chapter down at verse 26 for as the father had life in himself, so all so
hath he given to the son that life in himself and have given him authority to execute judgment
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also because he is the son of man.
All judgment is in his hands and he is exalted above every name that at the name of Jesus,
he need should bow every tongue confess that he is Lord.
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That's in Philippians chapter two verse nine, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him
and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every need should
bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.
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He offered himself to Israel, we read it there in Matthew five or twenty one one through
eleven, we read it and within five days and some calculator to be less than that, but
within five days the king was dead, the king was murdered.
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That's what Stephen said to them when he charged them in the book of Acts, the nation of Israel
the people of Israel murdered their king.
They put him on the cross, the Romans put him, they said crucifying, they put him there.
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Yes, the Romans nailed him, yes, they're guilty, the Jews are guilty, we're all guilty because
we're sinners, but they made the conscious choice, crucify him, crucify our king, crucify
the Lord of glory.
He offered himself to them.
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John sums it up in that first chapter, that little statement in chapter one verse 11.
He came unto his own, that means his own things, the things that he created and his own and
that, that in the Greek means his own people, received him not.
He came to his own creation, he came to his own nation, he came to them and said, here
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I am, would you let me be king?
And they said, no, they received him not.
But here's the hope of the gospel, but as many has received him to them, can he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name, do you see it?
He's a merciful God.
It's a great God.
It's a great Savior, but he's merciful.
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Nobody deserves mercy, but he's plenty of sin mercy.
He has no desire to condemn any.
He's provided a perfect salvation.
He is a God of mercy.
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He wants us to know him as Savior.
He's going to come again.
When he left in Acts chapter one, when he left from the Mount of Olives, the angel said,
you're going to see he's going to come in like manner as you've seen him go.
He's going to come again.
He's going to come again for Israel because he's going to be their king.
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Revelation 19 is going to set up his kingdom.
It's not a lovely sight when the Lord Jesus returns because all the people down there
are looking up and what they're seeing when they look up is not what we see.
They look up and they see one with white hair and glowing eyes and burning feet and a sword
ready to smite the nations.
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And he's on a white horse and his clothes are drenched in blood.
I mean, that's not a lovely sight to see coming at you from heaven.
With tens of millions of creatures coming at you also.
But that's what the sinner is going to see that's still alive on the earth.
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What we're going to see is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
He's going to come.
This is a wonderful hope.
Chapter 4, 1 Thessalonians, there's a wonderful section starting at verse 13.
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It goes all the way through 18.
But it says in verse 14, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep, that means are dead in Jesus, will God bring with him?
For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord will not prevent means go before not going to mount up from
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the earth before those that are asleep, those in the grave.
God is a certain order for the Lord himself.
Here it is, shall descend from heaven with a shot with the voice of the archangel with
the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
And so shall we ever be judged under his foot and thrown into hell.
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No, wait a minute.
I didn't read that right.
It says, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort one another with these
words, it's going to be a wonderful day, not a day of judgment, a day of glory, a day
of happiness, a day of rejoicing, a day of homegoing for those that know him as their
Savior.
You see, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, he did.
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If he is your Savior, he will reign in eternity as King of kings and Lord of lords.
He will reign on this earth in his kingdom for a thousand years as King of kings and
Lord of lords, but he wants to reign in your life as your Lord.
Every day he's going to come again.
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The story is for us today on Palm Sunday is that we had better not let the Lord ask to
be King and for us to say no, as Israel did.
If you have received him as your Lord, then you've already acknowledged that you want
him as your King.
Have you lived that out?
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The lordship of Christ is not once and for all settled.
It has to be surrendered to every day.
It is a continual thing in this life.
Oh, he's King, but is a king in your life?
He can only be king as you surrender to his kingship.
Let's pray together.
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Lord, thank you that you, though a King of great power and righteousness, your throne
is also established in mercy.
And though you deserve, Lord, and should have from our lips full recognition of your greatness
and power and glory, Lord, we want to also walk under your mercy, your kindness, your
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forbearance, your patience with us.
Knowing the gentle drops of mercy upon our life, every step of the way, because we look
to you as the Lord of our life, as our joy, as our delight.
I just would pray that we could be as the women were when they realized that you were
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alive.
Because Mary Magdalene was when she realized it was really you.
It's Thomas when he knew it was you, that we might fall at your feet and have a heart bursting
with love and joy.
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Lord, it is you.
Be Lord of our life.
In Jesus name, amen.
All right, thank you Pastor Raines for another message from Proverbs.
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That was a pretty good one, Proverbs.
If you like it, come back next week.
We'll have more from our mess of tape archive.
I guess one of these days we're going to finish up all the tapes and we won't have
a new one next week, but that's not going to happen for, oh, quite a long time, at least
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not in the next couple of years.
So come back.
We'll have more for you to listen to from the past, from the Fellowship Bible Church,
by our pastor, the Reverend Chuck Raines.
Okay, and if you want, you can go to your listening app of choice and you could subscribe,
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comment, just stuff like that.
Send us email.
We got an email last week.
So we like getting emails.
You can't now afford it to whoever it goes to meet or if it goes to the pastor or you
just want the people of the church to pray for you for some reason.
You could send that along in an email and I'll be glad to pass that along to them.
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I'm sure they'll be glad to pray for you.
They're a very praying kind of church.
Okay, so I'll see you next week and until then have a great day.
This is the Legacy Bible Podcast, the home of legacy audio from the Tape Archives of
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the Fellowship Bible Church of Joliet, Illinois.
Now here's our host, Marcus ONate.
Hello, friends, and welcome.
Oh, welcome back.
We're bringing to you another from our massive Tape Archive over here at the Fellowship
Bible Church.
Let's see.
Today is from March 24, 1991, and it's titled, The King of Kings Wisdom from Proverbs.
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Oh, okay.
Proverbs.
That sounds a good one.
So let's just get right into it.
We'll listen to that, and I'll talk to you on the other side of it.
Go back to the book of Proverbs.
The book of wisdom that the Lord has given to us in our scriptures.
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In the book of Proverbs, there are many things that are said about a king.
I want to read some of the scriptures.
Some words of wisdom about kings.
Verse 16 of Proverbs.
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Every nation has important people in it.
It's true we don't have a king, but we have a government and we have heads of state.
We have a president.
We have senators.
We have congressmen.
We have governors.
We have state officials.
We even have city officials.
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And we even have township officials.
We even have dog catchers.
You have some level at which you have some official, somebody that's important around
you.
In the last instance, the dogs at least think that there's somebody important around them.
You might think that you don't really have freedom in the presence of those officials.
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Or maybe you've shaken the hand of the mayor or maybe a state senator.
Maybe even of a US representative.
Maybe you went to a political rally once.
What a word, brief word or a handshake with some important person or a candidate.
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Most of us haven't talked to the president.
Most of us haven't sat down with him and told him how we thought he ought to do things.
Most of us would have the sense not to do that if we had the opportunity.
How would you behave in the presence of a king?
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Some wise words in Proverbs.
In Proverbs 16 verse 10, it says, King James, the divine sentence is in the lips of the
king, his mouth transgresses not in judgment.
One has given to the governments of this world the responsibility for governing.
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Romans 13 is one of the sections that goes into that and tells us that we ought to submit
to their authority.
But there's something about giving somebody power or authority.
That is that they can use it for good or for evil.
A king was ahead of state that had in a sense absolute authority.
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If he spoke a word, it was law.
Do you remember the way that the government of the Medes and the Persians operated?
When the king made a statement, when he made an edict, when he pronounced an edict, he
couldn't change it.
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It went out with absolute authority and not even the king could change it.
We're glad today that the laws may go out from our government that they sometimes can
rethink them and change them, but not in those days.
Not in some of the empires.
They pushed this truth to its absolute extreme, that when the king speaks, he speaks with complete
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authority.
It's unchangeable.
It's unalterable.
They actually put him in the place of God because that's how God speaks.
When God says it is so, brother, it is so.
The king that you see in Proverbs 16, 10 is a king that is speaking in the place of absolute
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authority.
When the king's word goes out, it goes out as an ultimate statement of fact, of the law.
If he dares to make such a statement in bad judgment, it's going to work awful, awful
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consequences.
So a king, when he speaks, ought to speak, he ought to speak in good judgment.
Well, down in verse 14, it says, the wrath of a king is as messengers of death, but a wise
man will pacify you.
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If you're on the other hand, are in the presence of a king and he's angry, you're in trouble.
Because if the king, one of absolute power, is going to direct that at you, you're going
to be undone.
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So the counsel from the book of Proverbs is, don't stand against absolute authority.
Find out what it will take to make peace with the king and do it.
Don't be stubborn.
Don't resist absolute authority.
Don't resist absolute power.
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If someone's in absolute authority, you're going to have to make peace with them.
Every time we see this picture of a king over and over in absolute authority, I wish you
would see God.
See the Lord himself.
If God is God, you are not going to argue with him.
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You are not going to overcome his word.
You are not going to have greater power than his.
You had better find out what it is that would make him peaceful.
What would pacify you?
What would make him to be at peace with you?
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Isn't it wonderful that the scriptures tell us?
In the same 16th chapter, next verse, it says 15th verse, in the light of the king's
countenance is life and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain.
They have rainy periods, do have rainy periods in Israel.
And the latter rain was the rain toward the end of the growing season that was needed as
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the last rain for the crops.
It was just a wonderful rain that sustained the ground, the growing things, and finished
off the preparation for the final crop, for the final harvest.
If he didn't have those latter rains, of course, you would lose the crop.
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So one would go through the growing season, and as the season would grow drier and drier,
one could look with hope toward the latter rains.
When you're before a king, somebody that's very powerful, somebody very high in authority,
one in fact that they have absolute authority, you start to become aware of how dry your situation
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is, how needy you are.
When you start looking for some indication that things will go well with you, some little
hint, maybe a little smile on the king's face, just a little smile, maybe not a soft
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word, but at least not a shout, not anger, maybe a normal tone, some little indication
that things are going to go well.
So it would be with a cloud of the latter rain, a little indication that the rains might
come.
There was hope.
And it says here that in the light of the king's countenance is life and his favor is
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as a cloud of the latter rain.
If the king would show favor on you, there's hope.
In the light of his countenance, and that really means in his favor, there's life.
No man facing eternal death will ever want to stand before God.
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Yet all men who have turned their hearts away from him will still have to stand in the presence
of God.
They need him as their savior, but if they don't trust him as their savior, they're going
to meet him as their judge.
But all if they could just have life, they could stand in the king's presence in peace
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with no fear, even in the presence of absolute power, absolute authority, they could have
peace, no fear.
By verse 20, turn over there at verse 2, the fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion
who so provoked him to anger, sinned against his own soul.
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You're standing in the presence of an absolutely powerful king.
It's like standing in the presence of a roaring lion.
He could tear you to pieces.
If you're not careful in the presence of such a person, if you tried to stir them up,
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you could find yourself in trouble.
There you are.
You went to the circus.
You had a ticket for a good seat.
You went down the wrong aisle and you ended up in the lion cage.
There was one chair in there.
You thought it was for you.
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This proverb is saying, you better sit down and be quiet.
Whatever you do, don't start running at the lion and shouting at the lion and thrusting
yourself at the lion.
That is not wise.
You're going to stir him up and he's going to be angry and he'll have an early lunch.
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You come into the presence of a king, the way to deal with a king is not to stir up his
anger, but come into the presence of a king, tender-spirited, fearing him.
You need to respond because if you stir him up, you're wronging your own soul.
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You know that last verse of Proverbs 8, I think of it, all they that hate me love death.
All they that hate me love death.
Don't be your own enemy by not dealing with the king.
Now here in chapter 28, verse 26, the wise king scottereth the wicked and bringeth the
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wheel over them.
The wheel is kind of like the wheel that crushes them.
A king that is wise, in other words, tuned to God, tuned to righteousness, that king
doesn't allow unrighteous people to have their way.
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He uses his authority, he uses his power for good.
Chapter 26 of Proverbs, I'm sorry, verse 26 of chapter 20, I'll stay in the same verse,
is of course a verse of judgment.
I want to go on to verse 28, though after that, which he says, another truth about a
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king.
Mercy and truth preserve the king and his throne is upholding by mercy, upholding or
established or the foundation of the throne of a good king.
This verse says is mercy.
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When you come into the presence of somebody with absolute power and when you know what
you really are like, maybe you're honest enough to see in yourself as you stand before
God that you're not perfect.
God would hope so, he wants you to see that, but he is an absolute king.
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He does have absolute power.
So the Scripture wants you to know this, that even though God has absolute power, what you
will find in his presence, isn't just absolute power, absolute authority, but also mercy.
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When you come into God's presence as a sinner, you're going to be very, very aware that you
don't have strength to stand against God.
You don't have an argument against God's righteousness and you're going to cry out for
mercy.
Because by the way, the story of the Word of God is this, that has to be done during this
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life.
It is appointed unto man once to die and after that's the judgment.
If you want to approach God and know his mercy, you're going to have to know it now.
Now is the accepted time.
Now is the day of salvation.
You cannot wait until eternity because if you're called before God and eternity and you have
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not known his mercy before then, you will not know it in eternity.
It's too late.
Our eternity is sealed when we die, when we pass from this life.
That's the declaration of Scripture.
And so God calls to us lovingly and faithfully through his word to deal with him right now
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because he is a God of mercy.
He is a king of mercy.
He is absolute in power, absolute in righteousness.
It's true.
In fact, in this 25th chapter of Proverbs, we see that his throne is established in righteousness,
not only in mercy.
These two things go hand in hand.
Chapter 25 verse 5, take away the wicked from before the king and his throne shall be
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established in righteousness.
Every time an earthly king does something that is right, it supports him in his position.
We've just seen that recently by our president having the courage to stand against wrong
and the international sphere, stand against a man that is out of touch, I would say, with
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the realities around him, even though in his self will and his determination, his leader
in Iraq was determined to be supreme, have his will supreme and his area of influence,
he stretched it too far.
I thank the Lord that our president had courage and stood on principle.
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I don't mean to suggest that our president is absolutely good and all of his decisions
are right, but in this case, I thank God for a man that would stand on principle and it
would seek to bring together the international community and stand on principle of right
and wrong.
Sure these issues are clouded at times.
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Yes, the demonstration started to grow in the streets in America.
Many of us that have lived through the days of Vietnam were wondering, my, are we going
to see a repeat of this?
Is it going to mushroom to large scale?
And some of the leaders of those movements already in the streets were saying, now you'll
see something, you'll see a tenfold increase of demonstration across this country.
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But I thank God and the way things were handled that a quick resolve was brought to that matter.
And the president's stature was increased because he did that which was right.
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His went out and people were really surprised that for a time, maybe for a brief time, but
for a time 80% of the people that were polled supported the president.
And some of the pollsters were really amazed.
And so they spread the polls a little farther around the country and they made sure that
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they were sampling many kinds of communities, both the rural, the urban and east and the
west.
They wanted to be sure and lo and behold, the answer was really there.
His stature had grown because people could respect him for doing that which was right
with his position of power and authority.
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In Psalm 51, David recognizes fully that the Lord is God.
He knows he is sinned and he says this against the and the only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight.
And then he goes on to say that thou might as be justified when thou judged.
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He knows that if God should speak against him and his sin, God would not be wrong.
He gives honor to God that God speaks in truth in righteousness.
And it brings him to an end of himself to cry out for mercy.
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And God in his greatness of mercy and there is no end to his mercy, his loving kindness
was never fail.
Lamentations chapter 3 says, there is no end to his mercy.
He heard that dear man's prayer and he extended mercy.
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You see, the throne is established in mercy and in righteousness.
They have to go together.
And the king will be honored.
Who does that?
Well, what kind of king is Jesus?
Revelation chapter 4 tells us about the king, the Lord Jesus.
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Chapter 4, Revelation chapter 4 verse 2 and 3 tells you about the throne, tells you about
the Lord on his throne.
And immediately I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was said in heaven and one sat on
the throne.
And he that sat on sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone and there was
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a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald.
This green brilliant globe around the throne and around the Lord sitting on the throne.
And over in chapter 5 verse 6, and I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne and of the
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four beasts and in the midst of the elders to the Lamb, as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
We see a lamb on the throne, kind of a mixture.
Lamb is meek.
A lamb doesn't make you think of a great powerful lion at all.
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A lamb makes you think of the weakest of animals.
And here's a lamb on the throne.
But the lamb has these seven eyes, which we have an interpretation for.
Speak of the sevenfold spirit of God.
You want a further interpretation read Isaiah 11.
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Those of all the qualities of the Holy Spirit of God, there are seven in number listed there.
This is a, and seven of course, being a perfect number, speaks of that perfectness of the
Spirit of God in harmony with the one on the throne and doing his work out through the
earth really on behalf of this one on the throne, that harmony between the Holy Spirit
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of God and the Son of God.
This lamb on the throne is seen.
Now chapter five verse nine, and they sung a new song saying, now, we're worthy to take
the book and to open the seals are out for thou works was slain.
This is the lamb was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood.
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That's why it was slain.
That's why he died on the cross that he might pay the redemption price.
It's really the price of a slave that he might pay the price that was owed for our
freedom from sin out of every kindred and tongue and people in nation.
He did it for all men and has made us unto our God.
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What are we now?
Kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth.
It's wonderful to know that your redemption through the blood of Christ brings you not
just into his presence so there can be peace, but even allows you to look forward to reigning
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with him.
His authority is not going to come down on your head.
His power is not going to come down against you in judgment if you have trusted Christ
as your Savior, but in fact, you will have the privilege under his authority, under his
power of being one to operate there to have some authority.
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We don't know where or how quite in the earth for that thousand year reign, perhaps of Christ
in the earth seems that every saint will have some place of service, some place of authority,
not their own authority, but his authority, not their own power, his power, because they're
in harmony with him.
They have known his mercy, they have known his righteousness.
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Now they get to enjoy the flow of his power.
That's the king that we see.
Verse 11 and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and
the beasts and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of
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thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy as the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches.
Men would use riches to get their will.
That's fine.
He has all power.
He has all riches because he does all that he does in righteousness.
We needn't fear that at all.
It's wonderful for him to have all power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
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and glory and blessing.
Every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are
in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power
beyond to him that sit at the pond of throne and unto the lamb forever and ever.
And the forebeest said, Amen.
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And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him to live it forever and ever.
He is a king that deserves worship.
He's a king that serves an absolute authority and power and glory.
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And when we have been redeemed by his blood, we are in such harmony with him that that
power and authority can be worked out through us.
Yet he still must have all of our worship.
We must not claim any of that power, any of that authority, any of that glory for ourselves,
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as unto ourselves or from ourselves, but all from him.
He deserves it because he's the unchanging, glorious, God in Revelation six, next chapter.
At verse 15.
And the kings of the earth and the great.
This is during the tribulation.
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What's going on during tribulation?
Well, people are coming under the judgment of God and so they want to hide.
Don't want this judgment to come upon them.
And so at verse 15 of chapter six, it says, and the kings of the earth.
Now we're talking about those that ought not to have to hide, right?
They have the greatest amount of power and authority.
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Well, the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains
and the mighty men and every bondmen, boy, you go from kings down to slaves and every
free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.
There isn't any power, any authority in all this earth from the highest to the lowest
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that would ever put one on a par with God or make one able to stand in his presence.
If they don't know him as their savior and sent to the mountains and the rocks fallen
us in highness from the face of him that siteth on the throne and from the wrath of the
Lamb.
For the great day of his wrath is common, who shall be able to stand?
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Well, the answer to that is no one is able to stand against the wrath of the land.
Unless they have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.
No one.
What kind of king is he?
In John's gospel, the Lord Jesus says it of himself, John chapter three.
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First, these words of John writing about the Lord, John chapter three verse 35.
The father loveth the son and have given all things into his hand.
He that believeth on the son have everlasting life and he that believeth not the son shall
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not see life but the wrath of God abideth on in.
There it is.
All things are given into the son's hand.
What things?
Chapter five.
Now here's where the Lord is speaking himself at verse 21.
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For as the father raises up the dead and quicken it them, even so the son quicken it to me
will for the father judgeeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son.
In same chapter down at verse 26 for as the father had life in himself, so all so
hath he given to the son that life in himself and have given him authority to execute judgment
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also because he is the son of man.
All judgment is in his hands and he is exalted above every name that at the name of Jesus,
he need should bow every tongue confess that he is Lord.
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That's in Philippians chapter two verse nine, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him
and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every need should
bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.
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He offered himself to Israel, we read it there in Matthew five or twenty one one through
eleven, we read it and within five days and some calculator to be less than that, but
within five days the king was dead, the king was murdered.
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That's what Stephen said to them when he charged them in the book of Acts, the nation of Israel
the people of Israel murdered their king.
They put him on the cross, the Romans put him, they said crucifying, they put him there.
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Yes, the Romans nailed him, yes, they're guilty, the Jews are guilty, we're all guilty because
we're sinners, but they made the conscious choice, crucify him, crucify our king, crucify
the Lord of glory.
He offered himself to them.
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John sums it up in that first chapter, that little statement in chapter one verse 11.
He came unto his own, that means his own things, the things that he created and his own and
that, that in the Greek means his own people, received him not.
He came to his own creation, he came to his own nation, he came to them and said, here
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I am, would you let me be king?
And they said, no, they received him not.
But here's the hope of the gospel, but as many has received him to them, can he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name, do you see it?
He's a merciful God.
It's a great God.
It's a great Savior, but he's merciful.
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Nobody deserves mercy, but he's plenty of sin mercy.
He has no desire to condemn any.
He's provided a perfect salvation.
He is a God of mercy.
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He wants us to know him as Savior.
He's going to come again.
When he left in Acts chapter one, when he left from the Mount of Olives, the angel said,
you're going to see he's going to come in like manner as you've seen him go.
He's going to come again.
He's going to come again for Israel because he's going to be their king.
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Revelation 19 is going to set up his kingdom.
It's not a lovely sight when the Lord Jesus returns because all the people down there
are looking up and what they're seeing when they look up is not what we see.
They look up and they see one with white hair and glowing eyes and burning feet and a sword
ready to smite the nations.
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And he's on a white horse and his clothes are drenched in blood.
I mean, that's not a lovely sight to see coming at you from heaven.
With tens of millions of creatures coming at you also.
But that's what the sinner is going to see that's still alive on the earth.
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What we're going to see is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
He's going to come.
This is a wonderful hope.
Chapter 4, 1 Thessalonians, there's a wonderful section starting at verse 13.
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It goes all the way through 18.
But it says in verse 14, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep, that means are dead in Jesus, will God bring with him?
For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord will not prevent means go before not going to mount up from
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the earth before those that are asleep, those in the grave.
God is a certain order for the Lord himself.
Here it is, shall descend from heaven with a shot with the voice of the archangel with
the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
And so shall we ever be judged under his foot and thrown into hell.
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No, wait a minute.
I didn't read that right.
It says, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort one another with these
words, it's going to be a wonderful day, not a day of judgment, a day of glory, a day
of happiness, a day of rejoicing, a day of homegoing for those that know him as their
Savior.
You see, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, he did.
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If he is your Savior, he will reign in eternity as King of kings and Lord of lords.
He will reign on this earth in his kingdom for a thousand years as King of kings and
Lord of lords, but he wants to reign in your life as your Lord.
Every day he's going to come again.
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The story is for us today on Palm Sunday is that we had better not let the Lord ask to
be King and for us to say no, as Israel did.
If you have received him as your Lord, then you've already acknowledged that you want
him as your King.
Have you lived that out?
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The lordship of Christ is not once and for all settled.
It has to be surrendered to every day.
It is a continual thing in this life.
Oh, he's King, but is a king in your life?
He can only be king as you surrender to his kingship.
Let's pray together.
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Lord, thank you that you, though a King of great power and righteousness, your throne
is also established in mercy.
And though you deserve, Lord, and should have from our lips full recognition of your greatness
and power and glory, Lord, we want to also walk under your mercy, your kindness, your
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forbearance, your patience with us.
Knowing the gentle drops of mercy upon our life, every step of the way, because we look
to you as the Lord of our life, as our joy, as our delight.
I just would pray that we could be as the women were when they realized that you were
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alive.
Because Mary Magdalene was when she realized it was really you.
It's Thomas when he knew it was you, that we might fall at your feet and have a heart bursting
with love and joy.
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Lord, it is you.
Be Lord of our life.
In Jesus name, amen.
All right, thank you Pastor Raines for another message from Proverbs.
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That was a pretty good one, Proverbs.
If you like it, come back next week.
We'll have more from our mess of tape archive.
I guess one of these days we're going to finish up all the tapes and we won't have
a new one next week, but that's not going to happen for, oh, quite a long time, at least
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not in the next couple of years.
So come back.
We'll have more for you to listen to from the past, from the Fellowship Bible Church,
by our pastor, the Reverend Chuck Raines.
Okay, and if you want, you can go to your listening app of choice and you could subscribe,
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comment, just stuff like that.
Send us email.
We got an email last week.
So we like getting emails.
You can't now afford it to whoever it goes to meet or if it goes to the pastor or you
just want the people of the church to pray for you for some reason.
You could send that along in an email and I'll be glad to pass that along to them.
(39:18):
I'm sure they'll be glad to pray for you.
They're a very praying kind of church.
Okay, so I'll see you next week and until then have a great day.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com