Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: John 18
Preparing for Worship

Preparing for Worship

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Morning Worship

9:30 am

650 Kennedy Drive

Northglenn, CO

Scripture:  John 18:33-40

Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Sermon:  Christ, The King

  1. He subdues us unto Himself.
  2. He rules and defends us.
  3. He restrains and conquers all of His and our enemies.

Catechism:  Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions #97

What is required for the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper?

It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love and new obedience; lest, coming unworthy, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

1 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Worship

Bless the Lord I my Soul

There is a Redeemer

When I Survey a Wonderous Cross

 
Hearing The Voice of Christ

Hearing The Voice of Christ

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Hearing The Voice of Christ

…“You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

John 18:37b

We continue today to meditate upon the Kingship of Christ as a function of His Mediatorial Office. The words of our text for today are these, ‘Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.’ Here, we dwell upon the fact that ‘Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us unto Himself,’ as the Shorter Catechism puts it. When we think of this, we want to consider it in relation to other texts which allude to it, and complement it. David declares in Psalm 110:3, ‘Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.’  Christ, Himself refers to it when He says, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’ He refers to it again in the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’ What we want to contemplate next, is that Christ ‘subdues’ us unto Himself in a way which is more akin to a lover wooing the great love of his life, rather than a conqueror crushing subjects underfoot to bring them into subjection. We see the picture of this wooing laid forth beautifully in the Song of Solomon.  Christ ‘subdues’ us unto Himself by that warm, gentle drawing of us unto Himself by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Having regenerated us, the Holy Spirit brings us, by His effectual calling, to embrace Christ as He is freely offered to us in the Gospel. This is the process of Christ, the King, working to ‘subdue’ us unto Himself. We find in it, the fulfillment of Psalm 110:3, ‘Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.’

O, Christ, our King,
we rejoice in You, that You have drawn us unto Yourself,
by the Power of Your Holy Spirit.
We praise You, that by Your Loving Grace,
You have made us Your willing subjects.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Christ, The King

Christ, The King

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Christ, The King

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”  Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king.  For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

John 18:37

As we continue our discussions of the three functions of the Mediatorial Office of Christ, we come to consider Christ as King.  When Christ was on trial before Pilate, there was a point at which Pilate needed something to justify putting Christ to death.  The charge the Jews pressed, was, ‘we found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is “Christ, a King.”’ Pilate inquired of Christ personally as to whether He was, in fact, the King of the Jews, to which Christ replied with the words of today’s text.  Christ did not equivocate in the least.  He was very clear to Pilate about His Role as King.  This is important for us to grasp if we are to understand the Mediatorial Office of Christ.  Christ is the promised King.  When Jacob was dying he prophesied, ‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.’  Isaiah beheld Him as King in the sixth chapter of his prophecy.  He went on to speak of His Kingship in the ninth chapter of Isaiah, ‘For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.’ These are but a few of the passages we could marshal to prove, from Scripture, the Kingship of Christ.  The most important question, however, is not, ‘is Christ a King,’ nor is it, ‘is Christ The King,’ rather the important question is, ‘is Christ my King?’  Have I become the willing subject of King Jesus?  Have I embraced Him as Savior, and submitted to Him as Lord?  If He is my Prophet, and my Priest, does it not follow, that He must also be my King?  Let us dwell today upon this King of Righteousness, as our King forever and ever.

High King of Heaven, we rejoice that,
‘Jesus shall reign where e’er the sun does his successive journey run.’
We praise You, that ‘every knee shall bow and every tongue confess,
that Jesus Christ is Lord.’

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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