God Blesses Us with a King

We were created to be dependent. This seems difficult for many of us. It seems counterintuitive because we've been trained our entire lives to think that we need to be self-sufficient, self-sustained, not needy and independent. We have been trained to think the goal is to be needed, not to need others. So, when we admit that we need someone, when we admit that we depend upon someone, we're admitting a weakness. Dependence is scary because we want to know that we can trust the one that we depend upon. We want to know that we're not entrusting ourselves and depending upon someone who's a tyrant. Dependence is scary because we may lose the one we depend upon and then be left empty and without. Dependence is scary because we must admit that we are weak. and not strong. We must admit that we have longings and we lack what others can provide. The sad truth of this is the one we deny and need the most is the one we depend upon the most. We need God at the most basic level for the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the most basic elements of life that sustain us. We depend upon him, but yet we rarely acknowledge that dependence. We were created to depend upon God and depend upon one another. The modernist dream of an isolated, autonomous, independent man only led to the most destructive and deadly century this world has ever known. God should rule over us. He should have complete authority over who we are, what we do, and even what we like. The key thing we must realize is that God is good. His reign is good. He is not a tyrant. We're the ones that have committed treason. He's not the abusive, selfish one corrupted by power. Rather, He is the loving God who has committed Himself to the goodness of His people. He is faithful even though we fight against Him. He is loving even though we are all liars. The beauty of the Gospel is that God exercises His rule with love and grace. He puts us back in a right relationship with Him. He puts us back in a place where we submit to Him. As Christians, we get to know His rule of love rather than what we deserve, which is a rule of wrath. Our message this morning is simple. God blesses us with a King who rules us with love and grace. God blesses us with a king who rules us with love and grace. We're looking at Genesis 49. Really, this is a continuation of Genesis 48, even though it is a unique unit within that greater section of Jacob preparing his household for his death. And it's important to observe here that Genesis is ending with blessing in the same way it began with blessing. Genesis 1, God blessed the world with goodness. God blessed man with a woman in Genesis 2. In Genesis 3, God blesses us in the midst of the curse. That sweet promise that we long for, that we cling to. In the midst of the curse, after we sinned against God, He promised a Savior, a hero, a champion, a king, who would reverse the curse. In Genesis 3, He gave us that blessing of a promise that He would put things back in proper order. In Genesis 12, God blesses Abraham, the beginning of the covenant family. And here we end Genesis 49 with a blessing to all the sons of Israel. God is good and He blesses His people with good gifts. That's what we're going to learn about God this morning. That He is good and blesses His children. Now Genesis 49 is a continuation of the adoption ceremony of Ephraim and Manasseh. He now has the two new sons and so he blesses the other sons. And Joseph's blessing is going to fall on Ephraim and Manasseh. The unit is framed from verse 1 to 28. And you can see the repetition of the idea of the sons of Jacob in verse 2 and the tribes of Israel in verse 28. It's Jacob calling out the sons and then it's concluding in verse 28. These were the 12 tribes of Israel. The focus here is on him blessing his sons. Now, as we look at this, he begins to address them, not in their birth order. If we were to look simply, we see that it starts with Reuben, and then Simeon, and then Levi, and then Judah, but then it jumps to Zebulun and Ithacar. Well, they were born after Dan. The reason they're clumped together is because those are all children of Leah, his first wife. Dan and Gad and Asher and Naphtali, those are all children of the concubines. They're the servant women of the wives. They're clumped together for that purpose. And then he ends with Joseph and Benjamin, the wives of his most loved wife, Rachel. We need to focus here just for a second, and I want to go ahead and make a comment here on verse 18. I wait for your salvation, O Lord. I don't think this is connected to Dan any more than it's connected to the rest of the sons. I believe in the midst of him going through the blessings and even a few curses and looking at the trials and tribulations and trouble that his children are going to go through, he stops and calls out to God, I wait for your salvation. I wait for you to end the trials and the sin of this world. I wait for you, O God, because you're our only hope. We'll talk about that a little bit more, but verse 18 stands alone, I believe, as a prayer and a calling out to God. Now, as I thought about these different sons, it actually took me back to my high school shop class. Because there, the teacher, Mr. Cooley, who we lovingly called the Wooly Cooley, he told me, he was addressing me particularly, he said, you know, in a class like this, you get to know the really good students and then you get to know the troublemakers. And everyone else in between, you don't remember their names, sadly. But you can try to figure out which one I was in the class. But here, you see a lot of these sons, they get a line or two. Gad, Asher, Naphtali, even Dan, Ithacar, and Zebulun. Very little attention. But the ones that cause the most trouble, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, they get quite a bit of attention. The ones that are faithful, Or faithful repentance, Judah and Joseph, they get the most attention. You see here that he focuses on some sons with more words, and that should draw attention to those sons. I want to start with the least amount of words, the sons who receive the least amount of attention. Let's look at Gad, Asher, and Naphtali. This is verses 19, 20, and 21. These are the sons who receive the least amount of attention. To Gad, he says, raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their hills. Now, Gad is placed in a difficult place. They're on the eastern border. They're across the river. They have many enemies all around them. And so they will constantly be under attack. And they will also have great warriors. That's why he says that they will be at their hills. Verse 20, Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies. Well, Asher was put in a very safe land, in a very rich land. However, they never removed the Phoenicians. And so, it's somewhat of a question as to if these royal delicacies will come from the Phoenicians or from Asher himself. Naphtali, verse 21. Naphtali is a dare let loose that bears fruitful thorns. Naphtali is blessed with very few enemies and therefore they are protected and they are prosperous. Let's go to the next grouping, Zebulun, Issachar, and Dan. They get about the same amount of attention together, even though Zebulun and Issachar are sons of Leah, and Dan is a son of a servant. Let's look at verse 13, Zebulun. "...shall dwell at the shore of the sea, he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon." He's going to go in the uppermost northern section of the territory. He'll be blessed near the coast. He will have many trade opportunities and Sidon here is a great wealthy nation which he will be blessed from. Issachar. Issachar is a strong donkey. crouching between the sheepfolds. He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant at forced labor." This is the first word on C where there's a bit of trouble. It's a car strong, but he's stubborn like a donkey. And he sees that the land is good, but instead of working to remove the inhabitants as God commanded, he does not remove the Canaanites. Instead, he allows himself to be enslaved by them. His guilt is that he was lazy and satisfied to just be a servant to the foreigners that he was supposed to remove. Verses 16 and 17, Dan. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backwards. Now, Dan is one of the most significant tribes in terms of the fact that they provided Samson the judge. Maybe this is referring to Samson and the great victory he would have over the Philistines. Dan is compared to a serpent. It's the only animal that the Sons, or that is compared to, that lives alone. Dan is kind of a lone ranger. We're going to see that they remove themselves from the allotment that Joshua gave them and move far north later on in their history. Their greatest hero is Samson, and they will. be a serpent in the way. They will bite at the path, bite at the heels of the horses so the rider falls backwards. They're going to be a battling people. They're going to be striking others who are their enemies. I believe this is most likely referring to the great victory of Samson. Let's move quickly to the last son mentioned. Last in order, Benjamin, verse 27. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf in the morning devouring the prey and in the evening dividing the spoil. Now Benjamin has really been one of the most beloved characters so far that we really don't know a lot about. He's that youngest son, the other son of Rachel, the most loved wife. The most beloved son that Jacob is clinging to. He's the younger brother of Joseph who he's weeping over. And so we've grown to love him, but we don't know a lot about him. But those who would come after Benjamin, well they know Benjamin is one of the most infamous tribes of Israel. Simeon and Levi, they've got the legacy of Shechem. But Benjamin, if you were to turn to Judges 19, don't do it now, do it home later, you're going to see this tribe committing atrocities that are like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, but even worse. The tribe was almost wiped out of Israel because they were so wicked. We also know from Benjamin, this is Saul's tribe. This is a tribe that eventually produced the king that wasn't supposed to be. The tall king. And red flags should have been going off everywhere when they wanted a Benjaminite. Not just because of the atrocity from Judges 19, but because the scepter was not supposed to come from Benjamin. The scepter was supposed to come from the tribe of Judah. I want to save Joseph's blessings for next week as we say goodbye to our dear friend Joseph in Genesis 50. I want to look at our first three sons, the first three tribes. We're going to focus a bit more attention here on Reuben, Simeon and Levi, because that's where the text takes us. These three are remembered for their sin. Let's look at Reuben. Verse three, Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the first fruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence because you went up to your father's bed, then you defiled it. He went up to my couch." Now notice there in verse 4, the major sin that Jacob was calling out in repetition. You went up to your father's bed, and then he personalizes it. You went up to my couch. This is referring back to what we read in Genesis 35-22. It was just a small comment in the midst of Jacob and Esau reconciling. But it was a comment that was very important that Reuben went and he slept with Bilhah, the concubine. Reuben showed lots of honor and dignity early on. Remember when Joseph was thrown in the pitch or Joseph was taken over by the brothers. Reuben said, let's throw him in the pitch. Let's not kill him immediately. He had an exit strategy, he had a plan. He was going to try to save his brother's life. He shows some moral standard there above the other brothers. He had a responsibility as the older brother, and he was trying to help Joseph. Then in 42, 22, whenever the brothers come to, well, they didn't know Joseph at the time, and they feel like they're being cursed, he becomes the, I told you so. The blessing begins with boasting of his strength and honor, but it ends with the great tragic memory that he defiled his father's bed. He's too unstable to lead the family. His sin is not just breaking the commitment of adultery and breaking the commandment of not coveting your neighbor's wife, but he doesn't honor his father. His desires were undisciplined. Let's look at Simeon and Levi. They're clumped together. Simeon and Levi, you are brothers. Well, of course they're brothers. I believe he's also saying you're partners. Even partners in crime, weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their counsel. Oh, my glory, do not do not be joined to their company. For in their anger, they killed men and in their willfulness, they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce in their wrath, for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Simeon and Levi, they're being remembered for raping and murdering Shechem. You can look at that in Genesis 34. They use circumcision, the sign of blessing that was supposed to be for all peoples, as a means of cursing this particular people and wiping them out and murdering them. The word here for sword is actually unique. It's not the typical word for sword. The base word there, the root of the word is actually melech, to cut. The same word that's used for circumcision, alluding to Shechem, where they circumcised all the men so that they could kill them in their weakness. We look at verse six. We see a couplet here, the first two lines. Reveal that Jacob wants to be honest. He doesn't want to be associated with him. He wants to disassociate himself from them. Do not let my soul come into their counsel. Do not be joined to their company. And then he gives a reason for in their anger they killed men and their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. He first disassociates himself and then he gives a reason why. They're cruel. They're full of wrath. They're full of hatred. And then they hamstrung oxen. Now, the story doesn't actually talk about them hamstringing any oxen, but I believe he's talking about hamstringing an oxen is meaningless violence. It's making the oxen worthless. I believe he's talking about how meaningless their violence is, how illogical and irrational they are. They just do things that are wrathful and out of their anger for no real purpose. And then it becomes a curse. Curse be their anger. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Now, Levi is scattered as the priesthood. The Levites were spread all throughout the tribes to serve as priests for all the different tribes. They didn't have a particular land allotment, but they got little places throughout the nation. Simeon, on the other hand, really gets a worse deal than Levi. He's given an allotment that's somewhere below Judah, but really it's supposed to just be consumed by Judah. Simeon's tribe does not have a lineage. They are consumed by Judah. As I think about these brothers, we should see a great warning from them. Our first inclination is to wag our finger and shake our head and say, how naughty are these boys? But that would only build up our own self-righteousness. We must see that we are sinners saved by grace only because Christ has died for us as our Savior. We must look here and see that there's real consequence for sin. The sin that caused these sons to commit these atrocities, that same sin is in our hearts. It may not come out in our words, it may not come out in our actions the same way as Reuben and Simeon and Levi, but that sin lurks deep. We are depraved. We should be afraid of the power of sin. Sin is dangerous and it can disqualify us from certain blessings now. Just like it disqualified Reuben from being the firstborn and having the king born from him. It disqualified Simeon from having an inheritance and a land. It disqualified Levi from getting his own particular land. So, how can sin disqualify us today? First, Given that this is the Deacon Nomination Day, sin can disqualify us from the offices in the church. There's a long list of qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 that are expectations for all Christians. Things like do not be greedy, be self-controlled, be respectable, do not be violent, be gentle, be managers of your home. These are expectations for all Christians, but clear requirements and qualifications for those who want to lead. We must realize that God doesn't need us for our gifts. God uses us in our faithfulness. God does not look for the most gifted person. He looks for the most faithful person. The one who longs for Him, who seeks Him, and who follows Him. That is the kind of leader that God uses in His church. If we want to be used by God, we should seek to be faithful. We should seek to repent of sin, to avoid sin, to be kept from sin. Deacons and those who aspire to lead be challenged this morning to depend upon God to protect you from the sin that lurks in your own hearts. Depend upon God to forgive you of that sin, to keep you from that sin, Commit more time to prayer, because you will need more help from God, because you will become under greater attack from Satan and sin. We should all long to be used by God. He uses the faithful one, not the gifted one. Secondly, sin can keep us from experiencing the peace we have in Christ. Sin can keep us from experiencing the peace we have in Christ. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. But when we are proactively seeking out sin, when we are proactively participating in sin, we do not feel that assurance. We don't experience it. It may be the reality that we have in the right hand of the Father because we've confessed Christ, but do we experience it? If you are lacking assurance, if you are lacking an experience of grace, if you're lacking an experience of true worship. Trace back to where you started sinning and stopped repenting. We will have no assurance if we are letting the temptation speak louder than the assurance the Spirit gives us. We will have no assurance if we're allowing our guilt to speak louder than the cross. We are called to have this experience of assurance. We are called to experience Christ daily as He speaks to us, convicts us and corrects us. If you're not having that experience, think back to when you stopped repenting. Think back to when you let sin have a stronghold and go back and repent and seek the forgiveness that is only found in Jesus Christ. We must realize that if we persist in sin and not in repentance, we should not fool ourselves that we have hope in Christ. As we see in Abraham and Isaac and even Jacob and Judah, men who sinned greatly, God led them to himself. Love wins with God's people. And what that means is that God will lead us to a proper relationship with him. Yes, we all live in sin. Yes, we all have sinful hearts, but we are not called to persist and to walk in sin. We are called to repentance. If you are not living a life of repenting of sin, you should question your assurance. You should question if you truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Know that He is quick to forgive. Know that if you confess your sin, He will forgive you. Third, we must realize that our hearts are sinful deep down. The root of sin is deep. As the hymn says, there is a treason in my heart. Our hearts are prone to wonder. We must constantly be dependent upon God's grace to obey Him. We must constantly be dependent upon God's grace to have forgiveness. If you're not afraid of sin today, You don't really know what sin is. If sin doesn't scare you in the way it can trap you, destroy you, bring death. You've never really seen sin in light of the gospel. You've never really seen sin and what it intends for you. Sin isn't something to be played with. Something to be feared. Because once it puts its trap around you, only God can redeem you and deliver you. Sin looks deep in our hearts. It's seeking to come out in our words and our actions to hurt others and to condemn us. We must depend upon God to protect us from our own sin, and we must be afraid of its power to capture and torment us. Now, let's turn to hope. We've turned from the three brothers who have disqualified themselves with their sin. Let's turn to hope. Let's turn to Judah, verses 8 to 12. We'll be here for the rest of the day. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's son shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as a lioness, who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him. And to him shall be the obedience of his peoples. Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, He has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine in his teeth. Whiter than snow. Let's begin in verse 8. We see a triplet here. We see the first and the third line of verse 8 relate to how the brothers are going to bow down to him. Your brother shall praise you. Your father's son shall bow down before you. There's parallelism there, emphasizing that you are going to be the king, worthy to be worshipped. There's a changing of the guard here. Remember, up to this point, the dream of Joseph has driven the story. The dream that his brothers will bow down to him. Joseph, not Judah, was the temporary ruler of the entire world, not just Israel. He was the one who would be the ruler. But it was only temporary. There was a changing of the God because the eternal, permanent, perfect King who would rule the world as God He would come from Judah. Your brothers shall praise you. You now have preeminence, Judah, among the tribes. The middle line. Your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies. Not only will your brothers bow down to you, but you will be victorious. Your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your enemies will be at your footstool, as Psalm 110 said. So we see a changing of the guard. Verse 9, Judah is compared to a lion's cub. He's compared to this royal figure, the lion. First a cub, then to a lion. This could allude to how Judah has grown in maturity and developed from a lion's cub to a great lion himself. Judah will be mighty, strong, and majestic, like a lion. All will fear him. The lion was regularly used in the ancient Near East as a symbol for royalty. It's a perfect symbol for royalty because it's a majestic beast. It's mighty and strong. It brings fear. It's both beastly and beautiful. It's beastly in the sense that once the lion puts its paws upon its prey, it destroys it. It conquers it. Nothing is more dangerous and ferocious and to be feared than a lion. Once it sinks its teeth in, that prey is dead. The lion is beastly. It is to be feared. It's raw. It's raw. It's powerful. Disarming its enemies. Shimming shivers down our spines. It's beastly. But it's also beautiful. The stately strut of the lion. The majestic mane. It's a powerful, beautiful beast that perfectly symbolizes royalty. Verse 10, in case we missed the imagery of the lion, the scepter will not be removed from Judah. Clearly referring to his rule, the scepter symbolizing his power to rule. Now, we have a textual problem. The second, the third line in verse 10, until tribute comes to him. We don't, there's a problem in terms of which text is the clearest. The ESV follows one tradition until tribute comes to him. The King James version in the NASB follow until Shiloh comes to him. Now NIV follows another tradition until he comes to whom it belongs. Now, we don't have to really worry about this because the main focus here is that there is one who is coming and it's focused on him. The issue is if it's going to be coming to Shiloh, if he's going to be coming to Shiloh, if he's going to do tribute, or if he is just simply coming to his own people. I don't believe Shiloh is the best option. One, I'm not sure if Jacob knew of Shiloh at this point. Also, Judah never knew or never came to Shiloh himself. I think the best option is the NIV option. We use the ESV, but I think the best option for the textual problem is the NIV. Until he comes to whom it belongs. Until the one that this royal promise, until the royal figure comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Now, the word there until, that's not saying that he's going to have a temporal reign. This is pointing to David first, who did have a temporal reign, but ultimately it's pointing to Jesus Christ. David was promised in 2 Samuel 7 that he would have a son whose reign would not end. So the until here, which is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, his reign is not temporary. It's permanent. It's eternal. It's perfect. But it does change. You see, Christ came once as a humble savior. Riding in on a donkey. To save sinners. To be judged as if a sinner to save sinners. When He comes again, His reign will change because He's going to come to judge. He's going to come to judge sinners. All who do not depend upon Him and call out to Him as Savior. They will be judged. His reign changes. It never ends. And notice here that all peoples will come to Him, not just the nation of Israel, not just the tribes of Israel, all peoples. As we look to this, we must see that Christ and His rule is universal and it's ultimate. All people groups, every person everywhere will submit to the one King. The kingdom of God is when God rules in righteousness and His people submit in praise. God rules in righteousness and his people will submit in praise. That is what the true king will bring. Let's look at verse 11 and 12. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and is vesturing the blood of grapes. Now, this is fairly not familiar. It's unfamiliar to many of us as to what's going on here because we don't have vineyards and most of us do not have donkeys. You don't tie a donkey, much less a colt, to your choice vine. If the donkey is tied to the choice vine, he's going to eat all of the fruit. He's going to eat all the leaves. He's going to destroy the vine. You don't tie a donkey, or its colt especially, to the choice vine. Today, in our world. But the kingdom that this king is going to bring in, is so prosperous that it doesn't matter. There's so many choice vines. There's so many grapes. There's so much prosperity. It doesn't matter. Tie the donkey to the vine. We've got plenty others. It's so prosperous that it doesn't matter if the donkey eats the vine. We have many others who produce great wine. He has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. This is interesting in the sense that why would you wash your garments in wine? It's simply stating that wine and grape juice and the product of the vine is so prominent, is so available, that it's as common as wash water. Wine is as prominent and as available as water because this kingdom is so prominent. is so full of blessing. His teeth are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk. Just symbols of great health and prosperity. As we look at the imagery of the wine, my mind immediately goes to Jesus Christ and the beginning of his ministry. He goes to a wedding at Canaan. And they've run out of wine. His mom says, do whatever this boy says. And he turns the water into wine. He turns what is common into not just wine, but the best wine. When the guests drink it, they say, who brings the best wine in afterwards? Jesus was so prominent and so able that he turned water in the wine. I believe what we're seeing there in that miracle is just a foretaste, a sampling of the kingdom of the true God who will bring in abundantly for His people a world where we have wine instead of water. Where we have His great blessing. Our cups will overflow from His many blessings. One of the challenges here, do we believe that His kingdom is going to be better than this world? Do we truly believe that Jesus, who reigns as our King, is going to bring a world better than this world? Are we investing in this world more than that world that is to come? Do we believe now is the time to enjoy life? Or is the life to come that which is our true delight? As we think about the lion imagery, I want to go back to that. because it's rich throughout Scripture. Let me read Revelation 5. I'll be reading from Revelation chapter 5. Then I saw in the right hand of him who is seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, Weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns, with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the world. And he went. and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain by your blood. You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth. Then I looked. And I heard around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power, and wealth, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped." We have two images here. We go back and we see this is the lion of Judah. This is the root of David. This is the king, the hero, the champion. But the focus isn't on his majesty and his power as a lion. The focus ends up being on his sacrifice as a lamb. You see, when Jesus Christ came, he did not come warring in his royalty. Instead, he let his enemies prevail over him. He let them conquer Him. He let them shave off the majestic mane. He came in peace riding on a donkey and did not fight back with His full power. Instead, He allowed them to lead Him as a lamb to the slaughter. With one word, with one mighty roar, He could have conquered them all. He could have killed them all. The same power that He had when He spoke creation to existence. He could have let that power be unleashed upon His enemies. But instead, he let them crush him. The king was killed. The most true proclamation of that day was done in mockery when they hung the sign, this is the king of the Jews. He died as our hero king because it was the only way he could truly conquer our greatest enemy. He was led to the cross as a lamb so that He could lay down His life for ours. The one God who became like us in every way but without sin. The innocent one. So that God's wrath may pour out upon Him instead of us. So that His righteousness could be given to us. So God would call us His sons and His daughters. He died humbly as a lion. The power of the Lion was unleashed because He conquered wrath. He conquered sin. He conquered death. He rose victoriously with a mighty roar to give us hope, to give us peace. He now stands in all of His royalty at the right hand of the Father in all of His majesty to be worshipped by us. He is the powerful Lion who has delivered us. But we must never forget that the powerful lion came as a lamb to die for us. This paradox is captured well by C.S. Lewis. He's good. He's not safe. He's not a tame lion. He's not a lion that we create in our image to be this nice, soft, merciful God. He is merciful, but His mercy is only sweet when we see it in light of His holiness. He is powerful and He should be worshipped. We should have fear and awe of God because we have sinned against Him. But now we get to praise Him because He loved us and He saved us. Friends, He is our King. He is our mighty King who has saved us with His power by dying for us. There's no greater love than what we have received from God in Jesus Christ. As it is Commitment Sunday, I want to think about how Christ rules our life. He is our Savior. We should worship Him. We should praise Him. We should thank Him for all that He's done to conquer our greatest enemy, sin and death. But now He's worthy of our worship. He cannot be our Savior if he's not also our Lord and our King. Returning to where we began, we depend upon God. He should rule over us. He should rule over everything we are, what we do and what we want. So, three areas that God should rule, given that it is our stewardship Sunday. How does God rule our finances? Maybe that's the wrong way to ask the question. Are they even our finances? Is it not a gift from God? Everything we receive. Does He have the authority to tell you how to spend your money? Does God have authority over what you think you have earned apart from Him? Does God have authority over the way you should want to spend your money? Let me ask another way. How does your spending reflect your convictions and your beliefs? How does your spending reflect your convictions and your beliefs? Because this is what's true. You will buy what you want. You will spend your money where your heart is. You will invest in what you love. Look over your bank statement and ask yourself, what do you love? Is it the kingdom that Christ is bringing in? Or is it your own sinful appetite? It's a good task. Do your desires reflect your doctrine? Secondly, how does God rule your time? Know that all 1,440 minutes belong to Him. How does the way you spend your time reflect Him? It's the one thing we never have enough of. We're all busy. We're all going to spend our time the way we want to spend our time. We have to be intentional in making sure we're spending our time serving others. As Christ came and laid down His life for us intentionally, we must intentionally seek to spend our time serving and caring for others. Worshipping God. If you want to know how you can do this, contact your deacon and ask him how Can you serve our homebound members and others with your time? Last question in the stewardship. How does God rule our thoughts and our desires? What do you dream of? What do you hope for? What do you delight in? What do you find satisfaction in? See, this is where religion starts. The heart. In your desires, religion isn't what you do. Anybody can get up and dress up and come to church and smile for a couple of hours. True religion is found in what we love. Do you love God more than the things of this world? Our hearts are prone to wonder and delight in the things of this world. We must discipline them, lest we become like Reuben, Simeon, or Levi. Let's look back at verse 18. I wait for your salvation. We know how it has come. We know the Lion has come to die as the Lamb. We know that for Him, He's going to be bringing the Kingdom. Are we waiting eagerly and expectantly for this Kingdom? Or are we making the best of this world, trying to find our true delight in it? Make this your prayer. to wait on the salvation that is coming when the Lion returns to call His children home. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Holy, holy. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. How majestic You are, our great God. How sweet it is that You have humbled Yourself to love us, to die for us, to give us hope who are hopeless. Let us praise You in all Your glory. Let us praise You and laud You. Let us worship You, God. May Your Spirit lift up our hearts. Let us be able to think outside of this physical world and let us delight in the things that are of Your world where there is peace and prosperity. Where our sin no longer corrupts our worship. Let us wait upon that. Let us long for that. And let us get a taste of it as much as possible now. We thank You. That you made a promise that you would reverse the curse. You made a promise that you would send that lion who would conquer. We get to see it in Christ. Thank you, O God, for your salvation. Help us to wait upon it. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.