The Only One to be Seated at the Right Hand of God | Max Lucado | The Only One | Oak Hills Church

52:45 Good morning to you. So happy that you're here. May God's richest blessings be upon you. We are in the next to last message today of a 12-part series under the title, The Only One. And I will say that, you know, I think I've been privileged to bring about 60 message series, not messages, but series, 60 series at the church here since before Noah when I came.

53:21 And this, boy, if it's not my favorite, it's right up there with it. I've thoroughly enjoyed pondering with you and exploring how Jesus is the only one, absolutely unique. There are things that are said about him, absolutely distinctive, that cannot be said about anyone else. Today, we're going to consider this, that Jesus is the only one to be seated at the right hand of God. Now, several of, well, only one of you have asked, why no jokes?

53:59 Yeah, only one. I was hoping more would miss. The fact is that I needed every possible minute, it seemed, for every possible sermon. And so I haven't been giving you any new jokes. That doesn't mean that I've not been learning a few. In fact, I recently participated in a pun competition. I did. Yeah, I wrote 10 puns on a sheet of paper, mailed them into the competition, hoping one would win. But no pun intended. that's why I don't tell jokes they're not any good they're not any good Thanksgiving is coming a bit early here at Oak Hills next Sunday November the 23rd a week from today we're going to give thanks in a special giving Sunday a special opportunity to make contributions that will benefit the needy around our region And please pray how the Lord might use you to be a blessing to others.

55:16 Boba Land kids will be bringing their banks, their piggy banks, complete and full with coins. Did you see they're doing away with a penny, speaking of coins? Whose idea was that? We might ought to grab a few of those pennies in those kids' banks and say, no, we won't do that. But we will all be bringing our gifts, including our kids. If you're not able to be here, please, you can give any time online to our Radical Generosity Offering Fund. I hope you'll be a part of that. Thank you, Father, now for this opportunity. Please open our hearts as we open your word.

56:00 Forgive our speaker, his sins are many, and help us to see Christ. That's all we want to see is Jesus. Through Christ we pray. Amen. Amen. Westminster Abbey is the crown location for coronations. Since its construction in 1066, it has hosted the investitures of 40 monarchs. Songs have been sung. Regalia has been worn. Banquets have been held. King after king. Queen after queen. Jewels, candles, vows, witnesses, all right there in London. The Abbey is famous for famous coronations. Often cited as the most excessive is the installation of George IV in 1821, costing the equivalents of $26 million in today's economy.

57:05 The expenses included costumes and jewels and armor, a feast for over 4,000 people. The banquet included 160 dishes of fish, 480 trays of sauce, 80 pies, and 180 gallons of punch. 30 of the 40 monarchs are buried there in the same abbey in which they were crowned. All of them would be buried there, except since 1760, there has been no more space. Each royal, whether king or queen or young or old, popular or unpopular, shares one fact with the others. They relinquished their crowns.

57:54 Their reigns eventually came to an end. Now, Queen Elizabeth ruled for 70 years. there was one king, Edgar Etheling, who reigned for only two months. Some ten years lasted decades, others days, but none of them lasted forever. They all ended. Don't they all? Whether the throne be British or Roman or Babylonian or Hawaiian, it'll eventually be abdicated, vacated, surrendered, overthrown. kings and queens come and go with one crucial and wonderful exception and that is King Jesus his crown is forever his his throne is forever his his authority will never pass on to another his reign will never end according to scripture he is exalted and if you see words in bold please read them out loud with gusto he is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion not only in this age but also in that age which is to come yes the greatest kingdom in history is not global it's universal. It's not temporal. It's eternal. And it's not physical. It is physical and spiritual.

59:35 Because, as Paul wrote, God has put all things under his feet and made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. That's in Ephesians chapter 1. When Christ rose from the earth, when he ascended into heaven, he went not to a palace or a mountaintop, no. He went to a throne in deep heaven in charge of running the universe. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. Still, from the book of Ephesians. We have a king, and our king is in control. Here's how the Hebrew writer stated it. When he, speaking of Jesus, had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. That's where he is right now. He sat down. That phrase implies a completed work, an accomplished feat. In other words, no one and nothing escapes his authority. So of all the people to ever breathe air or walk on earth, Jesus is the only one to be seated at the right hand of the Father. He has subjected every possible foe. He has defeated every imaginable enemy, and now he is above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come, Ephesians 121. I wonder when the apostle Paul wrote that, if he listed ruler, authority, power, leader, or anything else, just in case there might be the possibility that he had left something out.

1:01:43 He envisions any possible mogul or monarch or power or leader. They all have one thing in common, and that is they must submit to the authority of Jesus Christ. He picked up this theme also in the book of Philippians. God elevated Christ to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Yes, there is coming a day in which every knee will bow. Every knee. Under the earth, that includes all the demonic forces, On the earth, that includes anybody who has ever lived on the earth.

1:02:40 Above the earth, that would be the angelic cosmic powers of God. Every knee will bow. So the question is, have you bowed your knee to Christ? Because you do not want to wait until the day of judgment because that time will be too late. Bow this day so you'll be ready that day. such as the privilege of worshiping a king. We have a king. There's a reason that heavenly beings offer Jesus ceaseless worship right now in paradise. There is a reason that the elders place their crowns at the feet of Christ. There's a reason that the demons, yes, even the demons, confess him and call him Lord. There's a reason that every tribe, tongue, and language will worship Jesus.

1:03:36 And that reason is this. He is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Thank you, Paul, for writing that in your letter to Timothy chapter 6. Now, why does this matter? Why does the supremacy of Christ make a difference in your life? Why do you need to know today about the supremacy of Christ in a way that'll make a difference in the way you live your Monday through your Saturday this coming week. Simple. The vocabulary of our lives includes words like cancer and murder, recession, deformity. Every day we awaken to the possibility of a plane crash, a hurricane, a shutdown, a setback, and this world can feel out of control.

1:04:34 Some years ago, I was one of three people in a small airplane flying from San Antonio to Dallas. One pilot and two passengers. It was a good day for a flight. The sky was clear.

1:04:54 The weather was good. The flight was pleasant. but midway between here and Dallas the pilot turned to the two passengers and he said guys I think I'm going to throw up I leaned forward from the back seat and I looked at him and beads of sweat had popped out all over his forehead he was sick he said I've got to land this plane I didn't know how to land the plane our friend Steve Green who was traveling with us Steve did not know how to land the plane There was only one person who knew how to land the plane, and he was about to puke. it was not a good moment.

1:05:52 Can you imagine how Steve and I felt? You can if your version of the world in which you live has no king. You can if you assume that no one's in control, that no pilot has the hand on the throttle, that nobody knows how this journey of life will end. Do you ever wonder why anxiety is the pandemic of our day and age?

1:06:18 At the risk of oversimplifying a complex question, I have an answer that's really pretty simple. I think people are convinced that the cockpit is empty. they've bought into the lie that our pilot is either absent or he never existed or if he does exist he's incapacitated or unavailable and folks if humanity has no capable navigator we're in trouble my face turned as pale as the pilot's as I watched him tap on the screen and look for a A landing strip. If I'd have had rosary beads, I would have rubbed the paint off of them.

1:07:08 It's a scary thing to have a sick pilot. It's a far scarier thing to have an unoccupied throne. Think about it. If your life has no king, then as far as you know, your future is in the hands of rogue viruses,

1:07:29 cruel tyrants, inebriated drivers moody economies you're a cork bobbing in a stormy ocean untethered unassisted that paragraph describes far too many people if it describes you could I tell you about our king consider these three terms that characterize the monarchy of King Jesus Christ. First, his reign is permanent. His reign is permanent. The word the Bible used to describe the monarchy of Christ is eternal. He is an eternal king. This means that his strength will never diminish. Yours and mine will and has.

1:08:23 You're not as alert in the evening as in the morning. You can't run as fast at the age 80 as you could at the age 20. But God, he is the living God and he endures forever. Daniel chapter 6. He never pauses to eat. He never asks an angel to cover so he can go take a nap. Indeed, the scripture says he does not get tired. and he never sleeps. God's strength does not wane, and his truth does not waver. Boy, ours does. We've learned to season our words with salt. We have to eat them so often. Our opinions change like the weather.

1:09:15 Have you ever noticed how much you know about being a parent before you have kids? but then your opinions change. Solving a problem of world hunger or poverty is one thing in a high school social studies class. It's something else in the real world. Our convictions change, but Jesus is never do and never will. His view of right and wrong is the same with you and me as it was with Adam and Eve. He doesn't change. The scripture says that the word of our Lord shall stand forever, according to the prophet Isaiah. Since his truth will never waver, his ways will never alter. He will always hate sin, but he will always love sinners. He will always despise the proud, but he will always exalt the humble.

1:10:11 He will always convict the evildoer, and he will always comfort the heavy-hearted. He doesn't change. He doesn't need to take a poll. He doesn't need to consult an advisor. He has no advisors. He never changes direction midstream. He never has to recalibrate his course. Did you know he has never amended the heavenly constitution?

1:10:40 He will always be the same. With him, in fact, there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1, 17. Catch Christ in a bad mood? Ain't gonna happen. Fear exhausting his grace? A minnow will swallow the Atlantic Ocean first. Think he's given up on you? He never will. the foundation of his path will never tremble and the cross will never lose its power and the blood of Christ will never fade in strength as J.I. Packer wrote what he does in time he planned from eternity and all that he planned in eternity he carries out in time you have a permanent king this immutability this feature that he will never change, would matter little if he were capricious or cruel, but he is neither. How beautiful to declare that not only do we have a permanent king, we have a personal king. He knows you. He knows you. And he knows what it's like to be you.

1:12:02 That's the message of the incarnation. But friend, it's also the message of the coronation. It's the message of Christ in the manger. But it's also the message of Christ on the throne. Because he continues his empathy in the heavens. How? How do we know this? He is still in his glorified body. the very body that rose from the grave, that the disciples touched, that the people saw that body ascended into heaven. No scripture suggests that Jesus left his physical body on earth like a butterfly would leave the cocoon. He took it with him. Why? Why?

1:12:54 Why can we say, and why does it matter, that people in paradise right now can see the physical body of the glorified Christ. Simple. He wants you to know that he gets you. He wants you to know that he gets you. And when you pray about your pain, he might very well touch his own scars. when you let out a sigh, he might very well exhale one in solidarity.

1:13:26 When your legs grow weary, he recalls how his legs did the same. The book of Hebrews says, since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested. Trust him to do that, would you? Trust him. Trust him to take care of you. Trust him to do what he has promised to do, and that is to care for his children. Have you ever heard this limerick about the robin and the sparrow? Said the robin to the sparrow, I should really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so. said the sparrow to the robin, well, friend, I think that it must be that they have no heavenly father such as cares for you and me.

1:14:25 When Beth Bezier was on our staff some years ago, she emailed a great story to me. She explained that one year that she was living in Florida, during a calendar year, they weathered three hurricanes. in a 12-month period.

1:14:46 When the third storm was forecasted, she set about the task of getting her property ready for the wind and the rain. In the process, she noticed a family of squirrels had made a front yard tree, her front yard tree, a home. They had built a nest. She was worried for them, Concerned that they might not survive the coming storm, she took a ladder and a broom and she began to beat the limb. In her email, she said, My thinking was if I could knock the nest loose and disturb the mama squirrel enough, she would stop building this nest and move on to a sturdier location. so I beat and pounded and she squealed and chattered hurling little squirrel four letter words at me while I was trying to explain to her that a big storm was coming and that her nest wasn't safe and I was only doing this for her own good that I could see what was ahead and while she couldn't see it from her perspective it was really for her best you ever feel like someone's beating your limb is someone shaking up your world might it be that someone is your king who is stirring things up for your own good we have a king who cares we have a king who protects us a king who knows us and does what is best to protect us now can that be said about any other self-proclaimed guru or prophet?

1:16:37 Is Muhammad seated on a throne? Does Confucius wear a crown? Or maybe the almighty dollar. Is the dollar able to hear your prayers? The throne of the universe has just one occupant, Jesus Christ. And in addition to being permanent and personal, One more. His reign is preeminent. Preeminent. The Apostle Paul framed it this way. Jesus is before all things.

1:17:13 And in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body. The church. He is the beginning. The firstborn from the dead. that in everything he might be preeminent. Preeminent. The Greek word for preeminent means to be first in rank, to be first in influence. In other words, Jesus has peerless power, authority, and position, supreme and exalted. He is preeminent in the universe. Is he preeminent in your life? give that question some careful thought is Christ preeminent in your life Many people would say that Christ has a place.

1:18:20 in their life. I could say that about Mount Everest. I own a book about Mount Everest. I can honestly say Mount Everest has a place in my life. I don't know where that book is. And right now I cannot remember what it's about or who wrote it. But I do believe that Mount Everest is the highest summit that we humans on earth could ever hope to ascend. Everest has a place in my life, but it's not preeminent in my life. I have no intention of climbing it. None whatsoever. Never have. Never will.

1:19:06 I do not know a tour guide who could help me. Never contacted an outfitting gear place. No, I don't know the best itinerary from San Antonio to Kathmandu. I don't. Everest has a place in my life. I own one book. But preeminent? I do know some people who take it up a level. They own several books.

1:19:45 They have looked at the maps. They've watched a movie or two. They've discussed, could we ever do this? There is one guy I know who climbed a peak in Colorado in preparation, anticipation, that maybe someday he could do the same in the Himalayas. I think you could safely say that Mount Everest is prominent in their lives, but preeminent? I believe that tag would only apply to the 12,000 people who have successfully summited Mount Everest and by all means the 335 souls who have died in the attempt.

1:20:44 Were you to examine their calendars, their pocketbooks, their plans? were you to talk to their family, their co-workers, their friends? Were you able to examine the way they used their vacation time or blocked out their future? You could study their lives and say, man, Mount Everest was preeminent to them. takes us back to our question.

1:21:13 Is King Jesus, he is preeminent in the universe, but is he preeminent in your heart? in my heart or somebody to assess my calendar or somebody to examine your budget or somebody to just watch the way we live or somebody to talk to the people who listen to us talk Could it be said that Christ is preeminent in their lives? if not what could we do what could be done could we move from Christ having a place in our lives being prominent in our lives to truly being preeminent not just wearing a cross but kneeling before the cross not just asking for favors but giving our worship.

1:22:23 Not just by acknowledging him, but by following him. preeminent. Everything changes when you have a king. he knows how to fly a plane in case you're wondering that pilot got us down I mean here I am it was scary but he found a landing strip in the middle of a cotton field of all things and he touched the wheels of that plane down just in time to throw open it well you don't want me to tell you but I had my doubts he's a good pilot but that day I had my doubts but can I go on record and say about Christ Jesus I have had none he's a perfect pilot he's a good king and if he says he will do it he will do it and he deserves to be enthroned on the throne.

1:23:41 of our hearts. Amen. Thank you, Lord, that you do take care of us in the way that you do. Grant us, Father, a greater sense of awe, loyalty, and love for you. We get distracted. We tend to worship puny deities. But, Lord, we want to worship the only true deity. Jesus Christ. Through Christ we offer this prayer. And all God's people said. each week we create a opportunity for you to say yes to Christ if you never have so for the next three or four minutes could I ask you just to remain in the room in a spirit of prayer because we've been asking the Lord to touch hearts is he touching yours today could be the day that you make him your king as we've already pointed out someday you will kneel every knee will kneel every person will bow before the throne but you don't want to wait and let that be your first day because that'll be too late the time to do it is now and he wants to be your king he wants to take care of you and he doesn't want you to live in a kingless kingdom so we offer this prayer it's a simple prayer follow me please as i lead us through it word by word and then when the prayer is over if you're saying yes to christ or coming back to christ we'll ask you to stand up so we can applaud your decision let's pray together jesus i'm not perfect for i have sinned but i believe in you save me change me forgive me I give you my life in Jesus name

1:25:46 Amen Amen. Beautiful. Anyone want to stand up and let God know and let the church know that you are now part of the king, the king's kingdom, part of his kingdom on earth. You're going to seek first the kingdom of God.