The Kingdom of God

If you have your Bibles, open them. Open to Matthew

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. And Junior Church can be dismissed.

Thank you. Matthew 4, and we'll just look at

one verse this morning as our text, and we'll

be looking at various texts. And I know some

of you are thinking, we finished Matthew 6 a

few weeks ago, are we going backwards? And now

I want to explain something this morning that

I trust will be a help. And I think if we can

understand this, it'll unlock a lot of Bible

understanding. Because I think there's a lot

of confusion, particularly what is meant on this

topic of the kingdom. In Matthew 4, 17, Jesus

says, or the word of God says, from that time,

Jesus began to preach and say, repent. Why? For

the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Would you bow

with me and ask God to help? Heavenly Father,

we take a few moments and we humble our hearts

this morning. And even in the quietness of the

moment, Lord, would you help us, Lord, to be

still before you. Father, Lord, the most dangerous,

arrogant thing would just be to rush through

and think that, Lord, we of our own natural inclination

and our own natural faculties could understand

your word. But unless the Spirit of God brings

insight and illumination, Lord, it will not profit.

Lord, your word will go forth in power, and it

does not ever return void, but it always accomplishes

the work that you've sent it to do. And so, Lord,

this morning, your people are gathered. They're

your people. They're the sheep of your pasture.

And, Lord, they need to be fed from on high.

And so, Lord, God, the true bread is Christ.

Would you feed them Christ this morning, Lord,

as we open the pages of Holy Scripture? And,

Lord, God, would you instruct us out of it? We

pray this in Jesus' blessed name. Amen. So I

think it is incumbent upon us as preachers, it

is our job, I should say, to be clear and even

more so to be precise when we preach. I mean,

the language and the vocabulary that is used

really ought to help illumine the text and it

should never detract from the text. Yet, if we're

not careful, sometimes we will use words and

we will take for granted that everyone knows

what is being talked about. There's a certain

Christian vernacular, if you will. For example,

oftentimes you'll hear us talk about an old covenant

and a new covenant, and we're just assuming that

everyone here would understand what is meant

by the word covenant. Well, for the past couple

weeks, we were in Matthew 6, and we've been hearing

and we've been focusing on that chapter 6, verse

33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

with all these things promised to be added unto

you. But there's an underlying assumption that

we all know what is meant by the kingdom of God.

If you are to seek first and that is your ultimate

aim and priority in life, then we understand

or we take for granted, well, what are you seeking

after? We often talk of kingdom priorities or

kingdom living or kingdom responsibilities as

citizens. But what exactly is the kingdom of

God? If I were to ask you to explain it to someone

else, how would you explain the kingdom of God

to them? Now think in your mind for just a moment

how you would answer that question. How would

you explain it? If you have five minutes, explain

the kingdom. But it's not as easy as we may think.

Now, there are some things that make it easy,

but overall, we want to make very clear this

morning, what do we mean when we're talking about

the kingdom of God? In its simplest form, the

kingdom, the word kingdom, simply means rule.

So the kingdom of God is the reign of God. It's

not primarily a place and it's not primarily

a people, but it's the reign of God. Now you

have a people formed by the kingdom of God. But

so we can talk about there's a group who've been

called out from the world who live under his

reign. Now the New Testament speaks of the kingdom

being ruled over by God with Christ as its king.

So the church is understood as the seed. That's

very important. The beginning of the kingdom.

It is a community, a body, where God's reign

is present and where his will is made known.

So we talk about the kingdom, and this is where

it can get a little obscure. The kingdom is both

a present reality. It is here. It's experienced

through faith and repentance, living under the

will of God. But the kingdom is also a future.

It's the ultimate fulfillment of God's plan and

the end of time. It's the consummation of all

things that occurs when the Lord Jesus Christ

returns in glory. But what do we mean by that?

Now the word kingdom in Greek is basileia. You

might see the word basilica. It comes from that

word. And that's just an ancient Greek word.

And here's what it means. Kingdom, reign, or

sovereignty. Now when we talk about the kingdom,

just as we talk about salvation, we talk about

it in three tenses. Think about our salvation.

We were saved. The Bible says we are being saved.

The Bible uses the term we will be saved. We

have been justified. We are being sanctified.

We will be glorified. So also the kingdom of

God has three tenses. The kingdom has come. The

kingdom is here. And the kingdom will come. So

that's still very murky, if you will. The kingdom

of God came in the word incarnate, in the incarnation

of God as Christ took on flesh. It is here now

in seed form in the church, and it will come

in ultimate fulfillment and fruition when the

Lord Jesus Christ returns in glory. Now the key

to keep in mind is because the way we use kingdom,

we think of geopolitical realities. But the kingdom

is not a place. It's not like an earthly kingdom.

There is not one country on earth in which the

kingdom of God is located. That's not true. So

that's why this concept can be a little bit confusing.

Broadly speaking, the kingdom of God is the rule

of an eternal, sovereign God over all the universe.

So we would say God rules over what? He rules

over all. He rules over the cosmos. He rules

over the created order. God is king. And that

is a true statement. Narrowly speaking though,

the kingdom of God is a spiritual rule in the

hearts and lives of those who willingly submit

to his authority. And that is why we can say

right now, present tense, the kingdom of God

is synonymous with the true church on earth.

It's a spiritual reality. But even that's a mixed

bag. Why? Because the visible church, when I'm

preaching, here's my assumption. That the group

will be comprised of both we and tares. There

are believers and there are unbelievers, I assume,

in this congregation this morning. So we talk

about the kingdom of God being synonymous with

the church. That's a mixed bag, but we have to

leave it there because Jesus said at the final

harvest, he said he's going to send his angels,

he will tell the reapers, gather the tares, that

is the weeds, gather them first, bind them in

bundles to be burned, but then gather the wheat

into my barn. So when we're talking about the

kingdom, those who have come to Christ in faith,

and repentance, those who confess him as Lord

are part of the true kingdom of God. Now, one's

position in the kingdom of God is demonstrated,

is proved, is manifested in the way in which

he lives. Genuine faith in Christ will always

be accompanied by good works. Good works don't

save, they're not meritorious, but they are present

with true faith. Which is why Jesus said some

really difficult sayings that we need to listen

up to. In Matthew 7, we'll be looking at that

in a few weeks. This is the very end of the Sermon

on the Mount. Jesus said, not everyone who says

to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom

of heaven. Just because you say he's Lord does

not mean you're coming into his kingdom. But

the one who does the will of my Father who is

in heaven. Now that does not make it salvation

by works. True salvation works. True salvation

does the will of his Father. In 1 Corinthians

6, the Apostle Paul, writing to the church at

Corinth, full of problems, and he says this,

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not

inherit the kingdom of God? And by the way, kingdom

of heaven, kingdom of God, synonyms. They mean

the same thing. Sometimes we'll hear the word

kingdom of Christ. He said, the unrighteous don't

enter in the kingdom of God. They don't inherit

it. And he's talking to the church and he says,

don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,

nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,

nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor

revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom

of God. Don't be deceived. That's not my word.

That is the word of the living God. So the kingdom

of God, this is the realm of salvation, right?

And those whose lives are characterized by rebellion

to God, doesn't mean that a Christian would never

commit one of these things, but those whose lives

are marked by rebellion to God are not part of

his saving reign. Presently, the kingdom of God,

as we said, it's spiritual. It's in the hearts

and lives of those who have confessed Christ

and has come to him as Savior. But it's also

a future reality. It will be a physical reign.

When? When Christ returns in glory and he rules

over the entire earth. And the Old Testament

prophets, if you go back to them, that's the

day that they're often prophesying about. Prophets

such as Isaiah and Daniel, they foretold the

coming of a messianic king who would establish

God's reign of peace. God's reign of justice

and God's reign of righteousness on the earth.

They wrote about it all the time. And these prophecies,

they first and ultimately find their fulfillment

in Jesus Christ. So when Jesus came, the second

person of the Trinity, the Son of God takes on

flesh, he comes to the earth, and he inaugurated

the kingdom. Inaugurated. He began it through

his life, death, and resurrection. So the kingdom

is inaugurated. It's already, but it's not yet

consummated. It's not yet come to its final form.

That awaits a future time when he returns again

in glory. So when we're talking about the kingdom,

it depends what we're talking about. There is

a physical aspect, future, and there's a spiritual

aspect, present. So Christ will rule and reign

on the earth, and believers, we will also rule

and reign with him on this earth for eternity.

This is our hope. This is our future. A physical

earthly in the new earth existence yet without

sin. I was driving in this morning to church

and it was just beautiful before all the rain

came and now you start to see the buds on the

trees and I was just looking out at some of the

fields and I thought man how pretty creation

is. And then I thought but imagine what it's

going to look like when the stain of sin and

the curse has been lifted. Can you imagine how

beautiful this is going to be? That's our future.

But what I want to do now And I know this can

seem a little bit confusing, and I'm asking God

to help me here. I want to trace the development

of how God's kingdom, the idea, grows and changes

throughout the scriptures. There's been a lot

of people who have done a lot of work on this.

Ben Dunson wrote several articles, and I kind

of used him as a help here. But we're going to

start in the New Testament. And we're going to

work our way backwards to the Old. But let's

start at the New. Matthew chapter 3. Matthew

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

3. We've already preached through this. In those

days, John the Baptist came preaching in the

wilderness of Judea. John's the forerunner, right?

He's the herald sent before the Messiah. Well,

what was he saying? Verse 2. Repent, for the

kingdom of heaven is at hand. So he had a preaching

ministry, and it basically consisted of two parts.

Part number one. He called the people to repent.

Part number two, he announced that the kingdom

that had long been prophesied was at hand. Two

parts. Notice he doesn't spend any time trying

to explain the meaning of the word kingdom. He

simply tells the people who are listening to

him, it's here. It's at hand. Turn over one chapter

later, Matthew 4. You see it on the wall behind

me. Jesus, now Matthew 4, begins his public ministry

in Galilee, northern Israel. John's in southern

Israel. And he preached the exact same message

that John the Baptist had been preaching. Look

at verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach

and to say what? Repent. Why? For the kingdom

of heaven is at hand. So you have Jesus also

having a preaching ministry and he basically

had the same message. Number one, repent. It's

to prepare them for the kingdom. Number two,

the kingdom was at hand. It was here. But I want

you to notice, neither John nor the Lord Jesus

took the time to explain what is meant by the

word kingdom. Now, why wouldn't they? Because

who were they preaching to? Jews. They're preaching

to Israel. And those people would have naturally

and immediately known what was meant when Jesus

and John used the phrase kingdom of heaven. It

would be similar if I were to say today as an

American pastor preaching to an American audience,

if I start talking about the White House, you

don't assume that I'm talking about Nancy Collier's

house. You assume that I'm talking about the

place of the president. Why? Everyone understands,

as Americans, what is meant by the White House.

Same thing, Jesus and John. They are Jews preaching

to Jews, and they immediately would have known

what is meant by the word kingdom of heaven or

kingdom of God. And this idea was really pretty

prevalent throughout the entire Old Testament.

If you go back to the Old Testament, you find

the idea that God is king over all creation.

Psalm 10, verse 16. Go to that next slide. Psalm

Psalms 10:16

10, 16. The Lord is king, and that's again Yahweh,

all caps. The Lord is king. Yahweh is king forever

and ever. Psalm 103. Yahweh, the Lord, has prepared

his throne in the heavens and his kingdom, that

is his reign, rules over all. What do we mean?

There's not anyone outside of the jurisdiction

of God. God reigns over all. That's what the

psalmist said. Psalm 95. For the Lord, for Yahweh,

is a great God and a great king above all gods.

So who's the true king? The Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh

is his name. God is king over the nations, but

he was king over a particular nation in a particular

way unlike the rest. He was particularly king

over Israel. Why? He chose them. He was in a

covenant with them. God was Israel's king in

a way unlike the other nations. And they still,

even Israel, looked around and they saw these

other nations had earthly kings and they thought,

that sounds good. Give us one of those. And you

see that in 1 Samuel 12. And the Lord sent Jeroboam,

Badon, Jephthah, and Samuel and delivered you

out of the hand of your enemies on every side.

You dwelt in safety. God's doing a great job.

Verse 12. And when you saw that Nahash, king

of the Ammonites, came against you, you said

to me, no, but a king shall reign over us. When

the Lord, your God, was your king. So they're

looking around and they're like, hey, God's been

doing a great job protecting them, delivering

them, leading them. But now when a king comes

against them to fight, they're like, we need

an earthly king. So God condescended to their

request. God was king over Israel. He never stopped

that. But he would allow earthly kings to have

a role to play in his rule. Now this didn't start

with Saul. It started with Adam. In the very

beginning, you see Adam commissioned and he has

a kingly role. Now stay with me. He's not called

a king. But in Genesis 1, verses 26 -30, you

Genesis 1:26–30

find that God gives Adam rule. He gives him reign

over what? Over the fish, over the birds, over

the cattle, over the insects, over all plant

life, over all the earth. Remember what's kingdom?

Rule. And that's what he had. Adam was to be

a subordinate king. Under the rule of the ultimate

king. So that's where it's starting. So in this

sense, God is going to reign over his creation

by and through a human agent, in this case, Adam.

What happened? Adam, the subordinate king, rebelled,

sinned against the ultimate one. And he forfeited

his right. But just because Adam failed, God

did not abandon his intention to rule over his

creation by virtue of a human king. So we keep

going forward in Genesis until we come to chapter

12. In Genesis 12, you have God making a renewed

commitment to rule the world, again, through

a human agent. And we find this with Abraham,

Genesis 12. Now the word is said to Abram, later

be Abraham. Get out of your country, from your

family, and from your father's house to a land

that I will show you. I will make you a great

nation. I will bless you. I will make your name

great. You shall be a blessing. Sounds like a

good plan. Now, five chapters later, Genesis

17, God then reaffirms what was said earlier

in verses 6 and 7. This is God speaking to Abraham.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will

make nations of you, and kings shall come from

you. And I will establish my covenant between

me and you and your descendants after you in

their generations for an everlasting covenant

to be God to you and your descendants after you.

Kings are going to come from the loins of Abraham

through his seed. And somehow through one of

his seed, the entire nation, all nations of the

earth are going to be blessed through him. This

kingly dominion was given to Adam, later given

to Abraham. But now there's one big difference.

Adam was given the responsibility to take dominion

over the earth. Adam, go and do it. But notice

now, Abraham, God says, I will do it through

you. Notice the text. I will make you exceedingly

fruitful. I will make nations of you. And I will

make kings come from you. What's going on here?

Adam was given the responsibility before sin

entered into the world. But that's now no longer

possible. Sin is entered, and that commission

is an impossibility unless God does it. This

dominion, this rule, this kingdom must be a gift

from God. Adam was called the son of God, and

he failed. Now this promise is to Abraham, and

his seed, which will ultimately be Israel, is

set to be God's new son. Israel is also called

a son of God. Adam is and Israel is. So now Israel,

going back to Saul, she's going to have some

earthly monarchs. Through her kings, she's supposed

to be a blessing to the nations and the reign

of God will extend across the earth through Israel.

Wonderful. She's exalted. She's poised to be

a kingdom of priests. She's called a holy nation.

She is to be a light of God's truth to all the

nations. Israel. is to make God, the true king,

known, spread his glory across the globe. She

fails. And we see this failure in her first king,

Saul. Saul was commissioned king, later dethroned.

Why? He was disobedient. But God wasn't finished.

He is faithful. So he was still committed to

his mission. He removes Saul, and he chooses

the youngest son of Jesse. A shepherd boy named

David. David is going to be king. And God's going

to make a covenant with him very similar to the

covenant he made with Abraham. But it's even

more specific, if you will. And we read about

this in 2 Samuel. God speaking to David. When

your days are fulfilled and you rest with your

fathers. Hey, David, when you die, I'm going

to set up your seed after you who will come from

your body and I will establish his kingdom. He

shall build a house for my name. I will establish

the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be

his father and he shall be my son. Notice the

son language. Adam's a son. Israel's son. Now

there's a future son of David that's going to

be God's son. If he commits iniquity, I will

chasten him with the rod of men and the blows

of the sons of men. Verse 15. But my mercy is

not going to depart from him. But I did take

it from Saul. That's God's prerogative to do

so. Whom I removed from before you. But look

at verse 16. Your house and your kingdom will

be established forever before you. Your throne,

that's the kingdom there, will be established

forever. So you have a promise. There's an eternal

kingdom that God is going to establish through

the line of David. God made this promise. He

was promising David, I'm going to preserve a

kingly line and it's never going to be removed.

But as you keep going through the pages of scripture,

you start out with Solomon. He looks like to

be a shining example. But because of the multiplication

of his wives, he soon fails. We see gross failure

on the part of Israel's kings. All the kings

that rule after David. What happened? Would God's

promise fail? Israel. And her kings do fail in

their mission. She was not a holy nation. She

had not lived up to her commission to be a light

to the nations. In fact, church, things got so

bad, it looked as though there would be no kingly

line left. If you keep reading, you find that

Israel, the northern kingdom, the ten northern

tribes, they go into exile into Assyria and they

never return. We refer to them today as the ten

lost tribes of Israel. But there's a southern

kingdom made up of two tribes, and it's called

Judah. So you have Judah. Well, what's going

to happen to Judah? She is just as disobedient

as Israel was. So God says, I'm going to send

you into exile. And he sends her into Babylon

for 70 years. But listen carefully. The promise

to rule the world through that Davidic king was

never erased. Adam failed. Israel failed. The

kings of Israel failed. But God's promise would

not fail. God is going to rule the earth through

a Davidic king, a son of David, just as he promised

he would. He will establish his kingdom. So now

you have the prophets, Isaiah and Daniel, and

many others. They come on the scene, and here's

what they're promising. Yes, Judah is in exile.

Israel's hope looks to be lost, but they're telling

the people God's intention to rule the world

through a son of David, it will continue. But

the human heart's too corrupt. Sin has deeply

affected man. And he no longer can fulfill the

divine intention. You know what is needed? A

new exodus. A new exodus is needed. Not out of

Egypt, but they do need to be delivered. God's

people need to be delivered. And so in fact,

this exodus will not be a physical deliverance

from physical enemies like the nation was delivered

from Egypt. But this exodus will be a true deliverance

for man's real problem, for man's real enemy.

God is going to come and deliver them from the

bondage of sin that lies in the heart of man.

God is going to deliver his people by making

them a new creation, giving them a new heart,

and he will rule and reign over them. The prophets

foretold of this good news. Isaiah wrote, O Zion,

chapter 40, You who bring good tidings, get up

into the high mountain of Jerusalem. You who

bring good tidings. Good tidings is good news,

and good news is what? Gospel. Lift up your voice

with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say

to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold,

the Lord God shall come with a strong hand. His

arms shall rule for him. Who's coming? God's

coming. Behold, his reward is with him and his

work before him. One more passage here, Isaiah

52. How beautiful upon the mountains are the

feet of him who bring good news, who bring the

gospel, who proclaim peace, who brings glad tidings

of good things, who proclaim salvation, who says

to Zion, your God reigns. Notice the word. The

Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of

all nations and all the ends of the earth shall

see the salvation of our God. All the nations

are going to see it. Remember the promise to

Abraham that all the nations are going to be

blessed through you. Now if this prophesied kingdom

is going to come as foretold, then it can only

come because God himself comes to Israel and

he will save and deliver his sinful people. And

then he's going to equip those people whom he

has saved to take his saving reign, to take this

good news, this good tidings, this gospel to

the other most parts of the earth. Zechariah

14, 9. And then the Lord shall be king over all

the earth. In that day there shall be one Lord

and his name one. Friends, this is the direction

where we're headed. All history is headed here.

One king ruling over all the earth in one kingdom.

That's where we're headed. It is the kingdom

that Daniel prophesied. He prophesied of a coming

kingdom that's made, and he said, without hands.

Daniel 2. And in the days of these kings, the

God of heaven, now notice the language here,

will set up a kingdom. God's going to set up

a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Praise

God, it's not. And the kingdom shall not be left

to other people. It shall break in pieces and

consume all these kingdoms. And this kingdom

that God sets up, it will stand forever. How

can this happen? All the other kings failed in

their mission, including Solomon. How will it

come to pass? They start prophesying of a future

deliverer, a Messiah who's going to come. But

here's how it's going to happen. God is going

to set up his king. And Psalm 2 says exactly

that. I have set my king, God speaking, I have

set my king on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare

the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are

my son. Today I have begotten you. And he's talking

that son. Notice the son language, king language.

Adam was a son. Israel was a son. They were also

kings. And now God is saying, no, I'll set my

own king. And this is my son. And he says, verse

8, ask of me and I will give you the nations

for your inheritance and the ends of the earth

for your possession. Isaiah, he said that this

Messiah is going to come and suffer. And he wrote

a lot about that. Isaiah 52, Isaiah 53. But Daniel

says, yeah, but he's going to suffer. But he's

going to reign triumphantly. He's going to be

the great king. Daniel 7. Look at the text. The

suffering servant of Isaiah. This is why the

Jews got so confused here. And you would too.

Notice Isaiah 53. He, we're talking about the

Messiah. God sent one. He was taken from prison

and from judgment. And who's going to declare

his generation? For he was cut off, he was killed

from the land of the living. Why? For the transgressions

of my people he was stricken. They made his grave

with the wicked, but with the rich at his death,

because he had done no violence, nor was any

deceit in his mouth. Verse 10. Yet it pleased

the Lord to bruise him, his pudding to grief.

We'll stop there. What? He's dead. It pleased...

the Father, to crushing. And yet he's going to

deliver people. That's what Daniel 7 says. You

have a ruling king here. Daniel said, Well, I

was watching in the night visions, and behold,

one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds

of heavens, he came to the Ancient of Days, and

they brought him near before him. Then to him,

that Son of Man, was given dominion and glory

and a kingdom. What's it look like? that all

peoples, nations, and languages should serve

him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion.

That's the same language God said to David, which

shall not pass away, and his kingdom, the one

which shall not be destroyed. God told Daniel

that through the Son of Man, he's going to establish

his reign over the whole earth, and this kingdom

will never pass away. So you can imagine Jews

reading this, that's what they're expecting,

some triumphant, some political deliverer. Of

course, there's a Messiah that's there, right?

They could not reconcile in their mind, how can

you have a ruling king in Daniel and you have

a suffering servant, a suffering Messiah in Isaiah?

And here's the point. They could not see that

the victory that was promised to Daniel came

through the suffering. Promised in Isaiah. Praise

be to God. This is wonderful. Jesus will be the

triumphant king. But only after he dies for the

sins of his wicked people. The Old Testament

ends with a prophecy that you have a coming Messiah

who's going to set up a kingdom that's eternal.

Now we go back to the New Testament, Matthew

3. We're almost done. John the Baptist comes

on the scene. 400 years of silence. John the

Baptist comes on the scene and he's preaching

what? Repent. The kingdom of heaven is here.

It's at hand. What do you mean, John? How is

it near? And this is what you guys are to put

together. How is the kingdom near? Because the

king had come. In Matthew 4, John entrusts us

to Jesus. The kingdom of God had come in the

person of the Lord Jesus. And Jesus then calls

Israel to repent. Why? The kingdom is here. Because

the king is here. Christopher Morgan says, Jesus

requires repentance to enter his kingdom community.

John and Jesus both preached it. Why? Since the

present way of the world must be rejected and

the new age of God's rule and its corresponding

way of life embraced. God still requires repentance,

folks. It's how you enter the kingdom. As such,

repentance is not only the way into the kingdom,

it's also the way of the kingdom. All of life

is one of repentance. All of life. God is reigning,

but his reign finds its fullest expression in

his son, the Lord Jesus. Adam failed, but the

second Adam, Jesus, did not. Israel failed. But

the true Israel, Jesus, did not. All the prophecies

of a future eternal kingdom find an answer in

Jesus. Ben Dunson. The Old Testament teaching

on God's kingdom is the necessary context for

making sense of Jesus' teaching and preaching,

especially his announcement that the kingdom

of God was at hand. The Jews Jesus preached to

knew that God was king. They knew that he had

always been king. What they did not know, was

that the final, in time, saving reign of God

announced by Israel's prophets was already breaking

into the world in Jesus' own person and ministry.

Do you remember when Jesus is casting out demons

and he says, if I cast them out, you know that

the kingdom of God has come? Why is he making

that language? All his miracles are pointing

to what fact? The king is here and he is subordinating

all the enemies that existed against him. So

what do we mean by kingdom? This has been a long

answer, right? The kingdom is God's rule through

his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So when you're

talking about seeking first the kingdom of God,

this means, church, and this is your commission,

you seek Jesus and his will above all things.

Seeking first the kingdom of God means this.

prioritizing, and I mean prioritizing, God's

values, God's principles in every aspect of our

life. God takes a second seat to no one or no

thing. Everything is subjected to him. Seeking

the kingdom of God is praying that that future

and final reign of the kingdom comes. That's

why we pray with all the saints throughout all

church history, even so come Lord Jesus, your

kingdom come. It's here, but bring it in its

fullest expression. But right now, it's a spiritual

reality. It's in your heart. Jesus said in Luke

17, 21, for the kingdom of God is within you.

When you are living under the rule of Christ,

friends, that's the kingdom of God. The Apostle

Paul told us, for the kingdom of God, it's not

eating and drinking. It's not a bunch of ceremonial

regulations. What is it? Righteousness, peace,

and joy in the Holy Spirit. It's the realm of

the Spirit. The king has come and the king is

coming again. And when he does, he will bring

and establish this long anticipated, highly longed

for kingdom with him. It is fullness expression.

So we do pray, God, bring heaven to earth and

bring your rule over all the planet. And when

he does... Swords and spears will no longer be

needed. As Isaiah said in chapter 2, they'll

be beaten into plowshares. You don't need weapons

of war anymore. Why? Because God's kingdom is

ruling over all the earth. One day, friends,

one day, God's kingdom will overtake the whole

world. Russia and North Korea and the United

States and Great Britain and Canada and any other

country you want to name will all be subjected

to the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation

11, 15. The seventh angel sounded. There are

loud voices in heaven. And I believe shouts of

joy here. Because notice what they're proclaiming.

The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms

of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign.

forever and ever. Remember that promise to David,

one of your seed, and that promise to Abraham,

one of your seed? Jesus, the true son of David,

has come, and he's going to reign over the earth

forever and ever and ever. Why? Because God keeps

his promises. So what do we pray? Even so, come

Lord Jesus. Now what, friends, this is, we're

closing, one minute here. There are only two

kingdoms. There's a kingdom of man, there's a

kingdom of God. The kingdom of man is known as

the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of God is

the kingdom of light. The kingdom of man is the

realm of destruction and eternal perdition. It

is the realm of hell. The kingdom of God is the

realm of salvation. It's the kingdom of salvation.

You and I were born into the kingdom of man.

You did nothing. You were born into that realm

of darkness, that realm of destruction. To enter

into the kingdom of God, you must be born again.

You must. Oh, may God give you eyes to see Jesus

and give you an understanding heart to understand

what has been preached. Jesus said, most assuredly

I say to you, unless one is born of water and

the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom

of God. May God bring the gift of the new birth

to you this morning. We're going to celebrate

today all those who are in this covenant with

God. All those who belong to this kingdom of

God and the realm of salvation, God invites us

to share a meal with him, a covenantal meal,

a foretaste of what we're going to experience

in the kingdom when we feast with him. Today

we will feast upon our Lord. And you are invited

to come. If you know Christ as Lord and Savior

and you've confessed him and you have been baptized

in the name of the triune God, come today. Feast

with your Lord and anticipate the day when we

will do this in the final kingdom of God. Let's

pray. Father, thank you. Lord, we love your word.

It is rich. It is glorious. It is deep. It is...