Isaiah 61 - The Kingdom and the Spirit - Part 3

Last week we talked about the kingdom and the spirit from the perspective of the four gospels,

how Matthew sees it different from Mark and John and Luke, how Luke looks at the outsiders

who come into the kingdom, how Mark looks at the authority that the king has and how

kingdom authority operates. That was last week. This week we look again at the kingdom

and the spirit, but we look at it through Genesis 1-3. I believe you guys are doing

Christ's life this Tuesday too, so it kind of dovetails into that. If you have questions,

you can ask. The kingdom and the spirit from Genesis 1-3, that's what we'll talk about

now. The account of creation, just from Genesis 1-3, establishes the character of the king

and the kingdom. When you really put on glasses that begin to examine Genesis 1-3 from the

perspective of king and kingdom, you begin to see the character of the king and the kingdom

being revealed even in the first three chapters of Genesis. As we said when we did part one,

the king and the kingdom existed before there was a realm or before there were people. The

kingdom existed before there was a kingdom. He is not the kind of king that needs citizens

for kingship. He is not the kind of king that needs realm or boundaries to say, I now have

a kingdom. Throughout the Bible it says from everlasting to everlasting, he has been king.

He is a king that is reserved if people hear this truth and don't want to enter him. He

has been king forever. The king existed and the kingdom existed before creation, and yet

he has always been transcendent as in separate and above creation, separate from creation.

This is where Christianity differs a lot from other religions like Hinduism, like Buddhism.

Many of these religions, their gods exist as part of creation. They are not separate

from creation, which is why it is easy to take a tree or a stone or an animal and make

it into a god because it is that god dwells in everything. We are so distinct in our beliefs

in that sense, in that god comes down as man, god lives in us, but he has always been separate

from creation and transcendent. He has to enter in. He is not found in everything. Christianity

is distinct. There is no commonality between some of those eastern religions and Christianity.

All roads do not lead to Rome or Delhi. So, the question is, how do we know that the

god exists? When we look at Genesis 1-3 from a king and a kingdom perspective, then really

what was happening in Genesis 1 was the full expression, the full expression of heaven

on earth. When you think of Eden, when you think of creation, when you think of what

god was doing, it was, god was developing the full expression of heaven on earth. A

place, what do we mean by full expression of heaven on earth? A place where god, where

the god king, where the god king as in Christ, where the god king dwells with us. That was

the intent. God who lives in the heavens decided that he would create earth and that he would

develop here on earth the full expression of heaven on earth amongst the people, where

the god king comes down to dwell with the people. And so, there is this constant need

for us as believers to recognize his dwelling with us continuously, like at the beginning

that happened the day before yesterday. There were at least four different occasions during

the reception, while we were having dinner, during the wedding ceremony that I would stop

and say, he is here. Because in the busyness of Christianity, you forget that he is here.

Even in this teaching, it is easy to forget that he is listening, helping, helping me

speak, helping me understand, helping you understand, helping us here, but in the midst

of it, you can lose the fact that he is here. You can't create that feeling, but you can

definitely recognize it if you are born again.

Yeah, it's just like a parent being separate from the baby in the mother's womb. The parent

is absolutely involved in the creation of the baby, but it does not have to enter the

womb to make the baby happen. Transcendent, separate, yet impossible without him. So,

there are, the strange thing about most truths in the Bible is that you will always find

a parallel in the physical. First the physical, then the spiritual. You look for any complex,

most truths are actually simple, but let's call them complex. You look at any complex

truth in the Bible, you will always find a parallel in the physical universe. Which is

why Jesus would often illustrate truths with stories about farmers, fishermen, birds, flowers.

It is the easiest way to illustrate truths. And when we simplify it, it's the same thing

with us. And so if I were to go back and pause for a second and recognize that he,

as in the one who created the universe and you, and the baby in Kessler's womb is here.

He's here not as a monitor, he is here as your joyful king and a doting father. And

eager spirit. And recognizing his presence changes you. It's just that we do not pause

to recognize. Children, you'll see them doing this. Every so often children will go touch

their mother's face or touch their father's face and just say something like, mama I love

you. Out of the blue. But you'll find that as they grow up, it disappears. Then it's

a quick scribble on a card on your birthday. Whatever we behold, we become like. And therefore

to pause and recognize is a tremendous thing. So he's a God who's always enjoyed dwelling

with people. It was his initial intent and that is how the kingdom is formed. And you

see it, you see its consummation in Revelations 21.3. Revelations 21.3. And you see that he

says in Revelations 21.3. Revelations 21.3. And it says in Revelations 21.3. It says

that, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men

and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and

be their God. It's the finale where we actually live in the presence of unapproachable light

because we have been transformed to from glory to glory. We take on the same glory that he

gives us so that we can withstand his glory. Revelations 21.3 talks about a time when God

will actually dwell with man. But where did it start? It started in Genesis 1 and 2 where

God decided, I'm going to make man and I'm going to dwell with him. You also see it in

Psalm 78 verse 60 where there's this reference to the tabernacle that was built here on earth

Psalms 78:60

and it says, I used to walk and dwell amongst you in the tabernacle before it was uprooted.

Psalm 78 verse 60. So he's been trying to do this very often in history. You see fully

Psalms 78:60

realized in Christ where it says, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the

word was God and the word came down in flesh. Verse 14, and he dwelt among us. So this dwelling

thing has been going on for a while. There is no kingdom without the dwelling of the

king. And so receive him. Be Bethlehem 24-7. Because in the process, he's birthed through

the words you say, through the things you do and sometimes just not doing anything.

What else can we find out from Genesis as we look at king and kingdom? This king is

so powerful that he brings things into existence by speaking. He brings things into existence

by merely speaking. That's how powerful he is. Kingdom citizens like you and I who don't

confess and don't speak what he says, but speak our own, I'm going to use a harsh word,

crap because that describes our condition. And we refuse to speak his words and we refuse

to speak and imitate the king. We never get to partake or perpetuate the things of the

kingdom. Citizens, kingdom citizens that refuse to speak and imitate their God or refuse to

say what he says, confess what he declares are people that never get to partake. They're

part of the kingdom, but they do not get to partake in the kingdom or perpetuate the kingdom

because silence seems to be bliss. It's absurd and we can change today. And so we must speak

because this king speaks. He's been doing that since the beginning of creation. What's

the intent of looking at the book of Genesis? What do we see in terms of the character of

the king and kingdom in Genesis 1, 2 and 3? This king fashions things and forms things

and everything he forms is good. What does good mean? Good means beautiful. It's a word

that men cannot relate to and it's a shame because most beautiful things that were at

the sculpture or painted initially that stand the test of time and history, pieces of music

were beautiful. Somewhere along the line came this wild man where man is not supposed to

use words like beautiful. That's such a shame. Part of the meaning of the word good is that

when God made things, he made them beautiful and he made them fulfilling a purpose. That

is what makes up the word good. He makes things beautiful and whenever he makes things, he

makes them fulfill a purpose. And the same thing about you. Now you can see why David

says in Psalm 51, I was wonderfully made. Another word you can use for that is man,

the way I was put together was beautiful and it fulfills a purpose. Everything he does

is towards that end. He makes things beautiful every day, first day, second day, third day,

fourth day, till the day when he finds that Adam does not have a helpmate. Everything

he makes is beautiful. It's good, which means two things. It's remarkably beautiful because

it's sculpted by the ultimate creator and it fulfills a purpose. That's how he thinks

of Don and Kes' baby. That's how he thinks of grown up you. And what he makes beautiful

is not just spiritual stuff. Thank God this God is not spiritual. Otherwise he would have

made every tree and everything white or brown or black or green. Instead he just throws

colors, man. I get to see the sunset every day when it's not cloudy. So I get to see

the sunset four months a year and every time I see it, I just marvel at how it's different.

I keep telling God when I walk on my little balcony and look at the sun, I say, it's so

different from yesterday. How do you do this? Like how many pallets do you have? Do you

ever repeat? So it's not just spiritual things. It's material things. And from the beginning,

one person who's been involved in the whole thing is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of

God. He's been involved in creation and he's been involved in the advancement of the kingdom

because without him there is no kingdom again because Jesus himself said, if I cast out

demons by the power of the Spirit of God or the finger of God, you know that the kingdom

of God is in your midst. And what does the Spirit of God do? He does what he's doing

today, what he did in Genesis 1. And what is that? He takes that which is void, that

which is empty, that which is chaotic. He takes any of these, that which is formless.

And what does he do? He makes it fruitful, reorders or reforms it, makes it new and makes

it habitable. This is what he has been doing. Now you see how this is basically the Spirit

of God. This is what Isaiah 61 is trying to do. What is Isaiah 61? That which is broken,

that which is void, that which is empty, that which is fruitless, that which is barren.

In Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Why? So that he can take this and

completely change it around. He's been doing this for thousands of years and every time

he does it, he rubs his hands with glee and bursts into laughter. He's the most, there's

nobody like the Spirit of God in terms of joy. It's one of the fruit of the Spirit,

meaning it is part of his essential nature, joy. And there is no joy without laughter.

Meaning you cannot, I'm not saying there's no joy without laughter, correct that. Laughter

is an expression. One of the primary expressions of joy is laughter. And so to not, to have

joy and never laugh is like impossible. Any questions before we go on? After? Reorder.

Oh shucks, that is, that word totally went French. Reorder. Any questions? I'm sorry,

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

When you're talking about speaking into existence, I guess that will, how does that differ from

the word of things? Yeah. Speaking into existence of things that

God has either given in his word or given from his word as a promise to you or given

for the benefit of someone else or agreeing with him. That's what we're talking about.

So the thing with the word of faith movement was where did it go askew? It went askew where

it stopped agreeing with God and began to confess whatever I desire regardless of whether

my desires match with the will of God or the word of God or whether they agree with

God's intent for me right now. So it started as a movement that could have been so powerful

but went askew. One of the things we should do is not just

redeem things that are pagan but redeem things that are Christian. So what we end up doing

is we throw out everything because it went wrong while the foundations were from the

word. Any questions? Okay. Why are we talking about kingdom and the

spirit? Because that's who you are part of. Why would we talk about Canada? Because you

live here. Why do we talk about your workplace? Because you work there. Why do we talk about

your home and your furniture? Because that's where you live. Why do you talk about your

wife? Because you stay with her. Why do you talk about the Canucks? Because they're no

longer in the play-offs. So there's this close association with certain things where we talk

about things because that's where we are rooted. Our problem is we don't realize that we are

rooted in this thing called kingdom and that we follow, we are supposed to follow only

him. That's why we are talking about this. It's the matrix that we are embedded in. It's

the water that we swim in. That's why we're trying to see what's the length and breadth

of this. In Psalm 46 or 49 it talks about how David is saying to people, listen, show

them the dimensions of the temple, the length, the breadth, the width, the ramparts. Show

them. Show the next generation. That's what we're doing here because at the end of the

day what was the temple about? The tabernacle of the dwelling of God. What is the kingdom

about? God dwelling amongst the people. Why is there no temple at the end days in the

book of Revelation? John said, I looked and there was no temple. Why? Because we are dwelling

with him face to face in an unapproachable light. Glorious. We can't even imagine it.

The reason you and I cannot even see God is because he lives in such brilliant, holy,

unapproachable light that you would be atomized. But a day is coming when it'll be like this.

And it won't be a lineup. I was calculating how long it will take if you needed an audience

with Christ and it comes to about 12 seconds every year if you took all the people in the

world and divided it by how much time you get to spend with Jesus. 12 seconds. That'd

be terrible. Hello Jesus, good morning. How? Time! And then the angels start playing like

Oscar and you've got to walk off the stage. That's not how it works. The kingdom is primarily,

the kingdom is primarily about man before it's about creation. Because one of the things

that happens in academic institutions and among liberal thinkers is that the creation

fall restoration motive gets to embrace sometimes creation and the stewarding of creation more

than man. But creation is primarily about man. In Genesis 1, 24 you see God creating

things and he says to the earth, this is what happens in verse 24, he says, and God said

to the earth, bring forth plants and trees and vegetation. He's speaking to the earth.

When it comes to man, he doesn't, I mean man came from the dust of the ground. Why

didn't Jesus turn to the earth and say, bring forth a man? He doesn't do that. It's very

different when it comes to man. There's nobody else, nothing else that's made in the image

of God. No angel, nothing made in the image of God except you. And so he doesn't say

bring forth from the earth. He says he forms man from the dust of the earth. And it was

not the same dust we think of now, eh? He makes man from the ground of the earth. One

of the things we have to be careful of when we go through Genesis is there are so many

possibilities that we can go down a rabbit hole. Oh, dust of the earth? So what kind

of dust was it? It had magnesium, potassium and nickel, really? And there'll be a whole

book written on it, eh? Better not go down that route. You can perhaps suggest it if

you think of suggesting it, but turn the live stream off before you suggest it, eh? Because

if a thing is repeated often enough, it becomes believable. It's still not the truth. So let's

be mindful of that. So the kingdom is primarily about man before it's about creation. The

king cares, the king cares for Adam. He gives him breath. He gives him strength. He gives

him strength. He forms him. He provides all his needs. Just like a parent, eh? Provides

all his needs, provides work, provides purpose, provides security, provides dignity, provides

joy, provides companionship, provides intimacy. I mean, this is a perfect parent. It's a perfect

child. And the crazy thing is none of this has been rescinded. None of this has been

rescinded from any human being. It is a gift that was given to Adam and his descendants

at the beginning and it hasn't been taken back. It is not Christians who are made in

the image of God. It is man that is made in the image of God. Distorted. And unless you

receive Christ, it remains distorted and you do not see the face of your creator. But look

at how he takes care. You know, if you really think of it, these are places you and I should

go to and say, Father, you've never taken this back. I come to you knowing that this

is who you've always been and will always be, untamed in one. Can I seek you for the

dignity that I am losing or I have lost? Can I seek you for provision that does not come

through livelihood but comes from the hand of God? The provision that does not come from

work but from the hand of God. Blessings, security, these are things that have never

been taken back. Man may have changed, you have not. This is the nature of your king.

And when you were created, this might be a slightly big word and obviously I didn't

come up with it. There was intra-divine deliberation. What does that mean? When you look at, let

us make man in our image, it's a deliberation amongst the triune, amongst the godhead. And

then you see this idea of let us make man in our image. There are other theories about

it that it was copied from some ancient manuscript. I choose to differ. The idea is that it was

the father, son and the spirit deliberating together and saying, let us form Jacob in

our image. And that image is then rewritten. And that image is rewritten in the Bible.

And that image is restored in true righteousness, true holiness and true knowledge as it says

in Ephesians 423. If you read Ephesians 423, it says we were recreated in true righteousness,

true holiness and true knowledge of God. Ephesians 423, restored. It's brilliant. This plan is

brilliant. There's no other math wiz like God. Everything is so logical. And the reason

is that it's so important. Another thing that's critical to the kingdom, which we find, I

think is sometimes the base foundation of the kingdom is found in Genesis 1.28. What

does it say? It says, listen, be fruitful. Multiply. Replenish. And then you see that

you are subdued. This is the command to this church and you. When this purpose languishes,

or when this purpose is lost, then the kingdom distorts, it mutates, it looks ugly. It looks

like an ingrown toenail with fungus. Let's just make it worse. But this is critical and

it's found in Genesis 1.28. And who is saying this? The king of the universe is appointing

someone as his vice regent and saying, listen, you go do this. It would be like, what's his

name? Saying to hip, hip, I now appoint you as one who now has to go and discharge what's

his name is Aaron. Sorry. I thought you knew who I was talking about. Hip, I want you to

go and discharge all these things. Go and do it. And so now hip is in charge. It's the

same principle, but this is critical to kingdom. And none of this can be done without going.

None of this can be done without going. The kingdom is continuously advancing, continuously

advancing and the violent take it by force. As in, if you want to step into the advancing

kingdom of God, because remember one thing guys, there is a day of reckoning coming.

And I'm not talking about Tom Cruise's part two, but there is a day of reckoning coming.

And the day of reckoning does not question your eternal security. That happens to Christ

being received. But there is a day of reckoning coming when Jacob will be asked, how were

you involved in the advancement of the kingdom? Because all the kingdoms of the earth will

fall. There'll be just one kingdom left and it'll be the kingdom of Christ our king. How

Jacob did you participate in the advancement of the kingdom? That question will be asked.

Rewards are distributed on the basis of that. And the greatest reward you can ever get is

not the crowns. Any crown you get you will lay at his feet when you hear him coming.

The greatest reward you will get is the sound of a voice that is the origin of all voices

saying to you, well done. Well done Jacob. You were so faithful. My God, I'll be weeping

buckets by the time he gets to well. What a reward.

We'll go back to this in the future, but this is mission critically. And when this

languishes the kingdom mutates. Any questions? How would you describe the current day of

the kingdom? Yeah, so just to quickly summarize part one and part two. The moment the king

arrives on earth, he says the kingdom of God is in your midst. So he starts making that

announcement and then what does he do? He begins to show the earth what it will look

like. Everything he says, blessed are the poor, blessed are those that mourn, he's telling

them what the kingdom will look like. Why? Because you go to the end to see the beginning

of the kingdom. You go to the end and you see the full realization of the kingdom. There

is no tear, there is no fear, there is no shame, there is no guilt, there is no crying,

there is no mourning, there is no death, there is no sickness. You go to Isaiah 66 you will

see it. And then you fast rewind to Genesis 1 and there you find the first sample of a

developing kingdom which was perfect. And then you find Dhillon and me in the middle

and what's God's command to Dhillon and me? Hey Dhillon and Jacob, can you give the world

a taste of what awaits them right now so that when they taste it they'll say I want in.

And what is the taste we are giving them? That there are times where sickness will be

healed instantly and some gradually. There are times when the dead will rise. There are

times where your words will comfort the broken hearted. There are times when the poor will

be taken care of. There are times when the captive will be set free, the spiritually

oppressed will find liberty. There will be times when instead of mourning there will

be praise. Instead of heaviness there will be gladness, oaks of righteousness. And there

will be times when who determines these times? The spirit of the living God. And where is

he? He is upon Dhillon and me. He is upon Dhillon and me to the same extent that he

was on Christ. And Dhillon and I have the same access to the Father that Jesus had.

And now it is up to Dhillon and me in our workplaces, in our walking, in our talking,

in every moment to display a taste or a sample of the kingdom that awaits so that Chava sees

it and says I want in. And so Dhillon and me go and say to Chava, hey Chava Chava. And

Chava says yes. And so Chava says I want in. And so we tell him the way into this kingdom

is to be born again. And what does born again look like? Receiving the King. The slain and

risen King be and thrown upon the praises of a thousand generations you are worthy unto

the slain and risen King. We are here in a decaying world, in Middle Earth if you were

to take a sample from the Lord of the Rings, in Middle Earth showing them what it looks

like in the future. And Jesus every day, every moment that's all he was doing. The kingdom

of God is in your midst. Video of nine, blind man, water into wine, walking, taking control

over nature. That's what it's going to be like guys. I'm supposed to show people that

man. I can only show them that by the Spirit. Which is why we have to say the kingdom and

the Spirit. We'll visit this in the future. The moment you think of kingdom you have to

understand the word itself. Kingdom means dominion. And again that's the word itself.

This is a word that has become dirty like the word of faith and it wasn't meant to be.

You cannot have the kingdom begin to advance here without recognizing that man was given

dominion. Why in the world would God say to Adam, listen I will have you rule over the

earth, the plants, the things that creep, over everything. I appoint you ruler. I want

you to be in charge of this domain. When dominion is abused through force then it gets ugly.

But to say don't want to touch dominion, that's dominion theology. That's again the same thing.

Saying something that God meant and throwing it out because someone abused it. Always remember

it's never the fake that will be counterfeited. It is always the truth that will be counterfeited.

Nobody goes and tries to forge a fake note. They always forge a true note. Like a one-sided

hundred dollar bill, nobody wants to forge it. And so when it comes to dominion, the

idea of kingdom carries dominion. It's a royal calling that invites us to rule over creation

but his way of ruling over creation is through care, through guarding. These are the words

that actually when Adam was told to watch over the earth, he was told to watch over

the work. These are the words that actually were used. To care to God, to serve, tethered

to the nature of God, tethered to the nature of the king.

So every time my ruling over you, and yes it is a ruling whether you like it or not,

whether you like it or not, if I've been appointed shepherd over this flock, then a shepherd

rules. So in my ruling, every time I do not care, I do not guard you, I do not serve,

and I do not behave with you in a fashion that is tethered to the nature of God, my

dominion is defective and it will do you harm. And so from my perspective, I must constantly

examine my dealings with you on days I'm angry, days I'm irritated, days I'm not happy, days

I'm sad, days when I've had losses. It doesn't matter. It's the same thing with parents.

You see that with parents. Parents will sometimes lash out. Why? Because they've just somehow

managed to pay the mortgage off and the kid is screaming its head off because they don't

need reasons to scream. And you almost want to react. And when you react, what happens?

You go back and you apologize. Why do you apologize? But you can't bear the thought

of doing what you did to your child in anger. And so beat your wife, beat your garden, beat

your dog, beat even that other animal. There is a way we are supposed to. Don't laugh,

Jeremy. It's very hard to get that out. So we are supposed to do this not just for work,

church, family. We're supposed to do it for everything. But till this gets deep in my

heart, I forget it. Individualism is the bane of the kingdom. Individualism thrives in democracies.

You know, we should pray for Biden. Let's just pray for him right now. Father, we bring

this man called Joe Biden to you. We just look at him as a man right now who's suffering

from cancer. They just announced it today. We ask about in your kindness, your king,

you made him. We ask in your compassion and your kindness to intervene and to relieve

him of things getting worse. And for him to know you as Christ and Lord if he doesn't,

it is appointed for man to die, yes, but this was not your plan. And so I stick to who you

are as king. We pray, Father, for the remission of this cancer diagnosis that he's going for

treatment, that the treatments would work and that this man would know you before he

leaves the earth. In Jesus' name. Amen.

You see the exercise of dominion in the fact that God asks him to name what is placed under

his authority. That's so cool, eh? One of the first things God does after he says, I

give you authority to rule over everything I've created. God proves what he says. He

created everything. And then he wants to see what Adam will name that thing that swims

with a beak. And Adam goes platypus and God says, great, that's fine with me. I don't

know how that worked. Please don't take that as a scripture from the Bible. But what I'm

trying to say is one of the ways you know someone having authority is he gets to name.

And who created it? God. Who names it? Adam. The first exercise of dominion is in the authority

that God gives them to name things. You and I don't realize how important it is when it

comes to naming things. Naming the phase you are in at present. Naming the purpose of God.

Naming the things that you've left behind. Naming the children that you have. Naming

things that the church at present is entering into. Naming. It is highly important. How

do we find this out? We go to God and we ask him, Father, what do you want to name this?

Because in naming it, I'm giving it definition. I'm giving it character. I'm giving it what

God's promise is. There was a place called Luz. Jacob sleeps there on a rock and he sees

the heavens open and angels ascending and descending a ladder. What does he change it

into? Immediately the name of the place Luz becomes Bethel, the house of God, the gateway

of God. Sometimes when we talk about, hey, do you know what your next is? It's not some

great adventure, I must discover my destiny. No. It is name it so that you have an idea

of how you define what God is doing. Why do companies ask you to write a job description?

Why do they have titles for you? Because in that you know what you must do. Just a side

thought. It's not what I wanted to stop on. Adam was also expected to spread the word

to spread God's dominion, spread God's dominion. He was expected to spread God's dominion

outside Eden's boundaries. And in God saying to him, subdue, Adam already knew that there

would be opposition. So he wasn't blind when the serpent came. But what happens is instead

of, doesn't this happen to us, instead of Adam ruling as God's ruler, Adam rules as

God's vice regent, he rebels against his own sovereign as in king and submits to an

imposter prince. Sadly, the role male has played in pattern-finding the way he

has düş physically isn't very well known. Baby they ask us to love each other and they

are the most common types of love. Sometimes they up two baby doesn't tell us that he

He rebels against his own sovereign and submits to an imposter prince.

It's one of the saddest days on Earth.

How we do it is be aware of it.

Let's just talk about the enemy and then we'll come back to and see if we can finish it off.

The kingdom has an external enemy.

Remember in Eden, we are talking from the perspective of Eden,

the kingdom had an external enemy.

He was not inside Eden.

He was not inside Eden.

It was an external enemy.

And the serpent, even today, wants to, seeks to enter into ordered, protected spaces

so that he can usurp God arranged authority.

And he cannot do that without us participating.

Satan, even today now, I'm talking about our lives, he's an external enemy.

Why? Because we are in Christ. Why?

Because we are part of this thing called the bride.

Why? Because we are part of the church.

Why? Because we are part of the kingdom.

Why? Because we are at once seated in heavenly places while we walk the earth.

He's an external enemy.

Yes, there are internal battles, but our internal battles are easier to,

sometimes easier to change because I have a new life instead of inside of me.

There are no two wolves fighting inside me.

I have a new life inside of me.

So there is an external enemy and his intent is still,

can I break into Jacob's life?

Can I break into Jacob's church?

Can I break into Jacob's marriage?

Can I break into Jacob's family?

Can I break into Jacob's school?

Can I break into Jacob's work?

Can I break in and somehow usurp his authority?

That's still the intent.

And one of the favorite places he tries to break into is marriages.

It's his favorite place.

Why is marriage one of the favorite places of the devil?

Because it is the place that you return to every day.

It is the place where you are most naked and I don't mean it in the physical sense.

It is the place where you go for comfort, for help.

She was meant to be your helper, as there as in you are helpless.

It is the place where the go forth, the multiply, the be fruitful,

the replenish the earth, the subduing happens.

It is that one place.

If that place is touched, all of life is destroyed.

Your finances are destroyed.

Your peace is destroyed.

Your comfort is destroyed.

Your intimacy is destroyed.

Your companionship is destroyed.

It is the one place where if I am the devil I touch,

it will wreak havoc and cause ripples in every area of your life.

And it is the place where he enters, where Eden was an enclosed,

protected space of abundant blessing and he was on the outside.

What do we know about the devil?

We just need to look at his name.

Serpent, devil, Satan, crafty, adversary.

These names are self-explanatory in terms of method of operation, accuser.

Those three words, once you see what they mean, you know how this works.

Serpent, Genesis 3, verse 1.

Genesis 3:1

Now amongst all the animals, there was this thing called the serpent,

which was subtle or devious or crafty.

So it's crafty.

Two, devil just means adversary.

And Satan means accuser.

And in these three, you know most of what he does.

And then in Genesis 3, you see the other things he tries.

Contradicts the word from a place of reason.

Two, distorts God's intent.

As in, you see this in Genesis 3, verse 3 and 4.

Genesis 3:3

Contradicts the word, as in, did God really say?

And so brings in reasoning.

And it's a depth of Christianity where anything that God has said,

find a Greek word or a Hebrew word that brings in reason and says,

no, it really doesn't work like that.

When he says, delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart,

he really didn't mean that.

The Greek says, delight as in, it's just stupid.

The contradictions of the, contradicting the word of God with reason.

But it's reached such an elevated state that people think it's wonderful to think like that.

As in, not think like God.

Second, distortion of the word.

Genesis 3, verse 3 and 4.

Genesis 3:3

Did, you know, when God said to you, do not eat from the tree,

I just want you to know that the reason he said that is because he's scared that you will become like him.

That you will have the knowledge of good and evil.

That's the reason.

Equality was the first thing offered to man.

Equal with God.

Whenever a church wants to make everyone equal and make everyone happy, be careful, eh?

It's a recipe for disaster.

We are all equal before God.

We have equal access to God, but we do not aspire for equality.

What if your children started doing that?

All your children think, we want to be equal.

We want to place at the table.

We want to make decisions as to what cereal we get tomorrow morning.

How will that work, Subin?

Somebody's going to get hurt.

Sorry, I shouldn't do that.

I'm so sorry, guys.

That was just a slip.

Sorry.

That's Russell Peters.

Sorry.

I just thought of him.

Yeah.

See, if I do it, it's not too bad, but I shouldn't do it.

Yeah.

Sorry.

Distorts what?

Accusations.

Accusations that are some that are legit and some that are false.

And then here's the other one.

This is so subtle, but it's so often seen.

Satan has you exert moral autonomy.

As in, he says to you, you have the right to decide what is right and wrong.

Most religions have been born out of that.

Moral autonomy, determine for ourselves what is right and wrong.

To act autonomously, to act autonomously is to act like God.

To act autonomously is to be an authority unto oneself.

Being an authority unto oneself is the definition of rebellion.

Rebellion is akin to witchcraft.

You see this in churches.

You see this in homes.

You see this in kingdoms.

You see this in democracies.

The idea that, listen, exert moral autonomy.

You are your own boss.

You have the right to decide what is true, what is false.

It's called relativism or pluralism, whatever you want to call it.

But it is basically stirring up people to exert moral autonomy without taking your cue from a moral God.

And to act autonomously is to act like God when you are not God.

To act autonomously is to be an authority unto oneself.

Being an authority unto oneself is the definition of rebellion.

Rebellion is akin to witchcraft.

I must not be tolerated in the church.

And the reason it is tolerated in the church is because leaders are afraid.

I want to be friendly.

I want to keep everyone together.

You shouldn't.

It's the worst thing you can do.

It's the most evil thing you can do to your family.

Yeah.

So you're growing a statue in Christ under him, not acting autonomously.

The Bible of God was a classic example of an autonomous person who decided,

I'm going to build something that will reach up to heavens.

He was a hunter.

I'm going to be who I want to be.

Herod was another guy.

Worms began to eat him and maggots spilled out of his belly.

Nebuchadnezzar was another guy.

Failed to recognize that God put him in place and so ran around in the forest like an animal for seven years before he was restored.

The Bible is full of people who took autonomous rule into their own hands and ended up being like animals,

both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

And when it is permitted in church, then you have Christ turning up in the church in the book of Revelation saying,

you tolerate this woman who has brought in sexual immorality, idolatry and witchcraft into the church.

You better repent or otherwise I'll come and take away your lab.

Christ writes to the church in the book of Revelation.

It's so hard to have the courage to deal with this, right?

But once it gets in, it's so hard to remove.

Churches suffer for it for 50, 60 years.

Yeah, in 1 Samuel 15, verse 16, God is talking to Saul.

1 Samuel 15:16

Samuel is talking to Saul on behalf of God and he says that stubbornness is like idolatry and rebellion is like witchcraft or divination.

1 Samuel 15, 16 or 16, 15, I'm not sure.

That's where Samuel is saying it is Saul.

And so how does it match up?

How can we call rebellion witchcraft?

And this is the breakdown or the process that ends up with it being what it is.

I'll have to stop in five or six minutes, guys.

But feel free to ask questions because we can't do this without questions.

Any other questions?

Another thing God does is see, one of the things that happens is because Adam decides to take authority into his own hands and become like God,

what a foolish thing for that man to do.

You know, there's this thing called representative principle where God made Adam a representative.

And the problem with this representative principle is that once you make someone a representative, all his descendants also bear the same fate.

Adam was supposed to represent God.

Adam and Eve had equal access to God, but Eve was drawn from his side.

Both are made in the image of God and both have equal access to God.

Adam was the first representative, but anything he does would then affect his descendants.

If Adam, and this is again a suggestion, okay, it's a suggestion based on a principle.

I can't give you a verse.

I would suggest to you that if Eve had come to Adam with the fruit to eat and Adam had said no,

I would say to you that Eve's transgression would have been forgiven because Adam was a representative.

Satan knew that.

Satan knew that if I can get Adam, I know I can affect his descendants.

What Satan could not comprehend is that the representative principle also applies the other way.

Because in 1 Corinthians 15, you have the second Adam, the second Adam or the last Adam or the second man come, Christ.

And now the representative principle works again.

Just as through one man's sin came, through this last Adam or the second man as the Bible calls him,

now forgiveness and righteousness is imputed to anybody who receives him.

This is the skill of God.

In terms of logic and mathematics, my God, he's brilliant.

Just when the enemy thinks I've got him and his descendants, what he does not comprehend is there is a man coming who is the last Adam,

who will reverse all that I've done in being slain and rising again.

And now his descendants will have God's righteousness imputed to them, not an innocence that Adam had, but a righteousness that only God has.

This transcendent God who lives separate from creation gives to man his righteousness because of the representative principle.

That's the crazy part.

I think there's someone else preaching in there.

But in Adam acting autonomously, the fall results in the idea of being fruitful and multiplying.

The idea of multiplying now becomes painful because of pregnancy and the labor.

It becomes a painful affair.

What was supposed to be beautiful, what was supposed to be purposeful,

what was supposed to be something that God had ordained now becomes painful.

The whole idea of replenishing now becomes difficult. Why?

Because the ground is cursed.

But the one thing that has always remained active is the subdue,

where God decides that he will deal with the serpent.

The king decides to deal with the serpent.

The king decides to deal with the serpent.

So even though the first three become difficult, where labor and the ground, now thorns and thistles and pain,

the subdue part, the king decides he's going to deal with it.

So what does he say? He says in Genesis 3, I'm putting enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

And that is the beginning of spiritual warfare, which is very real

because in the Old Testament, the reason Satan used kings, tyrants, kingdoms,

the intent of using kings, tyrants and kingdoms to destroy Israel was simply for one simple reason.

If Israel can be annihilated, the seed of the woman will not be born.

That's basically the story of Old Testament war.

The entire warfare in the Old Testament is summed up in this.

Can Israel be destroyed?

Because out of Israel will come the seed of the woman that will crush the head of the serpent.

So if this woman can be stopped, then there is no crushing of the serpent's head.

And that is the story of the Old Testament wars.

Every time they would come close to destroying Israel.

Esther, Esther is a story basically without the word God being mentioned in Esther.

Esther is the story of the attempt of the enemy through Haman the Agagite

to completely slaughter a nation so that the seed of the woman will not arise.

Now you understand why there is weeping in Rama as every two-year-old boy is slaughtered.

Now you understand why Pharaoh sends out his soldiers to destroy every Israelite male child.

And then in the New Testament it shifts.

What shifts?

Now the woman has given birth.

Now the woman has given birth and the seed, the Christ has come up.

The descendants of the seed called Christ, us, now the battle shifts to us.

Where the enemy comes after?

The descendants of the seed of the woman, the church.

It's no longer a warfare in terms of trying to stop the birth.

It is now fight these descendants.

Why?

So that they will not draw more unto themselves.

And what is one of the best ways of fighting?

Make them docile.

Make them reasonable.

Reasonable docile people do not go to war.

They retire.

Any questions?

I've said this before and we'll talk about it in the future.

The moment you say the word kingdom, it implies warfare.

The moment you say the word kingdom, it implies warfare.

Yeah.

So if you sense you're being attacked by the enemy, what's the thing you should do?

One, I should understand that he's just living out his job description.

Ephesians 6, that the enemy shoots, fiery arrows at you.

And so that is what he will continue to do.

But if you read the rest of Ephesians 6, 10 to 14, you see that I've already been provided everything to deal with it.

So the question is, is that how I'm dressed up?

Am I like Nehemiah's people who night and day are dressed up with a spear in one hand and a spade in the other?

Doing the work of the kingdom while whenever necessary defending and setting captives free.

And so in a sense, the armor of God is enough for an individual believer.

It is enough.

It is when the attack of the enemy is more corporate that we need to figure out, okay, now what do we do?

Do we wait till we hear the sound of marching above the mulberry bushes before we attack?

Do we go and get Ziklag from behind?

What do we do?

What do we do?

Do we go against just one Goliath with five stones in a sling?

What do we do?

Where is the mighty three or the mighty thirty?

Do we send them out?

What does it look like?

And so in terms of individual Christianity, it's different.

Okay, so let's assume the spirit of God says to me, Jacob, someone's practicing witchcraft against you.

Where do I go to the sword of the spirit?

What does it say?

That there is no sorcery or divination against Jacob.

Do I really believe that?

And if I believe that, how am I going to deal with it?

Have I ever dealt with it before?

No, I haven't.

Well, then I heard Sen has dealt with it before.

Let me go ask Sen.

Sen heard that Jane has dealt with it before.

Sen goes, ask Jane.

Now it's three against one.

One shall scatter a hundred.

Two shall scatter a thousand.

Three shall scatter 10,000.

So the sword of the spirit is basically the word of God, which is sufficient.

When you look at the armor, there's nothing missing in it for warfare.

When you look at the armor, there's nothing missing in it for warfare.

It is just that if you put a knight's armor on me and seat me on a horse,

imagine me sitting on a horse in a full knight's armor.

You don't have to laugh,

but I can see why you would be laughing.

I'd be just stuck there, eh? The horse moves and I fall out.

The thing is, when I wear this armor, do I have the ability to wield it?

And where is training done?

Training is done in theory like this and in practice outside.

And no soldier trains alone.

Any soldier that trains alone is not part of an army.

All he is is a guerrilla warfare guy who is a mercenary on hire.

I wouldn't hire him,

because he changes sides whenever he wants.

There's no loyalty, there's no guarantee that when the battle gets hot,

he'll stay.

I wouldn't take him on.

Cheer me.

Can you act autonomously?

Can you act autonomously?

Can you act autonomously?

Can you act autonomously?

Can you act autonomously?

OK. Can I act autonomously with self-discipline?

I don't know whether I'll be answering the question you're asking,

but even the things that I discipline myself in

should be the things that he wants to instruct me on.

And I should discipline myself in those things because I delight in him.

So let's say you are a world-famous athlete.

I want to be an athlete too, I want to run in the next Olympics.

So I come to you.

And you instruct me on how I should discipline myself

if I am to run the marathon in the Olympics.

So that's one part of it.

So I begin to discipline myself

and begin to create rules that I can get better by.

But here's the thing, I'm not doing it on my own.

I'm coming to you who's done this before and asking you for help.

So that's one part.

The second part is, the reason I want to run the marathon in the Olympics

is because I delight in running.

When I run, like it says in the Targets of Fire, I feel the pleasure of God.

The moment you delight in something, discipline becomes easier.

And when these two combine, voila, things really work out.

So to now transfer it to God,

in the areas that I need to discipline myself, I'll go and ask God,

Father, how do I do this?

He'll give me instructions from the Word,

He'll give me instructions through people who've done it before,

and I'll learn to do it.

But before I do it, the first thing I'll have to do is begin to delight in Him.

As I delight in Him, I begin to do this not because I want an Olympic gold,

but because I love running.

I sometimes wonder, what happens to those athletes who come fourth and fifth

and sixth and seventh, and they know they probably won't win the gold?

Why do they go back in the next Olympics?

Partly because they love their nation, partly because they love running.

That's why, if you love soccer, it doesn't matter that your Tooney and Man City keeps losing.

You just stick with it.

Crystal Palace, what days when?

Let's stop there.

There are two other things that I was going to talk about, which we'll do next time.

One is, so what did Eden look like?

What did Eden look like?

More than anything else, Eden was the presence of God.

And then the other part was, what does obedience have to do with Eden and the Kingdom?

What does obedience have to do with Eden and the Kingdom?

We'll talk about that.

But when you think of Eden and the presence of God, can you imagine?

And just so you know, God wasn't doing a visit for five minutes every evening.

That's not how it was.

Eden was filled with the glorious presence of God.

But there were deliberate times when you would have Panim, as in face to face.

And you see this in the Bible often.

Moses in Exodus 24 was called up the mountain with 70 others and Nedab and Abiu.

And they ate and drank with God.

Under their feet was a sapphire pathway.

And they ate and drank with God.

And then the presence of God was there.

They were eating and drinking with God, 72 or 73 of them.

Then what does God say?

Hey, Moses, I want you to come up.

And so Moses goes up.

And he goes up and there's this cloud.

And he doesn't know what's going to happen.

There's this huge cloud.

And the others are watching.

And this cloud is there.

You read it in the last three verses of Exodus 24.

And then suddenly God says, OK, I want you to come up a little higher.

Then it says Moses went up and the cloud hit him.

And it is there that that conversation happens.

Show me your face.

Show me your glory.

I want to see your face.

Forty days and forty nights, this man was having a one-on-one.

In Eden, it wasn't as if God would say, oops, four o'clock, got to have tea, maybe an apple.

And so he goes down.

No, it was the place was blooming filled with his presence.

If you and I can experience when we go quiet that he is here.

We are talking about him.

We are talking about a living God.

And he ruins you when you recognize suddenly that you know he is here.

If we can feel this now, imagine Eden where there was no speculative thinking, no reasoning, no rationale.

Innocence.

No shame, no guilt, no condemnation.

And then at some point he would come down and it'd be face to face.

If this in our dying flesh with our past, with our condemnation and guilt, if this is what we can taste now, what will it be then?

Why should your neighbor not be part of it?

It is robbery if he's not part of it.

Only a people who taste and see that God is good will be able to tell others about him.

Had Adam waited, he would have known the knowledge of good and evil without having

to disobey.

Eden was just the beginning.

What awaits us, and you'll find many parallels, there was a river through Eden, there's a river in the new heaven and earth.

There's a tree of life in Eden, there's a tree of life in the new heaven and earth.

Many parallels.

But please don't think that the new heaven and earth is a replica of Eden.

It will be a million times better.

Let's pray.

Father, you've said that we purify ourselves when we begin to hope for the return of Christ and the future that awaits us.

It says so, I think, in Thessalonians, that anybody who hopes for the kingdom that awaits in the future, who hopes for the return of Christ,

purifies himself, purifies herself.

And so I thank you that even as we conclude this teaching that you are purifying us.

It also says, Father, that anyone who reads the book, words in the book of Revelation, that there'll be a blessing upon them.

And so I just read Revelation 22, 1 to 6.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city.

On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.

And the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.

No longer will there be any curse.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

There will be no more night.

They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.

And they will reign forever and ever.

The angel said to me, these words are trustworthy and true.

The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must take place soon.

He who testifies to these things says, yes, I'm coming soon.

Amen. Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

Bless you guys. It's such a pleasure teaching this and learning with you.

If you need prayer, there'll be someone here to pray with you. Yeah?

Keep singing that song, Is He Worthy?

Because he's changing things now. He's changing it.