A Battle of Two Kingdoms
Notes
Transcript
This morning we are going to begin talking about the Kingdom of God!
Many people view the kingdom of God as some place that they will go to when they die if they believe in Jesus
This is absolutely correct! However, maybe it is a bit more than that?
We are going to talk this morning about what the Bible says about the kingdom of God
The first thing that we have to tackle
Is that In order for there to be a kingdom, there must be a king!
Jesus is King
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.”
8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
And, there are plenty other scripture about Jesus being The King!
In fact, He was never any less in the OT or because He died… and He will never be anymore King than He is right now!
So, we have a kingdom…and we have a king that will reign forever, but what is His kingdom?
Is it simply some place that we go to when we die?
In order to tackle this, we have to start in the beginning
OT
In the beginning, we have a Garden and in this Garden, He created Adam and Eve and He says
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
The Hebrew word for subdue means to bring into bondage in that they have control and power over it
the word rule means that you have power and control over
So, God gives them power and authority over the earth
But, that power and authority came in connection with Him, being made in His image
A couple chapters later we see that they hand over their power and authority to the enemy and we know this because of a few NT verses
Jesus says
31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
So, Jesus refers to the enemy as a prince, notice not the king, in that he has rule over the earth
Paul says:
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
So, the enemy is referred to as the “god” lower case “g” of this age…who is blinding unbelievers
And, in:
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
the enemy is the ruler of the kingdom of the air…
So, the enemy was ruling until Jesus comes…
As we read this morning in:
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
What is the good news?
It is that the kingdom has come!
And the kingdom has come, because, the King has come!
As John Wimber puts is “all kingdom has broke loose”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t say that you will be in the kingdom some day later after you die or He returns, no the kingdom has come now!
So, Jesus preaches the kingdom and then He demonstrates the kingdom
20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
For Jesus, it is not only about preaching the kingdom, but demonstrating the kingdom…its a kingdom of power!
In Matthew 12, the bring Jesus a demon possessed man and He heals him
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?
27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
So, how did He demonstrate this?
the first thing that He did was:
1. He started making disciples
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
So, He preached that the kingdom of heave is near and then He made disciples, which He later sent out to do the same thing! I’ll show you that in a minute!
What else did He do to demonstrate the kingdom?
He went into the synagogue and was teaching, as He did this,
22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.
Remember, the authority was handed over to the enemy…yet we have Jesus teaching with authority
And, while He was teaching
23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
They had power, but knew a time was coming when they wouldn’t
Jesus says
25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
So, Jesus demonstrates the kingdom by Deliverance
So, as Jesus demonstrate the kingdom, we have
He makes disciples
Does Deliverance
Healing
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her.
31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
Jesus heals Peter’s mother in law and it doesn’t stop there
32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
How Jesus Demonstrates the Kingdom
Makes Disciples
Does Deliverance
Heals
Prays
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Prayer is essential to the kingdom!
Even Jesus realized the importance of being with His Father!
For those of us who want to do the work of the Kingdom, we have got to be connected with the King!
How Jesus Demonstrates the Kingdom
Makes Disciples
Does Deliverance
Heals
Prays
Teaching/Preaching
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
How Jesus Demonstrates the Kingdom
Makes Disciples
Does Deliverance
Heals
Prays
Teaching/Preaching
Jesus also echos this sentiment to His disciples
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Then we have Christ’s death, which was a major victory for the Kingdom!
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
and
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
And, we see that even after the cross, Jesus is still King and has all power, authority, and dominion, and He is still doing His work!
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
When we have the HS, we have the power of Christ!
We will never be Jesus Christ on earth!
At best, we will be His representatives
And so, we live in weird period of time that we refer to as the
Already/Not Yet
We still live in this Present evil age but also in the age to come
19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
In the right now, we have:
Sickness - healing
sin - sanctification
pain - peace
We are in this place of dueling kingdoms
As we walk out this work that Jesus has for us, we can error on the extremes.
Over/Under Realized View of the Kingdom
We know that Jesus brought the kingdom, He is bringing the kingdom, and He will bring the kingdom
The kingdom is here, but it is not fully here!
Over-realized - all things of the kingdom here and now…but this simply isn’t true…we know that in the age to come, we will have new, resurrected bodies…I sure hope this one isn’t mine!
Someone with an over-realized would say that if you are not fully healed, it is because of your lack of faith/belief
Or, that you are not trusting God…
However, everyone Jesus healed, died. The healing was only temporary anyway.
So, you have some with an over-realized view and then we have some with an under-realized view
Under-realized - we don’t see any of the kingdom now until the return of Christ. Maybe on the rare occasion, God will heal or deliver..
These People will put things in “not yet” category to remove their responsibility
God won’t heal or deliver until He returns…
So, we have some people on the extremes, but the truth is somewhere in the middle..called the realized view of the Kingdom.
Realized - He brought the kingdom and we get a portion of it now - some portions greater than others, but it is here and available, and should be sought after.
With the hope that there will be a day when it is all complete! At the return of Christ.
And so, where do we sit?
We sit in that Jesus is the king, on the throne and that His kingdom is here! So, we seek Him as king, and we honor Him as king to bring the kingdom to earth!
In the Lord’s prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…
And remember, all of the statements in the Lord’s prayer are a way for us to remember what God has done, but also a reminder to seek them!
So, we remember that His kingdom has come and we remind ourselves to seek His kingdom!
So, as we look at the kingdom, Jesus, for whatever reason, chooses to use His people to continue to bring the kingdom
At first, it was 1, then it was 12, then it was the 72, then 120 at pentecost, then it was anyone who would receive the Spirit
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
God uses His people!
And He equips then with the Word and the Spirit.
The word gives us the knowledge and understanding and the Spirit gives us the power
He gives fruit, and He gives gifts…
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” 9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?
10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Next week, and the following weeks, we will go into more detail about the gifts.
What they are, how they are used, why they are used and answer every question that you have had about spiritual gifts.
I remind you on 11/3 we will start a class which will be way more in depth and hands on with the gifts. All are invited, but we do need to know here pretty soon who will be joining us.
As we prepare to leave this morning. How many of us are excited for the kingdom?
How many of us want/need to see the things of Jesus’ kingdom?