Living Like Kings

Will you live like the King?

Bible Passage: Matthew 7:13–27

1. What is the Kingdom of God?

in order to answer this question I think we have to go wayyyyy back

What does the OT say about the kingdom of God? the entire OT points to Christ and God’s Kingdom, let me show you what I mean

In genesis, we see the kingdom of God in Eden, it was perfect

God was at the head, and man ruled the earth, but we broke that

we ruled in His image, just like a King has images of himself throughout his kingdom, we are God’s image

The rest of the Bible focuses on the redemption of the world back to the perfect Kingdom of God

We see the beginning of this with Noah when God wipes the earth with the flood, a picture of a future judgment to come with Fire

Then we see this idea of a kingdom established with Abraham in His promise to bless all nations through him.

Gen 12:1-3 leave your people, I will give you a land and make you a nation to bless all nations

Paul quotes this in Galatians 3:8

We see a picture of how God has made a way for us to come to Him by the parting of the Red Sea, just how the sea separated the Israelites from freedom, theres a division that seperates us from God, but Jesus parted that we just have to walk through it

We see the conduct required of this kingdom through the Laws given to Moses

what they missed was that these laws were meant to show you how broken you were, not the means of salvation

Then we see a physical kingdom when David becomes king, and Israel is in its golden era

you see this pattern? Again, all the OT points to Jesus, the stories of being in Canaan (perfect world) to enslaved in Egypt (broken / enslaved because of sin) to Moses delivering them (Jesus giving us freedom from slavery) to the kingdom of Israel being established with David as King (the ultimate end where the kingdom of God is established with Christ as King)

God’s plan for Israel was to use them to be a light to the world, but they were usually pretty sucky at it, they were imperfect, It went really well with David and Solomon, but then falls apart

So then in the books of prophecy all the books after Song of Solomon, point to this perfect redemption of the kingdom of God, they point to how it will be put back together

The OT kinda ends on a cliffhanger, where we see this history of Israel, but it all points to this future restoration that we don’t get until Jesus comes

this idea of a restoration of the kingdom of God through a Messiah was what the OT Israelites had to put their faith in

The problem was that most of them thought it would be a political kingdom, they missed Jesus in it. They thought they would go back to the glory days.

they thought the Messiah would be a king like David, since he would come from David’s line

The disciples even thought this until Jesus was resurrected and he showed them what the OT said

So what do we have in the NT?

It’s still incomplete, but much more full

Jesus fully and totally fulfilled the OT, he showed us that the law was meant to show how defeated we should be, He showed us what all of the prophecy of a messiah pointed to by fulfilling every single one of them! did you know there are over 350 different prophecies that Jesus fulfilled? the odds of Him only fulfilling 8 are 1 in 100 quadrillion… thats one with 17 0s. The odds that someone would fulfill 48 prophecies is 1 with 157 0s behind it. and he fulfilled over 350.

He fulfilled every law, living the life of righteousness that none of us could, and yet took on the punishment we deserved for breaking God’s law, just like you will go to jail for breaking man made law, there is punishment for breaking God’s law, but Jesus took that for us! And He rose from the dead to prove it, and to show us that like how in the OT they had to have faith in the restoration of the kingdom, now we have partially seen that, the restoration of a spiritual kingdom, Jesus said in Mark 1:14-15 that the time has been fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand, and all we have to do is die to our old self with Christ, and be raised to a new life with Christ where he comes IN US through the Holy Spirit, and because we have Christ in us we get to be a part of God’s kingdom spiritually

this is how the apostles preached in the early church! they showed how Christ fulfilled the OT, how he established the kingdom and will fully establish it later

We get to be a part of this spiritual kingdom now, as the salt and light of the earth, remember God’s intention for Israel was for it to be a light to the world, now that kingdom is within us. Jesus was the perfect example of the kingdom, He was both Creator and became creation, King and subject, the Word and listener, he is the bringer of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom itself, the King. And we can be a part of it because Christ will literally live in us through the Holy Spirit if we choose to accept Him and make Him Lord.

But it doesn’t end there, this kingdom is both now, and in the future. One day, Christ will come back, and all those who chose not to be a part of this kingdom will be thrown out and be literally punished for their sins, but those who chose to follow Christ, to submit to His kingdom and make Him king, not only is Christ in them but He will be physically with them and they will get to be a part of a new Creation, a new heaven and earth where the kingdom of God is fully established, where sin and death are no more. This is the kingdom of God.

It is a place that excludes all sin, all evil and will include all that is redeemed

So, with that in mind, we’ve seen Jesus describe to us in this sermon what the people of the kingdom of God should live like, they should be different, dependant, genuine, generous, focused on the king, defeated, but what do we do with all that? We have a CHOICE.

2. Two Options Matthew 7:13-14

Matthew 7:13–14 ““Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.”

There are only two options, not multiple, not all ways lead to God, but two

On the one hand, you have the kingdom of the world

Jesus describes it as an easy path

its tolerant

its like a road with no curb, yellow lines, speed limits etc

its broad, its the popular road, but Jesus says it leads to destruction

remember how we said when Jesus comes back all those who were against Him would be punished for breaking the law? thats where this road leads,

You may think thats not fair etc. but is it fair to punish someone for breaking the law? How much more just is it to be punished for going against the sovereign almighty perfect God?

On the other hand, you have the narrow road

Jesus has just described all the aspects of this kingdom, what its people look like, its not easy! It takes work, it takes submission, not many will go down this road, but it leads to life

You have the wide gate at the end of the easy road, this gate lets you take all your belongings, all your desires, but the hard road has a narrow gate, the only thing that can fit through is you, you have to give up on the things of this world, theyre fun and all, but ultimately the only thing thats important is God

its like when Jesus told us to live focused, to get through the narrow gate we have to be focused on Him, not worried about the things of the world because they don’t really matter, it doesn’t mean we can’t have things, but we don’t need to be focused on them

Jesus shows us that we have to choose a path, ones easy, ones hard, but one leads to destruction, the other to life

3. Watch our for wolves

Matthew 7:15–20 ““Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.”

This passage assumes three things

1 there are false teachers, there are those out there who will try to distract you from the narrow road and point you to the easy one

one of the best ways we can be on guard is by being in the word ourselves!

These guys have always been around, Jeremiah 23:16–17 “This is what the Lord of Armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the Lord’s mouth. They keep on saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord has spoken: You will have peace.’ They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ ””

2 it shows how dangerous false prophets are

Jesus describes them as wolves

there are people out there who will disguise themselves as sheep, but are actually wolves wanting to destroy you. They will make you good promises like hey just say you love jesus and do what you want thats all you need! or theyll tell you in order to follow Jesus you must complete all these rules and earn Him, or maybe that all roads lead to Jesus, theres lots of false teaching, and we have to be on guard

3 they can be seen

we can see them by their fruits

a good tree doesnt produce bad fruit and vice versa

but how can we know these fruits if we dont grow in them ourselves? If we want to truly walk the narrow path that leads to life, we have to be growing in the Word so we can protect ourselves from these wolves

this idea of fruit is a teachers character, the fruit of the spirit, a teachers doctrine, does it match the Bible, and their influence, do they influence ungodliness, and division? which is how Paul characterizes false teachers in 2 Timothy 2, or do they promote good things like faith love and godliness like Paul describes all throughout his letters.

False prophets are everywhere, in churches, on tiktok, instagram youtube etc. We have to be careful who we listen to and make sure we are constantly walking in the Word.

4. The choice

Matthew 7:21–27 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’ “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.””

Jesus warns us of two wrong choices we can make.

We can confess with our mouth but not our hearts

He says we can preach, teach, perform miracles in His name and yet He never knew us. We can profess by mouth but not by heart. We can say all the right things but never actually apply it to our lives.

The issue with these people is that they havent submitted to Christ, they do mighty works in ministry, but not in their lives

What I want to encourage you to do tonight, is make sure we are sayers and doers of the Word. That we apply it to our lives, and we genuinely ask seek and knock after Jesus to know Him.

The other mistake we can make is just know the Bible, but not know Him.

We hear the word but dont do it. We build our lives on a knowledge of Christ, but not a relationship with Him. Its like building on sand! it may look good on the outside but deep down its built on the wrong thing. I

ts like when Jesus says to the Pharisees they were clean cups on the outside, but what good is that if theyre dirty on the inside. You dont want to drink out of a dirty cup, just like you dont wanna live in a house built on sand.

He tells us it doesnt matter if we just know His teaching, it matters if we do it. The road is narrow, difficult, because we have to hear and obey. Just hearing is easy

Both of these things are almost right, but they are no substitute for obedience.

Jesus tells us the way is hard, but also tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. You see, even though it may seem hard, we have the Creator of the Universe to walk through it with us (northern lights). The way of the world seems easy, but it leads to destruction. the way to the kingdom of God seems hard, but brings life.

5. What will you choose?

So what will you choose? will you choose to go the easy way, to listen to the wolves, to stray away from the perfect kingdom of God, just to end up in destruction? I dont say this to scare you, but I say it because its true. Or will you choose the narrow path. Will you choose to do what Christ has showed us in this series, to life differently than the people around you, to seek after God. To make Him the King in your life, to Submit to Christ, to surrender all areas of your life to Him? Will you allow Him to make your righteousness deep reaching all the way to your heart, for Him to make your love so broad it reaches even to your enemies, to become so genuine that your prayer, giving and fasting are for His attention alone, for the treasure you pursue to be the treasure of His kingdom, not the world’s, for your focus to be on Him and the spread of His kingdom, To be a part of His kingdom that all throughout history He has been redeeming to be perfect and with Him forever. Will you choose that which leads to life? or destruction? I know which one I wanna choose.