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Our sermon will be on Luke 16:14-17

We have a website: https://tahlequahworshipcenter.com/

We are going through the book of John on Wednesday Nights

We need to have another work day before long but it will have to be a few weeks from now.

We will be having Church Camp this year and we need a couple more boys teachers.

Prayer requests

Gerald

Georgey

Dorcas

Cristy’s Grandparents

Sandra

Donna

Ukraine

Braxton

Barbara’s Family

Barbara S. Son

Joe

Songs

Do Lord

Tile The Storm Passes By

God’s Gonna Cut You Down

He’s Coming Back

We sang that Johnny Cash song and it sounds a bit harsh doesn’t it?

It’s also true.

I know we are supposed to be the bearers of good news, but sometimes we have to give the bad news so they can understand the need for the good news.

Jesus and John the Baptist’s first message was “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

Also, Jesus preached more about Hell than Heaven.

It’s time for some bad news.

One of my jobs as Dad is to have fun with my Kids.

Another is to punish.

One time I was looking at something on the internet with Billy, and I heard some thumping on the roof above me.

I go outside and Josh is holding the ladder and he said, “I told them not to do it”

I look up and Christian is running all over the roof of the house.

He was about 3.

I’m sure he was punished.

In today’s passage, Jesus is going to talk about punishment.

He’s talking about the Judgment.

Luke 17:20–37 NKJV

20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” 22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. 36 Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” 37 And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

When is Jesus Coming Again?

Different People believe different things.

FWB don’t have a set position. Neither does this church.

Image from Wikipedia - made by Lamorak

There are 2 main views that FWBs have.

Amillennialism

(Amil)

Amil’s main teaching is that the millennium that we read about in Revelation is happening right now.

It’s not a literal 1000 years, but it’s symbolic.

So think about how Christianity started becoming more and more prevalent until the Roman Empire basically becomes Christian.

Satan is currently bound and that’s why Christianity is allowed to spread.

Most will say that Satan will be loosed and then destruction will come and the world will be recreated.

This view was the only view talked about in the church for almost 2000 years.

Even now, it might be the majority view, but not in America.

Premillennialism

(Premil)

Premil loosely believes that there is a coming Millennium after a 7 year tribulation.

Some believe that Jesus will return before the tribulation, some in the middle and some after or right at the end before all the vials are emptied.

So the ones that are Pre-trib believe that Jesus will come and gather his saints before the start of the trib.

There is a Pre-wraith that believes Jesus will come right as the last of the vials or bowls of wrath are poured upon the world.

There is an old version that is called Historic Premil, but we don’t have enough time to discuss. It’s similar to the Pre-wrath.

The Pre-trib Premil position is fairly new, having come into use in about 1830 or so.

Having said all that, let’s get into our text.

What is the Kingdom of God?

Luke 17:20–21 NKJV

20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

So what is the Kingdom of God?

Well, that is the big question.

When we look at this scripture, we see that the kingdom is spiritual.

There are 3 other places where the kingdom is explicitly taught as spiritual.

Matthew 12:28, Romans 14:17, and John 18:36

John 18:36 NKJV

36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

I guess the question really is: Will there be a physical kingdom as well?

There is often a 2-fold fulfillment of scripture.

Anyway, what Jesus says here is that the kingdom is spiritual.

It’s those that believe.

When is the Kingdom of God?

Well, if you are Amil, then it’s right now, but there are other things going on in this text.

First of all, verses 22-23 seems to point to looking for the signs. The same is true in the somewhat parallel version in Matthew 24.

He says to not listen to those looking for a signs.

Instead, it will come so fast that nobody will understand what’s going on.

We need to remember that Jesus is talking to Jews before any of this takes place.

But has some of it taken place?

When you read the account in Matthew 24, you see Jesus talking about the ‘abomination of desolation’ spoken of by Daniel.

The context of Matthew 24 is the destruction of the temple, the context of our text is the Kingdom of God.

The question then is did these events already happen?

Just so you will know, the Romans, under Titus, completely destroyed the temple and desecrated it.

So at least in a sense part of this did happen.

For the Amil, it means that the only thing to wait on is the return of Jesus and the renewal of this world.

For the Premil, these events are coming in the future.

That means the temple will have to be rebuilt and a bunch of nation activities.

So what is this passage talking about in verses 31-36?

Many think this is talking about the rapture, where Jesus comes again and takes his church, but the text seems to be talking about judgment.

In other words, those that are taken, are taken in judgment.

Where is the Kingdom of God?

This is the last question that Jesus asks: where does this happen?

His answer is simple: Luke 17:37

Luke 17:37 NKJV

37 And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”

The word eagles here means vultures.

Once again, what is Jesus talking about?

Judgment

Let me just tell you this: You can’t get a Premil view from here.

In order to get a Premil view, you have to piece a lot of scripture together.

That doesn’t mean it’s not true.

The idea of the Trinity is impossible to get from one passage.

So, where will the Kingdom of God be, well, in both views the ultimate place will be on a renewed earth.

You might be thinking, what do the different views have in common?

Jesus has come

He died and rose from the grave

He is coming again

There will be a judgment

We will all be resurrected

Who will be in the Kingdom of God?

This is where we all agree.

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 NKJV

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

Romans 10:9 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Are you worried about the Judgment?

Are you worried that God’s gonna cut you down?

I did - a little over 20 years ago.

But I’m not worried any more.

You know why?

Because I know that when I face Jesus, he will look at me and say,

You are one of mine, enter in.

Can you imagine that day?

Can you believe that all of our sins have been washed away?

Everything that I have done has been washed away.

It doesn’t matter what you believe about the Kingdom, The way to salvation is to believe in Him.

Do you believe?