Tom's gonna come and lead us
in the hymn number 199 if you'd like to open your hymnal to that
hymn. I realize that when a man has
the obligation to stand up and preach, he gives a little extra
attention to the hymns that he's singing. And I do. I'm begging the Lord's grace
and ability to be able to preach Oh, that God would give us all
a keen attention to the words of these hymns. Sinners, sinners
Jesus will receive. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He only saves sinners. He saves
every one of them. Sound this word of grace to all
who the heavenly pathway leave, all who linger, all who fall. Sing it over and over again.
Christ receiveth sinful men. Sinful men. Sinful men. There's a little article in your
bulletin about what it is to be convicted of sin. I encourage you to read that
and hopefully the Lord will convict all of us of our sinfulness.
Let's stand together. 199, Tom. Yeah. ? Sinners Jesus will receive ?
Sound this word of grace to all ? Who the heavenly pathway leave
? All who linger, all who fall ? Sing it o'er and o'er again
? Christ, receive this sinful man Make the message clear and
plain Christ receiveth sinful men Come and He will give you
rest. Trust Him, for His word is plain. He will take the sinful last. Christ receiveth sinful men. Sing it o'er. and or again, Christ receiveth
sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Now my heart condemns me not,
pure before the law I stand. He who cleansed me from all spot,
satisfied its last demand, sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive this sinful man,
Make the message clear and plain Christ receive us in Christ receiveth sinful men,
even me with all my sin. Purged from every spot and stain,
heaven with Him I enter in. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive a sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive a sinful man. Please be seated. For our call to worship, could
you please turn to Mark Chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, and that
hymn goes perfectly with what we're about to read. Verse 46,
chapter 10, verse 46, a very familiar passage and a very glorious
picture on how a sinner is saved. Brother Bartimaeus, chapter 46,
and they came to Jericho And as he went out of Jericho with
his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when
he heard, oh, I want to hear this morning. Pray
the Lord would send his Holy Spirit to give us ears that we
could hear him this morning. Because if we do, we're going
to be doing the same thing that Bartimaeus does right here. He
heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. He began to cry out and say,
Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged
him that he should hold his peace. You see, Bartimaeus was on the
Lord's side. He knew what to say. These other ones didn't
know who he was. But Bartimaeus did. He cried
even, he cried the more a great deal. Thou Son of David, have
mercy on me." And I love this. And Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called. And they called the blind man
saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, What will thou that I should do unto
thee? And the blind man said unto him,
O Lord, that I might receive my sight. I'm reminded of Job
when he said, I've heard you by the hearing, but now I see.
And Jesus said unto him, O go thy way. Thy faith has made thee
whole. And immediately he received his
sight and followed Jesus in the way. Bert, did that man exercise his
faith? Is that why Jesus did that? No. He commanded him to
come. He placed in Bartimaeus' heart
who Jesus was by saying, Son of David, according to the scriptures,
the Lord did all that. And then he followed him. May
he be pleased to do that to us this morning. Give us faith to
believe him. Let's pray. Oh, Lord, our God, that is our
hearts desire this morning. That Lord, since you've called
us here this morning. We like Bartimaeus. Are crying
out Lord to give us ears to hear. Lord, that we might see the lifted
up and high. Lord, we have nothing to offer
you, Lord, other than confessing that you are able to save to
the uttermost. Lord, We're here, you brought
us here, and Lord, we're asking, oh, save us. Call us to yourself. Lord, cause us to put all our
hope, the forgiveness of our sins, our righteousness, all
on thee, and cause us just for these next few minutes to be
able to see thee and to confess that thou art the Christ, the
son of the living God. Lord, preach to us, to our brother
Greg, and cause our hearts to just be in such awe that all
we can do is bow and worship you and give you all the glory. Lord, forgive us of our sins,
most especially our unbelief, and ask that you would increase
our faith now. For we ask it in Christ's name, amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. O Lamb of God, still keep me
near to Thy wounded side. Tis only there in safety and
peace I can abide. What foes and snares surround
me? What lusts and fears within? The grace that sought and found
me alone can keep me clean. It is only in Thee hiding, I
know my life secure. Only in Thee abiding, I steadfast
shall endure. Thine arm the victory, Regaineth
for every hurtful foe Thy love, my heart, sustaineth In all its
care and woe Soon shall my eyes behold thee with rapture face
to face. The half hath not been told me
of all thy power and grace. Thy beauty, Lord, and glory,
the wonders of thy love, shall be the endless story of all thy
saints above. Please be seated. The half has not been told me.
That's what the Queen of Sheba said when she came to see Solomon. She said, I heard of you and
all your glory and beauty and riches. And after she met him,
she said, the half was not told me. What a picture of our understanding
of Christ, isn't it? The half has not been told us
for all eternity. We're going to see more and more
of his glory. and of His grace. And our prayer
this morning is that He will shine just a little bit more
light on who He is and what He's done for us, that we might know
Him better. If you'll turn with me in your
Bibles to Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. Chapter 7 in
Daniel makes a shift to things that are prophetic. And speaking
of understanding. There's a lot of things in the
rest of Daniel that I don't understand. I believe them. Whatever they
mean, I believe them. But they're complicated. There
are some things in Daniel that have to do... Well, a lot of
Daniel now is quoted in the book of Revelation in terms of the
end time prophecies and some of the specifics. I I haven't
found anyone who has a full understanding of these things, but I do believe
the Lord has shown me something as to what the broader meaning
of Daniel chapter seven is. And it's the same meaning that
we find throughout the book of Daniel. It has to do with the
kingdom of God. the kingdom of God. How many
times we find in the Word of God a reference to the kingdom
of heaven or the kingdom of God. And my question for you this
morning is the same question for me. Are you a part of the
kingdom of God? We're not born into this world
a part of the kingdom of God. We're born in this world in rebellion
against God as our king. We would say with that man, I'll
not have this man to reign over us. We come into this world with
a rebellious spirit against God. And captain of our own ship, we wanna do things the way we
wanna do them, don't we? You remember in Daniel chapter
5 when the Lord appeared as a hand and wrote on the wall in judgment
against Belshazzar and the message was threefold. The first part
of this, I've numbered your kingdom and I have finished it. The second
part of that message was you've been weighed in the balance and
been found wanting and I've divided your kingdom up against the against
the two, the Medes and the Persians. And that message will be spoken
by God to all men. To all men. It will either be
spoken in judgment when it's too late. I brought your kingdom
to an end. You've been weighed in the balance
and you've been found wanting. And I divided your kingdom, taking
it away from you. or it will be spoken by God in
our calling. In our calling, I've numbered
your kingdom and I have finished it. Now has God finished your
kingdom? Has he put an end to your own
rule and reign over your own life and bowed you in submission
to the kingdom of God? That's what That's what this
chapter, that's what this book is really all about. What is a kingdom? Well, a king
has a king. A kingdom has a king, doesn't
it? A kingdom has subjects. A kingdom has power. A kingdom
has wealth. And a successful kingdom has
peace. Now, Those are the things that
Satan offers in the kingdoms of this world, doesn't he? And
the Lord Jesus Christ said, my kingdom is not of this world. It's a spiritual kingdom. You
can't see the king, not with your physical eyes. God has to
give you eyes of faith to be able to set your affections on
things above where Christ as our king is seated at the right
hand of God. We look in hope and in faith
to him as our king. You can't see the subjects to
the kingdom of God. You don't know who they all are.
We wonder enough about ourselves to know for sure who all is a
subject in the kingdom of God, don't we? Kingdom of God has great power.
The power to save, that's what Paul said about the gospel. He
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. It's not like
the power that men wield for their own enjoyment. This is the power of God, the
power to save, the power to put away sin, the power to impute
righteousness, the power to cause a sinner to fall in love with
Christ. That takes great power. And this
kingdom has great power. Oh, and the wealth of this kingdom?
You can't see it. All the riches of God are in
the heavenlies in Christ right now. And what are we told to
do? We're told to lay up treasures
in heaven where moth does not eat nor does rust corrupt. This spiritual kingdom can't
be seen with the physical eyes. It's not an earthly kingdom.
And what peace? We have not peace with men. That's what the kingdoms of this
world strive for. World peace. Isn't that what
you hear people say all the time? Well, I just want world peace.
It's not going to happen. Not going to happen. And if God's
pleased to make you a part of his kingdom, you're not going
to have peace with this world at all. Oh, but to have peace with God,
to have the Prince of Peace interceding on your behalf, to have the knowledge
of Christ in your heart, to know that your sin's been put away,
that you have acceptance before God. What a glorious kingdom
this is. The Lord said in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, and blood cannot enter in to
the kingdom of God. Neither can that which is corruptible
be made incorruptible. This kingdom cannot be entered
into with that which is fleshly. It can only be entered into by
the Spirit of God. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, but righteousness. That's the kingdom of God. We
have a righteousness. My little children, I write unto
you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. The kingdom
of God is all about righteousness. When the spirit of God comes,
he convicts the world of sin because they believe not on him
of righteousness because I go to my father. We have an advocate. We have a righteous savior that
stands in our stead. That's the kingdom of God. Righteousness and peace and joy
of the Holy Ghost. It's not about meat and drink.
It's a spiritual kingdom. Now, as I said, the book of Daniel
gives a lot of attention to the kingdom of God. But in order
for the kingdom of God to be established in our hearts, our
kingdom has to be brought to an end. We've got to, our swords
have to be beaten into plowshares. The Lord has to put an end to
our enmity with Him. He has to subdue us, cause us
to bow in submission to Him. And that's exactly what He's
going to do for every one of His people. Every one that Christ
died for is going to be brought to willing submission to Christ. You remember in Daniel chapter
4 when Nebuchadnezzar had that dream of a great figure which
had a head of gold and arms of silver and belly of brass and
legs of iron and feet mixed with iron and clay and then the rock
that was cut from a mountain without a man's hand came and
crushed the entire figure and that rock grew into a great kingdom. And that picture represented
the only four kingdoms that have ever reigned over the entire
world, and the only four that ever will. And the reason I'm
bringing that up is because the vision that Daniel now has speaks
to the same thing. Men have tried to rule the world. No one has ever succeeded since
the fall of the Roman Empire. speaks of the Babylonian Empire,
the Medes and the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Those
are the only four kingdoms that have ruled the world. And when
the Roman Empire came to an end, it morphed into what we now know
or what the historians call the Holy Roman Empire which is nothing
holy about the Holy Roman Empire. But the mixture of the clay and
iron that we see in the feet of that figure, is what we see
today in the world in terms of the influence of Rome in the
world and the kingdom of God is going to crush that entire
figure. That's the kingdom I want to
be a part of. Now read with me in Daniel chapter 7. In the first
year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and the vision
of his head was upon his bed and he wrote the dream and told
the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw
in my vision by night and behold the four winds of heaven strove
upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up
from the sea diverse one from another. Now some of these same
imageries we'll find in the book of Revelation. And the first
was like a lion and had eagle's wings. and I beheld to the wings
thereof were plucked and it was lifted up from the earth and
made to stand upon the feet as a man and a man's heart was given
unto it." Now that's the Babylonian Empire. That was Nebuchadnezzar. You remember his hair grew like
feathers of a bird and he was made into a madman and then the
Lord caused him to stand upon his feet. So Daniel is now seen in this
vision the same thing that Nebuchadnezzar saw in the vision that he had. And behold, another beast, a
second like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it
had three ribs in its mouth and between its teeth. And they said
thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. This is the conquest of
the Medes and the Persians who conquered more than the Babylonians
ever did. and after this I beheld and lo
another like a leopard which had upon the back of it four
wings of a fowl and the beast had also four heads and dominion
was given to it." That's the Greek Empire. That's Alexander
the Great who died at a very early age and his kingdom was
divided against his four commanders and the Greek Empire was divided
up four different ways. So it's clearly, that's exactly
what the Lord is showing Daniel that these are the kingdoms.
Now, and behold, I'm sorry, verse 7, and after this I saw in the
night vision and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible and
strong exceedingly and it had great iron teeth and it devoured
and breaking pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of
it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it,
and it had ten horns." Now this beast is not likened to an animal
because it's so powerful that there's no animal on earth that
it can be likened to. So it's just called a beast.
And this beast is referenced in Revelation as well as a beast
that comes out of the sea with ten horns. I considered the horns and behold
there came up among them another little horn before whom there
were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots and behold
in its horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking
great things, great blasphemies. So here's another horn that grows
up out of this Roman empire and it's got eyes like a man and
it speaks blasphemies against God. And I beheld till the thrones
were cast down and the ancient of days did sit whose garment
was white as snow and the hair of his head like pure wool and
his throne was like a fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire. This is a picture of God. The
same picture of the mountain, the rock that was cut out of
the mountain that crushed the figure. This is God's kingdom
being established over all the kingdoms of the earth. and a
fiery stream issued and came forth before him. Thousands,
thousands ministered unto him and 10,000 times 10,000 stood
before him and the judgment was set and the books were opened.
The judgment against the kingdoms of this earth has been determined
by God. His kingdom is the only kingdom
that's going to last. So I ask you, has he put an end
to your kingdom? What kingdom are you looking
to be a part of? I beheld then, verse 11, because
the voice of the great words which the horn spake, and I beheld
even till the beast was slain and the body destroyed and given
to the burning fire. Now in the book of Revelation,
this is clearly a picture. A horn is a picture of strength,
strength and power. And there is strength and power
in the world. The United States of America
is not the most influential, strongest power in this world. Not according to the Word of
God. You know who is? The smallest country in the world. The smallest country in the world.
is the strongest power in this world right now. It's the country that produces
no children. It's the country that's located
right in the heart of Rome. It's the strongest power and
it's the most influential power. It has no army. It has no ships. It has no nuclear armaments. But you better believe that it's
influencing this world like no other power in this world. It's
called the Vatican. That's who this thorn is. That's
who the scripture's talking about. And all her children. And all
her children. She's got great influence in
this world. It's a works, free will gospel. It's a blasphemy against our
God. I take no apology. It's the man
of sin. Verse 12, As concerning the rest
of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their
lives were prolonged for a season in time. And I saw in the night
season, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with clouds
of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him
near before him. Oh, the Son of Man. Here's the
Lord Jesus Christ now, just like we see Him in the book of Revelation.
John wept bitterly because no man was able to open the books.
And the angel said to John, John, weep not, for the Lion of the
tribe of Judah hath prevailed. He hath been successful in saving
his people and he is able to open the books and to reveal
the secrets thereof. What is the secret? It's the
mystery of the kingdom of God. The natural man, all he can see
is the kingdoms of this world. All he can see is the power of
this world. This is God's kingdom. It's a
spiritual kingdom. It's an invisible kingdom. It's
the kingdom that you and I will be subjects in. and there was given unto him,
the ancient of days is the father and he gives to the Lord Jesus
Christ all dominion and all glory and all kingdoms and all people
and nations and language should serve him and his dominion is
an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed. Oh, child of God, here's the
Lord saying to us clearly, clearly and it is repeated over and over
and over and over again. The kingdom of God is the kingdom
you need to be interested in. The kingdom of God is the kingdom
that you need to be a part of. It is the only kingdom that is
going to last. All other kingdoms are going to be destroyed. And I, Daniel, was grieved in
my spirit, in the midst of my body, and the vision of my head
troubled me. And I came near to the one of
them that stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So
he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things."
Now the Lord's going to interpret the vision. These great beasts,
which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the
earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom
and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever and ever
and ever and ever. We get so caught up in the temporal
things of this world, don't we? My hope this morning is that
the Lord will give us eyes of faith to look beyond the temporal
and to believe what God's saying about the eternal because that's
the only thing that's going to matter. All these kingdoms of
the earth, all the kingdoms of man, the religious kingdoms,
the political kingdoms, all the kingdoms are coming to an end. Then I would know, verse 19,
the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the
others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were as iron, and his nails
of brass, which devoured and broke to pieces, and stamped
the residue with his feet, and the ten horns that were in his
head, and of the other which came up. before whom three fell,
even that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great
things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. Here's that
mother of all harlots who raises herself up in the Roman empire. And I beheld and the same horn
made war with the saints. This is repeated in the book
of Revelation. The war against the church, the true church,
is engaged in by the false church. The irreligious world doesn't
care what we believe. They don't care. They're not
bothered by it. It's the false church that's
so offended by what we believe because what we believe exposes
them for what they are. And I beheld the same horn, this
one horn that grew up out of the ten horns. made war with
the saints and prevailed against them until the Ancient of Days
came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High,
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." Oh, child of God, rest your hope
on the Son of God. Believe that the Ancient of Days
has ordained these kingdoms for a time, but that the kingdom
that's going to last forever is God's kingdom. Thus he said the fourth beast
which shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth which shall be
diverse from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth
and shall tread it down and break it in pieces and the ten horns
out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise and another
shall rise after them and he shall be diverse from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings, and he shall speak great words
against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most
High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given
unto the hand, unto his hand, until a time and times and divided
of times." Now a time and times and divided of times is three
and a half. A time is a year, times is two years, half a time,
three years, three and a half years, which is half a seven.
And I don't know what all that means. I know that's what that
means. And I don't know who all these
10 horns are, but I know who that one little horn is that
speaks great blasphemies. And more of God's people have
been put to death, more of God's people been put to death by the
false church. than the Roman emperors ever
thought about slaughtering. Verse 26, but the judgment shall
sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to
destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion
and greatness of the kingdom upon the whole heaven shall be
given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and
obey Him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. It's the end of the matter. Take no thought saying, what
shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or whither
shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these
things. But you, you seek first the kingdom of
God. and His righteousness and all
these other things to be added unto you. Oh, how we get caught
up in fretting over what we're going to eat and what we're going
to drink and what we're going to wear. Your Heavenly Father
knows that you have need of these things. You seek something that
the world cannot seek. All they can see is earthly kingdoms.
All they can see is the riches and the powers of this world.
You seek that which is heavenly. Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness. In Matthew chapter three, when
John the Baptist began preaching, the scripture says that this
was his message, repent, ye, for the kingdom of God is at
hand." When the Lord Jesus Christ began preaching in Matthew chapter
4, his first message was repent. Change your mind about what kingdom
you're a part of. Change your mind about how it
is that God is pleased to save sinners. change your mind repent
for the kingdom of God is at hand that was our Lord's first
message and when he sent his disciples out he said you go
preach and say the kingdom of God is at hand that's the message
we're to preach who is this kingdom for? Well,
in Matthew chapter 5, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. A kingdom of God and kingdom
of heaven is used interchangeably. Luke usually calls it the kingdom
of God. Matthew, writing to a mostly Jewish audience, calls it the
kingdom of heaven. It's the same thing. It's the
rule and reign of the ancient of days and the anointing of
the Son of Man whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and
His dominion is forever and ever." It's not like the kingdoms of
this world. And it is for the poor. Say, am I a qualified subject
for this kingdom? Well, it depends on how poor
you are. How poor are you? Well, I'm pretty poor. No, no,
no. You got anything? No, I really don't. I'm like
Barnabas. I'm naked, I'm blind, I can't
see, I can't believe, I can't do anything. I've got nothing
to bring. All I can do is cry, Son of David
have mercy upon me, then you're a candidate for the kingdom of
God. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of God. And the Lord dealt with that rich young ruler and he
walked away The Lord said, it's hard for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of heaven. It's easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Those that are trusting in the riches
of their own righteousness will never be able to enter in. And
the disciples asked the Lord, they said, who then can be saved?
And the Lord said, with man it is impossible, but with God,
all things are possible. God will make you poor enough.
The kingdom of God is for the poor. Secondly, the kingdom of God
is for the persecuted. The Lord finished those Beatitudes
when he said, blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness
sake for such are the kingdom of heaven. Persecuted for righteousness
sake. You've ever stood for the gospel
with anyone who doesn't believe the gospel. You understand a
little bit. It's almost shameful for us to
talk about persecution when we think about some of the persecution
that our previous believers have had to suffer and the burning
of the stake and the taking of their lives. And yet, it's still
very real. You talk to your unbelieving
friends about the gospel, you'll find out who your friends are. and your enemies will be of your
own household. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. See man, here's what I'm saying. The kingdom of God is for those
who love the praise of God more than the praise of men. The natural
man will forego the praise of God in order to achieve the praise
of men. And the Lord said, you put your
hand to the plow and look back, you're not fit for the kingdom
of God. Go back to a works gospel, compromise the truth of the gospel
in order to have peace with men, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 at verse 4, so that we ourselves
glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,
which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God
that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which
you suffer. God ever makes you a subject
in his kingdom, you're going to find yourself at odds with
a lot of things in this world. A lot of things. And it's a testimony. of the
fact that you're in the kingdom. So who's the kingdom for? It's
for the poor. It's for the persecuted. And thirdly, the kingdom of God
is for the perfect. Yeah, it's for the perfect. The
Lord said, unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees, you shall no wise enter into the
kingdom of God. You've got to have a perfect
righteousness before God. Scribes and Pharisees, oh, they
prided themselves. Paul said, concerning the law,
when I was a Pharisee, concerning the law, I was blameless. No
man could bring a charge against me for being lawless. And that
was the way the Pharisees were. And the Lord said to his... He said, the publicans and the
harlots are going to enter into the kingdom of God before you. Why? Remember when the man came to
the Lord and said, what's the greatest commandment of all?
And the Lord said, to love the Lord your God with all of your
heart and all of your mind and all of your soul and to love
your neighbor as yourself. And the man said, Lord, thou
hast well spoken. He agreed with him. So that's
the greatest commandment. And the Lord looked at him and
he said, you are near. to the kingdom of God. You know the way to the kingdom
of God, but you don't know how to get there. You understand
what God requires, but you don't know how to achieve it. Yes,
God requires that you love God with all of your heart and all
of your mind and all of your soul all the time in order to
enter into the kingdom of God. And you must love your neighbor
as yourself. Always esteeming others more
highly than yourself. That's what God requires. And
the Lord said, understanding the requirements of God puts
you very close to the kingdom of God. But being close to the kingdom
of God is not being in the kingdom of God. There's only one man who ever
loved God with all of his heart, all of his soul, and all of his
mind, all of the time. There's only one man who ever
esteemed others more highly than himself. All the time. Yes, that's what God requires
for us to enter into the kingdom of God. The only way we're going to be
found in the kingdom of God is to be found in Him. Not having
our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness
which is by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness
of God. All these kingdoms raised up.
A little horn came up and spoke great blasphemies against God.
Just go to Revelation, you'll see the same story as given in
the book of Revelation. All these kingdoms are in opposition
to God's kingdom. And then the Ancient of Days
came. And He gave to the Son of Man all authority and all
power. The Ancient of Days was pleased
with the Son of Man. He was pleased with what He accomplished
on Calvary's cross for the sake of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom
of God is among you. It's a mystery to the natural
man He can't understand the kingdom of God. You see, that which is
of the flesh minds the things of the flesh. And that which is of the flesh
is the flesh. And the flesh profiteth nothing. So the natural man is only able
to see earthly kingdoms. He can't say any more than what
Pilate saw. Are you a king? All he could see was the threat
to his own throne. But the spiritual man minds the
things of the spirit. He sees those things which are
spiritual. Lord, why do you speak to them in parables? Because
it's not for them to know the mystery of the kingdom of God.
It's for you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. So, this message is repeated over
and over and over again in the word of God. If my kingdom were of this world, My disciples would fight. My kingdom is not of this world.
They've laid down their swords. They've submitted to me. I rule
and reign in their kingdom. So I ask you, in closing, what
I ask in the introduction of this message. When the handwriting was on the
wall, and God said to Belshazzar, I have numbered your kingdom,
and I have finished it. As the Lord finished your kingdom,
as he caused you to bow in submission to the Son of Man, the Ancient
of Days, whose kingdom and dominion is everlasting. All the kingdoms
of this world are coming to an end, aren't they? Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we ask that You would take Your Word and make it effectual by
Your Spirit and cause us to come unto Thee. Turn us, Lord, and
we shall be turned. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Number 186, let's stand together,
186. The Church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven He came and sought
her, to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. Elect from every nation, yet
one o'er all the earth, Her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith,
one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food. And to one hope she presses With
every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation and
tumult of her war, She waits the consummation of peace forevermore. Till with a vision glorious,
her longing eyes are blessed, And the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union with
God the three in one, and mystic sweet communion with those whose O happy ones and holy, Lord,
give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, on high may
dwell with Thee. Thank you.