So let's just spend a little
bit of time just looking at what is the kingdom of God. Those
parables that we read are extraordinarily instructive. The kingdom is all
about the king. It's all about who the king is.
Without the king, there is no need to talk about a kingdom.
And our king is the glorious king, the one who reigns and
rules over all things. It's called in the scriptures
the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of his
dear son. It's a kingdom that is our God's
kingdom. Nicodemus, as I said earlier,
already thought that he was in the kingdom. He thought that
he was there as close to heaven as if he was already in. which
is so typical of so many other people in religion even to this
day. Most people in Israel thought
they were in the kingdom of God. Most people thought that they
were safe and secure and as fit for heaven and as good as being
in heaven as if they were already there. But the Lord Jesus Christ,
the King, comes. And he speaks to the kingdom
that Nicodemus knew nothing of at all. And he spoke again and
again of the righteousness. He says, unless
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you'll no wise enter in. He was speaking to
Nicodemus and speaking of Nicodemus and others at the time. And the
people would have been shocked people would have been shocked.
They thought that their legal obedience, they thought that
all of their activities, they thought that their remarkable
missionary activities, and they thought that their remarkable
Bible colleges, and they were sending out people, and people
were coming to Jerusalem. They thought all the things that
they were doing around that magnificent temple that Herod had spent all
those years building, they thought that all of their activities
had fitted them for the kingdom of heaven. The Lord said of them,
doesn't he, if the light that's in them is darkness, how great
is that darkness again? Nicodemus and we are taught that
we need spiritual eyes and spiritual life. We need a whole new creation
to even see what the kingdom of God is, and we need a new
creation to enter into the kingdom of God. See, Christ's kingdom is not
of this world. We'll look at it later on again,
but when the Lord Jesus is questioned by Pilate, he makes that great
statement, is my kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight? My kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of God is fulfilled
in the Church of God, where the King reigns and the King reveals
himself, and it's only in the Church of God that the King reveals
himself. Exodus chapter 19 spoke of these
The people as they were brought out of Egypt and the people who
still think that nation Israel is the center of all of God's
purposes and activities in the world are still waiting for these
things to be fulfilled. They are as blind as Nicodemus.
He says in verse six of Exodus 19, you shall be under me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation. a holy nation. And of course,
what we find in Nation Israel is that they were never that
at all. Deuteronomy 29 clearly says that because God hadn't
given them hearts to believe, they entered into the Promised
Land through faith. They didn't enter in under Moses'
banner, they entered into the kingdom under Joshua. 2 Peter 1.9 speaks of us being
the kingdom of priests, the kingdom of priests is fulfilled in the
church. These promises of the Old Testament
are fulfilled in the church. The kingdom is the place of the
King's dominion. There's no point talking about
a kingdom where a king is not absolutely sovereign over all
things. It's the place, isn't it? The kingdom is the place
and it's his presence is the place where he reveals himself. He inhabits the praises of his
people. A kingdom is no kingdom without
subjects, and He has His own. All that the Father gives me
will come to me. His people will be made willing
in the day of His power. The Lord Jesus Christ has subjects,
doesn't He? He has given power. He prayed
in John 17, doesn't He? You've given Him power over all
flesh, that He should give eternal life. to as many as thou hast given
him. There's no point talking about
a kingdom without the nature of the king. There's no point
talking about a kingdom without his presence in that kingdom.
There's no point talking about a kingdom without subjects to
that kingdom. And there's no point talking
about a king who doesn't reign over all things. The notion that
somehow the Lord Jesus Christ is not the absolute sovereign
monarch of everything that wriggles and moves and thinks and breathes
in this universe, is to dethrone him entirely. Entirely to dethrone him. He reigns over all things and
he reigns in the hearts of his people. He reigns. over all things. To see the kingdom then is to
see the king. Nicodemus was in the very presence
of almighty God. And until almighty God gave him
eyes to see, he couldn't see that he was in the presence of
almighty God. Those people had the most remarkable evidences
in all of the gospel accounts. The Lord Jesus Christ says to
them, I am God. Who can forgive sins but God
alone? at the beginning and he says
to them, he says, you've got three years and I'll show you again
and again and again, I'll prove in every way possible in every
Old Testament scripture, I will be a living, breathing, walking
fulfillment of all of these Old Testament scriptures about the
King. And I'll be that King and I am
that King. And yet, And yet, until the Lord
gives you eyes to see, you can't see. See, we see the Kingdom
and we see the King through the eyes, the eyes of our heart,
the eyes of faith. An entry into the Kingdom is
about the King coming to you. It's about the King coming to
you. It's about the King bringing you into his presence. I love
that story, the picture of Esther. You remember when Esther had
to go into the presence of the King, and the decree was, unless
the King reaches out with his scepter, even you, his wife,
will be put to death. That's a picture of our great
King, isn't he? He brings his people into his
presence and he reaches out with a scepter. It's him coming to
us as a saviour. It's him coming in power, him
coming in revelation, him coming in such a way that the subjects
of the kingdom are delighted that he is their king and they're
delighted that he causes them to bow before him. But the kingdom
of God, as I said earlier, is in Matthew 6.33, it says, first
seek ye the kingdom of God and his righteousness. There's no
separation in the scriptures between the king and the kingdom
and the very righteousness of God. Those verses in Hebrews
are just remarkable, aren't they? We know them well and we say
them often, but they're just the most amazing verses. He says, under the sun, verse
eight, thy throne, O God, that's what he says of the Lord Jesus
Christ, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of
righteousness, is the scepter of thy kingdom. It's a scepter
of righteousness. The very righteousness of God. righteousness of God. Listen
to what he goes on to say in verse 9 of Hebrews 1. Thou hast
loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even
thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows. The kings are anointed kings.
The Lord Jesus Christ is anointed king. He's anointed by his Father.
He's anointed by the Holy Spirit. The problem for Nicodemus and
the problem for the whole religious world is that they think the
kingdom of heaven is entered into and we in our Adam flesh
join with them all the time, don't we? We have to be drawn
again and again out of that notion that somehow our entry into the
kingdom of God has got something to do with our activities. and
it does he gives us space to believe he gives us eyes to see
he gives us the grace the grace gift to see him see the kingdom
of God Romans 4 14 17 says the kingdom of God is not meat and
drink. It's not what you do and what
you don't do. It's not what you put into your
body and it's not what you do with your body. The kingdom of
God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. Righteousness. The kingdom of
God is righteousness. His righteousness entirely. Joy. The joy and peace of believing. The peace of simply trusting
Him alone and Him for everything. To see Him as a King on His righteous
throne and robing us in the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's to see Him as a King reigning on Calvary's cross. bearing all of what separated
us from our God, bearing all of what destroyed that relationship
between us and God, and bearing it away. And now there is no
reason for the most righteous and holy God to have his people
into his presence. God is satisfied. God is at peace in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased." Nicodemus and all the Jews were anxiously
awaiting for the return of a Davidic king, weren't they? They were
wanting a king, expecting a king to come back and for them to
be placed by that king as rulers over this entire world. But what
was David's? What was David's comfort and
David's peace and joy? You know the verses well in 2
Samuel 23, but these are recorded as the last words of David, aren't
they? He has a house, this earthly house, in whichever way you want
to designate this earthly house, his own activities in his own
righteousness, his own house of his own family, the own house
of the house of Israel at the time, racked by division and
other things. He says, even though, even though,
This is the words of a king, isn't it? The king had done it.
All of David's hope and all of David's peace and all of David's
joy was in believing what God had
done. He's made with me, and I didn't make a covenant with
him, he made a covenant with me. Nicodemus and the Jews and
so many others are making covenants with God. David was resting in
the fact that God made a covenant with him. Yet he has made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. This is all my salvation and
all my desire, though we make it not to grow. No wonder the
psalmist said of the king, I will go in the strength of the Lord,
I will go in the power and the might of the Lord God. I will
make mention of thy righteousness, even thine only. No wonder Paul in Philippians
3 was anxious about attaining one thing, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. The new creation and the new
birth and the new life and new light. Only when those things
come from this God who puts out his scepter and calls his subjects
into his kingdom can anyone see that their own righteousness
are filthy rags. And the new creation must have
and does have Christ's righteousness and his only. They're the robes
that they're robed with in heaven right now. We have a great and glorious
king. He has a kingdom. He has a kingdom. To be a subject in this kingdom
is to be the most remarkable, have the most remarkable gifts
and privileges that this world offers. You can have all of the
fame and all the recognition and all the wealth that Nicodemus
and all the others had. Let's turn to John 18, and I
want us to go back as we close and look at these remarkable
words that the Lord Jesus spoke to Pilate, who asked him twice
in these verses. In verse 33, he says, Aren't
thou the king of the Jews? Verse 33 of John chapter 18. Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priest have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from
heights. It's not from here. You might
recall that just hours before this, the chief priest had sent
a small army down to to the garden of Gethsemane, and there the
Lord Jesus Christ, in his mighty, absolute sovereignty, he goes
out to them. He goes out to them, and he just
says, whom are you seeking? And they say, Jesus of Nazareth.
He says, I am. He says, I am God to them. And
that crowd, that crowd of soldiers with their spears and their weapons
and their own lights fell backwards. wasn't going to pilots for as
anything less than a king my kingdom is not of this world
my kingdom is not of this world From here, the Lord Jesus Christ
is a king, but his kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. His kingdom
is a heavenly kingdom. His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom.
And he goes on, Pilate asked him again in verse 37, aren't
thou a king then? Jesus' answer is just remarkable.
Just read it with me. Jesus answered, thou sayest that
i am a king you say it and it's true it's effectively what the
lord jesus christ is saying i am a king to this end was i born
these are really significant words aren't they to this end
was i born for this purpose was i born and for this cause came
i to the world. And he said, there is a cause,
there is a cause, the glory of God, the glory of his name, there
is a cause, isn't there? There's a cause for the children
of God, there's a cause for the born again children of God, there's
a cause for those who are anointed, there's a cause the Lord Jesus
came into this world. And listen to what he says, that
I should bear witness to the truth. He came to bear witness to the
truth of who God is. He came to bear witness to the
truth of the Messiah, the anointed prophet, the anointed priest,
the anointed king. He came to bear witness to all
the truth of all the scriptures. Don't you love the fact that
the scriptures are fulfilled in him? Every promise you ever
read in this book is yay and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ.
A king makes promises and keeps them. We have earthly kings these
days and we have earthly rulers over us and they make all sorts
of promises and they make all sorts of pronouncements and we've
got to the stage where we wisely say, well we'll wait and see
what happens. You wait and see what happens. Talk is cheap.
The talk of the Lord Jesus Christ is not cheap. He was going to
prove it later on that morning. Well listen to what he goes on
to say. This is what his Thanks for watching. before Pard,
who represented the earthly kings of the world. Everyone that is
of the truth, heareth my voice. Everyone who has an origin, and
I haven't come from this world, I've come into this world, I
came into this world as a king, I've ruled in this world as a
king, I still rule in this world as a king. Everyone whose origin,
everyone whose origin is of the truth, that's what that word
of means. Heareth my voice. Isn't it remarkable? At the end
of three and a half years of ministry, the Jews didn't hear
his voice or listen to him. Almost it appeared no one listened
to him, like the grain of mustard seeds that was buried in the
ground or the grain of wheat that was buried in the ground.
It didn't appear to have achieved very much at all. At the end
of three years, these Jews in Jerusalem treated him as they
did when they went to the Jordan River to see themselves, there's nothing there.
They looked at the Lord Jesus Christ, there's nothing there.
They went back justifying themselves. Everyone that is of the truth,
heareth my voice. I love that promise. I love the
promise. I didn't make the promise. God
made the promise. A king makes the promise. Everyone
that is of the truth, heareth my voice. I know it was Simon
who read it a couple of weeks ago, but I thought we might finish
by reading these verses in Revelation. I saw heaven opened. If you see
heaven opened, this is what you'll see. And behold, a white horse,
and he that sat on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness
doth he judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And
the armies which were in heaven folded him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth
goeth a sharp sword, and with it he should smite the nations,
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God, and
he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's our God. What a mercy
for the King to come and invite his people, his family into his
presence to hear him speak, to hold out that sceptre and say
you are welcome. my job as a king i've come with
the cause i've come with the cause and i've borne witness
to the truth and everyone that's born of this truth is going to
hear him oh how we love to hear the voice of our king speaking
peace and mercy and grace as a sovereign who cannot Amen.